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gwrtheyrn posted:Looking to start brewing again after moving. My new place doesn't have a convenient place for me to hook up my immersion chiller--the kitchen faucets are all pulldowns, so I'd basically have to go outside and no thanks. Replacing one of the faucets is...well I'll do it if I have do but I'd rather not, so I'm looking at maybe doing a submersible pump, that way I can also recirculate iced water once I'm down around 100F to get the last bit done faster. Something like the 400GPM model for this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UXBGTI/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_DupVxbFYVEHY1?th=1 looks like it'd be about 2GPM at a ~4ft rise, which is not necessarily relevant since it'll be pumping back to the same elevation eventually, and I would just need a threaded adapter to connect the hose thread. Anyone else do this, and does that seem about right? You could also tee off the cold water supply to the kitchen sink or whatever and attach a garden hose connector.
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May 9, 2022 15:25
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more falafel please posted:You could also tee off the cold water supply to the kitchen sink or whatever and attach a garden hose connector. Yeah I could, but hooking it up under the cabinet each time would be a pain, and if the connection leaked because I didn't tighten it quite enough, then it'd leak into my cabinetry instead of down the sink
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May 9, 2022 16:11
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I almost bought an anvil pump but with it not being able to self prime to 'suck' from a cooler I'm thinking a submersible in a bucket of ice /.cooler is a better idea.
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May 9, 2022 16:53
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I've always just added a T to the cold water supply to the washing machine. It's already garden-hose sized and the T has a nice valve.
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May 9, 2022 17:28
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My basement would suck to deal with all that. I'd rather chill where.i brew so in summer.yhsts outside with a hose .. in winter though I'm usually inside so cooler with ice water is my plan.
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May 9, 2022 21:00
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Nice piece of fish posted:
Beautiful, sounds lovely, what sort of quantities did you use for those spices?
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May 10, 2022 10:33
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tinned owl posted:Beautiful, sounds lovely, what sort of quantities did you use for those spices? Literally the recipe off CS Mead: Ingredients: 3.5 lbs Orange Blossom Honey Sweet Squeeze 2 Cloves 1 Cinnamon Stick 6 Allspice Berries 30 Raisins Chopped 1 Cup Black Tea 1 Teaspoon Orange Zest 1/2 Teaspoon Yeast Hulls 1 Packet of Lalvin 71B Water to fill to 1 Gallon Except I swapped out the honey for a norwegian type honey, fruity and with some heather. So I used more orange zest to compensate. Didn't use yeast hulls, used other brew nutrients. Month primary, two months secondary, fridged for over a week before bottling. https://youtu.be/oYUzoFc5Pck I believe them when they say this is one of their best recipes, it was great straight from bottling with no aging, confirmed by a panel of random tasters.
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May 10, 2022 11:45
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Oh yeah, I was thinking of fermenting in kegs since I now have spare 5gal kegs because I don't brew that much at a time. I'm seeing that floating dip tubes are a thing, which seems more ideal to me than cutting the metal dip tube. Then, I'd probably want some sort of spunding valve because why not, and then a a tube+fittings to do pressure transfers. I suppose the transfer tube and dip tube modifications are probably not required if I just do a normal siphon transfer? My main reasons for this would be being able to ferment under pressure and that kegs fit in the bottom of my minifridge while buckets don't.
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May 10, 2022 22:28
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gwrtheyrn posted:Oh yeah, I was thinking of fermenting in kegs since I now have spare 5gal kegs because I don't brew that much at a time. I'm seeing that floating dip tubes are a thing, which seems more ideal to me than cutting the metal dip tube. Then, I'd probably want some sort of spunding valve because why not, and then a a tube+fittings to do pressure transfers. I suppose the transfer tube and dip tube modifications are probably not required if I just do a normal siphon transfer? My main reasons for this would be being able to ferment under pressure and that kegs fit in the bottom of my minifridge while buckets don't. You'd still want to pull the liquid out dip tube or trim it. It will get clogged otherwise and be a location of issue for infection. If you do end up doing closed transfers, they're really great and you can use either a trimmed tube or a floating tube. There are cheap spunding options now with the KegLand Duotight stuff. Super easy to make and there are probably kit options for them now too. If not, homebrewfinds.com has pages of how to put them together to take out the guessing. It makes it really easy to ferment under pressure, dry hop under pressure, and then have a clean transfer and nail your carbonation target. If you do ferment under pressure, you can't siphon transfer without making a mess and taking out a ton of CO2.
