Messages

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: maintaining temps in freezer

« on: February 26, 2013, 10:48:11 AM »

A regular incandescent bulb works fine for this. The danger comes from full spectrum bulbs or bulbs that emit UV light.

I'm using a small space heater on a second Ranco controller for the few times I may need heat, but that's rare here in Florida. You can see the little purple heater in the lower left corner and the controllers upper left side. I'm considering some sort of heating pad attached to the fermenter itself as soon as I find one capable that doesn't shut off automatically.

32

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Beer Line Cleaning

« on: February 25, 2013, 08:28:34 AM »

The best thing to clean the lines with is Beer Line Cleaner, and if buildup has become an issue, use an Acid Line Cleaner first. Now being that StarSan is an acid, and PBW is kind of a caustic, you may get some results, but probably not the best results as you would using the proper chemicals in the right order. Using the right chemical for the job will always give the best results.

There is also a new chemical called Desana Max that I will be testing as soon as my lines need cleaning and it is a one-shot color-indicating chemical that is supposed to be the best yet, we'll see how that goes in real-world use.

As for getting the chemical into the lines, the best thing truly is whatever you have laying around that can be connected :-) If you put 1/4" flare connections on the ends of your lines, you can connect anything. I use a corny keg and pressurize with C02 or if I'm feeling cheap just clean compressed air. Garden sprayers are cheap and work great and the hose can have flare fittings attached as well.

33

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Need to clean bathtub...

« on: February 22, 2013, 08:43:49 AM »

Get a faucet to garden hose adapter and make yourself a filler hose setup with a short length of garden hose so you can fill from the sink and not have to have the vessel actually in the sink. Get a tub to sit the items in so you are never abusing your sink or bathtub.

34

Equipment and Software / Re: chilling a 30-gal batch

« on: February 15, 2013, 03:10:56 AM »

dean, do you have any clogging issue recirculating through the therminator when sanitizing?  how do you manage hops going through the plate chiller?

The keg kettle has a false bottom and I usually use whole hops in combination with the pellets and it sets up a nice filter bed so not a lot of hop sludge goes through the chiller. I also use nylon paint strainer bags for large pellet hop loads. In many years I have never had an issue with getting the plate chillers clean enough.

I backflush well with tap water in both directions after use and that seems to be fine. Sometimes when I have time I recirculate hot PBW and always get some debris and green color, but nothing major enough to be of concern. I have never had a clogging issue.

To sanitize I start recirculating wort 15 minutes before the end of the boil as best I can and it gets the whole setup above 180f in all places. Even if there was residuals in the chillers nothing will be alive in there :-)

I'm playing with a canister filter from Brewer's Hardware to eliminate the need for the false bottom and plan on whirlpooling alone to control the debris with my new kettle (20gal from Stout Tanks). Unfortunately I have only been able to get the filter to work after the pump and not right out of the kettle so far, so not yet optimum.

35

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lager chamber

« on: February 15, 2013, 02:54:11 AM »

Strap it to the side of the fermenter in some way and a little covering to insulate doesn't hurt. Even an old washcloth works for that so no need to get fancy. The point is to always measure what you want to control and that is the liquid temp of the beer, not the air temp of the fridge.

36

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Sanitizer in the Fermenter

« on: February 14, 2013, 01:02:03 AM »

I have put 10 gallons of fresh wort onto 2 gallons of star-san, and it came out fine. The iodine in the sanitizer will evaporate fairly quick, especially if there's any significant CO2 generation. If you're really worried about it add some fresh yeast a day before bottling.

StarSan and iodine sanitizers are two different animals, with iodine being a poison. 2 gallons of any sanitizer, or anything other than the beer into a 5 gallon batch would be a drain pour in my book. I don't think you'd want more than a trace residual of even the iodine sanitizer remaining, never mind ounces of it.

37

Equipment and Software / Re: What 10 gal fermenter?

« on: January 28, 2013, 01:28:44 PM »

I bend the diptube up and away from the bottom center and that seems to work well. You can cut them too, but I have never wanted to do that, not that I see myself using them for serving in the future :-)

Sometimes you may get debris and yeast at the start but it has never really been an issue considering how well they work otherwise. I usually rack to a conditioning/bright tank before then going to a final serving keg, so the last debris settles out there anyway. If you don't plan on moving your serving vessels you don't even need to worry about the middle step as it is preference.

