Brewer's Friend Home Brewing Software

Fermentation Temperature Controllers

Article and Photos By Mike Dalecki  

Most experienced brewers will tell you that their beer took a major leap forward when they began to do Fermentation Temperature Control (FTC). This article shows the range of methods to control fermentation temperature, from the simple and inexpensive to the complicated and pricey. At the end of the article, I’ll point out a way you might avoid worrying about temperature control altogether. Most of the discussion here presumes ale brewing, but lagers have similar issues–there are optimal temperatures at which they should be fermented, and your ability to control those temps will reward you.

Why Temperature Control is Important

Different yeasts have different ideal temperature ranges. Yeast fermenting too warm will express unintended flavors, many of which are undesirable. Estery/banana flavors, an alcoholic flavor–these are to be avoided in normal beers and you can do that by preventing the fermentation temperature from becoming too warm.

There are a couple of exceptions; farmhouse or Saison beers use yeast designed to ferment at higher temperatures in order to express certain flavors; if all you brew are these beers, FTC may not matter to you. Kveik yeasts (covered below) can handle extreme temps up to 95 degrees without creating off-flavors. But for the most part, most fermenting beers benefit from some sort of temperature control.

Further, temperature control works both ways. There are times you want to warm up the fermentation (a diacetyl rest, for instance), and times you want to chill the beer (crashing prior to packaging, e.g.). The more control you have, the more you can do–and the more consistent your beers will be batch to batch. If you cannot control fermentation temperature, you’ll find it difficult to reproduce beers you like. Here are ways brewers control fermentation temperature, starting at the least expensive.

Ambient Temperature Only

Many new brewers assume that ambient room temperature is fermenting wort temperature. However, yeast is exothermic, meaning the yeast produces heat while it works. Actual wort temperature during fermentation can be 5-10 degrees higher than ambient temperature; further, the higher the temp, the faster the yeast works, and the more heat generated. If the ambient temperature is low enough it may not matter much–and by low enough, I mean in the mid-to-low 60s. You won’t be able to control fermentation temp but it won’t run away on you.

Swamp Cooler

The redneck way to cool things without electricity is to use a Swamp Cooler; you place a piece of cloth over a vessel, wet it, and as the water evaporates it cools the vessel. Put the fermenter in a turkey pan ($1 at the Dollar Store) filled with a couple of inches of water, and drape a t-shirt or similar over the fermenter, allowing the shirt to dangle in the water. The shirt will wick up water that, when it evaporates, will cool the fermenter. I was able to produce about a 5-degree drop with my swamp cooler setup, but your mileage will vary with ambient temp, relative humidity, and size of the water pan. Some brewers live where ambient is just too high for evaporation to work on its own. They use frozen water bottles added to the pan in the morning and at night to help keep the temp down.

Refrigerator or Freezer Fermentation Chamber

This is probably the most common approach besides doing nothing. Brewers will use either a refrigerator or freezer and an electronic control like an Inkbird 308 to manage fermentation temps. The refrigerator is turned to as cold as it will go, and when the temperature probe indicates the wort is
too warm, the controller turns on the refrigerator to cool it. If a heat source is also used, the controller will turn that on when wort temp is too cold.

The temperature probe can be held against the fermenter with a piece of insulation and a bungee cord or string; the insulation ensures the probe picks up the temperature of the wort, not ambient temperature. Some will use a thermowell, a hollow tube that extends from the bung into the wort, and into which the temperature probe is inserted. Typically the brewer will also use a heat belt or mat wrapped around the fermenter to allow warming the wort toward the end of fermentation for a diacetyl rest or even just to help the yeast clean up after itself. It’s also common in areas where ambient temperatures in the winter, such as my garage here in Wisconsin, can drop well below the desired fermentation temperature. There needs to be a way to warm the fermenter at times like these. In fact, if you have a pretty cold area to manage fermentation, you might not even need a refrigerated fermentation chamber–just a way to heat the wort up to the level that the yeast requires.

Probably the two most common ways of warming a fermenter like this are a FermWrap, or a seedling heat mat. Wrapped around the fermenter and held in place with string, wire, or a bungee cord, they apply warmth directly to the fermenter and thus, the wort. If ambient is fairly cold, some insulation like a towel may be wrapped around the fermenter. Some brewers use a light bulb inside a metal can, or a reptile heat bulb to add heat inside the fermentation chamber, but it’s a slower and less direct way to control heat.

It doesn’t matter much whether you use a refrigerator or freezer; it’s a personal preference. I prefer a refrigerator, as I don’t like lifting a fermenter into a freezer. You can get these cheaply used; Craigslist is a good source. I use both a large refrigerator that can handle two fermenters at a time, and a tall dorm-style refrigerator which is perfect for those whose space won’t allow a larger unit.

