What's in Your Fermenter? 2020

[Pezzza]

Pressure FV acting as a normal FV (no seal achieved) but the W34/70 is plodding along nicely... took a while to get with the program ; )

I think that @Pale Man PM's Sergeant Major Grandad would be in favour of my neat and tidy quiet well behaved FV rather than @MitchBastard Mitchie's festive brew that seems a bit raucous and going off like a NCO's celebratory mess night!?! 

[Malter White]

40 minutes ago, Staggerinn said:

Bugger! went into the garage last night and thought this smells nice....

Then I saw the puddle outside of the brew fridge.  Tap was leaking on the fermenter and lost about 6lts of beer to the garage floor and the ants. Did seriously consider licking the floor but thought better of it !

Real bloody shame as a sample of what was left tasted real good with nice banana and clove flavours.  Was hoping for this to be my Christmas beer as Ive already  drunk my Christmas stock twice.

Now have a eclipse hopped pale ale, and a Mexi lager (for the visitors) on the go.

 

I'm glad I just read this. Unlucky for you but lucky for me, Staggerin. It reminded me to put a rubber band on the clasp that goes over the FV tap hole. It doesn't sit tight by itself. I've never had it pop out before but I don't need it to start now.

This will probably be my last brew before Xmas as the ferment fridge will most likely be needed as a food and beverage fridge over the festive season. It's just my bread and butter brew of Coopers APA, BE2, Cluster hops and reactivated CCA yeast. The only variation I made this time around was to reduce the temperature of the water I used to mix it all together and steep the hops in and I added the hop tea at the 20 litre point of filling. I'd been reading some comments if the water is cooler it can reduce the bitterness of the hops and bring more flavour. I guess we'll see in a few weeks time.

[Red devil 44]

7 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Phew.  Faaar out that was lucky!!!

Keg Freezer was a terrible mess with empty kegs and pluto guns and lines everywhere and after noticing beer spillage on the floor I did a massive clean-up PM so that was definitely a close call hahahaha 

Mmm I did need to make room for the chill-baby-chill of the FV so had to happen... and glad I did... imagine had I not - my report card would have been deplorable!?!

But I do agree Cobber.... a tidy brewery is a beautiful thing and a safer workplace  as my industry colleague @Red devil 44 would also advise yes Red?  ; )

Yep, like my brewing area tidy and my work shop, and my tool box.

Metric Spanners in one draw, Imperial in the other.

Metric sockets in one draw, Imperial in another.

Keg storage area, full ones on one side waiting their turn in the keezer.

Empties to the other side cleaned, sanitised & pressurised ready for filling. 
Having said all that I used to work with a guy out west, we shared a house, and he used to iron his work socks & jocks

cheers RD44

[Stickers]

fresh wort kit - early chrissy present from a family member still debating whether i do a dry hop or just brew it as is

[Hairy]

Dry hop it!

[Stickers]

14 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Dry hop it!

Suggestions? I've got cascade and amarillo in the house and planning a trip to the LHBS early next week..

[Hairy]

1 minute ago, Stickers said:

Suggestions? I've got cascade and amarillo in the house and planning a trip to the LHBS early next week..

Cascade and Amarillo would go well in it.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Red devil 44 said:

cheers RD44

Haha luvyerwork Red... as I noted to @Hairy Hairy... Safety First, Production will follow ; )

Yer mate was just making sure he had eliminated any nasty creatures that may have been lurking in his socks-jocks.... exemplary commitment to safety mate... imagine if there was a budgie still chirping around in there and as a Contractor went to work and got stopped at the Security Sign-in and Scan?!  

Given it was a Thursday morning the CFMEU boys would be out the gate for 48!?!

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Stickers said:

fresh wort kit - early chrissy present from a family member still debating whether i do a dry hop or just brew it as is

Agree with @Hairy Hairy - early Christmas present - dry hop it - gold....

And did you buy it from a place that was worried about Magpie attack when you left the premises?  Lovely set of  red spikes there...

 

[Stickers]

sorry @Bearded Burbler - like one of my favourite triffids songs.. just a trick of the light

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Edited December 3, 2020 by Stickers
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[Pezzza]

2 minutes ago, Stickers said:

edit image placement

Haha but maybe if stuck in fascist Maggie territory bike rider could potentially strap home brew Bottle Tree on top of helmet for excellent displacement of flight of wicked bird?

Maybe us HBers should put in for Gov Grant for subsidy on bottle trees as safety initiative to prevent human Maggie attack damage and resultant impact on the economy ?

There are clearly significant positive gains to be made here as post-Covid Magpie attacks on Suburbans has appeared to be on the increase?!

I would suggest other alternatives myself, however, I am not certain that Policy Makers would approve.

Cheers

BB

[MitchBastard]

10 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Hey mate - what is the yeast, the temp and basic malt bill?   Is going off in a most festive fashion Mitchie!

Ey mate, 

she’s bout 85% pale malt. It’s a an English pale malt equivalent made by a small malt house here. Can’t remember the name sorry.

10% Munich and the rest is crystal 40 and some carapils. 
 

yeast is white labs English ale WLP002 running at 19.5 deg

 

id made a 3ltr starter, stepped up from 2 and I rekon I caught it just as it had finished stepping up, hence why it went narnas so quickly. 

[Pezzza]

11 hours ago, MitchBastard said:

hence why it went narnas so quickly. 

