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fullroundaction posted:
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Sep 3, 2013 23:28
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| # ? May 29, 2024 13:07 |
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I hope this thread is appropriate for this question. I was gonna ask in the beer thread but figured people here may have a better idea. I want to start cellaring some beer and got some good advice in the beer thread. After the advice I got on making a cellar I started looking for a mini fridge or chest freezer. Come to find out my parents have been wanting to get rid of their old chest freezer for a while so I brought it back with me. It's really old but still works and it was free. As a temperature controller I was linked to the STC-1000. This was only 18 bucks on Amazon and had good reviews so I went ahead and ordered one since I was ordering from Amazon anyway. Well after reading more about it it does seem like it's a very popular temperature controller for homebrewers making fermentation chambers or Kegerators etc and would work great for the cellar. The only problem is you have to do some wiring to make it work. So I figured I'd ask here if anyone can give any advice. I'm ok with tools and DIY but I've not had any experience with electrical work. There are tons of instructions, wiring diagrams, and youtube videos on setting this up and it seems like something I should be able to do, but I had a couple questions. It's a dual temperature controller and is able to operate a cooling and heat source, but for my purposes I probably really only need it to turn the freezer on above 55 and turn it off when it reaches temp. Can I just wire it like the guy on this site and use an extension cord and only connect the "cool" side? Secondly, I've seen some conflicting comments on this as far as safety. Some have said the compressor of some older freezers draw too much power and would blow something out. Also, some people make it seem like if you wire it up wrong you'll burn your house down. I don't want to use this thing and worry all the time that I'm gonna have an electrical fire burn my house to the ground. On the other hand, if it's safe enough I wouldn't mind using it as a little learning experience and save some money at the same time. I could always send this back and get the Johnson controller that is more just plug and play and just have to spend the money. If anyone has any tips or links to good instructions I'd appreciate it.
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Sep 4, 2013 00:07
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tonedef131 posted:It's the most concise resource out there on the topic, just skip the chapter on making a home lab and you'll find much of the book applicable. It's really quite obvious which chapters are written by Chris White and which are written by a middle aged software engineer/homemade beer sperglord, so about half the book can effectively make you a better brewer and half is poo poo that will make you look like a nerd and potentially make you a miserable person to drink beer with. Awesome thanks, I'll definitely pick it up with my next Amazon order! (I'm already a miserable person to drink beer with so no worries on the book making it worse)
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Sep 4, 2013 01:33
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So cider - Do I pasteurize before, after or not at all? I just throw in some champagne yeast and let it go? Do I need to add sugar or anything?
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Sep 4, 2013 02:05
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You can do either (for everything). Personally I pasteurize beforehand and then ferment and let it go all the way out. For ciders I generally don't add any kind of sugar, but I've done that when fermenting clear apple juice. Last year I did a wee heavy sort of thing with my cider and boiled down ~3 gallons to less than 1 gallon and topped back up to 5 gallons and fermented. Turned out really, really awesome.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:12
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ive had failed cider experiments. Sit down and figure out exactly what you want in a cider. The stuff you are drinking out at a bar is not the stuff you will be making. be prepared to take gravity and tastes. and kill off yeast when it gets where you want it. unless you are kegging this means still cider. otherwise pick a low alcohol yeast. cider with no sugar left is very bland. There was a good cider recipe posted pages ago involving black tea / lime, etc that sounded like a good experiment, but ive all but given up on it.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:18
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Prefect Six posted:So cider - It depends on where you're getting your juice. if you're using grocery-store, shelf-stable juice, no need to pasteurize at all. If you're getting your juice fresh-pressed from an orchard or something, sulfiting or pasteurization is probably indicated. You can add sugar in some form if you want, but it's hardly compulsory. I usually do, though. I just set a batch to ferment on Saturday - five gallons of club-store juice, five pounds of honey, Sweet Mead yeast.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:19
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ieatsoap6 posted:Wine yeast probably don't behave much differently from beer yeast, so all that would happen is that they might produce some off flavors with a higher temperature. That said, those may go away with aging by the time you drink it. You could try putting your fermenter in a bucket of water and throwing some ice in every once in a while to keep the temperature a bit lower. I find that freezing old water bottles works great because the ice in them lasts longer than cubes. I took your advice, and it's working out great. The water bath, with occasional ice, is holding the temperature right in the appropriate range: Fermenters fermenting. I happen to live in a college town with a lot of labs. Would taking my (glass) equipment to an autoclave be complete overkill? I'm a little bit paranoid because I lost a batch of wine last year and I think it was due to contamination.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:25
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Malacept posted:I took your advice, and it's working out great. The water bath, with occasional ice, is holding the temperature right in the appropriate range: I usually sanitize with a diluted bleach solution, though I have used some things after not more than a rinse with water. You should be fine. That said, if you have access to an autoclave, you loving use an autoclave, if for no reason but for  .
