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First gen and about month in the fermenter....so yea...that's the idea...build up for a song round....stay tuned
What are you doing with homebrew today?
- Thread starter BOB357
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Well, near as I can tell, commited 3 beer sins today.
1. Careless assembly of brew kettle. Did not pay attention to dip tube position and lost 1.5 quarts of wort.
2. Pointless exposure to possible(although unlikely) contamination. After kegging my Cali Common, washed/sanitized the ispindel and dropped it directly into the fresh APA wort...with a dead battery.
3. WASTED BEER!!! Kegged the Ordinary Bitter and just dumped the 1/2 gallon or so that didn't fit in the keg rather than bottling it.
Filled 3 cory kegs today, two with Shore Leave, one with Broken Plough, primed all three with 1/3 cup table sugar to get them carbed up and ready for when I get the new lines/2nd regulator installed in the keezer.
Brew day went pretty smooth, efficiency was up 3-4 points...however recirculating required stirring every 10 minutes or so as the malt pipe deains SLOW. Raised and lowered the basket 4 times at the end of mash to try to get a better rinse on the grain. Had to add 1 gallon to the predicted strike water to get the mash thickness right. Wort was pretty cloudy, more trub than with the three vessel set up. Really didn't easve much time cleaning either.
All in all, think I'm going back to 3 vessels next brew. Will use most of the parts from the DigiMash kit to make some improvements to my previous mash tun(has the same diameter as the Digiboil). Thinking I can eliminate most of the unrecoverable dead space and get the efficiency to where I want it(>80%) while keeping the trub level down to my previouos level and my wort reasonably clear.
1. Careless assembly of brew kettle. Did not pay attention to dip tube position and lost 1.5 quarts of wort.
2. Pointless exposure to possible(although unlikely) contamination. After kegging my Cali Common, washed/sanitized the ispindel and dropped it directly into the fresh APA wort...with a dead battery.
3. WASTED BEER!!! Kegged the Ordinary Bitter and just dumped the 1/2 gallon or so that didn't fit in the keg rather than bottling it.
Filled 3 cory kegs today, two with Shore Leave, one with Broken Plough, primed all three with 1/3 cup table sugar to get them carbed up and ready for when I get the new lines/2nd regulator installed in the keezer.
Brew day went pretty smooth, efficiency was up 3-4 points...however recirculating required stirring every 10 minutes or so as the malt pipe deains SLOW. Raised and lowered the basket 4 times at the end of mash to try to get a better rinse on the grain. Had to add 1 gallon to the predicted strike water to get the mash thickness right. Wort was pretty cloudy, more trub than with the three vessel set up. Really didn't easve much time cleaning either.
All in all, think I'm going back to 3 vessels next brew. Will use most of the parts from the DigiMash kit to make some improvements to my previous mash tun(has the same diameter as the Digiboil). Thinking I can eliminate most of the unrecoverable dead space and get the efficiency to where I want it(>80%) while keeping the trub level down to my previouos level and my wort reasonably clear.
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just cleaned up everything from my last brew, I know I'm lazy this week and checking on the results, left is dark mild, right is red ale actually
One year I measured our tap water at 34F... It comes from Lake Superior so it's pretty much the temp at the Intake.
That's why I'm really glad that I built my electric brewery and added a steam condenser to the set up. With the steam condenser I don't have to exhaust any conditioned air, Winter or Summer. Since I added solar panels all of the electric is prepaid.
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Okay Max, let's see that chiller you have there! Looks like you might have built it yourself...Brew day done, it's in the fermenter. OG was 1.041, a little above the 1.038 predicted. And exceeded the vol. into the fermenter--5.75 gallons instead of the 5.5 predicted. Close enough.
Time for a beer or three.
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Moved my fermenter inside to get the temperature above 50f. Nice slow lager fermentation started last night. Temps this week are perfect and my garage will be in the mid to upper 50s by Wednesday. Garage Right now is 47 in the spot I have my fermenter.
One item that will make that setup even better, and it's pretty cheap.
Hilitchi 40 Piece 8-29mm Key-Type Adjustable Hose Clamp Assortment Kit: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
You might find it with more of the same size clamps, but I highly recommend the thumbscrew type clamps. A lot easier on the non-dominant hand if there's no screwdriver to slip. And, I got tired of having to tweak leaking hot hose connections with a screwdriver, REAL QUICK.
Mounting your pump to a flat surface will help, too. It won't wiggle around so much and may help keep hoses out of trouble.
Also consider replacing the hose barbs with Quick Disconnects. That eliminates the wear/tear on the hoses pushing them on/off the barbs, as well as makes re-configuring the connections super easy for washing/cleaning. I put QD's on EVERYTHING. A little pricy, but VERY quick for connections, and no tools required. I also have a female non-stainless adapter for my garden hose that lets me reverse flow in anything that has QD's on it. This is handy for making sure anything that's stuck in the pump impeller is blown out. Putting them on your plate chiller would be the bees knees for cleanup. The only time I need wrenches or screwdrivers for my plumbing is if I'm tearing down for a deep clean.