Glycol Chilling Units

Glycol, which mixed with water reduces the temperature at which it freezes, is used to chill coils suspended into a fermenter. Commercial units range in price from about $700 to $1000. The advantage of glycol is speed and control, as the chilling is applied directly within the wort through stainless coils inside the fermenter. The better glycol chillers can handle up to four fermenters at a time; each fermenter simply needs its own pump to control flow. Some have had success with a DIY glycol chiller. I created a Glycol reservoir inside the freezer compartment of my large fermentation chamber; it was quite effective in controlling fermentation temp, though less effective in crashing.

Others have repurposed air conditioners to glycol chilling, and still, others have used small dorm-style refrigerators for this purpose. If you’re interested in researching this, search “DIY glycol” on Homebrewtalk and you’ll find a number of threads dealing with this, including my own.

Kveik Yeast

This last isn’t fermentation temp control but rather a way to ignore it. Kveik yeast is an ancient yeast that developed in northern European countries. It is fairly immune to high-temperature fermentation, meaning it can handle fermentations up to 95 degrees without producing typical
off-flavors. While Kveik doesn’t offer the variety of strains that dry or other liquid yeasts present, it is an option for those who for whatever reasons simply cannot keep ferm temps down. When using Kveik yeast, high temperatures aren’t a bug, they’re a feature.

Posted in Brewing, Equipment | No Comments »

Controlling Fermentation Temperature with a Fermentation Chamber

Controlling fermentation temperature is a key factor in making repeatable high quality beer. You’ll be amazed at how much your beer will improve by focusing on consistent fermentation temperature, and a related component the yeast pitching rate.

Yeast give off different flavor profiles depending on the temperature the fermentation takes place at. Consider US-05, a widely used dry yeast that is considered neutral in flavor. When fermented cool (around 62F), it leaves almost no flavor signature. When fermented high (above 68F) it can impart a peachy profile. Similarly many English ale strains will be somewhat neutral at the cooler end, but give off strong ester and fruit notes at the higher end. Belgian strains call for a higher temperature, because in those styles the fruitiness is desirable.

So, how can a home brewer guarantee temperature control during fermentation?

The answer is a fermentation chamber, which is made up of the following:

• An insulated chamber.
• A two stage temperature controller.
• A cooling source – typically a freezer chest or mini fridge (which can double as #1).
• A heat source – a lightbulb in a can works great.

Most temperature controllers come un-wired. If you know a little about electrical wiring, this makes a good DIY project. There are also a few models that come pre-wired, and some home brew stores provide this as a service.

Spending the extra $50 for a 2 stage controller with heating and cooling is well worth it. That way you can do lagers and ales, at whatever temperature you want, year round! It also gives a lot of flexibility. With a lager, the diacetyl rest is just a matter of turning up the set point to 65F for 48 hours. Want to cold crash that ale, no problem turn it down to 33F a few days before bottling. Just make sure to fit an airlock before cold crashing. If a blowoff tube is still set, the drop in pressure inside the fermentor will suck some of the fluid in the catch bucket back into the beer (yuck!).

My controller is a Control Products TC-9102D-HV Dual Stage High Voltage Digital Temperature Controller, product sheet and wiring diagrams can be found here. This model tends to change in price a lot. I got mine for $60 last year. There are cheaper options out there, but this one looked like the best compromise of build quality and price.

A note about the TC-9102D-HV and short cycling: make sure to set the differential on the cooling side to a value of 2. The thermometer tends to wobble between values (eg flip between 67 and 68 several times) before it will stay at the new value. Thank you to Foster82 for helping me out in the forum.

My heat source is an incandescent 40W light bulb in a paint can. The idea comes directly from brewstands.com. Incandescent light bulbs are being phased out, but lizard lamps or a low watt ceramic heater would work fine too.

Build Pictures:

Other options:

• Build an extended chamber around a mini-fridge. This has its advantages in terms of capacity and ease of loading.  The door can be setup very close to floor level, so there is no heavy lifting in and out like with my chest freezer. I wound up building a pulley system to save my back.
  • Building a fermentation chamber with a mini-fridge as the cooling source does take some skill. Parts include foam panels, 2×4’s, hinges, caulk, and all the little details to fit it all together.
  • The mini fridge is definitely cheaper than the freezer chest, but if you add in the cost of the materials, and the time it takes to build, it is about the same.
• Build a pool of water and use aquarium heaters. Good for ales in the winter, but may not work for lagers very well.
• Heating pads, heating wraps. Again these are okay for ales in the winter when the ambient temperature is below 50, but if you want to lager you need a dual stage controller with ability to heat and cool.
• Canonical fermentors with built in heating / cooling.These are awesome but very spendy.

Make sure to size your fermentation chamber according to how much beer you want to be fermenting at once. My brew rig can do 11 gallon batches. My fermentation chamber can accommodate two 6 gallon fermentors. This is great for doing a split batch with different yeast! Also great if I want to fill up two corny kegs in a matter of a week or two!

