What's in Your Fermenter? 2021

[iBooz2]

On 6/29/2021 at 2:20 PM, iBooz2 said:

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.

Picked up some more grain hops & yeast plus a couple more kegs today to bring the tally up to 8 now as I am kegging most of my lagers this year.  So while I was at KL weighed both these SS bad boys.  The 29 L kegmenter came in at 11 kg with the floating dip tube fitted.  The 58 L was 14 kg but without its lid and any attachments so I would say with a floating dip tube lid kit, it would be 15 Kg all up.

Next shot over to KK to get some 007 yeast and the guy there was super helpful.  He grabbed their 50 L kegmenter and took me out the back where he put it on their electronic scales and it came in at 13.1 kg with the standard lid and long SS dip tube attached.  He put it on another scale to double check and it also read 13.1 kg.  So there you go @Red devil 44 for when you are ready.

Edited July 2, 2021 by iBooz2

[iBooz2]

Here is my Carlsberg Pilsner AG half way through its step down cold crash routine.  Looking fantastic and very clear already.  Cannot wait to have a sip of this one, hopefully its as good as it looks and smells.

[Shamus O'Sean]

Dunkelweizen has reached its final gravity of 1.011.  Brought inside and into the fermentation freezer for cold crashing.

A few days ago, the Krausen was so creamy and bubbly that I could not stop myself from harvesting some yeast by top cropping.  At the moment I seem to have about four times as much yeast in the bottom of the mason jar as I do when harvesting from a starter.  Does this look like it would be an overpitch?

[Malter White]

9 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Dunkelweizen has reached its final gravity of 1.011.  Brought inside and into the fermentation freezer for cold crashing.

A few days ago, the Krausen was so creamy and bubbly that I could not stop myself from harvesting some yeast by top cropping.  At the moment I seem to have about four times as much yeast in the bottom of the mason jar as I do when harvesting from a starter.  Does this look like it would be an overpitch?

Sorry I'm too inexperienced to answer your question, Shamus, but your post has me curious, so I need to ask a question. You're able to harvest yeast from the krausen?

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

5 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Dunkelweizen has reached its final gravity of 1.011.  Brought inside and into the fermentation freezer for cold crashing.

A few days ago, the Krausen was so creamy and bubbly that I could not stop myself from harvesting some yeast by top cropping.  At the moment I seem to have about four times as much yeast in the bottom of the mason jar as I do when harvesting from a starter.  Does this look like it would be an overpitch?

Has it 100% settled?

Looks like about 150ml of yeast there. It should have more cells per ml than a slurry of which I used to work on 1.5bn per ml. I don't use slurry anymire for ales as I found them too variable.

It certainly won't be an underpitch.

[Red devil 44]

18 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Picked up some more grain hops & yeast plus a couple more kegs today to bring the tally up to 8 now as I am kegging most of my lagers this year.  So while I was at KL weighed both these SS bad boys.  The 29 L kegmenter came in at 11 kg with the floating dip tube fitted.  The 58 L was 14 kg but without its lid and any attachments so I would say with a floating dip tube lid kit, it would be 15 Kg all up.

Next shot over to KK to get some 007 yeast and the guy there was super helpful.  He grabbed their 50 L kegmenter and took me out the back where he put it on their electronic scales and it came in at 13.1 kg with the standard lid and long SS dip tube attached.  He put it on another scale to double check and it also read 13.1 kg.  So there you go @Red devil 44 for when you are ready.

Cheers for that @iBooz2, think I’ll go for the 58L,  then I can ferment & serve out of my Kegerator 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pilsner batch just pitched. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 hours ago, MUZZY said:

Sorry I'm too inexperienced to answer your question, Shamus, but your post has me curious, so I need to ask a question. You're able to harvest yeast from the krausen?

Yes, Muzzy.  You sure can.  As @Greeny1525229549 says, it is cleaner than slurry because it is mostly yeast.

The Krausen on this beer after five days looked really creamy and I recalled seeing a video on top cropping a while ago.  I went back to the video and it looked so easy to do, I thought I would give it a go.  The video did say you are supposed to top crop around half-way through the ferment.  However, in my case the ferment was pretty much finished.  I used a spoon and mason jar boiled in water for 5 minutes, so I think that the chances of spoilage will be low.  The only negative was having the lid off for the 10 minutes or so it took to harvest the yeast.

Plus, this was the last of the Munich Classic Wheat yeast that I had.  Now I have a brand new, healthy batch of yeast.  Based on Greeny's 1.5bn per ml I should have plenty for another batch, even if I do not get around to using it for 2-3 months.

Check out the video below:

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Shamus O'Sean
Added video link

[Malter White]

@Shamus O'Sean Well you could knock me down with a feather. Just goes to show you never stop learning. That's going to go on my to do list.

[iBooz2]

15 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Yes, Muzzy.  You sure can.  As @Greeny1525229549 says, it is cleaner than slurry because it is mostly yeast.

That's the way they used to do it years ago and with big wide mouth SS shovels.   Of course this was when they fermented in big open top tanks that @MUZZY cringed about in another thread.    The brewery's would produce far more yeast than they ever needed so it was sold off for other uses.  Some smart RRR's decided to make Vegemite out of it.

Edited July 3, 2021 by iBooz2

[iBooz2]

6 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

@Shamus O'Sean Well you could knock me down with a feather. Just goes to show you never stop learning. That's going to go on my to do list.

