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Cinnamon Bastard posted:God drat. Just racked my first-time-brewing cider. I assume that gets easier with practice, but even with an autosyphon I was fighting the whole time. All that for bottling? Just use a bottling bucket and a bottling wand. I bottled my first mead with a siphon. That was an absolute nightmare.
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Feb 15, 2012 16:36
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Regarding BIAB methods: What exactly is preventing tons of grain debris from ending up in your kettle? I know that debris is not as big a deal as some would think. Decoction mashing proves that the whole fear of tannins is 100% bullshit, but still I'd imagine that there would be so much grain particulate that at the very least you get some sort of monstrous hot break.
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Feb 15, 2012 17:29
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:God drat. Just racked my first-time-brewing cider. I assume that gets easier with practice, but even with an autosyphon I was fighting the whole time. It's should be much easier the second and third time. If you want to describe what you did and what went wrong I'm sure we could give some advice. Like internet celebrity says, bottling with a bucket and wand is really easy. Rack into your bottling bucket (it has a spigot on the bottom). Put it up on the counter with the spigot just overhanging the edge, and a large bowl on the floor underneath. Attach the bottling wand (about 12" rigid tube with spring-loaded tip). Put the wand inside the first bottle and press up so the spring tip is pushed in, then open the spigot on the bucket. When the fluid gets right near the lip of the bottle, lower the bottle so the spring tip goes back out and stops the flow. I fill right up near the lip since the wand displaces enough fluid that by the time you remove it there's a decent head space in the bottle. Towards the end of the batch you'll need to tilt the bottling bucket towards the spigot to get the last of it.
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Feb 15, 2012 17:39
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internet celebrity posted:All that for bottling? Just use a bottling bucket and a bottling wand. I don't have those, and the cider is already in its secondary jugs. Basically I'm talking about making a spigot/syphon hybrid with a small flow cross section. I can probably rig it up out of less than $10 worth of parts, and it should work pretty much like a regular spigot. Probably can get a hand squeeze-bulb for pressure feed there too. I'll need to source the parts and bother the poor girl that works in the Chem-Stores. Also, based on this morning's racking, I'd say that jugs 1 and 3 will turn out fine (especially #3), but there's a better that 4/5 chance that I spoiled jug #2. An air bubble got trapped in my autosyphon, right where the hose attaches to the pump, and turbulence-mixed with basically the entire jug. I couldn't dislodge the drat thing, even with additional pumps. Whatever. For a first time brew fest it's going pretty good, and I'm excited to kick back in a few weeks and relax with a nice cold cider. I didn't mean to type that much.
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Feb 15, 2012 17:39
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Super Rad posted:Regarding BIAB methods: What exactly is preventing tons of grain debris from ending up in your kettle? I made my bag from a voile curtain, no grain particles were small enough to get through that. It's basically a super fine mesh. I'm using another tiny bag I made from voile to hold the pellets I'm dry hopping with, so if it's fine enough to hold those particles, the much later grains have no chance.
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Feb 15, 2012 17:47
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Bruinator posted:Luckily it was only in a 50mL starter. The yeast used was a 1.5mL eppie of WLP 530 from my yeast bank. I've been wanting to start my own yeast bank for a while, so I was wondering at what temp. do you store your eppi tubes at? -80C or just in your home freezer which is like -20C. Also, how many cells do you normally store in one eppi tube?
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Feb 15, 2012 20:07
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wattershed posted:I just wonder if I'm necessarily missing out or limiting my abilities by considering brew/sparge in a bag. I see the modified coolers, see what they're used for, then wonder how - be it gauged by scientific fact or sheer results - it's any better. I know there's bound to be people inherently defensive of their current traditional AG setups because they know it works and they've invested plenty of time & money to improving their craft given their existing equipment, so I guess I'm looking for answers to the previous post plus an opinion on the pros and cons as free of bias as possible. I do biab, the main reason is I am in an apartment and I personally just don't have the space to store mash tuns plus my patio is not that big to have that stuff out there on brew day. From everything I've read you can get good results with any method. But with each one you might have to compromise something. For biab, your mash must fit in your kettle. So yes, if you want to do something high gravity you might have to do a smaller batch, or do a sparge. Temperature control does need some attention but it's such a large mass it doesn't lose heat that fast. A few times during the mash you might have to turn the heat on and stir to bring it up a degree or two. If you already have a kettle and are doing extract batches then pretty much all you need is a bag, and it doesn't even need to be a real bag. I just have a large circle of voile that fits my kettle so it doesn't constrain the grain. It's cheap and easy to give it a try.