Dialing in a specific temperature and pitching yeast at professional rates will take your home brewed beer to the next level. The recipe editor’s yeast section has fields for fermentation temp and yeast pitch rate, both key components to taking your beer to the next level!

Posted in Equipment, Lagering | 4 Comments »

Dude Your Beer Line Stinks! Wash It Out!

Every so often beer lines need to be cleaned. They can get so dirty the poured beer will smell and taste funny. This is a normal issue that all home brewers, bars, and restaurants have to contend with.

The off colored crystalline sediment is officially known as beer stone (Calcium Oxalate). It builds up over time naturally. This line was used for probably two months. Already it has a large deposit on the inside. Even if the line is used regularly, beer stone build ups can happen in a matter of weeks. Whenever I notice beer stone building up I change the line. I’m kind of surprised it got as far as it did this go around, but hey it makes a good blog post!

You may note ‘goaty’ smells and flavors in beer served through a dirty line. This is can be a common problem in bars or restaurants that take a lax approach to beer line cleanliness.

What does Goaty really smell like, you ask?

For scientific and journalistic purposes, I have subjected myself to analyzing the aroma of this beer line. At first it smells like a sweaty locker room with a bit of wet animal and a hint of stale beer. I also get rotten cheese, curdled milk, and rubber. The rubber is no doubt from the hose itself. All in all, flavors we do not want in our beer.

Cleaning process:

It is pretty simple to clean the line. Start by soaking the line in a solution of line cleaner. Line cleaner can be purchased inexpensively at your local home brew store (LHBS). A little goes a long way. A splash of the line cleaner in a quart of warm water does the trick. Then the next day, I pour out the hose, and run a specially designed four foot long line cleaning brush through it. From there I flush thoroughly with hot water in both directions, then hang it up to try. Ready to use again!

Keep a backup serving line:
Beer stone and the need to regularly clean beer lines is a downside to kegging beer at home. I keep a clean, ready to go serving line in case I notice a serving line is dirty. That gives me plenty of time to clean out the dirty one while keeping the beer flowing.

For more about beer stone, and a detailed look at removing it:
https://www.birkocorp.com/brewery/white-papers/removing-beerstone-a-look-at-alternative-cleaning-methods/

Posted in Equipment, Kegging and CO2 | No Comments »

Lifting Carboys and Kegs with a Pulley in the Brew Shed

Lifting carboys full of beer in and out of keezers can be bad for the lower back.  My brew shed is setup with freezer chests for both the fermentation chamber and keezer. Freezer chests require awkward bending and lifting to get carboys and kegs in and out. There is no way to lift with the knees in this situation.  The solution is to install a pulley system above the keezers! With this system in place, I never strain a muscle.

If there is something in your brewery to over build, the pulley system is it! Mine is rated well over 250 pounds. Most parts are rated higher but the weak link is the single carabiner that links the pulley to the gambrel.  That said, 250 pounds is way more than the 60-70 pounds I’ll be lifting at one time.  Figure the pulley and gambrel weigh 10 pounds, the better bottle 1 pound, and 6 gallons of beer at 8.5 lb/gal reaches at most 65 pounds.  I never stand under it when there is load, and I’m careful to make sure I’m ready if something gives.

To make life easy, the pulley slides left and right along a 6 foot 1″ iron pipe mounted to 2×6 boards that are lag bolted into the joists. The pipe is held to the 2×6’s with brackets and screws that go through it at each end.  Two rings allow the pulley to move horizontally. Really only one ring is needed, but I went with two in case a weld fails.  The bar has paste wax smeared on top to allow the rings to slide easily.  On the floor between the keezer and the fermentation chamber there is an open spot where I can start the lift operation. After the payload is in the air, I can push it left or right, then lower it to the destination.

I went with a good quality pulley and gambrel kit on amazon: Hunters Specialties Mag Lift System with Gambrel. This pulley has a nice auto locking mechanism so the beer stays in the air. The pulley and gambrell are something you would normally see on a hunting trip.  Wire clamps on either side of the hooks keep them securely in place.

For lifting corny kegs, I remove the gambrel, and loop a heavy duty chain through the handle and hook it to the carabiner on the pulley. The hardware store will sell chain in short lengths. A foot is about right.

General Carboy Safety:
For safety – no matter what you are doing, always use a carboy hauler (the nylon basket show in the photos). If you have ever shattered a glass carboy, it is bad news. It can lead to nasty if not life threatening cuts. To avoid death by a broken carboy, I’ve switched to using better bottles. Cleaning a better bottle can take extra work because they are easy to scratch the inside of.  I’ve found PBW with a rag inside the container gets the chore done in 10-15 minutes.  We have a detailed guide on cleaning better bottles.

Other ideas:

• Some people go for the electric hoist:
  https://www.harborfreight.com/110-volt-440-lb-capacity-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-40765.html
  See it in action:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdM5L73AYNQ&noredirect=1

• Before I built my brew shed, I built a wagon for rolling carboys around.

