Messages

1

Equipment and Software / Re: need tips how to really clean out a Blickmann Therminator

« on: May 15, 2013, 07:52:35 AM »

I have used the Blichmann chillers for many years, and sometimes two of them in series. No matter what you would normally want to do, and regardless of what filter you buy, there will always be debris in the process that will get into them. Taking that into consideration I consider the end of the brew process the first step in making sure they never have issues. (notice I didn't say they were ever perfectly clean)

1. Before use I flush with regular tap water. It's amazing what comes out after the unit has sat for weeks and you swear you clean the hell out of it last time it was used. (my sanitation is hot wort circulation in the last part of the brew process, nothing else)

2. Flush with water, swap the input and output a few times and burst the water off and on both ways until minimal debris is coming out. I use a white bucket for the water coming out to see what is coming out.

3. Sometimes I may place some PBW in one of the vessels and pump warm PBW through the chiller(s) for a while (after the above water flushing). This is done every once in a while when I have spare time but not every time. Rinse with water as above after the PBW.

4. Blow out excess water and store.

I have used everything from a Bazooka screen (fail), to false bottom(best), to Brewer's Hardware filter canister (fail), but all filtration seems to have its limit and has caused issues at one time or another. I have started whirlpooling and picking up from the edge of the bottom, but frankly there is still a ton of debris in suspension that goes through the chillers this way. Regardless of the huge debris load, no issues.

2

Kegging and Bottling / Re: IPA tasting awful through new line, recently cleaned tap

« on: May 14, 2013, 06:17:23 AM »

I use 1/4" flare fittings on the ends of all my lines and that allows me to swap any adapter, corny, or sankey, or anything else. I generally use a corny keg with a bit of pressure to clean the lines. The flare fittings are cheap, and I really have never liked the pressure tanks offered to clean tap lines and they are a ripoff. When it is easy to clean your lines you'll do it more frequently :-)

All it takes are these parts, and you can buy them at all of the larger homebrewing suppliers.

http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=150

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Handle on 20 LB CO2

« on: May 14, 2013, 06:10:51 AM »

I think it's about $24 for a 20lb tank swap. I use Matheson Gas here and they never charge for the hydro test if it is out of date, but I now exchange only and not have my personal tanks filled. It may be different and I know in some places you are at the mercy of the provider. I found that fills on-site were the biggest ripoff.

4

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Bottling for Competitions?

« on: May 14, 2013, 06:06:26 AM »

I bottled from the keg for almost 10 years just using a bottling wand jammed into the end of a picnic tap. Works fine and you are bottling from a known CO2 level and won't have any variation in the bottle. For competitions this worked well as I rarely bottled for any other reason. I had bottled some Belgian Dark Strong using this simple method, and those bottles sat on the shelf for two years, and just won a gold medal in state competition. All my other entries before this year that won medals were bottled with the picnic tap/wand method as well. While winning in competitions doesn't mean these beers were flawless, they clearly had a low enough level of flaws from bottling that rarely would there be a remark of any suspicion of oxidation and such.

To improve my process I did finally buy a Blichmann gun. Frankly I would suggest that the gun is a great process. To me it's not worth screwing around building a makeshift counter-pressure gimmick that won't do much more than a wand shoved into a picnic tap :-) I love the CO2 purge ability with the same one handed operation.

5

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: May 14, 2013, 05:50:42 AM »

I keep my temp probe in a sealed, dry, empty water bottle.

You can really improve your temp control by directly measuring what you are trying to control. Attach the probe to the side of the fermenter itself and cover it, or use a thermowell. Measuring the air in a bottle is inherently inaccurate as it doesn't properly represent the time it takes to change the temp of the mass of liquid that is your wort. It is only measuring the reaction of the air and that container. When this is important is where the fermentation is generating a lot of heat. By measuring the air in a bottle you are just creating a certain temperature in the fridge that is simply an ambient, but cannot react to the conditions in the wort.

6

All Grain Brewing / Re: Mash recirculation

« on: May 13, 2013, 02:07:53 PM »

I did a manually controlled recirculating mash system with propane burners for many years before building my RIMS system. It wasn't too tough to manually add heat as needed and keep the temps pretty accurate. It took some learning the system however. The next step was wiring the RIMS tube into a Ranco controller and that worked for another few years. Now I've gone full electric.

You'll find that doing it manually, and with a n that can be placed over the mash tun when not heating directly, yo don't lose a lot of heat, and a little added fire goes a long way. Most of the time my propane burner was on very low when adding heat, and of course the recirculation never stopped.

7

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: sanitation questions

« on: May 01, 2013, 08:09:40 AM »

Don't make sanitation tougher than it has to be :-) Sanitize right before you use the tool or vessel and be assured it is sanitized. Fresh sanitizer is always the way to go.

"Soaking" for extended times does nothing better and can damage some plastics. Use the contact time stated or a few minutes more. Nothing is gained by keeping things continually soaking.

