What's in Your Fermenter? 2020

[Journeyman]

Just now, MUZZY said:

I think I do ok in the consumption stakes and it's partially due to sharing I'm a little low on empties.

Ah... then  time for a shout out to the mates to bring 'em back or else no more beers.

[Malter White]

1 minute ago, Journeyman said:

Ah... then  time for a shout out to the mates to bring 'em back or else no more beers.

Yeah but I'm like the old corner deli. They bring back the empties and I give them full ones to take away with them.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Started the cold crash on the pale ale and also threw in a 70g dry hop of falconer's flight split between two large tea strainer balls. Will look to keg it next Wednesday or Thursday so it'll be ready for next Friday. 

[Journeyman]

37 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

Yeah but I'm like the old corner deli. They bring back the empties and I give them full ones to take away with them.

Do you have a recycle place near you? Sometimes you can get cheap long necks from them.

[Malter White]

2 hours ago, Journeyman said:

Do you have a recycle place near you? Sometimes you can get cheap long necks from them.

I do but I'm not short of bottles currently, I'm just short of enough empties to do two brews at once. I have over 200 bottles but they're full of beer. A nice position to be in.

But thanks for the tip all the same.

 

[Titan]

Think its time to take a sample. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Decided to halt the cold crash at around 14 degrees until tomorrow morning, might get something more from the hops allowing them more contact time warmer. 

[Titan]

54 minutes ago, Titan said:

Think its time to take a sample. 

Well i corrected the Estimated as its sitting at 1.020. This will be done tomorrow so will dry hop just before bed time.

[Pezzza]

14 hours ago, Titan said:

When the activity drops to around 100 bpm

So what festive u-beaut Gadget is this now Titan?  Seems like you are leading the field in modern brewing tech!?!   ; )

[Pezzza]

Another cool brew this time this time using the W34/70 yeast cake of the last Pils that is now in the SS Vat having a Di-Acetyl Rest Fest...  same yeast... different malts and hops...

The yeast has fired up nicely only 24 hours in... probably a little warm at around 18 making its own heat but W34/70 is pretty forgiving it seems.  I have, however, read him the Riot Act and taken his blanky away and advised he should cool down a little and not rush things

This "double cold brew" will slow things down in production as they both take a bit longer in the FV system.... so might have this coming Sunday arvo off ha ha! 

[Malter White]

13 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Another cool brew this time this time using the W34/70 yeast cake of the last Pils that is now in the SS Vat having a Di-Acetyl Rest Fest...  same yeast... different malts and hops...

The yeast has fired up nicely only 24 hours in... probably a little warm at around 18 making its own heat but W34/70 is pretty forgiving it seems.  I have, however, read him the Riot Act and taken his blanky away and advised he should cool down a little and not rush things

This "double cold brew" will slow things down in production as they both take a bit longer in the FV system.... so might have this coming Sunday arvo off ha ha! 

Isn't it amazing that something that looks so dreadful now will most likely be something that will be quite awesome to drink in the future.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, MUZZY said:

Isn't it amazing that something that looks so dreadful now will most likely be something that will be quite awesome to drink in the future.

Have to agree.  On the weekend I racked off my Island Toasted Coconut Porter into a keg.  

I told my wife to close her eyes (because the inside look of the fermenter was gross) and have a sniff.  She said chocolate rum balls.  I cannot wait to try this beer now.

[Malter White]

31 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Have to agree.  On the weekend I racked off my Island Toasted Coconut Porter into a keg.  

I told my wife to close her eyes (because the inside look of the fermenter was gross) and have a sniff.  She said chocolate rum balls.  I cannot wait to try this beer now.

Sounds delicious, SOS. I hope it's a big batch. It looks like there might be some competition over it's consumption.

[UncleStavvy]

Dark Ale appears to be done at 1.008. I'll give it another day to clean up and cool it down to 14° overnight for bottling tomorrow. Contemplating throwing next fermentables straight in but I'll probably harvest the trub and sanitise the FV as usual

[Pezzza]

15 hours ago, MUZZY said:

Isn't it amazing that something that looks so dreadful

Ha ha Muzzy - Truly spoken. 

However, I quite like the way it looks now meself... but I also can smell how good it is... and probably my mind is focusing on the end product too mate. 

Ha ha Brew Up and Brew On!  Cheers. BB

[Pezzza]

2 hours ago, UncleStavvy said:

Contemplating throwing next fermentables straight in but I'll probably harvest the trub and sanitise the FV as usual

I only do two in a row and then bail out Uncle....  and I am jumping in early - as I take the initial brew and push it across to another FV for its finalisation... so the FV status I dump into over the Trub is not toooooo ancient and crusty.  I did have an aversion to the dump into slurry into crusty FV earlier on... but have done a couple now and it seems to work,

And I think I too will harvest some yeast slurry this time too.

Good luck with your Dark Ale.  I am just gassing up an 'Altbier' of sorts - bit of a Dark Ale/Old style - so will be interesting to see how that goes.  Cheers Cobber. BB

[DuffBeer]

I have just got back in to brewing after throwing it in just after the kids were born. I have to say while I understand a lot of people do not appreciate the craft brewing kit, I 100% get it, so far it is solving a lot of the issues that drove me to stop before.