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Sep 4, 2013 03:36
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Prefect Six posted:So cider - Just use my cider recipe: it makes unbelievably good stuff with very little effort: RagingBoner posted:Just made an AMAZING cider. I've tried all sorts of methods, but this has the best results with the quickest turnaround. It is seriously as easy as "dump it all in, wait two months, stabilize it, cold crash it, sweeten it, carb it"
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Sep 4, 2013 05:18
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Prefect Six posted:So cider - Personally I don't sulfite my fresh pressed juice since I'm pitching right away. I'd only use champagne yeast as a last resort since it will destroy every last bit of sugar. Any non-champagne wine yeast or beer yeast will work fine. You can add brown sugar for a little more body and darker color but I'd skip the white sugar. Adding some honey will make you a cyser which can be quite nice, and deceptively strong. I like to toss in some dates and raisins with my cysers too.
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Sep 4, 2013 05:21
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Tweek posted:
I've been working in a hospital sterile processing department part time, I'm halfway tempted to bring my equipment in on a weekend and run it through.
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Sep 4, 2013 05:30
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Daedalus Esquire posted:I've been working in a hospital sterile processing department part time, I'm halfway tempted to bring my equipment in on a weekend and run it through. That is 50% short of tempted enough. Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoeeeet Dye your brew light purple with berries and call it Hospital Scrubs.
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Sep 4, 2013 06:10
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Am I completely insane for wanting to brew an imperial stout and not doing it full all-grain? I am short on equipment and space at the moment.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:30
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Kaiho posted:Am I completely insane for wanting to brew an imperial stout and not doing it full all-grain? I am short on equipment and space at the moment.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:38
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Kaiho posted:Am I completely insane for wanting to brew an imperial stout and not doing it full all-grain? I am short on equipment and space at the moment. Are you talking partial-mash or extract and steeping grains? I don't know how well an extract + steeping grain batch would turn out but I made a pretty good partial mash RIS last year.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:58
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I would like to make a Tripel, ferment it with plain old Belgian tripel yeast, but then I would like to add oak cubes, chardonnay and Brett. Question is, will Chardonnay be enough to sanitize the oak or will I need to either toast it/soak it in vodka then add the chardonnay by itself? As for adding Brett, I'm assuming a packet will be enough if I use it for secondary?