• In retrospect, a fermentation chamber with a side door built around a smaller fridge could have worked, but I’d still be stuck with needing the hoist for my keezer.

• In googling this subject and researching it before I installed my own, I’m amazed at what people get by with and consider ‘safe’.  Make sure to over build your pulley / hoist system well past the load ratings! Some of these cheap made in China pulleys are a real joke and I wouldn’t trust them.

• I almost went with an I-Beam and an I-Beam trolley, but decided that was too expensive and overkill. It would look awesome though.

• It is possible to design a pulley hanger that allows for not just left/right movement, but also in and out from the wall!

Posted in Equipment | 2 Comments »

Pro Grade Refractometer Atago PAL-1

The Atago PAL-1 is a professional grade digital refractometer that we got to test out over the past few brew sessions.  Compared to my $40 refractometer from Amazon, it is a night and day difference. The PAL-1 is super accurate reading to reading, varying only +/- 0.05 Brix. Contrast that with my cheap-o refractometer which reads +/- 0.6 Brix sample to sample, making it near useless since I have to average 6+ samples to get a good idea of the gravity.

For anybody who brews beer often the PAL-1 is a real treat to use. I can see this unit being an essential tool at any pro brewery. The measurement range is from 0 to 53 Brix, plenty wide. It is water resistant, so you can rinse it off in the sink. It even floats (but I didn’t test that).

Unlike a standard analog refractometer, the PAL-1 is digital.  It requires two AAA batteries and works from the palm of your hand. Just put a couple drops of wort in the sample area and hit the start button. It only takes a second for the reading to come up.

Like all refractometers the PAL-1 needs to be calibrated with water before each use.  The unit is simple to operate – there are literally just two buttons (start = take reading, zero = calibrate with water).  The manual provides detailed info about how to operate it and the various on screen codes that come up. The only trouble I ever had was skipping the calibration or not putting in a large enough sample (both user error). I found that 2-3 drops does the trick, with a wide margin of error provided the minimum sample size is met.  The unit reads best at 59F, but has automatic temperature correction (ATC).

Like all refractometers, the PAL-1 does not correct for the presence of alcohol which throws off the reading. This is not a showstopper for me because Brewer’s Friend corrects for this both in the Brew Log entry screen, and in our stand alone Refractometer Calculator.

I found the FG numbers the PAL-1 and my old school refractometer were giving lined up reasonably well with a hydrometer after applying alcohol correction. Still, FG readings should be taken with a hydrometer.  Refractometers are best suited for OG readings, and taking readings during the mash, or at preboil.

Technical Explanation of How a Digital Refractometer Works:

“Light emitted at an angle from a point source underneath the prism toward the sample liquid enters the boundary surface at multiple angles. Depending on the refractive index of the sample, light may be transmitted (refracted) or reflected. For example, water has a low refractive index, and therefore, light is refracted at a small angle of incidence. Likewise, light traveling through a sample of high refractive index is refracted at a large angle of incidence. Refractive index is proportional to critical angle, the largest angle of incidence for with refraction can still occur before incident light is totally reflected. A boundary line separating light and dark fields appears at the critical angle. The location of this boundary line is detected by the light receiving sensor and the refractive index is calculated.”

– Atago Catalog

Here is a page that explains more about how it works.

Atago’s website and ordering information:

www.atago-usa.com (main page)
https://www.atago-usa.com/PAL-1-Pocket-Refractometer-p176.html (PAL-1 product page)
https://www.atago-usa.com/PAL-Plato-p437.html (PAL-Plato product page)

But wait, there’s more…!

Atago granted our readers a special discount code! Brewer’s Friend readers can save 5% off a PAL-1 or PAL-Plato. Valid through 2013. 

Promo Code for web store: BREWPAL

Post by Larry
(Brewer’s Friend received an evaluation PAL-1 demo unit.)

Posted in Equipment | 1 Comment »

Using your Refractometer Correctly for Maximum Accuracy in Home Brewing

A refractometer is a nifty brewing instrument that allows a gravity reading to be taken with just a single drop of wort. It beats wasting 6-8 ounces for a hydrometer sample. The drop of wort is spread across a flat lens with a clear plate that snaps down over it and uniformly spreads the fluid. The refractometer is then held up to a light source and you look through it, sort of like a telescope.

Update 6/14/2013 – the unit pictured here is cheap made in China version off Amazon for $40. With refractometers, you get what you pay for. Check out our evaluation of the PAL-1 digital refractometer if you want to see what a top of the line model looks like.

There are some caveats for proper refractometer use – otherwise they can be frustrating to work with:

• Refractometers need to be calibrated with water to read zero. Calibration may be necessary before each use.

• IGNORE the SG scale if your model has it – only pay attention to the Brix scale. The relationship between Brix and SG is not linear!

