page 28

2/16/2012 3:26:34 PM

15% OFF Extract Beer Kits
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits

Coupon: MakeGreatBeer

[Edited on March 13, 2012 at 5:16 PM. Reason : .]

3/13/2012 5:16:00 PM

sup guys

posted this on another forum, wanted to see what yall thought too

Quote :

"Russian Imperial Stout.... infection? (link inside)... one of those posts... (self.Homebrewing) submitted 14 hours ago http://imgur.com/a/LC7kv#2K6tm second pic got all jacked up. first pic to show size. pics are kinda bad. it's got a distinct thick film, that looks ropey and spiderywebby... with larger clumps that seem to have the ropes extending from them. decided to rack that surly bitter brewer clone back there, and noticed some weirdness on the russian imperial i've been aging in secondary in the back of the closet. i couldn't find online pictures of infections that looked like this, so it might be some weird yeast action. for background on the beer: brewed 12/17/2011. brewed in a 9 gallon batch, split between a friend and i. not sure if he's seeing the same action. used this recipe : http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/russian-imperial-stout-2011-hbt-competition-category-winner-238807/ our measured OG was at ~1.101, so it's going to be pretty strong. we couldn't find the right challenger hops, so adjusted the amount down to match with our 7.0 AA challengers. split two ways a 3 liter yeast starter, with light dme, that had been priming for three days. the primary fermentation was very vigorous, having bubbles in my blowoff tube in just four hours. 16 hours after pitching the blow off tube jar looked like it was boiling. we expected vigorous fermentation, and was one of the reasons we both took 4-4.5 gal batches, to allow a lot of headspace in our individual 6 gal buckets for primary. racked to secondary jan 10th, 2012. i had planned to secondary until mayish, then bottle for storing until next winter. bottttttt noticed this today, after things looked fine. i have no idea how long this has been there, but i'd estimate no longer than a week. never had an infection before, about 30 batches in. before putting this batch into secondary, i actually had this carboy sitting with pbw for like a week, then gave it a lot of starsan. i'm kinda confused. that makes me think it might be some weird yeast action still going on. no distinct smells through the airlock. what do? actually made a 5 gallon batch of porter off the third runnings, that's already been drank and was delicious... i've got high hopes for this one... "

3/15/2012 10:51:56 AM

Not infected, just wild yeast, so it will be a sour RIS.

3/15/2012 10:59:52 AM

weird.

don't think i've had a sour ris before... this could be interesting

3/15/2012 11:12:10 AM

well it's been 2-months so that rules out most bacteria.... i guess it could be lactic acid bacteria (forms after 3-4 weeks typically) but if it's truly spider web like which i can't really see from the pictures there's a high likelyhood it's wild yeast. the other reason being is there's a LOT of headspace which means if it was fully fermented you have a lot of stale air sitting on top of the beer for months not being flushed out. it's pretty rare though. bacteria is more likely. if it happend in the first 2 weeks of racking, i'd say most def. bacteria and/or just the yeast (English Ale yeast is typically clumpy)

3/15/2012 11:53:05 AM

should i go ahead and bottle it?

yeah, i didn't know until like, yesterday that a lot of headspace in secondary could be a bad thing. good thing i just picked up that 6gal glass carboy back there.

3/15/2012 12:13:41 PM

what's everyone getting from the Northern Brewer sale? my brewing partner wants to do a DIPA. I scream come on! where is the originality?

3/15/2012 1:46:03 PM

my top picks:
Scottish Wee Heavy Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains
Town Hall Hope and King Scotch Ale Pro Series Extract Kit
The Innkeeper Extract Kit
Saison Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains
Rye Stout Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains
Jamil's Evil Twin® Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains
Honey Kolsch Extract Kit

I love wee heavys and scottish ales, the innkeeper is an ESB nice session ale, and the Kolsch and Saison would be great spring/summer beers.

Of course any of the Dry Dock recipes are phenom as well.

[Edited on March 15, 2012 at 8:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2012 8:36:54 PM

I started this thread and rarely post...

SO:
Next up - 8% mead with clover or orange blossom, getting the honey in june(need a gallon per batch...)

On deck - German Hefeweizen with saaz and hallertaurer about 5%

In the fridge - 10% Molasses stought double reserve.