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Sep 4, 2013 15:36
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Paladine_PSoT posted:Oh, I want to cold crash the yeast out of my mead before racking it onto some gelatin to pull out protein cloud. I don't, however, have access to a fridge or deep freeze that could do the trick for me. Anyone ever done it with ice? How long do I need to crash it? I'm cold crashing a gallon of mead in a 5gal brew bucket with water and ice bottles. I'll crash it til its clear.  My own mead updates! Strawberry Currant Hydromel - Gravity drop to 0.998 (~7.6%). I racked it to a new container and its already clearing wonderfully after 20 days. I think the pectic enzyme sitting in the Jam in the fridge for a couple weeks really gave it a head start, even though It didn't look like it did anything to the jam. I put sulfite and sorbate in to kill the yeast for back-sweetening (with strawberry juice). I'll then cold crash + bottle it some-time after that. 3 honey traditional: Cold crashing in a bucket now. Ready to bottle when it clears up. I have a boatload of meads I need to make and not enough carboys to make them. In line I have; 1 gallon spiced hydromel (repeat), 1 gallon maple cyser w/ pumpkin spice, and a mead for my wedding (3 Gallons meadowfoam bourbon vanilla mead). I still wanted to do a pumpkin mead on top of that but I just don't have the capacity, or the 
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Sep 4, 2013 15:45
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My favorite way to make hard cider is to buy cider, toss in WLP002 (low attenuation) and you're left with a little sweetness.
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Sep 4, 2013 15:56
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Kaiho posted:Am I completely insane for wanting to brew an imperial stout and not doing it full all-grain? I am short on equipment and space at the moment. Nope, not insane at all. RIS is an awesome style and you should brew one whenever you get the itch. My last RIS was effectively partial mash because it had so much candi syrup in it. In short, do it.
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Sep 4, 2013 15:57
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Midorka posted:I would like to make a Tripel, ferment it with plain old Belgian tripel yeast, but then I would like to add oak cubes, chardonnay and Brett. Question is, will Chardonnay be enough to sanitize the oak or will I need to either toast it/soak it in vodka then add the chardonnay by itself? As for adding Brett, I'm assuming a packet will be enough if I use it for secondary? I doubt it. It takes spoiled wine to make vinegar so I know for a fact that acetobacter can live in it. I'd boil the oak for 5-10 minutes to be safe.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:09
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Jo3sh posted:Nope, not insane at all. RIS is an awesome style and you should brew one whenever you get the itch. My last RIS was effectively partial mash because it had so much candi syrup in it. In short, do it. For what it's worth, an RIS was probably the best extract beer I ever made. It was something out of Papazian's book (Planet Stout or something like that, if you happen to have a copy). I actually think an imperial stout is a pretty good candidate for extract or partial mash, given the difficulty of cramming 1.100 or whatever worth of malt into a typical mash tun. It's not a style defined by delicate pilsner malt flavors or crazy 4-step mashes or anything that demands all-grain. Just remember to pitch a massive starter and go easy on the crystal malts since extract worts are often a bit less fermentable than all-grain. internet celebrity posted:I doubt it. It takes spoiled wine to make vinegar so I know for a fact that acetobacter can live in it. I'd boil the oak for 5-10 minutes to be safe. Boiling will also pre-extract some of the oak character, which you might actually want since otherwise it can get overwhelming in a hurry.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:17
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Marshmallow Blue posted:I'm cold crashing a gallon of mead in a 5gal brew bucket with water and ice bottles. I'll crash it til its clear. its been a while on blueberries, and they are juuuust barely turning white. my gravity is stable (12% abv or just under), and i have a very very deep purple/blue mead already. I'm thinking of chemically stopping the yeast and racking to a carboy i have yet to buy, then seeing how cold i can get it. Probably need to get 2-3lbs of light flavored honey (orange blossom?) to raise the sweetness to where i want it... ill mic it in when i rack it. other then that,i think im just waiting for it to clear. its pretty well degassed already (and im getting sick of churning the berry cap)
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Sep 4, 2013 16:21
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I'm about to pick up 10 gallons of cider this weekend. I'd like to do one 5gal bone-dry, sparkling cider, not sure where to go with the other one. Was planning on picking up a tube of WLP775 English Cider for the basic cider, haven't used this strain before. The other 5gal, I was considering maybe doing a sour cider, or a farmhouse cider? Any suggestions on yeast to use?
