What's in Your Fermenter? 2021

[Classic Brewing Co]

Update on the Dunkelweizen.

Took this photo just before lunchtime today.

Nice fluffy Krausen.  Too early to know if I needed to fit the Krausen collar.

Amazeballs aroma of banana.  I forgot to mention I am fermenting it with a starter of Lallemand Munich Classic Wheat yeast.  I harvested the earlier batch of yeast from a previous starter using the @Otto Von Blotto Method.  I did not get any banana the previous time I used this same yeast.  I hope the aroma carries over into the beer.  Fermenting at 17°C instead of 18°C in the previous brew.  I wonder if this minor temperature difference is producing the distinct banana aroma.

 

Lot's of action @Shamus O'Sean I am assuming that is a lager yeast due to the low temperature. Interesting about the heat belt sitting on tiles, I haven't used mine for a while although our winter is really starting to kick in here in Adelaide. I suppose Melbourne would be colder.

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

Lot's of action @Shamus O'Sean I am assuming that is a lager yeast due to the low temperature. Interesting about the heat belt sitting on tiles, I haven't used mine for a while although our winter is really starting to kick in here in Adelaide. I suppose Melbourne would be colder.

Lallemand Munich Classic Wheat yeast is an ale yeast.  It's recommended brewing range is 17°C to 22°C.  This was the one that went nuts on @Graubart a while ago.  Imagine what it would be like at 22°C.

I went with the poor mans fermentation chamber because my temperature controlled brewing freezer is occupied with a lager that has just started its cold crash.  I figured that the ambient temperature would stop the brew getting too warm and the heat belt would stop it getting too cold.  Melbourne is probably a shade colder than Adelaide, plus I am in the Dandenong Ranges which is colder again.

[Classic Brewing Co]

15 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Lallemand Munich Classic Wheat yeast is an ale yeast.  It's recommended brewing range is 17°C to 22°C.  This was the one that went nuts on @Graubart a while ago.  Imagine what it would be like at 22°C.

I went with the poor mans fermentation chamber because my temperature controlled brewing freezer is occupied with a lager that has just started its cold crash.  I figured that the ambient temperature would stop the brew getting too warm and the heat belt would stop it getting too cold.  Melbourne is probably a shade colder than Adelaide, plus I am in the Dandenong Ranges which is colder again.

 Sounds cold, I love brewing at ambient but of course as Summer get's nearer the Brew Fridge will come into play.  I haven't actually got around to trying the heat belt stand alone as yet.

Cheers.

[iBooz2]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:30 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

 I did that because on my normal brewday, this coming Saturday, I am having some dental work done and brewing will be the last thing on my mind.

My dentist, well she keeps telling me to come back and get this tooth fixed and that tooth fixed. 

I said to her one day, "what is the actual prize for having the best teeth in the cemetery?" She just said "my new Ferrari".

Hope the fangs went well there Shamus and ya gotta good brew in mind for next batch.

[Shamus O'Sean]

45 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Hope the fangs went well there Shamus and ya gotta good brew in mind for next batch.

All good AL.  Session 1 for getting a crown.  Bit sore tonight.  At least my dentist did not say to stay off the alcohol tonight.  I did not ask either. 

She did say to be careful with hot and cold drinks.  Might turn up the kegerator a degree or two. 

[Red devil 44]

Well the Lallemand Diamond Lager Yeast has finally got a move on 36 hrs after pitch in my German Lager, fermenting @13 degrees  

Cheers brewers

[Classic Brewing Co]

22 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Well the Lallemand Diamond Lager Yeast has finally got a move on 36 hrs after pitch in my German Lager, fermenting @13 degrees  

Cheers brewers

Wow @Red devil 44  That's an awesome krausen, I assume the pressure assists with that. I don't know much about that type of fermenter but they certainly look impressive. 

[Red devil 44]

18 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

Wow @Red devil 44  That's an awesome krausen, I assume the pressure assists with that. I don't know much about that type of fermenter but they certainly look impressive. 

They are not all they are cracked up to be the Fermzilla, it works but the collection jar underneath is a pain in the a#se to remove & replace when dry hopping, have to get some big guns out of the toolbox to remove ( even after isolating and removing the pressure from the jar via a little attachment I made up ), I doubt it will last 12 months IMO. Good krausen though 

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

They are not all they are cracked up to be the Fermzilla, it works but the collection jar underneath is a pain in the a#se to remove & replace when dry hopping, have to get some big guns out of the toolbox to remove ( even after isolating and removing the pressure from the jar via a little attachment I made up ), I doubt it will last 12 months IMO. Good krausen though 

I understand, I read a few reviews on them & they weren't real good,  apparently there is a Stainless Steel model available but I think I could spend my money wiser on other equipment.