38

Equipment and Software / Re: What 10 gal fermenter?

« on: January 28, 2013, 09:15:12 AM »

Have you ever experienced any clogging using the gas disconnects?
[/quote]

No, not even the most crazy blowoff has caused the gas connects to clog and I have found the blowoff bucket full of solids after some larger batches with reduced headroom. It simply pumps out whatever happens. Originally I took out the spring and plunger inside the connectors and the poppet in the posts, but after years of doing that I simply stopped as it proved to be a waste of time. I'm sure someone will have had something different, but I've been doing this for a long time now with no issues. I don't change anything in the keg or with the connects. Most batches are 10.5-11 gallons when they hit the fermenters, so that's a lot of headroom to compensate for krausen.

39

Equipment and Software / Re: chilling a 30-gal batch

« on: January 28, 2013, 09:00:31 AM »

Currently I use a single Therminator on tap water and when the wort is down to near 100f I change the water source to a submersible pump in ice water. The whole time the wort is being recirculated back to the kettle. It recirculates until sufficiently cold to be pumped directly to the fermenter. Most of the time the minute I connect the ice water pump I can pump to the fermenter. I also have another Therminator that I can run in series with the first running tap water and the second one running ice water, and this can go directly to the fermenter a lot sooner. With the two hooked up, I still recirculate hot wort for a while for sanitation, then turn on the tap water for a while to cool the wort down a bit (no reason to waste more ice) and then kick the ice water pump on and pump to the fermenter. There are lots of ways to use this setup, so this is just my method as needed. One plate chiller does the job well. Both are now mounted to my brewstand (lower right corner).

Without going into the math and physics, one normal plate chiller can chill very large batch sizes if you have the proper velocity of flow of both cooling water and wort. If you have enough chilling tap water flow to return wort to your kettle (wort output) that is the same temp as your chilling tap water (water input), you've used the capacity of your plate chiller properly, and you don't need more chiller. The problem I see most often is when folks refuse to turn up the tap water flow enough, or they buy some underpowered submersible "pond pump" that is not capable of generating the flow needed for the chilling water side.

40

Equipment and Software / Re: What 10 gal fermenter?

« on: January 24, 2013, 09:21:32 AM »

I have used the 15 gallon cornies for about 8 years now. They are already plumbed and require NO modification. Just pop a hose on a gas disconnect and you have a blowoff tube. I have been praising these as a perfect solution for years now, and have only now just bought a conical for 15g batch sizes.

41

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Calculating Losses to hoses

« on: January 16, 2013, 12:01:20 PM »

I have two plate chillers back to back and was considering forcing out the last of the wort with oxygen. The same oxygen I use with an inline stone mounted in a tri-clamp, but then connected to the hose that came from the kettle to force all possible wort out of the system. At least it would be sanitary as opposed to using compressed air. I'll try it this weekend.

I'm also brewing extra to compensate, and it's about 1/4 gallon lost in my case.

42

All Grain Brewing / Re: how long with crushed grain??

« on: January 14, 2013, 01:45:14 PM »

I've gone as long as 3 months with pre-crushed grains in a bag and made one of the best beers I've ever made. No worries.

43

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Off taste in new keg system - cleaning?

« on: January 10, 2013, 08:56:39 AM »

If it is not clearly marked as beverage line, it is questionable. As others have stated there have been bad batches of even the good stuff. New lines should need nothing but a rinse with water at most and should never be carrying taste and odor.

44

Going Pro / Re: Business Plan

« on: January 10, 2013, 08:45:06 AM »

From a competition standpoint I wonder whether the instructors will look kindly on your idea of outsourcing production for most of your product.

Seems to be working for BJ's Brewhouse all over the USA for 100% of their product :-) Most folks think the root beer tank behind the glass is the brewery, and not sure if the root beer tanks are real. The business plan is always based on how you'll make money, so there is proof that success is far separated from the moral dilema that "your product" may not really be made directly by you.

45

Pimp My System / Re: Kind of a Brutus 10 clone with RIMS, but it works for me

« on: January 10, 2013, 08:27:31 AM »

Just added the pic of the new 20 gallon kettle and conical. Probably going with the same company to replace the mash tun and HLT soon!