• Like hydrometers, refractometer readings are temperature dependent. Some models support ATC – automatic temperature correction, and have varying degrees of success at this. I let my samples cool to below 100F / 37C before using them so I don’t burn myself.

• Cheap refractometers are not very consistent measurement to measurement from the same wort. I take 5+ measurements then average the value before recording. The variance is +/- 10% either way! What a joke. You get what you pay for and this unit was a gift.

Refractometers and wort:

The convenience of refractometers comes with a price as refractometers are not as straightforward has hydrometers when it comes to measuring wort gravity.

Refractometers measure the angle of refraction as light shines through the solution. They are typically calibrated for sugar water. Wort however has a different density and contains more complex sugars.  This throws off the refraction index. Any wort gravity reading from a refractometer needs to be adjusted by a ‘wort correction factor’.  For the home brewer, a wort correction factor, specific to the instrument, needs to be determined to accurately measure wort samples.

We have complete guide, including spreadsheet for recording measurements, that will help determine your Wort Correction Factor.

To help clear up confusion with terminology, at Brewer’s Friend we have decided to call a Brix measurement of wort: Brix WRI (wort refraction index).  Brix WRI makes it clear the measurement pertains to wort and is unadjusted. Only after dividing Brix WRI by the wort correction factor do we arrive at the actual Brix / Plato reading. It is helpful to know that Brix and Plato are nominally the same to 3 decimal places, so the corrected reading can be treated as Plato (°P).

Refractometers and Alcohol:

In the presence of alcohol, refractometer measurements get even more complicated. Alcohol throws off the refraction even more. The good news is, it can be corrected for if the OG is known. Sean Terrill posted research on the subject and arrived at the following equation which we have taken to be the most accurate:

FG = 1.0000 – 0.0044993*RI_i + 0.011774*RI_f + 0.00027581*RI_i² – 0.0012717*RI_f² – 0.0000072800*RI_i³ + 0.000063293*RI_f³

https://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/

Using Refractometer measurements at Brewer’s Friend:

Using a software package like Brewer’s Friend will mitigate the complexities of using a refractometer to a large extent.

• See our stand alone Refractometer Calculator.

• Inside a brew session, the brew log entry screen fully supports refractometer input, including wort correction factor and alcohol correction (if applicable).

  

• The wort correction factor is a profile option, and the default is 1.0 (no correction).

• We have a complete guide with spreadsheet for finding your refractometer’s wort correction factor.

Posted in Equipment | 5 Comments »

Beer on the Go in PET Bottles

Check out this nifty method of packaging beer from the keg into light weight plastic bottles.

I started kegging after almost 2 years of bottling. I fell in love with the fact that I now had one big “bottle” to clean and sanitize rather than about 50.

One of the challenges that emerged after I started kegging was taking homebrew with me when we’re away from home. Often I didn’t want to bother taking a keg with me.

I began looking for solutions. I frequent HBT (Home Brew Talk), and was soon acquainted with the now-famous Biermuncher Bottle Filler. This method of filling bottles is often referred to as the BMBF, for short.

It detailed how to fill 12 oz or 22 oz bombers without an expensive counter pressure bottle filler. Hundreds of posts on dozens of pages show how effective it is. I quickly made one, followed his process, and began enjoying convenience of beer on the go even though I keg.

Here’s a summary of Bier Muncher’s method:

1. You fill from a picnic tap hooked up to your keg.
2. You use a plastic racking cane. At the end of the long end, you cut a 45 degree angle.
3. You use a #2 drilled stopper – best to get food grade.
4. Put drilled stopper on racking cane, attach short end cane into the picnic tap – it fits snugly.
5. Shut off CO2 to keg. Bleed the keg of pressure. Turn regulator down to 5-6 psi. Refill keg with CO2 at that pressure and leave regulator at that 5-6 lbs pressure.
6. Put cane into beer bottle, adjust the stopper so it seals the bottle opening. Begin to fill the bottle.
7. When beer filling slows/stops, burp the bottle…that means the CO2 pressure has filled the headspace and the beer won’t flow. Keep burping on occasion until bottle is full. Let it go all the way to the top. You’ll burp about 2x for a 12 oz bottle.
8. Remove cane from bottle. Place cap on bottle, but don’t seal. Hold it down, invert bottle, right the bottle, let the foam spill out (this fills the headspace), then replace cap while the foam spills out and seal it.

Here’s a photo of my BMBF – notice that 45 degree cut at the bottom of the racking cane:

If you decided not to read the post, here’s a summary: you use this item – a plastic racking cane with a 45 degree angle cut at the bottom, plus a #2 drilled stopper – by inserting it into a picnic tap attached to the keg. You use it to fill the bottle. It’s easy, but there are some important details to his process that make it effective. If you want to try it you need to read the post! Later on I explain my process, and you won’t understand some of it unless you’ve read the post.