For this brew I've put in a can of the Mr Beer Long Play IPA, and 250g of Coopers Brewing Enhancer #2 just to make sure ABV finishes in the upper advertised range. I actually set it up on the 22nd.

The wife hasn't complained about it being on the kitchen bench! Just one of several reasons I'm really liking the smaller kit. I have the Mr Beer Diablo IPA & Bewitched Amber Ale cans to brew next, I am also pretty keen on trying the Thomas Coopers Brew A IPA 1.7L tin topped up to the 10L mark, not sure if I should get the Krausen Kollar for that?

[Pezzza]

1 minute ago, DuffBeer said:

The wife hasn't complained about it being on the kitchen bench

Fortunately the off white FV and white tap fits with the Kitchen colour scheme.  As for the liquid held within, fine while you are doing Dark Ales, Stout, Dark Amber... but if you start going into Pales or Lagers with more of a Golden colour I fear you will be banished to the Shed (just joking) ha ha ; )

Yeah I think that the Crafty suits many for a range of good reasons... room.... less heavy to cart around...  and back then on spesh at Aldi sucked me back in... but is parked up at the moment as the 50L SS Brew-in-a-Basket Mash Tun/Boil Kettle has taken over ha ha.... am thinking of having a crack at a freshly squeezed apple cider in the Crafty FV tho.

Cheers Duff and good luck with your brewing. BB

[Pezzza]

The Cool Brew with W34/70 has calmed down to just above 14 deg C which is good....  interesting to see the sticky-on-temp-strip being somewhat way off ; )

Anyway... think that 14 for a while will be good for this brew to keep chortling along merrily... Krausen has decreased significantly so everything is settling down now for the long haul

[Instigator]

6 hours ago, DuffBeer said:

I am also pretty keen on trying the Thomas Coopers Brew A IPA 1.7L tin topped up to the 10L mark

I hope you like bitter beers, and I mean -really- bitter beers.

Try a can of APA at 10L first and see what you think. It's a bit less than half the bitterness of the Brew A.

[DuffBeer]

8 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

I fear you will be banished to the Shed (just joking) ha ha ; )

No joke I think you're on the money both with the matching decor & the banishing! It would actually spell the end of brewing as I don't have a shed, yet another reason these small kits are so good! I also like a stronger brew rather then a lot of brew, another plus

 

1 hour ago, Instigator said:

Try a can of APA at 10L first and see what you think. It's a bit less than half the bitterness of the Brew A. 

Thank you very much for the suggestion, I will do as you recommend!

[Malter White]

On 5/26/2020 at 10:41 AM, MUZZY said:

After building the drinking stocks up and the cooler weather is upon us, it was time to make lager again.
Tin of Coopers Euro Lager, tin of liquid light malt, cup of dextrose and a steeped addition of Cluster hops because they're my new love.
Yeast pitched at 20C but ferment set at 14C.
I should have made two batches because of the extra time it takes to ferment but I wasn't sure I'd have 60 empty longnecks available when bottling day arrives in 2 weeks.

Hey guys and gals,
This lager has been in for around 36 hours and the SG is unchanged so far. The brew was at 14C.
I know lagers take longer but the lack of activity worried me, so I jacked the Inkbird temp up to 20C to ensure the yeast gets activated. I'll drop it down again once I know it's fermenting.
Premature move, you think? Or not?

[iBooz2]

5 hours ago, MUZZY said:

Hey guys and gals,
This lager has been in for around 36 hours and the SG is unchanged so far. The brew was at 14C.
I know lagers take longer but the lack of activity worried me, so I jacked the Inkbird temp up to 20C to ensure the yeast gets activated. I'll drop it down again once I know it's fermenting.
Premature move, you think? Or not?

Did you forget to add the yeast MUZ?  (I see you say you pitched at 20 C) but did you, are you sure and and what yeast was it?

My European Lager batch was away within about 18 hrs.  Dry pitched with kit yeast and 1 sachet of W-34/70 at 18C then dropped to 11.5 C.

Cheers - AL

Edited May 27, 2020 by iBooz2

[Titan]

10 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

The Cool Brew with W34/70 has calmed down to just above 14 deg C which is good....  interesting to see the sticky-on-temp-strip being somewhat way off ; )

Anyway... think that 14 for a while will be good for this brew to keep chortling along merrily... Krausen has decreased significantly so everything is settling down now for the long haul

Must be a reason for the temperature strip to be stuck on with masking tape?

[iBooz2]

4 minutes ago, Titan said:

Must be a reason for the temperature strip to be stuck on with masking tape?

Yep he is a cheap bugga @Bearded Burbler and he moves the one temp strip from one FV to the next and so on.    Does not want to remove the backing paper so it will stick to one only and give him a more accurate reading.    Although having said that, my strips on my FV's are usually out by about 1 to 2 C.

Cheers - AL