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Ghostnuke posted:I've got a recipe that calls for 20 oz of C15, but haven't had any luck finding it anywhere. What would be a good substitute? Any caramel or crystal malt of about that color. C20 will probably be easiest to find. You might also see C10. C20 is a slightly darker color, C10 is a little paler. In fact, if you see both of those, you could do 10 ounces of each. gently caress, beaten.
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Feb 21, 2017 17:13
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I'm thinking of slowly trying to build a keezer system. Ideally just buying parts here and there as I find them on sale or on craigslist so that I can build it on the cheap. With that said are there any parts I shouldn't buy used? From the research I've done so far I'm looking to get Perlick taps, a inkbird for temperature control, and ball lock corny kegs. Was also trying to find something to upgrade from my CoolBrew bag, which is great, but with summer coming up I want something more set and forget. Has anyone ever found a mini fridge that fits those taller 6 gallon big mouth bubbler fermentors? They seem just a bit to tall with an airlock, and I havent been able to find anything besides a full size fridge that will fit them. This drat hobby takes up to much space!
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Feb 22, 2017 15:55
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Keep your eyes on homebrewfinds.com. Buy used, if you can. Good faucets are usually worth the money. Buy your tubing by the reel and keep the extra - you're going to use it eventually. Ball Lock disconnects can degrade over time, so those might be worth buying new. All said and done though, my keezer was over $600 with kegs involved, even with a free CO2 tank and regulator. The gas manifold was fairly expensive, for one.
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Feb 22, 2017 17:31
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Get a gas regulator with at least two pressure settings. You can always buy a secondary that pushes two or more pressures later on, but it's much cheaper if you just go ahead and get the two pressure primary first.
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Feb 22, 2017 18:38
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robotsinmyhead posted:Keep your eyes on homebrewfinds.com. Buy used, if you can. Good faucets are usually worth the money. Buy your tubing by the reel and keep the extra - you're going to use it eventually. In terms of  cost, $600 isn't the worst. It's still a solid chunk, but I spent more than that on seemless kettles with ball valves and screens. Mostly because I don't now, and never will weld things. So the cost of paying someone else to do it for me.Kegging is my next step too. I'll still end up bottling some things, but for regular clean beer, I really would like to keg too. Is there any reason to not just use sanke 1/6? They seem like they're just as much of a pain to clean, but have fewer places to worry about. Yes, I realize they are more expensive, but are there any reasons to not use them that aren't cost related?
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Feb 22, 2017 18:42
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Jhet posted:In terms of When cleaning multiple kegs you are going to want it to be as easy as possible. Trust me. My keezer set up was about a grand total.
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Feb 22, 2017 18:57
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Errant Gin Monks posted:When cleaning multiple kegs you are going to want it to be as easy as possible. Trust me. That's my thought. And there's a tool for removing the spring that makes it look super easy to at least take the post out for cleaning. After that won't the process be about the same for cleaning? Wash with Oxy/PBW, sanitize, reassemble?
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Feb 22, 2017 19:05
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Errant Gin Monks posted:When cleaning multiple kegs you are going to want it to be as easy as possible. Trust me. I found that keg and carboy washer you see sometimes on homebrewfinds to be very helpful. It would be easy to build your own with a decent-sized submersible fountain pump and a bucket.
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Feb 22, 2017 19:14
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robotsinmyhead posted:Keep your eyes on homebrewfinds.com. Buy used, if you can. Good faucets are usually worth the money. Buy your tubing by the reel and keep the extra - you're going to use it eventually. Thanks for the link! I'll keep checking that site and hope to find something good. LaserWash posted:Get a gas regulator with at least two pressure settings. You can always buy a secondary that pushes two or more pressures later on, but it's much cheaper if you just go ahead and get the two pressure primary first. I'll add that to the list. Seems like those are pricey, but I'm hoping to do this slowly on the cheap. Hopefully I can find one cheap. Errant Gin Monks posted:When cleaning multiple kegs you are going to want it to be as easy as possible. Trust me. Ouch. Not looking to spend a grand, but hopefully if I can pick up pieces slowly I can come in around $600 or so.