While this method worked great for events around town, once camping season rolled around a problem surfaced – I wanted to take my beer along in non-glass bottles. Part of that was due to no glass at campsites, and the other part was simply weight…camping for a week and taking a bunch of homebrew is heavy! I didn’t want to take a keg and regulator…I wanted the simplicity of bottled beer but not in beer bottles.

I started thinking about alternatives, and quickly settled on PET soda bottles. They come in lots of sizes, are durable, super light, reusable or disposable as circumstances dictate, and they’re made to handle even higher PSI beer – soda is has a much higher carbonation level. I decided I’d adapt the BMBF for PET and see how it worked.

“The Carbonator” cap is another alternative, but they’re expensive and can only be used on one bottle…multiple bottles get expensive at around 15 dollars each! The BMBF process adapted for PET has most/all of the benefits at a much lower cost!

Here’s what “The Carbonator” looks like:

The #2 stopper for glass bottles wasn’t sized for PET bottles. It took some research but I figured out what size stopper will work with PET bottles – a #4. It was not easy to find a food grade #4 stopper…my LHBS didn’t have them and many online brewing supply sites didn’t. I finally found them and ordered a few.

Take a look – #2 on the left, #4 on the right:

Once the #4 drilled stoppers arrived, I went to work trying the process out on the PETs. It worked great! I now don’t even bother with glass bottles. PET is my beer on the go solution. Part of the benefit is that you can even get to a growler size with PET – a 2 liter bottle!

Check out all the possible sizes – Left to Right: 12oz, .5 Liter (about a pint), 1 liter, 1.25 liter, 2 liter:

If you follow the BMBF process to the letter, the PET bottles kept a cold temperatures (so the CO2 will stay in solution better) will hold appropriate pressure for 1 week, and is often still acceptable for 2 weeks. Eventually the seals on the caps begin to wear out with reuse, so I recycle the bottle when I get a beer that’s flatter than I’d expect. Letting your beer-filled PET bottles get warm can also affect the CO2 retention in the bottles.

When you fill a PET bottle using the BMBF process, it should end up very firm…approaching but not equaling the firmness of a new, unopened bottle of soda.  What typically happens is that it’s pretty firm right after filling. I place the bottle in the fridge and check it again in 10 minutes. If by then the bottle isn’t very hard, I invert the bottle and cap on the foam once more. That usually takes care of any storage issues. If it still isn’t firm after a second try, I know the PET bottle cap is likely worn out. I switch out for a newer cap, and throw away/recycle the old cap.

Here’s a photo of an never opened 64 oz soda bottle. Almost no indentation with a firm squeeze:

Here’s a filled 1 liter right after filling and capping on foam. It’s pretty firm…see how there is some give?

Here’s how it looked 20 minutes later and still chilled – much more firm, and of a firmness that will allow extended storage that maintains adequate carbonation. If it wasn’t as firm as shown, and it wasn’t going to be consumed that evening, I’d have topped off the bottle with more beer, inverted, and capped on foam again. That normally does the trick.

This is how I take small/medium volumes of homebrew around locally. It’s my exclusive method for camping now. I fill some small singles for that afternoon quenchers – low volume times when we wouldn’t drink a whole growler. I also fill some 2 liters (growlers) for the evenings around the fire telling fish stories, etc. when we’ll be drinking at a pace that the beer from growlers will still be appropriately carbonated.

In earlier blogs I talked about taking Summer Shandy and also Honey Chamomile Wheat to parties. In both those cases I filled 2 liter PET bottles – 6 of them – with these brews. I put the 6 growlers in a big freezer bag (the ones you can buy at Costco) with some cold packs. It works great and you can leave the growlers behind after you leave without losing anything valuable. Also, they aren’t breakable if the party gets rowdy.

The great part is that between you and friends you can get a ton of PET bottles for free! Many families drink soda , sparkling water, etc. Just ask them to save you the empties. A bit of Ivory dish soap cleans them out and rinses well for no aftertaste.

If you’re looking for a durable, convenient, almost free, and effective way for beer on the go, give the BMBF process a try with PET bottles. You might find it suits your beer on the go needs as well as it does for me.

Post by Brewer kcpup

Posted in Equipment, Kegging and CO2 | 3 Comments »

Precision Hydrometer, Cool a New Toy!

A precision hydrometer is a fun upgrade and only runs about $15. Yeah, taking measurements, entering brew logs, and doing brewing science – this is fun!

I’ve broken a few hydrometers on accident over the years and normally bought the cheap ones that read from 1.00 to 1.16. These are all purpose models meant for beer and wine makers. An SG of 1.16 is approximately 36 Brix, which would be 24.9% ABV!  The recipe calculator can handle a beer that strong, but I don’t think I’d enjoy 5 gallons of 50 proof beer.