Haha 'Tis a beautiful thing Mitchie!! 

[Aussiekraut]

I'm a sad sack. It's a quarter past nine and the boil is already underway. Just a bog standard pale ale showcasing Eclipse hops. I heard about them a while ago and finally got my hands on some. Let's see what the hop has to offer. It's a fairly new Aussie hops, only launched recently.

 

I'm also test driving my new hop spider and the new wort chiller. A day full of firsts  

[Pezzza]

3 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Let's see what the hop has to offer. It's a fairly new Aussie hops, only launched recently.

Blooooody beautiful AK - let us know how Eclipse goes - and good luck with all of your new gadgets ; )

[Red devil 44]

Currently fermenting a Double batch of Mexican Cerveza in my 60L set up@13 degrees, only 1 day and she’s going off, I was a bit worried as i used S-23 Yeast ( had problems with that before ) but she’s bubbling away nicely, will drop hop with Galaxy later in the ferment, be a good lawnmower style beer on a hot day here in SE Qld

[Stickers]

taking advantage of a mild week's weather in melbourne to to the eclipse pale rotm pack

not long after pitching

24 hours later

[jamiek86]

1 hour ago, Red devil 44 said:

Currently fermenting a Double batch of Mexican Cerveza in my 60L set up@13 degrees, only 1 day and she’s going off, I was a bit worried as i used S-23 Yeast ( had problems with that before ) but she’s bubbling away nicely, will drop hop with Galaxy later in the ferment, be a good lawnmower style beer on a hot day here in SE Qld

brew enhancer or malt with it? old style fermenter with airlock? last few of those I had leaked from tap but first one was fine some cheap knock offs came along before coopers with their fermenters

[Red devil 44]

58 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

brew enhancer or malt with it? old style fermenter with airlock? last few of those I had leaked from tap but first one was fine some cheap knock offs came along before coopers with their fermenters

Half dextrose, half malt, didn’t want too much malt in the lager.

Yep, 60L big boy with an Airlock, never had an issue with airlocks, I just put a little food grade o-ring grease on the airlock so it slides in nice & easy past the robber grommet.

‘The only issue I’ve had with the threaded taps is after a while it flogs out the internal thread in the fermenter ( making it sloppy ) so just wrap a little food grade thread tape around tap. 

[jamiek86]

35 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Half dextrose, half malt, didn’t want too much malt in the lager.

Yep, 60L big boy with an Airlock, never had an issue with airlocks, I just put a little food grade o-ring grease on the airlock so it slides in nice & easy past the robber grommet.

‘The only issue I’ve had with the threaded taps is after a while it flogs out the internal thread in the fermenter ( making it sloppy ) so just wrap a little food grade thread tape around tap. 

at least with those fv dont need to tip it to get last 5 longnecks bottled. how do you go with a really malty brew with heaps of sediment?

[Malter White]

33 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Half dextrose, half malt, didn’t want too much malt in the lager.

Yep, 60L big boy with an Airlock, never had an issue with airlocks, I just put a little food grade o-ring grease on the airlock so it slides in nice & easy past the robber grommet.

‘The only issue I’ve had with the threaded taps is after a while it flogs out the internal thread in the fermenter ( making it sloppy ) so just wrap a little food grade thread tape around tap. 

I've got a 60 litre FV but I only use it as a bottle washing tub these days. Since I got a fermenting fridge I opted for 2 x Coopers FVs instead. The big one fit in the fridge but getting it to a height suitable for bottling became a logistical problem. I could see myself doing my back lifting it out. I never bothered with using the airlock on the big boy. I just cling wrapped the top and put the lid on not too tightly, using my hydrometer as my indicator of fermentation.

[Red devil 44]

14 hours ago, MUZZY said:

I've got a 60 litre FV but I only use it as a bottle washing tub these days. Since I got a fermenting fridge I opted for 2 x Coopers FVs instead. The big one fit in the fridge but getting it to a height suitable for bottling became a logistical problem. I could see myself doing my back lifting it out. I never bothered with using the airlock on the big boy. I just cling wrapped the top and put the lid on not too tightly, using my hydrometer as my indicator of fermentation.

Yeah I just use a siphon, but going to buy a scissor lift table, something like below to save my back from lugging fermenters around at different heights 

[Red devil 44]

14 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

at least with those fv dont need to tip it to get last 5 longnecks bottled. how do you go with a really malty brew with heaps of sediment?

I just Cold Crash for 4 or 5 days before kegging 

[Malter White]

1 hour ago, Red devil 44 said:

Yeah I just use a siphon, but going to buy a scissor lift table, something like below to save my back from lugging fermenters around at different heights 

I considered one of these very briefly. I couldn't justify the cost for the amount of times I'd use it. That money could be better spent of kegging equipment possibly.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Red devil 44 said:

Yeah I just use a siphon, but going to buy a scissor lift table, something like below to save my back from lugging fermenters around at different heights 

Mate I have already got a nice trolley for transfer on the flat, but went as far as pricing and ringing the supplier (Vic) for this festive foot pump lifter for lifting heavy loads up - certainly a back saving device.... 

A mate up North has got an endless chain in his shed and can wheel the Kegerator under to get Full kegs in and FVs for cold crashing in and out... He's got a little frame to hold the FV.

When one is no longer in Olympic Clean-n-Jerk Form I think that these heavy load lifting devices are a beautiful thing!