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Sep 4, 2013 16:29
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hellfaucet posted:I'm about to pick up 10 gallons of cider this weekend. I'd like to do one 5gal bone-dry, sparkling cider, not sure where to go with the other one. Was planning on picking up a tube of WLP775 English Cider for the basic cider, haven't used this strain before. The other 5gal, I was considering maybe doing a sour cider, or a farmhouse cider? Any suggestions on yeast to use? very highly dependent on what you want it to taste like, and your setup. are you prepared to backsweeten in a keg? carboy? what alcohol level do you want ?
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Sep 4, 2013 16:31
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Roundboy posted:very highly dependent on what you want it to taste like, and your setup. are you prepared to backsweeten in a keg? carboy? what alcohol level do you want ? I like dry ciders, but can also get down on a semi-sweet, I hate ciders like Woodchuck, too sweet. I have a ton of honey laying around waiting to turn into mead some day so I can use that if I need to backsweeten a bit, but I'd prefer to not use more cider later. I also have carboys aplenty, and I don't mind having them sit for extended periods of time. Looking for a cider anywhere between 5-7.5% ABV. e: Ok so doing a bit of Googling around, sanity check me on this idea: pitch a hefeweizen yeast to start and then pitch the Roeselare blend after a week or so and let it get funky hellfaucet fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 16:42
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Does anyone have experience storing wet hops? I ordered a pound of Simcoe from Hop Union and they arrived today, but I won't be able to brew with them until next Sunday at the earliest. Right now I'm just planning on vacuum sealing them and throwing them in the fridge, but any advice would be helpful.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:57
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Mikey Purp posted:Does anyone have experience storing wet hops? I ordered a pound of Simcoe from Hop Union and they arrived today, but I won't be able to brew with them until next Sunday at the earliest. Right now I'm just planning on vacuum sealing them and throwing them in the fridge, but any advice would be helpful. I've kept wet hops vacuum sealed and frozen and they made it at least 8+ months, could probably go longer. Smell them before using them; if they smell like year-old IPA, don't use them. If they smell good, godspeed. I'm also tempted to think that if there are any unbroken cell walls in the flowers, freezing could break them and help release the oils when it comes to brew time.
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Sep 4, 2013 17:05
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Midorka posted:chardonnay I'm sure you already know this, but I forgot when I made my Midas clone that the muscat concentrate I was adding had sulfites, which caused it to take forever to carbonate (in addition to a really strange fermentation) and the yeast at the bottom of the bottles had a really offputting taste/aroma (the beer came out great though). I don't know what the levels are in finished wine are if that's what you're using.
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Sep 4, 2013 17:48
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Daedalus Esquire posted:I've been working in a hospital sterile processing department part time, I'm halfway tempted to bring my equipment in on a weekend and run it through. Are glass carboys pyrex? Otherwise I don't think they would survive a trip through a steam autoclave. Plastic stuff definitely wouldn't. Use a Sterrad!
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Sep 4, 2013 19:40
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Thufir posted:Are glass carboys pyrex? Otherwise I don't think they would survive a trip through a steam autoclave. Plastic stuff definitely wouldn't. Pyrex Carboys oughta be a thing. 
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Sep 4, 2013 19:48
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Pyrex Carboys oughta be a thing. Yes, if only to be the ultimate waste of .Just buy a stainless steel conical for a similar price.
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Sep 4, 2013 19:55
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RagingBoner posted:Yes, if only to be the ultimate waste of They have stainless steel carboys:  They're pretty loving expensive and not worth it though. It seems to me that at that price you might as well just ferment in a quarter-barrel Sanke that can actually remain functional.
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Sep 4, 2013 20:07
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PYREX® 19L Solution Carboy with Tooled Neck and Graduations 
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Sep 4, 2013 20:08
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Thufir posted:Are glass carboys pyrex? Otherwise I don't think they would survive a trip through a steam autoclave. Plastic stuff definitely wouldn't. Yea I'd be nervous about putting any of my stuff in the autoclave, maybe I could do some stuff on a gravity cycle but prevac would probably destroy most brewing equipment. I'd have to take measurements, but I think I could probably fit a bucket or a Carboy into our Sterrad 200s. Maybe I'll give it a shot one weekend when I know someone cool is on the weekend shift. Honestly, it's not the sanitation that bugs me, it's the washing, and that still has to be done prior to sterilization.