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Feb 15, 2012 20:53
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quantegy posted:I do biab, the main reason is I am in an apartment and I personally just don't have the space to store mash tuns plus my patio is not that big to have that stuff out there on brew day. From everything I've read you can get good results with any method. But with each one you might have to compromise something. Space is 100% not a concern for me, and I'm already thinking of a pulley system running up over a high-vaulted patio beam to alleviate holding what amounts to an adult-weighted bowling ball at chest height for a few minutes. Sometimes I wish I was somewhat constricted for space, as it would definitely keep me from going crazy with hobbies. Also, the voile, that's a purchase I can make at my local fabric store, that's not some specialty store stuff, right?
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Feb 15, 2012 21:53
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Why are you guys having issues with mead/cider when using an autosiphon/racking cane? I haven't done a cider but I was planning on doing 2 basic meads (dry, semi-sweet) at some point in the near future. Is it the density of the liquid?
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Feb 15, 2012 21:54
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Synnr posted:Why are you guys having issues with mead/cider when using an autosiphon/racking cane? I haven't done a cider but I was planning on doing 2 basic meads (dry, semi-sweet) at some point in the near future. Is it the density of the liquid? The problem he had with his cider is the same as I had (couple pages back) - but I don't think it has anything to do with the liquid - I think it's a hose connection issue. I didn't describe my issue that well, but it was exactly the same (auto-siphon and all). My plan was to secure the hose a bit better.
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Feb 15, 2012 22:45
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wattershed posted:Also, the voile, that's a purchase I can make at my local fabric store, that's not some specialty store stuff, right? Mine was just an old curtain so I'm sure you can get it or something similar enough at pretty much any place that sells fabric.
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Feb 15, 2012 22:46
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Dukket posted:The problem he had with his cider is the same as I had (couple pages back) - but I don't think it has anything to do with the liquid - I think it's a hose connection issue. I didn't describe my issue that well, but it was exactly the same (auto-siphon and all). My plan was to secure the hose a bit better. Ah, I see. Well I guess if I experience a similar problem I'll just complain about it here and see what else might be the problem! I can't imagine I will though, what with my little bottle filler widget and all that jazz.
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Feb 15, 2012 22:57
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wattershed posted:Space is 100% not a concern for me, and I'm already thinking of a pulley system running up over a high-vaulted patio beam to alleviate holding what amounts to an adult-weighted bowling ball at chest height for a few minutes. Sometimes I wish I was somewhat constricted for space, as it would definitely keep me from going crazy with hobbies. The pulley stuff always seems like overkill to me, at least up to 5 gallon batches. I just pull it, let the majority drain for like 1 minute, then put it in a colander over a small pot for a couple minutes. Give it a little bit of a press and that's it. I do 2.5 gallon batches though so it would depend on batch size and grain amount. I got my voile at joann fabrics. I think it was like $5.
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Feb 15, 2012 23:10
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quantegy posted:The pulley stuff always seems like overkill to me, at least up to 5 gallon batches. I just pull it, let the majority drain for like 1 minute, then put it in a colander over a small pot for a couple minutes. Give it a little bit of a press and that's it. I do 2.5 gallon batches though so it would depend on batch size and grain amount. I figure I can utilize the pulley with a hook for turkeys, too...that was my entry point into selling the wife on the idea, she had a fried turkey this past Thanksgiving and didn't shut up about it for days so it was an easy 'in'. Also, it sets me up for larger grain bills which I'm sure I'll need to be equipped for some day.
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Feb 16, 2012 00:08
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So, I got an 80 quart pot and banjo burner as a gift recently. It's aluminium and not ported. I'm planning on making the move to 10g all grain now that spring is imminent. I was leaning towards a 48 quart rectangular cooler, with a braided steel hose manifold as a MLT. I had a couple questions I was hoping you could help with. Should I port the kettle? If yes, what's the best way to do so? The pot is aluminium. I realize that I'm practically limited to batch sparging, maybe doing a two stage batch sparge if I keep the mash thick. How limiting is this choice in reality? I brew mostly straightforward pale ales currently, because that's what I like to drink. However, I don't want to be unable to do something goofy down the road if I feel like it, because I chose this design up front. If I have a cooler this size, will I be limited to doing only 10g batches, because the grainbed would be too shallow for a 5g batch? Could I only do big 5g batches? Is a counterflow chiller necessary for a 10g batch, or can I get away with a bigger immersion chiller? I don't want a plate chiller, because it gives me contamination concerns, and I haven't heard of a straightforward way to clean it. I could get a pressure cooker, I suppose. Grinder recommendations? Can I really get away with a Corona, or are those just a pita? Thanks for the help, all. I'm pretty stoked to be making the jump.