- 6% Hoppy Belgian ale/lagger... Dont ask... LOL

4/22/2012 8:09:56 PM

^nice. Where are you getting your honey from? I'm considering attempting a mead in the upcoming months.

Also haven't posted on here in a while. Here is what I have going on.

On tap:
ESB
Irish Red

Fermenting:
IPA
Belgian Witbier

Im thinking about doing a saison next month which I will ferment for a few months (with the Brett yeast) since I have a lot of beer on hand right now. Anyone done a saison before? I know they take a lot of patience.

4/22/2012 10:28:22 PM

Good friend of mine is getting out of the navy this summer and has already gone into a partnership with his brothers to start brewing commercially in Harrisonburg, Va.

I'm not a beer drinker myself, but I'm pretty excited for him.

He has a 20,000 sq ft space that used to be a Pepsi bottling plant, so it has everything they need.

http://www.facebook.com/ThreeBrothersBrewing

4/22/2012 10:39:17 PM

Anyone check out the new Brewer's Friend website? It's got some pretty wicked tools.

Brewed a White IPA on Saturday:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/8361

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: White IPA
Author: Juno Brewing Co.

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Efficiency: 66%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 5.97%
IBU (tinseth): 45.17
SRM (morey): 3.98

FERMENTABLES:
7.5 lb - Pilsner (60.5%)
2.4 lb - Torrified Wheat (19.4%)
2 lb - Pale Wheat (16.1%)
0.5 lb - Flaked Oats (4%)

HOPS:
0.4 oz - Columbus (AA 17) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.2 oz - Citra (AA 14.5) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.2 oz - Centennial (AA 12.5) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.2 oz - Cascade (AA 8) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Citra (AA 14.5) for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Centennial (AA 12.5) for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Cascade (AA 8) for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Citra (AA 14.5) for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Centennial (AA 12.5) for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade (AA 8) for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil

MASH STEPS:
1) Sparge, Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 14 qt

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.75 oz - Sweet Orange Peel, Time: 15 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
0.75 oz - Coriander, Time: 15 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
1/2 Lemongrass, Secondary
0.5 oz - Sage, Secondary

YEAST:
Wyeast - Forbidden Fruit 3463
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74%
Flocculation: Low
Optimum Temperature: 63 F - 76 F

NOTES:
2 packets of yeast

Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2012-04-30 15:43 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2012-04-30 15:39 UTC

[Edited on April 30, 2012 at 12:20 PM. Reason : .]

4/30/2012 12:00:43 PM

looks good...

so im going to bottle the RIS i mentioned ^x there, brewed in december.

any ideas for if i should repitch or something? I'm wondering about after sitting in secondary for so long it ever carbonating...

5/16/2012 3:45:03 PM

6-months fermenting isn't all that long, you could go either way, but so long as the temperature is within range it's likely the yeast are just dormant, not dead, they just need more sugar. if you feel differently about it, you can always pitch half a pack of yeast.

5/16/2012 6:40:35 PM

I'm moving away from Raleigh so I am posting to see if there was any interest in buying a Sanyo kegerator. It has a stainless steel tower with stainless steel Perlick taps and comes with two ball-lock Corny kegs, a CO2 tank and temperature control. This system has all the necessary components for a fully functional system. I am selling this for $300 OBO.

5/17/2012 7:28:51 PM

Brewed a Rye IPA today:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/10348/rye-ipa

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Rye IPA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 5.75 gallons
Efficiency: 60%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.018
ABV (standard): 7.05%
IBU (tinseth): 60.13
SRM (morey): 12.22

FERMENTABLES:
11 lb - Pale 2-Row (67.7%)
3 lb - Rye (18.5%)
1.25 lb - Caramel / Crystal 60L (7.7%)
0.5 lb - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (3.1%)
0.5 lb - Flaked Wheat (3.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Mount Hood (AA 6), Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort
0.81 oz - Columbus (AA 14) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Mount Hood (AA 6) for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1.5 oz - Mount Hood (AA 6) for 1 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1 oz - Columbus (AA 14) for 3 days, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop

MASH STEPS:
1) Sparge, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 20 qt, Mash In
2) Sparge, Temp: 168 F, Time: 10 min, Amount: 11 qt, Mash Out

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast - Denny's Favorite 50 1450
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 75%
Flocculation: Low
Optimum Temperature: 60 F - 70 F

This recipe has been published online at:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/10348/rye-ipa

Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2012-06-09 20:35 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2012-05-25 19:37 UTC

6/9/2012 4:37:14 PM

Glad you bumped this. I just came back from working a weekend event at work. The group that we are hosting was really cool, and their reception this evening was catered, and included a homebrew tasting from about 4 or the guys. There were some really good beers there, and also one really interesting beer enfused with habaneros. That was definitely an interesting taste, and was easily the most original, but not something I would normally drink.

