Just for the Bunyip, and future brews that will be dry hopped, I bought an integrated strainer for my FerMonster. I hope to prevent that blocking during transfer, though I bottle directly from the fermenter. Hopefully, that same strainer might fit my Speidel fermenter, too.
I bought one of those strainers but the threads on the top are cra& and the lid won't tighten on. I was going to just add a couple Stainless screws but never got that far.
Mine fit perfect, it goes inside the mouth of the FerMonster, and the top of the strainer protrudes just above the top of the opening, then the lid screws down on top of that, creating an airtight seal.
Porter 1.014 right on edge outside of target range @ Day 10. Previous batch stopped at this point though so might be ready in another two days. Four days making it the expected 14 would be fine though given I have to finish off that mini keg and at least one 1L bottle. No rest for the wicked LOL. I noticed the pellet bag was up like a balloon and gave it a gentle squeeze. Man those pellets are swollen to 3-4 times original size four days since adding them - is this normal? The beer looks and smells pretty good, can't detect anything nasty in there.
When I dry hop I don't transfer through the liquid post, I go through the lid opening. I wonder if you could take the poppet out of the post?
I may have to start bagging dry hops as I plan to do pressure transfers from an allrounder, I do have the little filter screen on the end of the floating dip tube though. We will see soon enough!
Today, I dry hopped the Bunyip after collecting a representative sample. Appearance, aroma and flavor were good. S.G. was lower than projected at 1.008, so the lower than expected O.G. was made up for, and then some. Apparent attenuation of 81% so far, and I might drop another point or two, maybe? Next up, I bottled the remainder of the 3 gallon batch of cider started back in late November, freeing up my Speidel fermenter. This time, I used Belgian Candy Syrup for priming, getting 11 half liter swing top bottles filled. It took more cleaning than usual to remove all the gunk left over from cider fermentation. It might be time to buy another fermenter to dedicate to cider making, something like another ported FerMonster.
81% attenuation from BRY97 I think is spot on anymore is a bonus. 1 008 I'd be happy with that. Sounds like it's on track
I just assumed it was plugging at the valve on the Spidel. I would squeeze the tubing to force the liquid towards the fermenter to clear.
Every time I've had a blockage on transfer has been the out post poppet so definitely a goer. @Sunfire96 recommended a little filter I've still not popped over the end of the pickup though I believe would alleviate the issues in the keg. There's alos the little poppet things inside the disconnects then once you've cleared the first break . Bagging has givin me much joy since trying it. Now I bag everything boil hops dry hops spice additions then there's no frustration on transfer day.
I think @Trialben was misreading your post. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Before bottling directly from the fermenter, I used to transfer the beer into a bottling bucket. On dry hopped beers (loose pellets in fermenter), I would put a sanitized hop bag over the outlet end of the transfer hose to catch hop debris to keep it out of the bottling bucket. When I switched to bottling direct from the fermenter, it forced me to bag dry hops additions. Now I have the mesh strainer insert for my FerMonster, and I’ll see how effective that is when I bottle Bunyip next week.
I assume you're talking about the bag of pellets you dropped into the fermenter to dry hop. Is that right? If so it is normal for hops to swell significantly in water.
Exactly. Thanks for clarifying. S.G. moved to 1.012 today so this is going to be a 5.5% for sure after priming. I was aiming at a 5% but happy with Porter being stronger as I don't drink large quantities of it. Obviously could become more bittered over next two days but already tastes better (balanced) for upping both the dextrose and hops roughly 20% & 50% respectively.
Since I’m about to be out of stout, looking to make some more. On a whim, I collected some excess sparged from my last batch (SG ~1.020), which I froze. I am thinking about boiling this excess down to a syrup, similar to @jmcnamara 2022 Q4 brew. I want to add the resultant syrup near the end of boil, and am wondering how to account for such in the recipe builder. Or should I just wing it, making a Frankenbeer without any real accounting of the syrup addition?
You could use this formula (that I got off Home Brew Talk some time ago) to calculate gravity of your 1.020 wort with the expected gravity of what you are brewing. For the volume decrease from the reduction, just make note that your end-of-boil volume will be less by how much your reduction boils off.