They are fairly flimsy plastic I believe, anyway as long as you get beer out of it.

[Red devil 44]

1 minute ago, CLASSIC said:

I understand, I read a few reviews on them & they weren't real good,  apparently there is a Stainless Steel model available but I think I could spend my money wiser on other equipment.

They are fairly flimsy plastic I believe, anyway as long as you get beer out of it.

Yeah I’m gonna go AG soon and then I’ll buy a kegmenter 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Awesome.

[kmar92]

15 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Yeah I’m gonna go AG soon and then I’ll buy a kegmenter 

You will not regret getting a kegmenter, great piece of gear. The only downside of them is not being able to see what is going on inside but a hydrometer tells you all that you need to know.

[Red devil 44]

11 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

You will not regret getting a kegmenter, great piece of gear. The only downside of them is not being able to see what is going on inside but a hydrometer tells you all that you need to know.

Cheers@kmar92, yeah they look pretty good, was thinking of the bigger size as my fermenting fridge will fit it in no worries as it’s an all fridge. What size do you have ? 

[kmar92]

@Red devil 44 I have the little brother of the 1 you showed, the 29lt version. I thought of getting the 58lt version but they would be difficult to handle weight-wise.

Edited June 27, 2021 by kmar92

[Red devil 44]

20 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

@Red devil 44 I have the little brother of the 1 you showed, the 29lt version. I thought of getting the 58lt version but they would be difficult to handle weight-wise.

@kmar92 yeah that’s a fair point about the weight, although I do have my mobile crane on an I Beam I could lift it with, hmm  

[kmar92]

@Red devil 44 if you have the gear to handle the weight of the 58lt version, then that is a much better buy than the smaller version.

[iBooz2]

On 6/26/2021 at 5:48 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

I went with the poor mans fermentation chamber because my temperature controlled brewing freezer is occupied with a lager that has just started its cold crash. 

Shamus, if you want to enhance the R rating of your cardboard box FV chamber there is a company close by in Bayswater that make styro foam products for the building industry in large sheets.  They shave off the excess bits on their standard sizes / thicknesses etc. and you can buy the flitch sheets for a dollar or so.  They will vary in thickness but the ones I got ranged from 12 to 30 mm thick and come in 2.4 m x 1.2 m sheets.  You could grab one of these sheets for a penny and cut it to suit your box.  Use PVA wood glue to stick it to the cardboard.  You would have to be sure though that there was no risk of fire just like you have to with the cardboard anyway so a great cheap alternative to a big esky.

 

[iBooz2]

3 hours ago, kmar92 said:

@Red devil 44 I have the little brother of the 1 you showed, the 29lt version. I thought of getting the 58lt version but they would be difficult to handle weight-wise.

Yep agree with Kmar92 re the handling of these SS FV's. 

I went over to KL last week to buy one and was going to buy the big bugger (58 L) but after picking it up and playing with the bits and pieces did start to think about how this was going to be flung around in the brewery.  My bigger FV fridge can handle the bigger SS FV dimensions wise but I did wonder about the base of the fridge and my support platform being able to support the weight of the SS FV and its contents perhaps 60 kg.   Maybe have to redesign the support platform to distribute the load more toward the sides of the fridge floor.

The KL website does not specify a tare weight and then you have to add the pressure ferment kit so next time I am there will have a scale at hand to get a better idea and then decide.  Maybe shoot them an email to see what they say the total weight is.

Sure it can be filled with wort en-situ in the fridge and then the finished beer pressure transferred out to the kegs but the SS FV still has to be lifted out and cleaned etc.

What this space....

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by iBooz2

[kmar92]

I will weigh my baby version next time it is empty but I am guessing about 6kg.

[kmar92]

Actually, knowing that an empty cornelius keg weighs 4.2kg, I would think that the 29lt kegmenter is closer to 10kg.

