Messages

1

Equipment and Software / Better Bottle Stoppers and Dry Traps

« on: October 18, 2010, 09:02:39 PM »

I want to move away from using buckets for fermentation mainly, so that I can see what is happening inside the vessel.  I'm 95% sure that I'd rather use Better Bottles instead of glass carboys for a number of reasons, but I'm just a little unsure of stoppers and airlocks.  So, I guess that I have three questions:

1 - If you use Better Bottles what would you recommend for a stopper/airlock setup?  What have you found that works the best?
2 - Do the carboy caps fit if i wanted to use those to start a siphon, a la the video at that link?
3 - Has anyone tried and have feedback on the Reusable Ported Closure and the Dry Trap instead of a bung and airlock?

There's a whole lot of questioning right there, help on any of that would be great.  Thanks

--Scotty

2

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Liquid vs Dry Extract

« on: January 23, 2010, 10:08:24 PM »

I'm wondering what everyone thinks about the pro's and con's of liquid and dry extract.  I currently use mostly liquid because I figured since it goes through less dehydration it may be changed less by the process than dry extract.  I've never read anything to this effect, it's more of an assumption.  However, I find that dry easier to work with.  So, if they both produce beers of the same quality, I'd rather make the switch over to dry more often.

I've only used dry a couple of times and one of them ended up with a bad fermentation (temp got way too high) so I don't feel like I can really make a fair comparison.  Does anyone have more experience with both and can attest to the similarities and differences in the final products?


Thanks!