6/9/2012 9:01:29 PM

Brewed again last Saturday...

--

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Saison

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Saison
Boil Time: 120 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 65%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.063
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 6.64%
IBU (tinseth): 51.29
SRM (morey): 6.19

FERMENTABLES:
7.5 lb - Pilsner (58.8%)
4.25 lb - Wheat Malt (33.3%)
0.5 lb - Aromatic (3.9%)
0.5 lb - Corn Sugar - Dextrose (3.9%)

HOPS:
1.2 oz - Amarillo (AA 8.6) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Amarillo (AA 8.6) for 20 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1 oz - Amarillo (AA 8.6) for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil

MASH STEPS:
1) Temperature, Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 15 qt

YEAST:
Wyeast - French Saison 3711
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 80%
Flocculation: Low
Optimum Temperature: 65 F - 77 F


This recipe has been published online at:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/11105/saison

7/3/2012 4:29:55 PM

So I started a batch today but I'm usure about a couple of things. First it's a Belgian blond so it's a high gravity beer, at AB they recommended a yeast starter. They sold me the liquid yeast but I was afraid I messed it up because the air lock on the growler didn't pop except for maybe half a day. Anyway, I let it go for four days.

When I cooked up the batch today I went ahead and pitched a pack of dry (with warm water) along with the yeast starter.

The fermenter (a True Brew 7 gallon bucket) still feels warm after five hours and the air lock is popping steady. Should I be concerned that the fermenter is going to over pressurize or about anything else?

This is my fourth batch and it's the only one I've had any problems where I didn't follow the recipe exactly.

7/4/2012 8:02:49 PM

Double post

[Edited on July 4, 2012 at 8:12 PM. Reason : deleted double]

7/4/2012 8:12:00 PM

As long as you have a functioning airlock on your fermenter, it's impossible for it to "overpressurize". If you overpitched (too much) yeast, your beer will still turn out just fine. You might just have a really high krausen and have it stop up/blow off your air lock. In which case, you should put a blowoff tube on it instead of a regular airock.

I wouldnt worry about it though honestly. I'm sure it'll be fine.

7/4/2012 9:36:14 PM

Thanks. I've heard stories of people who have had individual bottles pop and had their wort boil over and so far I haven't had that happen. I just wanted to make sure this was normal or at least within an acceptable range of normal.

7/5/2012 10:03:50 AM

it only takes one blow out to occur to make you a true believer of the blow-off tube.

7/5/2012 10:18:33 AM

^so should I have that instead of the airlock? Would you have both?

Speaking of airlocks, what do you use? The instructions call for sanitized solution but I've heard that it's a bad idea and that I should use star san.

[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 10:47 AM. Reason : $]

7/5/2012 10:46:53 AM

First learn how to do a proper yeast starter:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/YeastStarter.pdf

Proper sanitation is key when making a yeast starter because you are pitching the contents of the starter directly in to your cooled wort, you can't simply use warm water and dry extract, you need to boil the water and extract before pitching the yeast (preferably)... it may turn out just fine using warm water from tap, but very risky. An easier but more costly alternative to doing a yeast starter is to just buy two packets of liquid yeast and pitch both after cooling the wort.

High gravity beers are defined as anything over 1.070, so a little hard to advise not knowing what your exact gravity is, but in general if I have a beer that is over that gravity and/or I'm pitching two packets of yeast or one packet with high flocculation (you can look this up on manf. website for the yeast) then I use a blow-off tube. Some people use both the airlock and blow-off to prevent backwash. In terms of what to put in the airlock I use vodka, the high-alcohol content is sanitary and it's for the most part tasteless, colorless and odorless. Don't use star san, even a small amount can kill a substantial amount of yeast if it got backed into the carboy. For blow-off tubes, it's typically fine to just fill up a small bucket of sanitized solution (water with some star san in it) because chances are there's no real way for that fluid to reach back up the 18"+ back in to the carboy.

