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BREW DAY!! WATCHA' GOT, EH!? 2020


Beerlust

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I think the way I will dry hop is like this. 

When FG is reached and confirmed pressure transfer to a cornie with the hops suspended from the cornie's lid and has finings in it.  

Top up pressure to my ferment pressure which is 12.5psi. 

After 48 hours do the CC. 

When CC is complete de-pressurise the cornie and remove hops then pressurise  

That way the brew is only exposed to air for as long as it takes to remove the hops and re-seal.  

Yep that will work for me. 

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Actually blowing of the co2 will blow of all the goodness you have been trying to preserve. If you smell hop aroma when you blow off then it defeats the process. Pressure ferment just 1 point below your vessels rated pressure will give better result. 

 

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Interested in how others get on using those hop bombs in their kegs as I am keen to try it out but would probably leave it in there until the keg is empty rather than risk taking it out.  But there is another risk too.

So far I have only used them in my hop boils and found that if you accidentally apply pressure or tension to the chain the “wrong way”, (say in stirring or moving one bomb out of the way of the next one in the boil) they will open up and spew out their contents.  Just worried that; after I suspend one of these to the keg lid, seal, and then man handle it into the keg fridge the bloody thing would have spewed it guts and be ready to block my dip tube up.  I have tried to crimp the closing mechanism just a tad with pliers to make it harder to accidentally open but still wary.

I hear what you are saying @Titan  and learning from it.

Cheers - AL

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33 minutes ago, Titan said:

Actually blowing of the co2 will blow of all the goodness you have been trying to preserve. If you smell hop aroma when you blow off then it defeats the process. Pressure ferment just 1 point below your vessels rated pressure will give better result. 

 

Is there not a viability issue with yeast if the pressure gets too high.  Most recommend no higher than 15psi. Even at 15psi there is blow off.  The vessel I am using is rated at 40psi. That is why I consider hopping when ferment is finished is the way to go.  

 

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9 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Is there not a viability issue with yeast if the pressure gets too high.  Most recommend no higher than 15psi. Even at 15psi there is blow off.  The vessel I am using is rated at 40psi. That is why I consider hopping when ferment is finished is the way to go.  

 

26 psi is cut off for me. However the 2 brews i have on now will use vessel prv to control pressure. Notably ferment is slower. Time will tell if suitable or not.

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17 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

So far I have only used them in my hop boils and found that if you accidentally apply pressure or tension to the chain the “wrong way”, (say in stirring or moving one bomb out of the way of the next one in the boil) they will open up and spew out their contents. 

I have a couple of them and have decided that I am not a fan. 1st is they are not big enough for a decent amount of hops. Second they do open. It has not happened to me as I don't usually hop in the keg I am going to use but my son in-law does. His last brew has hop particulate all threw it because the bomb opened. Also I have found that when I drink his beer it becomes a tad astringent if he leaves the bomb in and drinks it.  I have started to use hop socks and my initial impression is they are very good. They expand, keep the vegetative matter in the sock and are easy to remove.  The bombs i tend to use more in the boil when i have a small quality of high AA hops to use. 

 

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10 hours ago, PhilboBaggins said:

First dry hop is already in the FV (it's day 2) and next will be on day 4.

When you opened the FV to add the day 2 hops, how exactly did you do it? How many PSI are you using for the ferment?

During my second batch fermented under pressure (I used a keg) I wanted to add dry hops of day 2. I was fermenting under 10PSI. I released the pressure with the PRV and opened the lid. This immediately resulted in beer rising up and boiling out of the keg. Did anything like that happen to you? Turns out that batch was contaminated. I am not sure if that was the cause of the boil over or if it was the release of the pressure, but I am scared to try it again.

For my current batch I am going to wait until after I have cold crashed before adding dry hops as I figure the cold temperature will keep the CO2 in solution better. 

Cheers,

Christina.

Edited by ChristinaS1
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Mashing as I type...

South Pacific IPA (UK)

  • 1.7kg Coopers OS lager
  • 2.7kg GF Ale Malt
  • 200g GF Med. Crystal Malt
  • 100g GF Biscuit Malt
  • 25g Southern Cross Hops @20min
  • 25g Pacifica Hops @10min
  • 25g Pacifica Hops @FO
  • 50g Pacifica Hops (Dry)
  • 25g Southern Cross Hops (Dry)
  • 5g Gypsum
  • MJ M42 yeast

| ABV=5.5% | IBU=42 | EBC=14.5 |

 

 

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38 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

Mashing as I type...

South Pacific IPA (UK)

  • 1.7kg Coopers OS lager
  • 2.7kg GF Ale Malt
  • 200g GF Med. Crystal Malt
  • 100g GF Biscuit Malt
  • 25g Southern Cross Hops @20min
  • 25g Pacifica Hops @10min
  • 25g Pacifica Hops @FO
  • 50g Pacifica Hops (Dry)
  • 25g Southern Cross Hops (Dry)
  • 5g Gypsum
  • MJ M42 yeast

| ABV=5.5% | IBU=42 | EBC=14.5 |

 

 

What size mash do you do?  Do you have to add fermentables at all after the mash or does the mash give you enough? 

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55 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

What size mash do you do?  Do you have to add fermentables at all after the mash or does the mash give you enough? 