For carboys and such put in just enough to slosh around and coat the surfaces. No reason to fill the whole thing and have all that weight to deal with and waste sanitizer for no reason. Filling a vessel is a waste at any time for sanitizing. For cleaning a complete fill and soak may be needed due to residuals, but that is for cleaning, not sanitizing.

Mix up only enough sanitizer that is needed to coat the surfaces by submerging or spraying. I usually mix up 1.25 gallons at most, some gets put into the spray bottle to be used as needed, and after the session the rest gets dumped if it will not be needed in the next few days.

StarSan is less than 25 cents per gallon of prepared solution so why waste time and money figuring out ways of keeping it for extended periods? Just because the ratio states one ounce to 5 gallons doesn't mean you make up 5 gallons each time.

Ph below "3" is still good if you can measure. I use strips or my meter if ever needed.

If you keep the sanitizer store it in glass or suitable plastic, not metal or stainless as it will etch the metals.

Hope my two cents helps :-)

8

Pimp My System / Re: Temp control options in Florida garage

« on: April 23, 2013, 10:28:54 AM »

Upright fridge or freezer with controller is the way to go. With Florida heat everything else is just too much work and has too much variance for me. I also ferment in a garage and deal with Florida heat.

Keep in mind with an upright fridge or upright "frost-free" freezer, they use an air recirculation system that is a lot more efficient than chest freezers and have much more ability to control temps quickly. They also have less lifting to get the fermenters in and out.

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: April 23, 2013, 10:22:26 AM »

I have had good luck buying used on Craigslist over the past decade, and $100 is about the max I've paid for some very nice units. Hard to say how someone has treated the units, but I have bought them looking almost new every time. They are recent units so the power usage is mostly irrelevant. Never had one fail.

I use the Ranco ETC111000 and have it set at a few degrees variance, and always attach the probe to the fermenter as that is what you want to control. The fact that you have the probe attached to the large volume of liquid removes the danger of short cycles as it takes a while for the temp to vary even for 5 gallon batches.

If you are using it for a kegerator keep the probe attached to a keg so your opening of the door doesn't instantly cause a cycle.

I'm guessing if more folks took some basic steps these fridges and freezers would last a lot longer for them. My current one was bought about 4 years ago and still going strong.

10

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Time Crunch - What Would You Do?

« on: April 23, 2013, 09:57:12 AM »

At least as a consolation, i won a bunch of medals at the comp 

Saw you listed for 4 medals in all in that comp, and you didn't mention the Best of Show! Congrats!

11

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Problems serving beer!! Help needed!

« on: April 19, 2013, 07:00:11 AM »

I know you say all the pieces are in the faucet but are you sure the restricter is in place? Doesn't make sense that it is coming out "way too fast" at 25psi

My first thought is if he was using a stout faucet at all, or if the restrictor plate was there.

5/16" tubing is wrong for serving in this case as someone else mentioned already.

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Kegerator Issues - Dump Cup!

« on: April 04, 2013, 01:59:38 PM »

I have a True commercial kegerator with forced air cooling in the towers and I still dump a bit before serving, but only if it has been a day or more between uses. I can pour a good pint the first time no matter what, I just have a probably unfounded phobia about the beer that has sat in the lines and the faucet for a day or more :-)

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Why do YOU keg?

« on: April 04, 2013, 01:56:42 PM »

I have so many reasons for kegging, but most of the mechanical universals have been mentioned already. It's simply the best package for most styles. I still bottle (from the keg) for competition and gifting and such, but rarely, and have a Blichmann gun that makes that a decent process as well. I just hate dealing with bottles no matter how good I get at it and how many years I've been doing it.

I generally keep 4 beers on tap and like the ability to sample a little bit at a time and serve small samples to visitors without having to open a whole bottle when not needed. It's surprising how many times a visitor will drink less than 12oz and sample all the beers, and most of the time it's not because the beer sucks :-0

I also like that when we have gatherings, brew days, parties, etc, that people enjoy serving themselves beer from a faucet. I see that for many folks it's a fun novelty that we take for granted. For kids we sometimes carbonate some water and make sodas with syrups. Parties don't end up with bottles everywhere and broken.

14

Pimp My System / Re: 1 BBL garage system with automation

« on: April 01, 2013, 09:33:44 AM »

Awesome system! Thanks for sharing. Seeing this type of thing is inspirational :-)

15

Kegging and Bottling / Re: I tried the shaking method

« on: April 01, 2013, 09:27:59 AM »

If you want to follow the whole method and not drag it out so long or have to drive around with kegs and CO2 in your car, try the method listed here. It is accurate, and fast, only taking a few minutes to nearly perfect carbonation. To avoid a foam shower you'll still need to let it rest a bit after all the shaking ;-)

http://www.thebeerjournals.com/carbonation.html

I may time it next time, but this is usually less than 10 minutes of work.