Boil overs can be prevented by watching what you're doing and by stirring in the ingredients instead of dumping in.

Individual Bottle Bombs (what most people call them) are due to not having done their hydrometer reading and from someone bottling before the yeast had finished. There's a reason why there's a finish gravity listed on recipes. It is also due to "over-conditioning" the bottle where people try to add extra sugar to bottles to get a higher carb rate (like something in the 3 range, or looking to attempt to add more alcohol, and it never turns out, so don't do it.

[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 11:33 AM. Reason : ,]

7/5/2012 11:23:55 AM

i'm not sure how you could have both?

what i use for a blowoff tube in a bucket is like this:



and the tube goes into a pitcher where i've got some left over star san just hanging out

make sure the end of the tube is submerged, and well below the top of the bucket height wise. i usually just have it on the ground and it works fine. you want to prevent backflow.

just be careful with such a small ID tubing for use as a blow off, if you have a super vigorous fermentation, it can clog with kraussen matter and shit, which would defeat the entire purpose. check on it twice a day or so for the first few days.

but if you brewed a few days ago and haven't blown your airlock yet, you're probably in the clear. the first 24 hours is where it's most likely, as i understand.

leave it alone and let it do it's thing

[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 11:28 AM. Reason : or perhaps i shouldn't be using star san ]

7/5/2012 11:27:03 AM

this is how you do "could" do both:


but there's no need to if you have a 3/8" tube or larger (1/2" preferred) and it's submerged in a bucket.

a lot of people use carboys for fermenting, not just buckets out there.

[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 11:35 AM. Reason : .]

7/5/2012 11:31:44 AM

oh yeah, i forgot about those.


prospero, do you ever switch back to an airlock from the blowoff tube (if not using one of those double caps)?

i keep reading about people who do, and i'm not sure i understand why. except maybe if you plan to move your carboy/bucket around or something.

7/5/2012 11:45:54 AM

There's no real excuse for me not doing the start correctly. I had the instructions but when I bought the ingredients I asked for liquid yeast and should have told them I was doing a starter. They would have sold me the DME at the same time. I was going from memory and autopiloted the DME and hops as optional rather than just the hops (I know, I know...it doesn't get much worse than that).

Once I realized (the next day) that I missed a key ingredient I corrected the mistake but I wasn't sure if the starter worked since the airlock popped for the better part of a day. (The beer is high gravity, the anticipated OG is 1.070 and I measured 1.064.) Plus I had twice as much water in than I should have had.

The directions for this beer recipe use dry yeast and say just to rehydrate it in a half cup of warm water (90-100 F) for 20 minutes while the wort is cooling. I had been told that pitching the dry with the starter shouldn't affect the taste too much but that the amount of malt extract would be the limiting ingredient and not the yeast. My initial concern was that too much yeast would create too much pressure in the fermenter and it would fill the airlock and maybe blow. The lid looked a little convex (?) but that's probably just my imagination.

I guess if the krausen is getting too high I'll redo the airlock to what pilgrimshoes did just in case.

On a side note, I did a tripel late last year where some of the bottles would foam out when opened. Usually it would leave about 1/3 of the bottle when it was done. Maybe 1/4 of the bottles did that and I'm not sure what happened.

7/5/2012 12:00:17 PM

sounds like you had inadequate mixing with your priming sugars. did you have some bottles that were undercarbonated?

sounds like you're lucky you didn't get any bottle bombs

7/5/2012 12:29:51 PM

Haha, first off, are you saying you forgot to add the DME to the starter? You dont have to add hops to the starter either. I dont know anyone that actually does this.

Also, are you saying your starter OG was 1.070? You typically want to shoot for about 1.040 for most starters (and yeast strains) to build up lots of healthy yeast.


Your tripel could have just been infected. That will cause massive foaming when opening.

7/5/2012 12:35:29 PM

^those were my thoughts exactly.

For the record 1.070 would have done just fine if you just pitched one vial of liquid yeast.