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Feb 16, 2012 01:35
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You can definitely use an immersion chiller for 10gal batches, often chillers will be designated by size, look for one that uses 50' of tubing. I don't see any issue with "limiting" yourself to batch sparges - fly sparging is apparently more successful with round coolers, and IMO batch sparging if done correctly is every bit as efficient as fly sparging. I'm sure you could even do 10gal decoctions. As far as doing 5gal batches - I don't see why you couldn't, I don't think the grainbed will be an issue, I use a 50quart cooler for my 5gal batches. The only concern I would have is wasted water using a larger chiller + fear that the chiller isn't fully sanitized because it wouldn't be fully submerged. Getting a counterflow chiller would take care of that concern although I'm sure it's not necessary.
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Feb 16, 2012 01:58
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Bleston Humenthal posted:Should I port the kettle? If yes, what's the best way to do so? The pot is aluminium. Having a port makes moving liquids around very easy. Especially for 10-gallon batches, I strongly recommend you don't try to lift it. You can get away without porting the kettle by siphoning out of it, which is no issue if you get the wort cool enough to be safe for your racking cane / autosiphon first. If you do decide to port it, knowing someone who can weld in a coupler will make this a hundred times better. I have not seen this done on an Al kettle, and I don't know what the right coupler would be for that, but I am sure someone does. Seems like aluminum to stainless might be hard? What do I know, I'm not a welder. If nothing else, a weldless fitting would work. Bleston Humenthal posted:I realize that I'm practically limited to batch sparging, maybe doing a two stage batch sparge if I keep the mash thick. How limiting is this choice in reality? Hardy limiting at all, IMO. I routinely batch sparge and have no issues with efficiencies or anything. Bleston Humenthal posted:If I have a cooler this size, will I be limited to doing only 10g batches, because the grainbed would be too shallow for a 5g batch? Could I only do big 5g batches? 48 quarts would be ok for mild 10-gallon batches, but you will have difficulty getting much about 1.050 or so, I fear. It would be better for 5-gallon batches, and should let you do just about any strength you wanted at that size. For 10 gallons / 40 quarts of beer, I would look for a cooler more in the 60-80 quart range. 60 will give you room for beers in the 1.070-1.080 range, while 80 quarts will let you brew anything you please. Bleston Humenthal posted:Is a counterflow chiller necessary for a 10g batch, or can I get away with a bigger immersion chiller? You can absolutely brew 10 gallon batches with an immersion chiller. I did it for years, with a ~48' model I made. Plate chillers are easy to sanitize by circulating boiling wort, FWIW. Bleston Humenthal posted:Grinder recommendations? Can I really get away with a Corona, or are those just a pita? You *can* get away with a Corona mill, but bear in mind it's meant for making flour, and it will want to make flour rather than cracked malt. For a long time, that's all there was, and people used them because that's what they had. They probably had to put malt in the tiny hopper a handful at a time, and tinker constantly with the plate adjustment. Any roller mill will do a better job for brewing, albeit at a higher cost.
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Feb 16, 2012 02:32
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Just bottled my third batch of beer, a Bavarian hefeweizen. I guess I'm getting more efficient at this as I was able to get 49.5 bottles out of it, versus 44 bottles in my last batch. Hoping to go all-grain with the BIAB method next time. 