If you want a list of all the fittings, say the word. I'll try to photograph my re-circ rig for you today. Procrastination and a lack of desire to be outside on a rainy day yesterday changed my schedule a bit. I don't have a sparge arm, but that is in my upgrade plans. For now, I just aim the stream into the middle of the mash and reduce the flow down so that it's about the size of a pencil. I like your top bulkhead fitting, and am considering the same for my kettle. Either that, or something better than a loose hose hanging over the side of the kettle.
Appreciate it Roadie, I'm pretty content with my current setup. If I need equipment recommendations then I'll ask for them
This dual fermenter temp control thing is interesting. I have a Brew Bucket with oatmeal stout that I brewed a week ago, and another Brew Bucket with a mild ale I brewed yesterday. Both have thermowells with Inkbird temp probes in each. The mild ale has the unit that both monitors and controls temps (right side), the oatmeal stout monitored only (left side). I have the right controller set to 64F, +/- 1F. The mild ale fermentation generates enough heat to keep the heater from switching on very often, which in turn allows the inside of the chamber to cool a few degrees (it's out in my garage). And this is Notty, which isn't exactly a "beast." I could imagine the difference had it been some big Belgian.
When I first set them up yesterday, before fermentation took off in the mild, the two temps were within a couple tenths of a degree.
No big deal as the oatmeal stout has for the most part finished.
When I first set them up yesterday, before fermentation took off in the mild, the two temps were within a couple tenths of a degree.
No big deal as the oatmeal stout has for the most part finished.
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Just make sure that they are 100% stainless where they are supposed to be. I got some that said they we're 100% but the strapping was all that was stainless....the screw rusted in the first use but the thumbscrews are much easier than using a screwdriver any day of the week....twice on Sundays
This.
Many "stainless steel" clamps have ordinary steel components. I found out the hard way when a few started rusting, including two used on an oxygenator wand that is immersed in wort.
IIRC, they were from Lowe's, but I'll assume most hardware store clamps are similar.The butterfly hose clamps from Morebeer also rust like crazy, though in all fairness, I don't think they are billed as being stainless. Not a problem if they are used in dry environments.
If you search Amazon for "all stainless hose clamps," you'll find plenty of good ones, usually in assortments.
One of the reasons the screw is rarely stainless is because stainless is LOUSY for threaded applications. It galls and siezes too easily, especially if you crank down on them with full purpose. I just keep an eye on mine and replace as necessary. These have done 5 or 6 brews now, and I've got no complaints, nor do I see any rust on them, YET. What I like about them is the ability to quickly tighten them up as needed when I find a drip/leak, and not worry about having to hold on to a hot connection. I'm more worried about the plastic thumb grips coming off before they rust, but it's still better than needing a screwdriver to put 'em on. I would normally use a nut driver that fits the hex head before a flat-blade screwdriver anyway. But just keeping the clamp still while tightening means putting your hands on something hot if you're already in process.
Yesterday's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout in progress. The QD's on the hoses and the pump have no check-valves/poppits. They're just exactly quick disconnects. Less stuff in 'em to get contaminated and cause problems. They clean up very quickly by simply reversing the flow with the garden hose, then I spray 'em good with Star-San and let 'em drip dry after wiping the outsides.
Checked on the stout this morning, no bubbling in the airlock yet. Will check again this afternoon. Good rich color to it, for sure, and the wort tasted yummy before the boil. This is gonna be a good batch, with any luck. I was gonna re-pitch to get a higher yeast count to start, but after shaking up the yeast cake from the previous batch, my nose told me not to use it. Something didn't smell quite right and I had too much work in this to lose it. So, it got a fresh pack of WLP-004, which always seems to get a slow start.Sitting at 18.8C at the moment, so hopefully some activity by dark tonight.
I just worked up my version of @Trialben Bunyip 2.0 for the Q1 2023 BF Community Brew. The IBU’s calculated for my version are much higher than Ben’s, and that’s OK for me, if it actually pans out. I have a feeling this beer won’t turn out 70+ IBU’s strong. I’m looking forward to brewing this next, but I need to bottle my PNW IPA to free up a fermenter.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1346262/herms-bunyip
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1346262/herms-bunyip
Oof 50 IBUs from the Magum edition. It looks good tho
Came home to a happily fermenting lager at 12 psi and 51F. The high lately has been mid 50s so I just leave the keg fermenter outside on the porch and bring it in at night with some added ice packs to keep it cool
I should probably tone down the Magnum, and aim for 50 total IBU’s. I’m betting I get a higher OG, just a feeling. This will be right up my alley.
I did make a few small changes on the hops, and got the BU/GU ratio down from >1.5 to ~1.
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