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May 10, 2022 23:14
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Jhet posted:You'd still want to pull the liquid out dip tube or trim it. It will get clogged otherwise and be a location of issue for infection. If you do end up doing closed transfers, they're really great and you can use either a trimmed tube or a floating tube. Why would it be an issue if it's not being used for the transfer? The tube is still sitting in the wort above the trub anyways, and if you open the keg to siphon transfer, then it doesn't matter if the tube is clogged as long as you remember to clean it. Either way, sounds like a floating tube is the way to go for me. quote:If you do ferment under pressure, you can't siphon transfer without making a mess and taking out a ton of CO2.
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May 10, 2022 23:30
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gwrtheyrn posted:Why would it be an issue if it's not being used for the transfer? The tube is still sitting in the wort above the trub anyways, and if you open the keg to siphon transfer, then it doesn't matter if the tube is clogged as long as you remember to clean it. Either way, sounds like a floating tube is the way to go for me. The normal length dip tubes will not be sitting above the trub. They will be sitting in it. It's why people trim them. They're designed to be as close to the base as possible to pull up as much liquid as possible. I forgot to trim it the first batch I did this, it made a giant mess and kept getting stuck. Floating tubes will avoid the problems of it sitting in the trub, but if you dry hop heavily you'll want to cold crash for a couple days to make sure it's not floating and clogging up the filter on the float. If you're siphon transferring, just remove the whole tube for your fermentation and keep the pressure to a minimum. Higher pressure will foam up on you. Even releasing pressure won't get all the dissolved CO2 out of the solution and it'll still foam.
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May 10, 2022 23:49
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gwrtheyrn posted:Does slowly releasing pressure via PRV before opening not work? Obviously you lose the CO2, but does it cause the foam to expand and overflow or something? It's basically half carbonated so it's going to keep bubbling away for a long long time. I've had a couple issues trying to dryhop stuff that was under pressure for only 3 days. Seconds 1-5 ooh that smells great. 6-10 oh no oh no. 11+ mentos and coke but beer edition. Now I either airlock or max 2psi till dry hops are done then turn it up. No amount of purging before hand helped. Floating dip tubes with this setup is great though. It ends with clogging and issues instead of starting that way.
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May 11, 2022 01:24
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Jhet posted:The normal length dip tubes will not be sitting above the trub. honda whisperer posted:Now I either airlock or max 2psi till dry hops are done then turn it up. Makes sense. We'll see, the stuff I was going to order is out of stock from the vendor I was looking at, so I'll probably just do a normal bucket ferment right now since it's not so warm that I need any sort of temp control
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May 11, 2022 01:29
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gwrtheyrn posted:I was mostly wondering why this is an infection risk given that the tube will still be there if it's shortened, and if you're not cleaning/sanitizing it, you're screwed either way. Easy to get stuff stuck in the tube, and people are not always the best and taking things apart or running hot caustic at this scale. You’re right about being screwed either way, but the yeast and hops don’t stick as bad if it’s not sitting right inside it. I will normally dry hop 2-4oz and took off 3/8” I think. Nothing even gets into the dip tube now and I don’t really lose volume this way. I wish I had a second tube for batches without dry hops, but a floating dip tube would work great for that.
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May 11, 2022 02:42
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Last weekend I restarted home brewing cider after a several year homebrew hiatus. After cleaning it out I filled up a 5gal carboy with about 4.25gal apple juice and a packet of yeast and topped it off with an airlock. I loosely followed a recipe I saw online and also added ~.8lbs of sugar on top of the sugars already in the juice figuring I can punch up the ABV a little. The recommendation was 1lb of sugar per gallon of juice, but I ran out and called it good at that. I probably should have skipped that part because it's been awhile since I've brewed and shouldn't experiment until I get the hang of it again. The initial ferment didn't get going until four days after I started it. Probably the longest it's ever been for me. Normally I see signs of fermentation the next day if not the following day. On the third day I brought up the carboy from the basement into the house because I figured the cold might have slowed down or killed the yeast and gave it a good stir. Regardless of whether stirring it; bringing it from the basement where the ambient air temp is 58F to a room at 67F; or the yeast just needed a sec to start chomping through the added sugars- it is going absolutely bonkers now. The airlock is popping up every second or so right now. In about a week or so when the airlock bubbles slow down will I want to put it back into the basement?
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May 23, 2022 06:55
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It all depends on the yeast you’re using. Lager yeasts operate in the 50-58F range usually. Most others operate best between 65-75F. This is a rough generalization though, it really depends on the yeast you’re using. Do you by any chance know which one you used?
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May 23, 2022 07:06
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I actually do remember the name, "Mangrove Jack's Cider Yeast" stood out as kind of gimmicky when I got it. Reading the manufacturer's website it looks like I'm in the clear with ideal fermenting temperatures being between 64F and 75F. Thanks for inceptioning the idea to look on their website. I am basically winging it as I go.