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Feb 16, 2012 02:46
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Kelley Geuscaulk posted:I've been wanting to start my own yeast bank for a while, so I was wondering at what temp. do you store your eppi tubes at? -80C or just in your home freezer which is like -20C. Also, how many cells do you normally store in one eppi tube? I've got a regular -20C freezer. I generally keep 5 strains and make 12 eppies each time I preserve a strain. My rate of turnover should keep these within the viability window using a -20C by the time they're used up. I've never actually counted the cells in an eppie tube. The first few times I grew up a tube I counted after growing up the last step to verify pitching rate but I don't do it frequently. If I have what looks like a "usual" amount of yeast for the style at the bottom of my final step I just go ahead and pitch it. My procedure is to make a big starter, crash chill for a couple hours, decant down to 1L, and dump the rest in a 1L separatory funnel. I let it stratify, then dump the trub out. Once I'm getting clean yeast I fill 12 eppie tubes with slurry since that is what fits in my microcentrifuge. After I spin the tubes the pellet compacts to fill the point part of the tube up to where the tube becomes a cylinder. I haven't calculated how much but I'd assume it's about 0.5mL of compacted slurry. I then pour off the water and fill with a glycerine/DAP mixture, mix, and freeze. The tubes don't totally freeze at -20C due to the glycerine. I've considered repeating the fill/centrifuge operation until the tubes are more than half full of yeast but I've never tried it. Some of my tubes are about 2 years old and come right up with about a day and a half lag during the first step. Going from tube to full starter takes about 4 days total.
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Feb 16, 2012 03:13
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Is there any huge advantage to having a false bottom for a cooler mash tun or should I just stick with the steel hose method that's popular?
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Feb 16, 2012 03:32
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Corbet posted:Is there any huge advantage to having a false bottom for a cooler mash tun or should I just stick with the steel hose method that's popular? Well the most commonly cited one is that you can't fly sparge nearly as effectively using a steel hose. Almost everyone I've asked has given me this method and told me only to batch sparge doing so.
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Feb 16, 2012 03:55
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Thanks for the insight, all. My buying finger is getting all itchy. Should be a busy weekend.
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Feb 16, 2012 14:45
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Corbet posted:Is there any huge advantage to having a false bottom for a cooler mash tun or should I just stick with the steel hose method that's popular? They both have their advantages and disadvantages - if you're going for a rectangular cooler a braid (or a hand-built copper manifold) are basically your only options, and you're "limited" to batch sparging. This is the setup I use and I have always managed good efficiency and have never had a stuck sparge and the rectangular cooler + braid cost less than half what the equivalent round cooler plus false bottom would have cost. If you're going for a round cooler - a steel braid will work, but I've heard people recommend to go for a false bottom as the grain bed will be a lot deeper in a round cooler meaning a higher chance of crushing the braid - plus it will be harder to mix thoroughly which is a big part of getting good efficiency with batch sparging.
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Feb 16, 2012 17:45
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I'm looking for some input on stock pots/brew kettles. Since I found out that I am able to use a wort chiller through my kitchen faucet, I'm looking to step up to full boil Mini-mashing/BIAB until I have the space to do all grain. I have a stock pot that is probably 4 Gallons at the brim. I have a buddy that has a 5 Gallon pot. What size pot should I be looking for to stovetop minimash/BIAB that can also be used for extract brewing? Bonus if I can use it for actual food cooking as well. Off the top of my head I was thinking of an 8 Gallon pot but before committing to a purchase I'd like to get a good sized pot that I can utilize if/when I try my hand at All Grain
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Feb 16, 2012 18:25
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8 gallon pots work but you have to watch for boilovers/use fermcap, 10 gallon pots give you more flexibility and are less of a pain in the rear end. No problem using either for regular cooking, although if you do something gnarly sometimes you have to really scrub to get the smell/taste out. I did a low country boil in mine recently and had to use some industrial strength poo poo to clean it. On the plus side my pot looks like new again.
Josh Wow fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Feb 16, 2012 |
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Feb 16, 2012 18:27
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lazerwolf posted:I'm looking for some input on stock pots/brew kettles. Since I found out that I am able to use a wort chiller through my kitchen faucet, I'm looking to step up to full boil Mini-mashing/BIAB until I have the space to do all grain. I have a stock pot that is probably 4 Gallons at the brim. I have a buddy that has a 5 Gallon pot. What size pot should I be looking for to stovetop minimash/BIAB that can also be used for extract brewing? Bonus if I can use it for actual food cooking as well. I'm in the same predicament as you, and I think I've decided on getting a 10gal pot. The only thing holding me back at this point is I haven't decided if I want one with spots already welded onto it for a drain and/or thermometer. I'm thinking yes to a drain, no to thermometer.
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Feb 16, 2012 18:47
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lazerwolf posted:Off the top of my head I was thinking of an 8 Gallon pot but before committing to a purchase I'd like to get a good sized pot that I can utilize if/when I try my hand at All Grain I have a 9gal pot (maybe 8.5gal) and it's just BARELY big enough - and on certain brews we have to be on our a-game keeping the flame and boil in check (fermcap rules). Do yourself a favor and go for 10gal.