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Feb 22, 2017 20:32
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BaseballPCHiker posted:Ouch. Not looking to spend a grand, but hopefully if I can pick up pieces slowly I can come in around $600 or so. I put mine together slowly, so I don't have a good idea of how much I have spent on it all told, but I know individual outlays were pretty reasonable. You can garage-sale a fridge or freezer, for example (my serving fridge was my parents' old kitchen fridge until they upgraded, so cost me $0). And you don't have to buy faucets right away if you're willing to go to the trouble of opening the door and grabbing a picnic faucet to pour a glass.Slightly inconvenient, but you may be able to spread out the expenditures, anyway.
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Feb 22, 2017 20:59
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BaseballPCHiker posted:Thanks for the link! I'll keep checking that site and hope to find something good. I jammed mine together quickly. But freezer, 3 kegs, co2 bottle, regulatory, distributer, controller, fan, wood for framing, perlicks, gas and tap ball locks, gas and beer tubing and custom tap handles add up quick.  That's mine I posted from a few months vack. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 23:08
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I got lucky with my kegarator and found a used premade one for 140$ on Craigslist. It is one of the kegco ones they sell at home depot or where ever. It came with a free CO2 tank and an empty keg of Budweiser... I later upgraded it with a stainless double tap perlick tower and spent more doing that than the kegarator was. It is at my rehearsal space now. I later built a second one for my house that I mostly use for keg conditioning beer. It is an upright fridge that was free. I have a four way gas distributor and a single perlick tap on it. My advice is buy the pieces from ritebrew and don't cheap out on the taps. The 45$ perlick is really 35$ better than the cheapo chromed ones. They clean and pour much better. It's better to have less taps and have them clean. Now I'm looking at the fancy schmancy micromatic rototap because it supposedly awesome for high carbonation beers but it is so much more expensive that it's a hard sell. http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...xV5_RoCMAPw_wcB
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Feb 23, 2017 00:28
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I'm getting ready to buy a 3D printer, I think. Once I get it up and running well, I'm going to try to print some neato faucet handles. In my setup, I have somewhat limited vertical space, but any ideas you'd like to see? Bear in mind, they will be plastic, and one color.
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Feb 23, 2017 01:07
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There's a lot you could do with a 3D printer, but I think your tap handles should reflect your beer in some way. This is the handle we use the "Count Drunkula" sweet stout.
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Feb 23, 2017 01:20
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Jo3sh posted:I'm getting ready to buy a 3D printer, I think. Once I get it up and running well, I'm going to try to print some neato faucet handles. In my setup, I have somewhat limited vertical space, but any ideas you'd like to see? Bear in mind, they will be plastic, and one color. It almost doesn't matter as it won't be as awesome as the goon with dildoes for tap handles. Joking aside, I would think about doing letters or something that would be easy to identify your beer with. And then maybe give your regular taps a symbol or some sort of design? I don't know, I like wood tap handles and would probably do something with a bit of a knob on the top to be easier to pull.
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Feb 23, 2017 01:32
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I found some Stone Vertical Epic '06 in a box today. Head dissipates quickly. The beer is a dark brown color, not very clear. Mild carbonation. Rum-raisin aroma. Light body for an 8.66% beer. Raisinets with a little clove added. Packaged well, as no oxidation problem or other off-flavors. It's been ten years or so since I had this beer, but it's close to what I remember, if a little softer.
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Feb 23, 2017 02:14
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Jhet posted:It almost doesn't matter as it won't be as awesome as the goon with dildoes for tap handles. Well, I can't be awesome in quite that same direction, anyway. Maybe I can make one from clear plastic with a battery holder and some blinky lights, though. quote:Joking aside, I would think about doing letters or something that would be easy to identify your beer with. And then maybe give your regular taps a symbol or some sort of design? I don't know, I like wood tap handles and would probably do something with a bit of a knob on the top to be easier to pull. That's actually a pretty good idea. Maybe I'll try something for the Colt .177 made out of a stack of blocky letters or something. Other taps, I can come up with some sort of symbol or logo for my home brewery. I guess I'll have to choose a name. Bunny ears for the Conejo Valley, maybe?