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May 23, 2022 07:17
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frogge posted:I actually do remember the name, "Mangrove Jack's Cider Yeast" stood out as kind of gimmicky when I got it. Reading the manufacturer's website it looks like I'm in the clear with ideal fermenting temperatures being between 64F and 75F. Thanks for inceptioning the idea to look on their website. I am basically winging it as I go. I’m fairly new to this as well and the thread helped me with some great advice early on. Happy I can repay the favor! I too had some temp issues in the past so this was fairly recognizable.
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May 23, 2022 07:51
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Right on. Yeah I suppose this means that when I get into the next phase I'll just sort of leave the carboy where it's at. Luckily I've got blackout curtains on the window in that room. It really smells like a brewery in there now.
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May 23, 2022 23:34
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frogge posted:In about a week or so when the airlock bubbles slow down will I want to put it back into the basement? You can absolutely put it back in the cold basement once it's completely done fermenting if you want it to clear up nicely. It's like a cold-adjacent crash. Takes longer than putting it in a fridge, but easier on the space.
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May 23, 2022 23:38
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I need some input from someone with higher levels of kegging/service knowledge. I've had a kegerator for a long time now and I also have a 2-tap and 4-tap jockey box for service at festivals but I am having constant issues with it/them. Last weekend, we poured at a beer and wine festival. I made 2 identical kettle sour base beers and them finished them with different juices and flavorings. The first was a Pineapple Habanero (slays) and the 2nd was a Strawberry + Black Cherry Hibiscus. These were nearly identically burst carbed, served in similar kegs, on the same gas supply, and into my 2-tap box. It wasn't a particularly hot day, the kegs were on ice, the jockey box was properly chilled, etc. The PH poured amazingly all day, not a single hiccup and the SBCH was a loving disaster - constant foaming issues, chugging, and even with the foaming, coming out like it was partially degassed (less than ideal carb). I dumped so much of it out and made approximately 60000 pressure adjustments trying a solution. My general go-to is 15-16psi, and I went as high as upper 20s, and also down to the point where it wouldn't pour (10ish). The Pineapple Habanero didn't care and poured regardless and I got maybe 5 legitimately good pours from the other one all day. I'm at a loss explaining why this is happening and why I've had similar issues with this beer before and only this beer.
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May 24, 2022 18:56
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How do you add the strawberry flavor? Could you have strawberry seeds getting clogged in parts of the keg or line and causing nucleation points? If you have problems in the future like that try swapping the beer lines between the two kegs. If it follows the line you know it's something with that line or faucet. If it doesn't follow the line you know it's something with the beer or keg.
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May 24, 2022 20:03
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It was a concentrate, no seeds and unfortunately I thought of the swap too late to try it. It was a pretty frustrating day.
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May 24, 2022 21:02
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Tried one of the stouts I bottled around Christmas last year. It's not bad! I'd tried a one a month and two months after bottling and they had barely carbonated. I assumed the batch lost but had the space and let it ride. I'm glad I did. Any bottled stout enthusiasts with an opinion on how long to wait before trying another? Is there an upper limit where it starts to fall off? Definitely still a little sharp ATM. Also 2nd year back yard hops are going ham. 
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Jun 7, 2022 00:36
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honda whisperer posted:Tried one of the stouts I bottled around Christmas last year. It's not bad! I'd tried a one a month and two months after bottling and they had barely carbonated. I assumed the batch lost but had the space and let it ride. I'm glad I did. Depends on the recipe, but I’d wager after about a year for the weaker stuff, 15-18 months for export level and for strong imperial stouts anywhere from 3-9 years.
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Jun 7, 2022 00:59
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8.5% all said and done. I don't know where that lands me in that range. It's an old Rasputin clone. https://www.morebeer.com/products/rasputin-clone-bearded-stout-grain.html That's a lot longer than I would have guessed. Looks like a brew once a year thing, add labels, and wait.
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Jun 7, 2022 01:46
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honda whisperer posted:8.5% all said and done. I don't know where that lands me in that range. It's an old Rasputin clone. A big export or small imperial at 8.5%. I’d expect it will still be good after 2-3 years. Hard to predict the peak point of it. More hops will lend toward a longer span for me. I do mine at about 11% and a ton of hops and normally it’s gone before 3-4 years. Years 2-3 are really nice. The oldest thing I have left is a 14% Quadrupel that’s now 7 years old and now past it’s prime. I should finish them off but there are only two bottles left and why not see how they drop off?
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Jun 7, 2022 01:52
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I did the bells expedition Stout and it STARTED being good at 1 year. Prior to that it was (hard to describe but like harsh or 'hard').