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Feb 16, 2012 19:17
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I'm about to ship some beers - what's the consensus on favorite shipper / description of contents? I'm thinking UPS - yeast samples in glass bottles?
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Feb 16, 2012 21:26
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Super Rad posted:I'm about to ship some beers - what's the consensus on favorite shipper / description of contents? Go read the OP for the beer exchange thread, it's got all the info you need. I also cannot fathom why people continually wanna do this *wink* "yeast samples" crap. Tell them it's bottles of soda or something that's not suspicious.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:29
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I always say "none of your loving business" real serious-like.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:30
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Fedex, print the shipping label at home, drop it off at an authorized Fedex store and don't say a word to them about it.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:38
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I bought a packet of liquid yeast, Wyeast brand. Do I want to use the entire thing for 5 gallons? Seems like quite a bit of yeast.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:39
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icehewk posted:I bought a packet of liquid yeast, Wyeast brand. Do I want to use the entire thing for 5 gallons? Seems like quite a bit of yeast. Yes. Fun fact: depending on the OG of your wort, it may actually be not nearly "enough" yeast People often make starters to build up the yeast population to the proper pitching rate.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:54
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icehewk posted:I bought a packet of liquid yeast, Wyeast brand. Do I want to use the entire thing for 5 gallons? Seems like quite a bit of yeast. You actually probably want to make a starter with it to make more before pitching - liquid yeast has a way lower cell count than the dry yeast packets.
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Feb 16, 2012 21:54
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Is there a recommended method without going out and buying a flask? Could I use honey in place of light DME?
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Feb 16, 2012 22:03
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icehewk posted:Is there a recommended method without going out and buying a flask? Could I use honey in place of light DME? You really want to use extract because malt contains different, more complex sugars than just straight white sugar or honey. If you get your yeast used to just eating sucrose, they get lazy and refuse to eat other sugars and you end up with a lovely unattenuated beer. You can definitely just make a starter in a growler or mason jar or something, shaking it as often as you can to keep the yeast in suspension and aerated. You get way, way less growth than a fancy stir plate setup but you'll get some growth and at least get them active and ready to ferment right away.
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Feb 16, 2012 22:06
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Bruinator posted:I've never actually counted the cells in an eppie tube. The first few times I grew up a tube I counted after growing up the last step to verify pitching rate but I don't do it frequently. If I have what looks like a "usual" amount of yeast for the style at the bottom of my final step I just go ahead and pitch it. My procedure is to make a big starter, crash chill for a couple hours, decant down to 1L, and dump the rest in a 1L separatory funnel. I let it stratify, then dump the trub out. Once I'm getting clean yeast I fill 12 eppie tubes with slurry since that is what fits in my microcentrifuge. After I spin the tubes the pellet compacts to fill the point part of the tube up to where the tube becomes a cylinder. I haven't calculated how much but I'd assume it's about 0.5mL of compacted slurry. I then pour off the water and fill with a glycerine/DAP mixture, mix, and freeze. The tubes don't totally freeze at -20C due to the glycerine. I've considered repeating the fill/centrifuge operation until the tubes are more than half full of yeast but I've never tried it. Some of my tubes are about 2 years old and come right up with about a day and a half lag during the first step. Going from tube to full starter takes about 4 days total. Very nice. I hadn't thought about using glycerol so they don't go through a freeze/thaw cycle. I'm going to have to "borrow" some glycerol from work and give this a try.
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Feb 16, 2012 22:08
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icehewk posted:Is there a recommended method without going out and buying a flask? Could I use honey in place of light DME? I've direct-pitched (Just toss it in after activating) Wyeast packets for OGs up to 1.07 without any problem (Sometimes it just takes an extra day to get started). YMMV of course, depends on yeast and yadda yadda.
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Feb 16, 2012 22:12
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Docjowles posted:Yes. Fun fact: depending on the OG of your wort, it may actually be not nearly "enough" yeast I've always heard that if you're lazy (and rich), you can just pitch 2 of them.
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Feb 16, 2012 22:32
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My bill is estimated to be about 1.047. I was just at the local homebrewer yesterday picking up stuff but I haven't brewed anything yet and really want to get started. Building a stirplate seems fairly straightforward but I have the day off tomorrow and it will take longer than that to get all of it together. I'm using Wyeast 1469 which seems to be a fairly quick fermenter. The packet is about 4 weeks old.
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Feb 16, 2012 22:40
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