"Popping" or bubbling of airlock just means the yeast is active, it's not any real indicator of health of yeast or numbers of yeast cells which should be calculated based on your recipe. Rehydrating dry yeast is not the same thing as a starter.

For future reference, I'd research more about yeast starting and proper method before jumping into it, and for the time being just buy two packets of yeast if your gravity is above 1.070

Again, each yeast strain flocculates differently. Go to the manufacturer's website and look it up to see if it's a high-flocculating yeast or not, that's typically the best indicator as to whether or not you need a blow-off tube. Amount of yeast cells you need for proper fermentation is completely different and not always an indicator of fermentation vessel pressure.


[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 12:57 PM. Reason : .]

7/5/2012 12:48:02 PM

Quote :

"Haha, first off, are you saying you forgot to add the DME to the starter?"

Yes, that's exactly what I did. This isn't even a rookie mistake it's just outright retarded, I know. In my defense, I realized my mistake the next day. It was even bugging me that I had left something out as I was putting it together.

The recipe for the batch I just made, not the starter, indicated the OG should be 1.070 and my measurement was 1.064.

Right now while I'm still learning (as if I needed to include that) I've been taking the advice of the guys at Amercian Brewmaster, so if they recommend a yeast starter that what I do.

Quote :

"Your tripel could have just been infected. That will cause massive foaming when opening."

Infected with what? Is that I may have contaminated the batch?

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

7/5/2012 2:38:07 PM

Dude, we've all done stupid things. No worries haha. It's all part of learning to brew good beer.

I meant that a few of your bottles could have become infected due to improper sanitation, or whatever. It really could be any of a dozen or more things that would cause an infection. You could have some wild yeast floating around that got caught in those bottles. Or it could have been just poor sanitation of your bottles/bottle caps/bottling hose/siphon/whatever.

If it was a sanitation issue, it likely wasnt contaminated at the "batch" level since you only had a couple of bottles turn out to be gushers.

I highly recommend using Starsan to sanitize if you're not already. That stuff is magic, and you dont have to rinse it off. I keep a spraybottle of it handy while i'm brewing and can sanitize my stiring spoons or whatever just by spraying them.

[Edited on July 5, 2012 at 3:15 PM. Reason : .]

7/5/2012 3:13:39 PM

i am super nervous about a batch i brewed up yesterday, only had a glass carboy available for fermentation, i have never fermented in this carboy before. there's not a ton of headspace. i stopped the fill at about the point where the neck begins to curve up from the base.

i forgot to check it this morning, but hope my blow off tube is sufficient, such that i don't douse everything in that closet today.

it's an all-grain fantome saison clone, ~1.061 OG. using a belgian saison white labs yeast, that i did not make a starter for. perhaps it won't be too rigorous, but i'm really second guessing my decision to go ahead with the brew day yesterday.

i hope to not be posting blowout pics with my next post.

[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 9:40 AM. Reason : e]

7/16/2012 9:37:35 AM

is your blowoff tube a large diameter tube, same size as the carboy opening? or are you using a small tube with a bung stopper? if you have a large tube i wouldn't worry about it.

7/16/2012 10:04:58 AM

Quote :

"i stopped the fill at about the point where the neck begins to curve up from the base."

do you mean the actual neck (part you put the stopper/airlock/blowoff tube into) or the shoulder (where it goes from the uniform diameter to something like an upside-down funnel - begins to get smaller)?

if the latter, you're fine...that's plenty of head space your blowoff tube should be more than sufficient



[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 10:11 AM. Reason : pic: something between these two is what i aim for]

7/16/2012 10:09:17 AM

the shoulder. couldn't think of what the name would be for that area... probably about half way between those two carboys in the picture.

i use a smaller ID tube pushed onto a cap style airlock opening, with the bottom cut off, through a bung stopper. probably should use a bigger tube if i plan on doing this in the future

in my mind i thought "hey i got a gnarly infection in this carboy last time i used it, let's do a marginal job cleaning it and use it again with this saison to add some funk"

then realized the potential errors of my ways

7/16/2012 10:23:06 AM

if there are coats and jackets in that closet you may want to pick up some detergent on the way home.

but, i think you'll be fine. even with rigorous fermentation the blowoff tube should give it enough escape room. if it works out you should make that carboy a designated farmhouse/brett/funk fermenter.