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Jun 7, 2022 02:24
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I have never had a stout that tastes bad taste good with age. It might taste a bit less bad, but I don't drink slightly bad beer.
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Jun 7, 2022 04:57
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Oh no don't get me wrong it was good at 6 months. But after hanging out for about a year it was very very tasty instead of regular tasty.
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Jun 7, 2022 05:21
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Decided to break in my new fermentation station with twins - two bastard Belgian PAs/hoppy saisons with the same malt split at the boil using different single hops. The malt bill was 89% pilsner, 8% caramunich, and 3% biscuit malt. Both boiled for 60 minutes with a 60-minute hop addition scaled to hit 20 IBUs, and both had a 10-minute addition scaled to hit 10 IBUs for 30 IBUs total. One was hopped with HBC 431 and the other with HBC 586. Yeast was OYL-042 saison yeast (Blaugies) Mash looking like yoo-hoo  In the fermenter  New fermentation station (probe sanitized and inserted into the right bucket after this picture was taken)  Pitched at 67F and going to let it rise to 72F but keep it there in the hopes of keeping the yeast phenols slightly in check. Not sure yet whether I want to dry hops or not.
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Jun 12, 2022 06:39
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Are you doing an open fermentation for that one, or is it cooling down in the last picture?
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Jun 15, 2022 17:35
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I've been open fermenting all of my beers (at least for the first ~3-4 days). It started because the only minifridge I had access to for fermentation temperature control initially couldn't fit the fermenter + airlock; now I figure, why not, plus I'm starting to try and harvest yeast. Here's a picture from yesterday when I was testing gravity + doing a little taste test Really happy with the color at the moment, and it's kinda wild to me how different the mash, post-boil, and current liquid looks. One of them is a solid .005 gravity above the other, perhaps I didn't pitch quite as evenly as I thought, but I'm hopeful that time will resolve that issue. Bark! A Vagrant fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Jun 15, 2022 |
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Jun 15, 2022 18:32
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The Belgian PA/Saison hybrids, thinking I'll call them BPAisons, are ready to bottle. Seeking ideas for my next twinned experiment where the beers are the same except for one thing. Thinking maybe WCIPAs with thiolized/non-thiolized yeast, but I don't have amazing oxygen control. A couple other ideas I had were Kveik at ~80 vs ~100F, and saison with wheat or same recipe but with rye. Very open to ideas
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Jun 24, 2022 03:58
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Saison with wheat. Classic hop vs modern hop. Or saison with wheat vs saison with rye. Do 30%.
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Jun 25, 2022 10:17
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mandarina bavaria is a poo poo hop, don't understand how it ever got slightly popular
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Jun 25, 2022 20:11
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thotsky posted:mandarina bavaria is a poo poo hop, don't understand how it ever got slightly popular I think it was one of the first of the newer batch of hops to come out of the German breeding programs. But yeah, there are many better options.
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Jun 26, 2022 00:18
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I'm going to have a metric fuckton of golden raspberries shortly, anyone point me to a general fruit mead and/or wine recipe?
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Jun 26, 2022 08:59
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thotsky posted:Saison with wheat. Classic hop vs modern hop. Coincidentally, I started leaning towards saison with spelt vs saison with rye after tasting the saison that just carbed (drank after 6 days of bottle conditioning).  Tastes citrusy, some hay, dry, and crushable. I'm really happy with how it turned out, my only self criticism is it could use a little more complexity. I'm storing a couple bottles in the fridge and leaving a couple out for as long as I can resist to compare. I'm thinking I'll either do a comparison of the same recipe (or maybe bump spelt up to 30%) and two different yeasts - one the same as before, and the other cultured from bottle dregs of Brewers Bridge which was an Allagash Dupont collaboration. If I'm feeling really frisky I might make it a 2x2 experiment and do rye vs spelt and the two yeasts.
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Jun 27, 2022 01:16
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My wife and I have become addicted to Bubly/La Croix sparkling water. Ran the math and even at Costco prices I think it's time to buy a Cannonball-type 6 litre/ 1.5 gallon minikeg. I have everything I need from previous projects except the keg and keg tap, CO2 cylinder needs to go in for testing but otherwise it should just be a matter of blowing off dust and hooking things up. Looks fairly straightforward - add water and flavouring, pressurize for 2 days @ 50 psi, drop to 5 psi for dispensing and start drinking? Is this working out for other people? Any gotchas I should know about? The girls are having a good year so I might also make sparkling mead later in the summer. Not sure though if this is one of those "just because you can doesn't mean you should" things.  I can see the labels now: "Get Your Buzz On". The  s are going to be intense.
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Jun 27, 2022 16:14
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