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Sep 4, 2013 20:23
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Daedalus Esquire posted:Yea I'd be nervous about putting any of my stuff in the autoclave, maybe I could do some stuff on a gravity cycle but prevac would probably destroy most brewing equipment. I'd have to take measurements, but I think I could probably fit a bucket or a Carboy into our Sterrad 200s. Maybe I'll give it a shot one weekend when I know someone cool is on the weekend shift. Honestly, it's not the sanitation that bugs me, it's the washing, and that still has to be done prior to sterilization. Do you guys have a cart or instrument washer? I bet that would clean your stuff up pretty well.
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Sep 4, 2013 20:28
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Haha, I did not think of the cart washer! Honestly the only stuff I don't like cleaning are things with internal surfaces like siphons and whatnot. I could probably toss my kettle, buckets, chiller, etc in the cart washer however. The only other weird part would be walking through a hospital with a dirty 15 gallon pot and gross glass carboys.
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Sep 4, 2013 20:35
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Daedalus Esquire posted:The only other weird part would be walking through a hospital with a dirty 15 gallon pot and gross glass carboys. Prior to heading to the hospital, fill your carboy up with water and dump a dishwasher tab or some oxyclean and be less embarrassed about how you keep your equipment. Even if it doesn't take it to, "clean" it should at least take it from, "gross" to, "stubborn". You take it to the cart washer for straggly bits and to put the "shine" on it. Do you not wash your hands before you go to the manicurist? Do you not throw out at least a couple of accumulated fast-food bags before taking your car to the auto-mechanic? Were you really going to take it to this public machine without a preliminary cleaning to take it from, "gross" to, "presentable"? I am really, truly sorry if I am coming off as a dick. I am in many ways no saint to sanitation, and I may well be completely misreading details. Even if I'm not, You Do You. The whole idea of letting the public see any of my equipment while it can still be considered, "filthy" though just strikes me as passing by the FOH without minimum flipping your apron to the less-dirty side as a matter or course. Regardless, I bet your carboys will look cool-as-poo poo going through that machine which I now realize mid-sentence is probably not see-through.  ,Balls.
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Sep 4, 2013 22:01
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fullroundaction posted:I'm sure you already know this, but I forgot when I made my Midas clone that the muscat concentrate I was adding had sulfites, which caused it to take forever to carbonate (in addition to a really strange fermentation) and the yeast at the bottom of the bottles had a really offputting taste/aroma (the beer came out great though). Thanks for the tip, I hadn't even thought about the sulfites. I'll get a sulfite free wine. I guess I'll just dump a 750ml of it in directly with the cubes (once sanitized) and the Brett Brux.
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Sep 4, 2013 23:01
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| # ? May 29, 2024 13:07 |
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Always enjoyed the idea of homebrew and just had fun setting this guy up: A couple of things went awry, and I wanted to know what y'all thought about them: 1. I forgot to add the honey and sugar until after I chilled the boil down to 70° and pitched the yeast, so I skimmed ~3 cups off, heated it up in a microwave, and dissolved as much as I could, but the rock candy sugar was still mostly undissolved. Should I add fine sugar or honey if it stops bubbling early? 2. I stuck the blow-off tube too far in, and a lot of yeasty foam blew out overnight. Should I take the tube off and sanitize it or leave it, since it's not really taking anything in from the outside world? 3. I'm planning on bottling in these bottles, since it's the only thing I enjoy in easily-resealed bottles. Any problem with bottling in 750 ml bottles, besides them going flat quickly?  Thanks!
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Sep 5, 2013 03:25
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