What are you doing with homebrew today?

This is how we faired its bloody tricky fitting that floating dip tube
This keg is dirty so dont judge ... :)
20231208_162924.jpg

Heads up this didn't work.

I think I need to cut the dip tube sorter.

The hose is grabbing on the bottom of the keg and letting air down the line:(
I was hoping to no chill directly on the keg but I'll leave the wort in the kettle.

Let me know peeps you think my theory is sound?

If I gave the keg a shake it freed the ball and water started flowing on my test
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Trialben said:
Trying This I see some brewers on the YouTube doing it why not lolView attachment 27581
Milled first pass Into the bucket then direct into the awaiting strike water.
View attachment 27582
That floating gunk is the acrospires I decided just to go with it!
Friday arvo brew session under way.

Checked that Low C/N starter gravity = 1.002 tasted absolutely terrible lol sorta salty and like suds WTF I guess it's not supposed to taste like fermented wort second time tasting the Supernatant from a low C:N starter and spitting it out directly into the sink in disgust.

Oh gunna have a go at attaching a "partial" floating dip tube to one of my kegs to ferment in.

I don't quite have enough length on the silicon tube so will cut this spare stainless one to accommodate the ball.
Hope it works lolView attachment 27583
Click to expand...
I attached small filter screens to the floating dip tubes

https://www.amazon.com/Wixine-Stain...&sprefix=beer+brewing+filters,aps,139&sr=8-29
 
Over The Cliff Brewing said:
I attached small filter screens to the floating dip tubes

https://www.amazon.com/Wixine-Stainless-Inching-Siphon-Brewing/dp/B0BPWSC6JD/ref=mp_s_a_1_29?crid=3FEAG50AKPTQ8&keywords=beer+brewing+filters&qid=1702029076&sprefix=beer+brewing+filters,aps,139&sr=8-29
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Cheers mate yup I've got one floating around here just havnt used it yet

I think I gotta shorten that stainless dip tube bit more.

If not I'll trim a inch or two off another stainless dig tube and ride with that tomorrow.

Brew night is wrapping up here just waiting for WP and then I'll pack up till tomorrow.
 
Herm brews said:
I want to say that one ounce of Carafa Special Type 1 raised SRM about 2 points. Talk on the street is that just a little sprinkle of some of the darker malts can enhance red colors in otherwise light colored beers.
@Megary suggested that I use 34/70 in the Red Wheat for Winter, and since I should have fresh slurry from my Vienna Garage Lager, why not put it to use.
Click to expand...
Yeah, going to a darker beer with a slurry makes sure you don't discolor it with whatever the slurry came from. How do you prevent chunky bits from going in with your yeast when you collect it? I try to make sure there's less organic stuff going in there to spoil/decay so that I have a cleaner yeast population. I even tried a rinse one time, which was completely useless considering I was making the same beer behind the one I collected the yeast from. What was I thinking? Good way to cause BIG problems with contamination.

I have not tried 34/70 at all yet. That can be used for both ale and lager, right? I want to try a lager when I get inventory built back up again. The only downside of lagering to me is that it ties up my fermenting fridge so much longer. I really want to try an ale and lager with the same basic recipe, and see if my tastebuds take much notice.
 
Trialben said:
Trying This I see some brewers on the YouTube doing it why not lolView attachment 27581
Milled first pass Into the bucket then direct into the awaiting strike water.
View attachment 27582
That floating gunk is the acrospires I decided just to go with it!
Friday arvo brew session under way.

Checked that Low C/N starter gravity = 1.002 tasted absolutely terrible lol sorta salty and like suds WTF I guess it's not supposed to taste like fermented wort second time tasting the Supernatant from a low C:N starter and spitting it out directly into the sink in disgust.

Oh gunna have a go at attaching a "partial" floating dip tube to one of my kegs to ferment in.

I don't quite have enough length on the silicon tube so will cut this spare stainless one to accommodate the ball.
Hope it works lolView attachment 27583
Click to expand...
I've seen a couple suggestions that a rigid tube half-way down the tank helps prevent the suction line from getting wrapped/tangled and stuck in the keg. I also remember seeing something about attaching the float differently too, but can't remember exactly what the purpose was or whether it was just to accommodate a filter on the end of the dip tube. I THINK it was to keep the dip tube pointed downward. I've slept twice since I read it, I'm old, and I have NEVER kegged a drop, though. So just be patient and gentle with me about this. I'm absorbing ideas and best-practice material as much as possible before I change my packaging methods, but I do see a change in my future. I don't mind brewing at all. Wonderful smells and fun to watch something I'm crafting come together. I have learned to HATE bottling, though. That probably triples the labor in the hobby, especially doing 5 gallon batches. The only good part about the bottling aspect is that I tend to procrastinate doing it and wind up with batches that cold-crash for nearly two weeks sometime. I've noticed a marked difference in clarity because of that. If I get rid of the bottling stage, and start carbing with gas, then I get rid of a whole lotta work and might brew a little more often.
 
