I brewed today!

Phew! 8 hour brew day today! I brewed a smash beer; a blonde with Liberty hops! The first time I did a 90 minute boil too. My rig earned its keep today!

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Ward Chillington said:
The first time I did a 90 minute boil too.
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Ever since doing my first 90 minute boil last year I have yet to do anything less... I did it for one recipe and then started trying it on others and decided I preferred the results. Maybe I just like making my brew day last a bit longer ;)
 
Herm_brews said:
View attachment 10222 My new fermenter holding 1.6 gallons of Herm’s Luna Azul, my take on a Blue Moon, as requested by my wife. Hit my numbers (within .001 on pre-boil and OG), and enjoyed a stress free brew day!
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Herms, you will have to wait until you empty and clean your fermenter, but you can pop the spigot out of the stopper,and put it in the opposite direction to raise the drain point, and hopefully you don't have to turn it sideways.
 
@Craigerrr I’m not sure I follow what you are suggesting. I do know that with about a quarter turn of the locking ring, I can rotate the spigot into the proper alignment, without the threat of losing any beer.
 
Herm_brews said:
@Craigerrr I’m not sure I follow what you are suggesting. I do know that with about a quarter turn of the locking ring, I can rotate the spigot into the proper alignment, without the threat of losing any beer.
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I have the 30 liter units, and I found that I needed to raise the outlet as it was below the trub level.
If you remove the orange stopper, rotate the white center piece 180 degrees, and reinstall the stopper it raises it up a bit.
speidel spigot down.JPG


I also found that I have to tip mine back to keep the trub away from the outlet. As far as getting all of the beer out, once the level gets down, I first remove the wedge and level it, then tip forward as needed. You can see the trub level in the following picture.You can also see how I have the outlet raised, compared to above.
speidel tipped.jpg


Hope this helps!
 
Craigerrr said:
I have the 30 liter units, and I found that I needed to raise the outlet as it was below the trub level.
If you remove the orange stopper, rotate the white center piece 180 degrees, and reinstall the stopper it raises it up a bit.
View attachment 10227

I also found that I have to tip mine back to keep the trub away from the outlet. As far as getting all of the beer out, once the level gets down, I first remove the wedge and level it, then tip forward as needed. You can see the trub level in the following picture.You can also see how I have the outlet raised, compared to above.
View attachment 10228

Hope this helps!
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I do indeed find this helpful!
Thank you @Craigerrr
 
@Craigerrr thanks for that tip. I remember you mentioning the wedge to lift the spigot side higher so the trub settles away from the spigot. Your picture above illustrates your points very clearly. You get points for a double tip!
 
Herm_brews said:
@Craigerrr thanks for that tip. I remember you mentioning the wedge to lift the spigot side higher so the trub settles away from the spigot. Your picture above illustrates your points very clearly. You get points for a double tip!
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YW, I forget now who it was that gave me that tip. It's funny sometimes how simple things can be. Like, take me for instance, I'm as simple as simple gets!
 
Nosybear said:
We're not wasting, we're simply cycling the grain back into the Earth.... Disposing of them the most ecologically sound way we have available. Not many chickens, pigs and so forth in metro Denver.
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Agreed Nosy...agreed.
 
Brewed that Layday Lager double batch colab brew wort looked scarily like a brown ale in the kettle bit luckily more Amber like in the sample tube. Tastes nice and malty was up 3points on gravity 1.050 bit down 3lt on volume just have to trust my numbers more next brew through.

Was a good lesson for the new brewer I was showing the ropes to on dialing in your brewing profile https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/998926/layday-lager
 
Paupack Cream Ale “clone”. There’s no way I’ll get this to resemble the original but I’m still hoping for something good! :)

Mash in progress. Looks far more golden in the pot then the 3 SRM in the hydrometer afterward. I’ve been mashing thinner and boiling longer and getting more efficiency than I had been. Makes the brew day a wee bit longer but I love brew day.

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Megary said:
Paupack Cream Ale “clone”. There’s no way I’ll get this to resemble the original but I’m still hoping for something good! :)

Mash in progress. Looks far more golden in the pot then the 3 SRM in the hydrometer afterward. I’ve been mashing thinner and boiling longer and getting more efficiency than I had been. Makes the brew day a wee bit longer but I love brew day.

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So glad to hear you're going for that cream ale clone! I bet it'll be great - maybe even closer to the original than you think!
 
Umm...I’m not so sure what I’ll get now. Blow-out in Turn 1! “It can’t happen to me” is not a formula I’ll follow anymore. :)
Having never prepared for the possibility, I was scrambling to try and rig up a blow off with whatever I could find. Not sure this is the proper way but it’s holding for now. I’m assuming I can put the regular airlock back on after the yeast drops??
Any advice regarding this setup and what to watch for during the rest of this fermentation is appreciated.

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Megary said:
Umm...I’m not so sure what I’ll get now. Blow-out in Turn 1! “It can’t happen to me” is not a formula I’ll follow anymore. :)
Having never prepared for the possibility, I was scrambling to try and rig up a blow off with whatever I could find. Not sure this is the proper way but it’s holding for now. I’m assuming I can put the regular airlock back on after the yeast drops??
Any advice regarding this setup and what to watch for during the rest of this fermentation is appreciated.

View attachment 10275

View attachment 10276
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Not positive what you have going there but if its the speidel is blowing, a tube to that qt jar would do the trick. If that is the hose going to the big bucket above you risk return from that hose when so high above the fermenter. When they go like that they can finish quickly too and if line is above fermenter could be an issue of drawback from hose .
 
Brewed a wheat beer today. Got some nasty lightning storms goin through so waiting to put out maters and peppers. Would have whooped on em good last night and this morning. More beer is always good. 45/45 wheat/pils. Other 10% was Vienna and carapils with chinook bittering and cascade at end of boil. All it should need is an orange slice:D
 
Head First said:
Not positive what you have going there but if its the speidel is blowing, a tube to that qt jar would do the trick. If that is the hose going to the big bucket above you risk return from that hose when so high above the fermenter. When they go like that they can finish quickly too and if line is above fermenter could be an issue of drawback from hose .
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I just realized that picture is a bit confusing because of the light coming in from the window. That is a long racking tube stuck into a double bung and then attached to a hose. You can't see where they attach above the bucket because of the light.

In a panic, this was the best I could come up with. The yeast continued to push up the tube and some even managed to make it down the hose. Most of the yeast however fell back down the tube and into the fermenter. The tube was cleaned and sanitized, but that does make me a bit concerned.

Anyway, the big show is over and I removed the blow off and returned the original air lock (cleaned and sanitized :D) to its proper place. Live and learn.
 
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