With a scale that reads up to 1.070 (~17 Plato) this precision hydrometer is fine for most beers. The reduced range makes it is easier to read and provides a higher level of accuracy. I checked my records, and out of all the batches I’ve brewed, only a handful are above an OG of 1.070. I still have the old one as a backup for the next time I brew a barely wine or an IIPA. Even so, this would be my go to hydrometer for measuring FG. The flute is narrow and the glass is delicate, so instead of banging this one around, I hand dry it and put it back in the plastic case it came in each time I use it.

Here they are floating in water for comparison.

There are four important factors to be aware of in order to take an accurate hydrometer measurement:

1. The temperature the hydrometer is calibrated to (usually ~60F / 68F, ~15.5C / 20C). Only at the calibration temperature does the hydrometer read true.
2. The temperature of the sample. The hotter the sample, the lower the instrument will read. For example, a reading of 1.040 at 100F would really be 1.044 on a hydrometer calibrated to 68F, and 1.046 for one calibrated to 60F. Always let the sample cool down before handling it or letting it touch the delicate glass. I prefer to wait until it is around 80F.
3. The offset for the hydrometer. In theory it should be zero, but with a cheap one you never know. We have a post on how to check if your hydrometer is correctly calibrated.
4. Also, make sure your thermometer is calibrated correctly.

The Brewer’s Friend Hydrometer Temperature Correction Calculator adjusts for the temperature of the sample and the hydrometer calibration. This is also built into the brew log entry screen under the brew feature. The hydrometer calibration, and its offset (#1 and #3) can be stored in your Brewer’s Friend account profile. These values automatically slot into the brew log entry screen when you record gravity measurements.

Taking this a step further:

There are precision hydrometers kits out there that contain multiple instruments – one for measuring the OG and another for the FG.

This model is a good intermediate upgrade, and may be my last – if I don’t break it on accident!

Post by Larry

Posted in Equipment, Fun | 5 Comments »

Broken Carboy Alert

To everyone who is using glass carboys, you may find this of interest.  This is a re-post from a wine maker we know in the area who had some serious trouble with glass carboys breaking lately!

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This morning I discovered a small pool of wine underneath a 5 gallon glass carboy I was using to put some Merlot through malo. I immediately racked off (without moving the carboy) into a PET 5 gallon and discovered a small crack running halfway around near the base. This is the THIRD time this has happened to me. The first was last year when I was carrying a carboy to the kitchen, I heard a small click and the bottom suddenly came loose in my hand, I managed to get to the sink before the bottom dislocated and wine ran EVERYWHERE. I got cut but was lucky to avoid anything serious. A couple days later I noticed a carboy with a small pool of wine at the base, foolishly tried to slide it to see if the pool was just a spill and the base separated once again, with the subsequent loss of the entire 5 gallons, fortunately into the bathtub. I realized that these 2 carboys were part of a batch of 3 that I bought from someone used, though they appeared to be in good condition, and I destroyed the third one.

Since then I’ve worn welder’s gloves when lifting and have otherwise BABIED all of my carboys, setting them down very carefully and avoiding subjecting them to temperature extremes, except for cold stabilizing when I put them outside on the patio, each on wood platforms in order to avoid getting the bottoms too cold. All of these 3 failed carboys have been 5 gallon CRISA’s, which are manufactured in Mexico and are commonly sold at wine/beer supply houses. I’ve looked them over and notice that they generally have an uneven nature to the thickness of the glass at the base, probably a sign of poor manufacturing technique, and that may cause them to have uneven structural integrity or could cause differing amounts of expansion/contraction with temperature change, eventually resulting in failure under load.

Below are some pictures, I’ve got a number of these but will destroy them all now. I have had good success with the 5 gallon Vintner’s Harvest models sold at Main Street and also the 6 and 6.5 gallon versions made in Italy. At this point however I’m moving to PET (plastic) carboys, since I’ve now heard of a number of very serious injuries people have sustained carrying glass carboys, and since now PET is a proven, safe material to make wine containers out of.

So, not saying all glass is a problem, but please be extra careful if you lift them when they are full. Buy some heavy gloves!

Post and images by Phil

Posted in Equipment | 7 Comments »

Jockey Box Setup For Parties

When I first started kegging, I soon realized how much simpler taking beers to parties would be. I’d take ONE big container of beer, and dispense it. No more super heavy coolers of glass beer bottles to lug over and bring the empties back for cleaning and reuse.

Until this fall I’ve been using a picnic tap to dispense my kegged beer when I’m away from the keezer. I have used a big metal trash can lined with a contractor-grade extra thick trash bag to hold the keg(s). I pour ice ½ the way up the kegs to keep it at dispensing temperature. If I’m only using one keg, that’s a lot of ice (30 or more lbs) to get the keg properly surrounded with ice.

We have a big party at our house to celebrate Fall. Typically we have 60-70 people show up. We kick 2 corny kegs of beer and most of a keg of root beer. I had wanted a better way to dispense the beer, and had been using a Craigslist trawler for months to see if I could find an appropriately priced jockey box.