Unsure if you can do it will all yeasts but certainly can with the top fermenting ones that is for sure.

Edited July 3, 2021 by iBooz2

[Malter White]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Unsure if you can do it will all yeasts but certainly can with the top fermenting ones that is for sure.

Thanks for the info, AL. I would have tried with any old yeast and f#&*$d it up.

[Red devil 44]

Put down a Neon Haze Session IPA last night from the recipes last night, only a few changes.

Used 150g of Crystal Malt Grain instead of 250g, left overnight in 3 L water.

Couldnt source Bravo hops so steeped 15g Columbus into the Grain for 30mins 

Will dry hop 25g Galaxy & 15g Citra 

Used the recommended Lallemand American East Coast Yeast

Fermenting @20 degrees, no action currently but it states it could be 24 to 48 hrs before kick off, looking forward to this one.

‘Cheers RD44

[Coopers DIY Beer Team]

On 7/2/2021 at 4:55 PM, Pale Man said:

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. 

 

 

Careful Pale Man, you're bordering on being breach of our forum rules around promoting a competitor's product...  

[Pale Man]

6 minutes ago, Coopers DIY Beer Team said:

Careful Pale Man, you're bordering on being breach of our forum rules around promoting a competitor's product...  

It belonged to a mate that brought it over one night, so i thought i'd chop it up.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Pale Man

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 minute ago, Pale Man said:

It belonged to a mate that brought it over one night, so i thought i'd chop it off.

Damn, probably was a nice Stubby Holder 

[Norris!]

5 minutes ago, Coopers DIY Beer Team said:

Careful Pale Man, you're bordering on being breach of our forum rules around promoting a competitor's product...  

Why not just say it was a breach? If that wasn't a breach I don't know what is. He didnt even have a coopers product in the recipe?!?! BREACH! BREACH!!!

I Get it, don't say competitors products on the coopers site but here is a little customer feedback, your forum provides more goodwill and eventual product sales even when MANGROVE JACKS is mentioned. Now, how about making that cider kit again or do I need to keep buying and praising MANGROVE JACKS kits?

Have a good day and stop putting the lager kit in the beginners box and fix your directions instead of worrying about MANGROVE JACKS being said on "your" forum.

Norris

[Pickles Jones]

14 minutes ago, Norris! said:

Have a good day and stop putting the lager kit in the beginners box

I agree Lager takes a lot more to brew than what is mentioned in the starter kit Lager instructions. This often leads to disappointment. Many give up at this point.

I think it would be a more positive experience if the Coopers Australian Pale Ale tin was put in the beginners box as it is more forgiving than the Lager when brewing and is top beer.

However I realise there is a price difference.

[Classic Brewing Co]

Coopers Australian Pale Ale tin

That would have to be everyone's favourite although the Dark Ale & Stout are up there, I always find the lagers a bit more temperamental & you really need to tweak the recipe to make a decent beer, I have a tin but I am going to try the Coopers Heritage Ale recipe. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

6 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

Coopers Heritage Ale recipe. 

  That should have said Lager 

[RDT2]

Pilsner pitched on Saturday night wd34/70 seems to be travelling alright.

[Malter White]

6 hours ago, Norris! said:

and stop putting the lager kit in the beginners box and fix your directions 

 

5 hours ago, Pickles Jones said:

I agree Lager takes a lot more to brew than what is mentioned in the starter kit Lager instructions. This often leads to disappointment. Many give up at this point.

I think it would be a more positive experience if the Coopers Australian Pale Ale tin was put in the beginners box as it is more forgiving than the Lager when brewing and is top beer.

While we're sinking the slipper into Coopers  , another anomaly with the starter kit having OS lager included is the fact they also include BE1 to go with it. However the instructions on the OS Lager label recommend brewing it with BE2. 

[Pale Man]

15 hours ago, Norris! said:

Why not just say it was a breach? If that wasn't a breach I don't know what is. He didnt even have a coopers product in the recipe?!?! BREACH! BREACH!!!

I Get it, don't say competitors products on the coopers site but here is a little customer feedback, your forum provides more goodwill and eventual product sales even when MANGROVE JACKS is mentioned. Now, how about making that cider kit again or do I need to keep buying and praising MANGROVE JACKS kits?

Have a good day and stop putting the lager kit in the beginners box and fix your directions instead of worrying about MANGROVE JACKS being said on "your" forum.

Norris

A hell of a lot of posts here are in breach, considering a lot brew all grain. But i think Coopers were being a bit tongue in cheek with my post.

[Barramullafella]

Time for anudda brew and this time I have used @Hairy idea but with a slight variation. Hairy suggested OS Draught + BE3 + Cascade hops. As I did not have draught tin and Cascade on hand, I used OS Lager + BE3 + POR in 25lt water. This gives an OG 1.032 and I estimate a FG 1.007 which works out approx 3.8% in the bottle. See how this tastes. Thanks for the suggest recipe Hairy.

[Hairy]

56 minutes ago, Barramullafella said:

Time for anudda brew and this time I have used @Hairy idea but with a slight variation. Hairy suggested OS Draught + BE3 + Cascade hops. As I did not have draught tin and Cascade on hand, I used OS Lager + BE3 + POR in 25lt water. This gives an OG 1.032 and I estimate a FG 1.007 which works out approx 3.8% in the bottle. See how this tastes. Thanks for the suggest recipe Hairy.

All good, but I definitely didn't recommend the OS Lager 

I hope it turns out well.