[iBooz2]

5 hours ago, Red devil 44 said:

They are not all they are cracked up to be the Fermzilla, it works but the collection jar underneath is a pain in the a#se to remove & replace when dry hopping, have to get some big guns out of the toolbox to remove ( even after isolating and removing the pressure from the jar via a little attachment I made up ), I doubt it will last 12 months IMO. Good krausen though 

Red,  Don't use the collection jar for dry hopping just use or dump the captured CO2 pressure into a keg of sanitiser to push it out (or most of it) ready for the soon to be keg day of this batch.  Then vent the remainder of the pressure via the PRV and then drop your dry hops in via the pressure gauge port on the top.  You have to undo the pressure gauge port obviously.  I use a cut off mid-sized coke bottle as a funnel, sit that on the opened port and drop your dry hops straight in, very little atmosphere goes into it so no need to CO2 purge as its already chock-a-block anyway.  Re-fit the port, pressure gauge then give the Fermzilla a big swirl around.  Takes me 5 minutes or less.  Pressure comes straight back up with all the fuss.

I only use the collection jar underneath for harvesting my yeast.  Doing the dry hopping this way from the top allows the yeast and hop crud to settle in different layers in the collection jar so its easy to harvest what you want ignore what you don't want.  Little need for yeast washing so its a win win for me.  Note my collection jar valve is open almost from the get go of filling the FV with wort.  I open it once the yeast has been pitched and the FV has been sealed and then the valve opening creates a mass of air flow & bubbles up through the wort.  It stays open the whole time until I am ready to harvest the yeast.

I am very happy with my Fermzilla for ales but really want a SS FV for good lager brews.

Edited June 27, 2021 by iBooz2

[iBooz2]

On 6/27/2021 at 9:22 PM, kmar92 said:

I will weigh my baby version next time it is empty but I am guessing about 6kg.

Just heard back from KL.  The 29 L kegmenter is approx 10 kg and the 58 L kegmenter is approx 14 kg. @Red devil 44 .  They probably just picked it up like I did and guessed.

When I was at KL my estimate of the bigger one was about 18 Kg but was bit off by their reckoning.  All the same with a double batch inside you would be looking at circa 60 kg so definitely not wanting to be man handling a full one in and out of your fridge.  Once emptied I think it would be manageable and I have one of those hand truck trolleys to take it down the back to be sprayed and cleaned out.

Will have another look later this week when I go over to pick up some more ingredients and I will take my big fishing scale.

Edited June 29, 2021 by iBooz2

[MitchBastard]

On 6/25/2021 at 9:23 AM, Graubart said:

Beautiful beautiful @Shamus O'Sean Shamus!

Look forward to viewing and hearing of the DW results!

Can you advise what you did re water?  Be keen to know what sorta things can be done...

I am somewhat of a Luddite and just use me rainwater as rainwater and that's it and all about it... as compared to guns like yourself and Award Winning Mitchie @MitchBastard 

It’s all smoke n mirrors over here mate

[Red devil 44]

On 6/27/2021 at 9:33 PM, iBooz2 said:

Red,  Don't use the collection jar for dry hopping just use or dump the captured CO2 pressure into a keg of sanitiser to push it out (or most of it) ready for the soon to be keg day of this batch.  Then vent the remainder of the pressure via the PRV and then drop your dry hops in via the pressure gauge port on the top.  You have to undo the pressure gauge port obviously.  I use a cut off mid-sized coke bottle as a funnel, sit that on the opened port and drop your dry hops straight in, very little atmosphere goes into it so no need to CO2 purge as its already chock-a-block anyway.  Re-fit the port, pressure gauge then give the Fermzilla a big swirl around.  Takes me 5 minutes or less.  Pressure comes straight back up with all the fuss.

I only use the collection jar underneath for harvesting my yeast.  Doing the dry hopping this way from the top allows the yeast and hop crud to settle in different layers in the collection jar so its easy to harvest what you want ignore what you don't want.  Little need for yeast washing so its a win win for me.  Note my collection jar valve is open almost from the get go of filling the FV with wort.  I open it once the yeast has been pitched and the FV has been sealed and then the valve opening creates a mass of air flow & bubbles up through the wort.  It stays open the whole time until I am ready to harvest the yeast.

I am very happy with my Fermzilla for ales but really want a SS FV for good lager brews.

Cheers @iBooz2, I will give this method a go

[Pale Man]

Back into brewing after a bit of a lay off. Partial mash lager. Mangrove Jack lager pouch. 500g of rice malt. 1kg of Gladfield Pilsner malt. 1kg of Gladfield Wheat Malt. Hallertauer hops on flame out. Also used a dry enzyme. See how that goes.