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Feb 23, 2017 02:19
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Some great news and some... implementation difficulties. I got ahold of a very cheap mini fridge. It's the glass front type like they keep cans of soda in at a bar. Two issues: 1) I would like to set it up on my patio but it gets below fermentation temps at night so the thing would get too cold. I have an aquarium heater but those just work in water right? Could I put a jug of water or something in there and stick the heater in and hope it keeps it warm enough? If this is a total no go I could put it inside. 2) The thermostat only goes up to 61 degrees. Great for lagers, not so much for much of anything else. Is there a cheap and easy way to trick it into keeping itself at higher temps? Do I need to replace the thermostat? Does that involve soldering and stuff? Edit: Would this do what I'm looking for? http://a.co/iiRzdcn Is it as easy as plugging the fridge into the "cool" plug, a heat source (recommendations?) into the "hot" and setting the temp? Fork of Unknown Origins fucked around with this message at 08:51 on Feb 23, 2017 |
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Feb 23, 2017 08:42
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Some great news and some... implementation difficulties. 3) you might need to protect your fermenter from light since it has the glass front and is on your patio (which I'm assuming gets some sun). It doesn't have to be like a darkroom or anything, but as dim as you can manage. I've wrapped mine in a thick towel (also helps insulate) and left it on my kitchen counter, which doesn't get direct sun. For 1), I heat my fermenter with an aquarium heater that's actually immersed in the wort/beer, just ran the cord through a bung in the top. This has its advantages and disadvantages, has worked fine for me for 10+ brews. This heater was never used for anything other than brewing though, I'd be a bit wary of a random used one that had been in a fishtank, Star San or no. I would like to move away from this now that I have a proper fermentation chamber (upright freezer), into something that heats the whole space. The cheap way of doing this is an inefficient lightbulb (again, remember to make sure your beer isn't going to exposed to this light) hooked up to the temperature controller's "heat" outlet. People use things like a heat belt/pad designed for beer, or a reptile heat lamp/heat wire. For 2), yep, Inkbird is the way to go. Be sure the temp probe gets taped to the side of the fermenter and insulated, otherwise it'll tend to overshoot. Also, set the compressor delay to max (10') or it will shorten the lifespan of the fridge by power cycling it too often.
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Feb 23, 2017 10:28
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If I built my keezer again, I would offset my taps - right side instead of centered. The right side of the bottom of the keezer has a hump where the motor/compressor is, and my gas bottle fits in there nicely. I can get another keg in that spot as well, if I need to. The problem is, with the taps in the middle, when I load a keg into the keezer (or god forbid, have to swamp out spilled beer), I can BARELY reach over the collar. Loading kegs becomes this zen art of lifting, steering through tubing, and not banging into the tap shanks. I may actually rebuild the collar in the future for this reason and some aesthetics. Anyway, it's worth postulating when you get all your stuff together. Don't just center the taps on principal.
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Feb 23, 2017 16:28
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I use this to heat my fermenter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XDTWN2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1 It's worked well for me over the years.
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Feb 23, 2017 16:44
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I'm planning on putting some styrofoam or something on the glass front anyway to insulate the fridge so light won't be a problem. Sticking the aquarium heater in the wort itself scares me a bit so I think I'll get that ceramic heater.
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Feb 23, 2017 17:38
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Going to be doing my first ever kegging of my homebrew soon, definitely need some pointers on carbonation and what not. From all the research I've done, I'm going to siphon into the keg, close it up and crank the PSI to 30 or so, let it sit for 48 hours in the fridge (kegerator in my case) and then lower PSI to whatever CO2 fits the style (this is a hefeweizen, so I'm shooting for 3 units), and then pour. This sound reasonable? Any pointers/gotchas are most appreciated.
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Feb 24, 2017 01:26
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Read the OP for a surefire force-carbonation method.