7/16/2012 10:30:46 AM

This is one of the many reasons I decided to build my fermentation chamber

7/16/2012 11:03:47 AM

^ do you regulate temperature in there? How do you do it, with ice?

7/16/2012 11:44:26 AM

Oh, temps are definitely regulated. The right side of that box actually has a minifridge in there with the door off. I regulate the temp with an external temp controller that I built. (the little black box sitting on top of the chamber).

Here's a pic of the inside so you can get a better idea:



I have a fan in there to circulate the cold air so that there's a minimal temp difference from bottom to top. I also wired in a lightbulb base so that in the winter time I can use that to heat the chamber when needed. I also keep a tub of damp-rid in there to keep the moisture down.

The floor is just an old piece of dry-erase board I had sitting around. Should make for an easy cleanup when needed.

It holds about 5 buckets. I just used it to ferment 10 gallons of brown ale and it worked perfectly.

[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 12:32 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2012 12:15:14 PM

man, i need a house.

7/16/2012 2:03:33 PM

I use a wine fridge, holds a 6-gallon carboy just perfectly and regulates temperatures. And I just cover the carboy with a brown paper bag with a hole cut out for the airlock to reduce UV light infiltration, works for a batch every 2 weeks, i'm not in mass-production like BobbyLight.

[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 2:56 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2012 2:54:58 PM

Quote :

"i'm not in mass-production like BobbyLight."

Yeah, i've gone a little overkill. But it works great and I enjoy building this stuff as much as I love brewing. I always hated only being able to brew every 2 weeks due to only being able to fit one bucket in my minifridge. $80 worth of wood and insulation later, I've got the Fermentation chamber.

I guess since I've shown my cards, I'll go ahead and post the rest of my setup

My Keezer. Currently has 4 taps and holds 6 cornies.


My Electric HERMS Brewery. (I call it the Flux Incapacitator) I have a 220v hot water heater element mounted in my Boil kettle, and in my Hot Liquor Tank. I have a 50' stainless herms coil inside the HLT that I circulate my mash/wort through to keep it at a constant mash temp. I can also chill my wort before pitching yeast by filling the HLT with icewater.

I built this control panel to control the elements and pumps. The PID (square box) controls the temperature of the HLT, and a simple PWM circuit that I built controls the boil kettle element.

I have a Chugger pump that pumps liquid from one vessel to the next.





Inside the HLT


[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2012 3:35:49 PM

good lord man.

My gf got me a groupon at AB for a startup kit. Going to pick that up today and check it out and hopefully start brewing this fall when I move into my new place.

[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 3:52 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2012 3:50:41 PM

sweet! You're gonna love it. A brewday is a lot of work, but the result is typically very rewarding haha.

7/16/2012 3:57:40 PM

good news everyone, i am not mopping my ceiling right now.

krausen ring up to bottom of neck already, but man this thing is rolling hard. the pitcher at the end of the blowoff tube looks like it's at a soft boil. i could smell it when i opened my door when i got home, and thought the worst.

the off gas smells kinda like coffee cake. i have no idea what that's about, but i'm intrigued. the bill was fairly standard, with pilsner malt, white wheat and 6oz of something that austin homebrew supply calls "aromatic malt blend", which who knows what that is. coriander, paradise seeds, and bitter orange peel. low alpha acid kent goldings, and some herbrucker hops.

just looked up aromatic malt and it's

Quote :

"Aromatic is a mildly kilned malt that will add a strong malt aroma and deep color when used as a specialty malt. This malt can make up to 100% of the grain bill, but it is fairly low in surplus diastatic enzymes. 17-21 L"

dude, BL, that set up is out of control. i am jealous.

[Edited on July 16, 2012 at 7:21 PM. Reason : e]

7/16/2012 7:20:25 PM

Got my starter kit and picked up Palmers "How to Brew". I have a few months before I start, so for now, it's reading up on everything and slowly gathering the rest of the required materials

The kit includes (sorry for any mislabeling):

5 gal bucket w/ lid
hose
airlock
spigot
stopper
hydrometer
bottle capper
instruction book

$32

7/17/2012 12:58:39 PM