RoadRoach said:
Yeah, going to a darker beer with a slurry makes sure you don't discolor it with whatever the slurry came from. How do you prevent chunky bits from going in with your yeast when you collect it? I try to make sure there's less organic stuff going in there to spoil/decay so that I have a cleaner yeast population. I even tried a rinse one time, which was completely useless considering I was making the same beer behind the one I collected the yeast from. What was I thinking? Good way to cause BIG problems with contamination.

I have not tried 34/70 at all yet. That can be used for both ale and lager, right? I want to try a lager when I get inventory built back up again. The only downside of lagering to me is that it ties up my fermenting fridge so much longer. I really want to try an ale and lager with the same basic recipe, and see if my tastebuds take much notice.
Click to expand...
When I collect slurry, it is after bottling, so there is always a little beer still floating in the bottom of the fermenter. That gets shaken up into a pourable slurry, then poured into a sanitized jar. Generally, after some refrigeration, the material is like wet flour compacted into a cake beneath a protective covering of beer. I don’t really notice chunky stuff. Ever since I started using Irish Moss, and leaving most of the solids behind in the boil kettle, my bottom of fermenter slurries have seemed cleaner.

When I first collected slurry, I tried washing it. An old poster here convinced me that collecting slurry with a good cap of its own beer is the best method of preserving good, useful yeast. That is what I have done ever since.

As for lagering, I bet you could do it during the winter in a garage or shed, as long as that room had a generally consistent cool temperature. You could complete lagering of bottles in a fridge for a couple weeks, just as a good test of your patience.
 
I have a Porter to be brewed tomorrow morning. I'm using 3rd generation dregs from the Scottish Ale (OYL-015) yeast I used for a Scottish Wee Heavy and an English Old Ale. That yeast is a workhorse! Within an hour of pouring the Old Ale on the yeast cake, I had to attach a blow-off tube and use some Fermcap to keep it under control.
 
Going to keg my ginger concoction.
I think I will try natural carbonation this time. Probably using about 4-5 gr sugar per litre and topping up with CO2 if it doesnt give me the right carbonation
And yes, I'll put a spunding valve on it for security ;)
 
Getting a nice healthy stream of bubbles through the airlock of my batch of Dark Mild that I finally put together late yesterday afternoon. Somehow got an OG of 1.042 when I was expecting it to be towards the lower end of range 1.038-1.030 after reducing the amount of spraymalt. Interesting o_O
 
I am preparing to bottle my Best IPA+ after 4 days of dry hopping with Mosaic. The empty fermenter will need some action, so once bottling is done, I plan to visit lhbs for grains to brew another batch of Smooth Stout. Who knows what else I might find at lhbs.
 
image.jpg
One case of Best IPA+ ready to condition. The Mosaic dry hops charge is shining in this beer, and I did my best to lessen exposure to the air while bottling. This beer fermented on slurry of Wyeast 1056, scavenged from my batch of Amber Ale. It started at 1.061, getting down to 1.010 for Apparent Attenuation of 83.6% and abv of ~6.7%. I look forward to this being ready, since I am nearly out of home brew.
image.jpg
A nice jar of slurry for a future batch.
 
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Herm brews said:
View attachment 27595One case of Best IPA+ ready to condition. The Mosaic dry hops charge is shining in this beer, and I did my best to lessen exposure to the air while bottling. This beer fermented on slurry of Wyeast 1056, scavenged from my batch of Amber Ale. It started at 1.061, getting down to 1.010 for Apparent Attenuation of 83.6% and abv of ~6.7%. I look forward to this being ready, since I am nearly out of home brew.
Click to expand...
About all ya can do when bottling is keep the splashing to a minimum. I use one of those spring-loaded wands that has to be pushed down on the bottom of the bottle. There's always that initial spray when the beer hits the bottom of the bottle, but I do my best not to aerate anymore than I can avoid. Did you prime each bottle, or did you use a bottling bucket? IIRC, you normally dose your bottles with an eye dropper or something similar. I'm not sure I have the patience to try to meter the correct amount into each bottle one drop at a time. The Cooper's tablets sound like a good idea, but each of those has to be handled at least one time to get it in the bottle, more if the tablet has to be split because it's too much priming. Never mind that they're pretty pricy too.
 
RoadRoach said:
About all ya can do when bottling is keep the splashing to a minimum. I use one of those spring-loaded wands that has to be pushed down on the bottom of the bottle. There's always that initial spray when the beer hits the bottom of the bottle, but I do my best not to aerate anymore than I can avoid. Did you prime each bottle, or did you use a bottling bucket? IIRC, you normally dose your bottles with an eye dropper or something similar. I'm not sure I have the patience to try to meter the correct amount into each bottle one drop at a time. The Cooper's tablets sound like a good idea, but each of those has to be handled at least one time to get it in the bottle, more if the tablet has to be split because it's too much priming. Never mind that they're pretty pricy too.
Click to expand...
By nature, I am very patient.
I dose each bottle with an oral syringe that is clearly marked at 15 mL. Each bottle gets that much. Given the presence of StarSan foam and priming solution at the bottom of each bottle, I don’t find any splashing issues with the bottling wand. From the time I remove the wand to having a lid atop the bottle, there is 4 to 5 seconds of air exposure. It is not nothing, but minimal exposure at worst.
 
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