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Feb 24, 2017 01:45
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j3rkstore posted:Read the OP for a surefire force-carbonation method. Ahh that looks easy enough, thanks! I should have scrolled more on that OP. 
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Feb 24, 2017 01:54
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There are mixed opinions out there on if the shake method has any negative effect on the beer or not. The "Pope of Foam" Dr. Charlie Bamforth is of the opinion that it has a negative effect because certain proteins in the beer degrade after they have been foamed and while it doesn't really effect the taste of the beer, supposedly it affects the foam quality and head retention of the beer. I used to shake every keg and the last two I did I just did the high pressure then back down to 10 psi and wait method. I have no real evidence of this, but I do feel like the foam quality is nicer and the head retention maaaaay be slightly better, but it's hard to compare anything when I pretty much never brew the same beer so I don't have a baseline for comparison. The experimental brewing guys have a experiment they're starting to test some of this stuff so I'm curious to see their results.
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Feb 24, 2017 04:48
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I tend to just hook my kegs up at serving pressure and wait. It takes longer, but it's super easy.
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Feb 24, 2017 04:58
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I do 40psi (max out my regulator) for 36-40hrs. If it comes out overcarbed, I just vent the keg a couple of times. If it's under, I set it on 10psi for another day and it's fine. Overcarbing and Undercarbing are both easy fixes. I think people run into trouble when they're actually chasing line balancing issues like too high/low serving pressure.
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Feb 24, 2017 13:57
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D-D-D-DOUBLE POST Got a pic of my NEIPA after it's settled down in the keg (I shortened my lines and had to dial it all in again). It's a bit over-bittered like I figured, and I think it'd really benefit from some fresher hops, but it's fantastic. Nice and cloudy, a bit of orange color from the Melanoiden, great head retention and lacing. 
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Feb 25, 2017 03:06
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Looks amazing. What was the recipe? I think my next brew will be something like that.
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Feb 25, 2017 03:22
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ChiTownEddie posted:Looks amazing. What was the recipe? I think my next brew will be something like that. 5 Gallons FERMENTABLES: 6.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (68.4%) 2 lb - Flaked Corn (21.1%) -- (I USED CORN MASA INSTEAD OF FLAKED CORN. THERE IS NO FERMENTABLE FOR THIS IN BF AND IT PRODUCES SOME INACCURACIES) 1 lb - German - Melanoidin (10.5%) Calculated at ~98IBU, 5.8%ABV HOPS: 1 oz - Super Pride, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil for 55 min -- (THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FWH, NOT 60MIN) 1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 180F, IBU: 23.42 2.65 oz - Apollo, Type: Pellet, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 180F -- (THIS APOLLO WAS NOT THE 17%+, IT WAS AROUND 12% - finished the bag, hence the weird amount) 0.5 oz - Super Pride, Use: Whirlpool for 0min at 180F 2 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 3 days 1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Dry Hop for 3 days London Ale WLP013 --- Doing this again, I would very much recalc all my hop additions and pick some different varieties. I used corn masa instead of oats for funsies, and it worked out really well. I'd also think about a different yeast like Conan or Vermont Ale from TYB. Really I just based the recipe off this and made my adjustments. TMF does great stuff and is much more serious about their process, if that's your bag. robotsinmyhead fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Feb 25, 2017 |
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Feb 25, 2017 03:39
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I think I have been #4 picked out. I wanted to do a cherry beer and this seems to fit the bill. 10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 7 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1.50 oz US Hallertau Pellets [4.6%] - Boil 60 min Hops 16.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 60 min) Misc 1.00 oz US Tettnang [6.3%] - Boil 15 min Hops 2 pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) Yeast 6 lbs 6.40 oz Fruit - Cherry Sweet (0.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 oz Cherry Extract (Bottling 5 min) Misc That recipe is for 10 gallons and I'll be halving it. One thing though, it says to put the cherries in for secondary. I don't plan on doing a secondary fermentation (although I could if I needed to, I've read it doesn't make a noticeable difference and the risk of a transfer outweighs any benefit) so do I just put them in after airlock activity stops? How long do you usually let it sit with the cherries? 2 weeks sounds about right (after 1-2 weeks of primary fermentation) but I'm not sure. Also with an OG of 1.059 and a FG of 1.012 is a starter going to be necessary? I'm leaning toward making one but it'd be real convenient not to. Source: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/14589/brians-cherry-wheat-all-grain-10-gallon
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Feb 25, 2017 07:11
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:I think I have been #4 picked out. I wanted to do a cherry beer and this seems to fit the bill. Adding cherries to the beer will inherently add sugar via fructose. Yeast can eat that. If you don't secondary that sugar out, it will change the FG of the beer. Bottling that beer with gently caress with your priming sugar calculations and possible cause some gushers/bottle bombs and/or make the beer unbalanced from residual sweetness. Standard practice is to add the cherries after primary fermentation is complete and let the yeast eat the sugar from the cherries for "a while" - you'll have to either just let it set for a couple weeks or do active monitoring with a hydrometer.