After about 8 months of waiting, I scored a major Craigslist deal on a 2 tap jockey box that was set up for commercial Sanke kegs. It was a plate chiller type, and happened to be a 3 beverage chiller with only two taps being used. It included a 20lb C02 tank (almost full!), regulator, jockey box, blue tub, an empty pony keg shell, and extra fittings.

If you don’t already know what a jockey box is, I’ll bet you’ve seen them at brew fests, music festivals or fairs, etc. Here’s a picture:

Basically it is an Igloo cooler that has either a cold plate or a stainless steel coil inside. The plate/coil is surrounded by ice and as beer passes through the plate/coil, it is chilled to serving temperature. The keg of beer need only be kept at about 50-60 degrees – the jockey box will take care of the last 10-20 degrees. On a hot day, that is a big savings of ice! It is also convenient because you can provide taps to make serving easy. It’s a great way to serve a lot of beer with less ice, and elevate the taps a bit to make serving more convenient and potentially less messy..

Two corny kegs are on the left sitting in the blue plastic tub. Right behind the tub you can see the regulator and C02 tank peeking out. There was a simple ‘T’ in the C02 tubing coming out of the regulator:

With a small investment in plugs for the 3rd beverage openings and replacement fittings for corny kegs I’d be ready for our big open house, Thanksgiving, New Years…well, you get it. Any party in the future. I got the fittings from my LHBS.

Heres a shot of the inside of the box:

On the outside corners of the plate you can see the unused 3rd tap. The plate is aluminium on the outside, and it encases stainless steel tubing on the inside. It’s surprisingly heavy. Warm beer goes in the clear tubing, passes through a lot of stainless steel tubes inside the plate, cools off, and comes out the black tubing to the tap.

Before using, I needed to cut off the Sanke fittings:

I also needed to plug up the 3rd beverage pass so that it would stay unspoiled in case I wanted to install a 3rd tap someday.

Here’s what the plug and washers look like:

Once installed:

In the picture above, the two tubes are the warm beer input tubes, the outside the the 3rd beverage plug.

When using a plate type jockey box, you want ice to cover the cold plate, but you DO NOT want the plate submerged in water. A coil jockey box can be submerged in water, but not a plate. Always keep your Igloo cooler drain open if you have a plate. You can see the grey bucket to the right of the box on the floor to catch water draining out of the cooler.

After replacing the fittings to accommodate corny kegs, I thoroughly cleaned all inputs using Beverage Line Cleaner (BLC). I did a quick test the week before the party to see what pressure delivered a good pour. It was different than my picnic tap.

The jockey box worked great at our fall open house and Thanksgiving. We’ll use it late this year for another gathering.

Pros:

1. Less ice – like ½ as much needed. Instead of 30-40 lbs to get the kegs cold before, I was able to get by with 20 lbs or so. It was cool enough that I didn’t need to fill the Igloo much. I just stacked ice on top of the plate and put a drain bucket below the cooler drain hole. The rest of the ice went in the blue tub to keep the two corny kegs cool. My serving temperature was about 39-40 degrees. It poured beautifully all afternoon and evening. I added some ice on the plate halfway through the party when the Hefe started foaming too much. (If you’re curious, the other beer was Jamil’s Evil Twin.) During the winter months I wonder if I’ll need ice at all…
2. Better serving arrangement. We had almost 70 people at our fall party. Having taps made it quicker for people to serve themselves. It also made for a consistent and beautiful pour – since the taps were stationary and weren’t being moved around like a picnic tap, I could truly set it and forget it. Less wasted beer from foamy pours due to people moving the picnic tap or being tempted to mess with the pressure, etc.
3. It looks more neat and finished, and I think it generated less mess.

Cons:

1. The box is surprisingly heavy. Not awful, but it isn’t super light.
2. You still need to bring CO2 with you to dispense.
3. If it is hot, you still need to chill the kegs some.
4. You need to use BLC to clean the lines after use and before storage.

Next I’m going to experiment with a paintball can adapter fitting to see if a canister can push a keg or two. That would make it so much easier – no big CO2 tank to lug around, and the paintball can and the regulator can sit in the cooler for transport.

Also, it’s important to run beer though the lines and out the tap BEFORE putting ice on the plate. If you used water to clean the lines or water with BLC or similar in it, you might freeze up the BLC in the plates and you wouldn’t be able to serve until the iced BLC melted back to liquid. The order is: drain cleaning fluid/water from you lines and out the tap until you see beer, add ice to plate/coil, and serve.

It was a great buy and it made our fall gatherings easier to host. If you have a lot of parties or attend parties and need to serve a lot of people, a jockey box might be a good alternative. Who knows – you might score one on Craigslist like I did – good luck!

Post by Brewer kcpup

Posted in Equipment, Fun | 5 Comments »