Sorry if I might be misunderstanding your question...? 

But the answer as I do understand it is there in the recipe - added fermentable =  1.7kg Coopers Lager,  mash size =  3kg grain.   (23 litre batch)

Edited by BlackSands
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10 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

When you opened the FV to add the day 2 hops, how exactly did you do it? How many PSI are you using for the ferment?

During my second batch fermented under pressure (I used a keg) I wanted to add dry hops of day 2. I was fermenting under 10PSI. I released the pressure with the PRV and opened the lid. This immediately resulted in beer rising up and boiling out of the keg. Did anything like that happen to you? Turns out that batch was contaminated. I am not sure if that was the cause of the boil over or if it was the release of the pressure, but I am scared to try it again.

Hi Christina.

I just opened the lid and tipped them in from the bag. I noticed the krausen increased over the next hour or two, but I certainly didn't have any foaming. Lost of headspace though, and it's only at 7.5 psi, probably not enough pressure to make it fizzy.

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17 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

I never boil pre-hopped LME and unhopped LME I only ever add at the very end of he boil.

The question was badly worded. I was wanting to know what volume of water you mash the 3kg of grain in. 

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1 hour ago, BlackSands said:

I never boil pre-hopped LME and unhopped LME I only ever add at the very end of he boil.

Synchronicity... I just asked about this in a thread on the Woolies experiment. 😄

Why do you NOT boil pre-hopped extract? Would it increase the IBU's by boiling the hops in the extract?

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1 hour ago, Journeyman said:

Why do you NOT boil pre-hopped extract? Would it increase the IBU's by boiling the hops in the extract?

The contents have already been through a boil.  Boiling again could possibly alter flavour, and if late hops were used in the kit it could also result in further bittering.  Also if boiled for some time it could result in darkening as well. 

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15 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

The contents have already been through a boil.  Boiling again could possibly alter flavour, and if late hops were used in the kit it could also result in further bittering.  Also if boiled for some time it could result in darkening as well. 

Well, more bittering could work here - was kinda hoping that might be the case. From all accounts (3 😄 ) the Woolies brand extract is almost totally lacking in character and especially IBU's. Darkening I don't care about - it's an experiment to see if the Woolies can be made drinkable. What would you call 'some time'?

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1 minute ago, Journeyman said:

Well, more bittering could work here - was kinda hoping that might be the case. From all accounts (3 😄 ) the Woolies brand extract is almost totally lacking in character and especially IBU's. Darkening I don't care about - it's an experiment to see if the Woolies can be made drinkable. What would you call 'some time'?

Well, I was thinking the usual 60 mins, but it's a matter of degree I guess.  To be honest I think you'd be better to just boil your hops longer. 

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36 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

Well, I was thinking the usual 60 mins, but it's a matter of degree I guess.  To be honest I think you'd be better to just boil your hops longer. 

I put the cans in for a 30 mins boil along with the hops.  Be interesting to see how it turns out. 😄

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On 3/10/2020 at 2:21 AM, ChristinaS1 said:

This immediately resulted in beer rising up and boiling out of the keg. Did anything like that happen to you? Turns out that batch was contaminated. I am not sure if that was the cause of the boil over or if it was the release of the pressure, but I am scared to try it again.

 @ChristinaS1 Hi Christina, I have been thinking about your experience and suggest that your brew may well have been "already contaminated".  The reason I think this is that when I have done similar dry hopping with "under pressure" ferments in my fermzilla, it causes the brew to boil up (if you like) in the very centre which causes an increase in krausen about 200 - 250 mm across (say the size of a bread and butter plate) and not any higher than 15 - 20 mm.  Admittedly there is a lot more head room in my fermzilla so no concentrating effect of foam heading for the opening.

If yours has climbed out the top of the FV, highly likely infection, or too little head space, or FV has a funnel effect toward the top opening, or pressure released just a little bit too quickly.

Keep trying and let us know of the outcomes please.

Cheers - AL

Edited by iBooz2
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3 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

 @ChristinaS1 Hi Christina, I have been thinking about your experience and suggest that your brew may well have been "already contaminated".  The reason I think this is that when I have done similar dry hopping with "under pressure" ferments in my fermzilla, it causes the brew to boil up (if you like) in the very centre which causes an increase in krausen about 200 - 250 mm across (say the size of a bread and butter plate) and not any higher than 15 - 20 mm.  Admittedly there is a lot more head room in my fermzilla so no concentrating effect of foam heading for the opening.

If yours has climbed out the top of the FV, highly likely infection, or too little head space, or FV has a funnel effect toward the top opening, or pressure released just a little bit too quickly.

Keep trying and let us know of the outcomes please.

Cheers - AL

Hi Al. Thanks for your description of what happens dry hoping under pressure in your Fermzilla. Sounds a lot like what happened to me, but as you say, inside a keg there is no room for things to disperse outward.

Even if this batch was already contaminated, I think the boil over was mainly due to the funnel effect. Next time, rather than using a few pulls on the pressure relief valve to release the pressure, I will open the spunding valve right up and then leave it to settle down for 20 minutes or so before trying to open lid. I will do this even if I wait to dry hop until after the cold crash.

Cheers,

Christina.

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