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Feb 25, 2017 15:15
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Right, but there's no reason I can't do that in the same physical bucket as I do the primary in, right?
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Feb 25, 2017 17:41
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Right, but there's no reason I can't do that in the same physical bucket as I do the primary in, right? No. However, getting your beer off the trub from the primary could help immensely with clarity, if you're concerned about that.
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Feb 25, 2017 17:44
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robotsinmyhead posted:No. However, getting your beer off the trub from the primary could help immensely with clarity, if you're concerned about that. Meh. I see people say this all the time, but it's not a big deal. Cold crash and use gelatine, they come out clear as can be.
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Feb 25, 2017 20:15
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Ghostnuke posted:Meh. I see people say this all the time, but it's not a big deal. Cold crash and use gelatine, they come out clear as can be. I do both and notice a difference when I do a "settling secondary". Mostly because I rarely siphon beers from vessel to vessel if I can avoid it which agitates the trub and puts it into suspension.
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Feb 25, 2017 21:40
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robotsinmyhead posted:I do both and notice a difference when I do a "settling secondary". Mostly because I rarely siphon beers from vessel to vessel if I can avoid it which agitates the trub and puts it into suspension. Clarity isn't super important to me (especially for a wheat beer which is supposed to be a little cloudy) and transferring to secondary would mean going from my big mouth bubbler to a bucket so I think I'll skip it on this one, dump the cherries in the fermenter after fermentation stops (1-2 weeks) and then give it another 2 weeks with the cherries.
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Feb 25, 2017 21:49
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All my big fermentors are full so I decided to make a lazy day, whatever I had on hand mead in my 1 gallon fermentor. 2 pounds of wildflower honey with 1/2 oz of juniper berries and 3 oz of blackberries thrown in. Pitched with a 1/2 packet of Danstar nottingham yeast that I had on hand. Right now it's a beautiful pink/purple cloudy color. Excited to see how it comes out, I've never had mead so I don't even really know what to expect taste wise.
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Feb 26, 2017 01:24
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BaseballPCHiker posted:All my big fermentors are full so I decided to make a lazy day, whatever I had on hand mead in my 1 gallon fermentor. 2 pounds of wildflower honey with 1/2 oz of juniper berries and 3 oz of blackberries thrown in. Pitched with a 1/2 packet of Danstar nottingham yeast that I had on hand. Right now it's a beautiful pink/purple cloudy color. Excited to see how it comes out, I've never had mead so I don't even really know what to expect taste wise. Hah, I did that about 2 weeks ago because I found some honey in my cupboard. Just went with straight wildflower honey. It was fermenting along quite vigorously for a week or so and there were nutrients added at the beginning and 1/3 fermented, so it should be starting to drop clear by the middle of March. No sulfur or off flavors yet, so I'm not sure if it'll need to sit and age at all. The tiny sample I pulled just tasted of honey and yeast. I'll be bottling my bohemian lager this week and brewing a vienna (and only vienna malt) lager this week. That and 8 gallons of Gose with juniper, salt, and coriander. Not enough brewing in the last couple weeks, most of my fermenters are empty.
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Feb 26, 2017 03:48
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