What's in Your Fermenter 2023?

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 hours ago, Pale Man said:

Yeah no worries. It's not a tap though is it. If you could turn it on and off like a tap it would be great. When I pull the plug out I always manage to spill some and my hands get in the way of the flow.

If I can find the photo I will re-post it, it's so easy just letting itself pouring straight into the FV.

[Shamus O'Sean]

I put together the Coopers 2023 Vintage Ale today.  However, I opted to use Medium Crystal Malt instead of the supplied Dark Crystal Malt.  My previous versions of the Vintage Ale '18, '19, '20 and '22 have all been darker than their commercial equivalent.  Therefore, this year, I thought I would have a go with a lighter coloured Crystal Malt.  It should give me similar flavours, albeit not as toffee-like, with less colour.  Let's see how it turns out.

I made a 2 step starter using Coopers yeast I harvested from 6 stubbys of Coopers Australian Pale Ale.  Also harvested some extra yeast in an overbuild to use in a Coopers Original Pale Ale in a month or so,

Ingredients ready to go.

Grain steep underway.

Boil on the go.  You can just see the hop ball at the end of the little chain, hooked to the rim of the pot.

Hop steep.  Again the hop ball is at the end of the chain.

Wort into Coopers Fermenter.  Being aerated with oxygen wand, plugged into fish tank aerator outside of photo, just pumping through air.

Yeast starter ready to be pitched.

Tucked away in fermentation fridge at 18°C

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 hours ago, Pale Man said:

Turn the tap on? theres no tap, just a pull out plug.

Yeah, you are right, but I have never spilt a bit doing it my way, I must find that photo.

[Classic Brewing Co]

10 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yeah, you are right, but I have never spilt a bit doing it my way, I must find that photo.

@Pale Man I still can't find the photo, but this is the same principle, I just lay the FWK on the bench & have the FV propped high enough underneath for a smooth transfer, the only lifting is the last bit which of course is light & easy to handle.

No spillage!

 

 

[Kegory]

11 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

 

Wort into Coopers Fermenter.  Being aerated with oxygen wand, plugged into fish tank aerator outside of photo, just pumping through air.

A mate gave me a brand new aquarium air pump and a couple of ceramic air stones. I understand I will need to get some HEPA filters but are the ceramic aquarium air stones suitable for aerating wort or do I really need to get brewing air stones?

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Kegory said:

A mate gave me a brand new aquarium air pump and a couple of ceramic air stones. I understand I will need to get some HEPA filters but are the ceramic aquarium air stones suitable for aerating wort or do I really need to get brewing air stones?

I think you could use an aquarium air stone if you already have one.  They cost about the same as one for beer.  A difference might be the size of the bubbles.  Mine is the standard one from Kegland.  It makes lots of bubbles. 

With mine, I have to have the air running before I immerse it in liquid or it blocks up, even in water.  Some instructions say to boil the stone before use.  I just turn on the pump, spray the wand and the stone with sanitiser, dunk the stone into a jug of sanitiser for 1-2 minutes, then I put it into the wort.

I read that if you are doing it properly, with an actual oxygen bottle, the trick is to have it fast enough to produce bubbles, but so they disappear before they get to the surface.  I am not fussed.  As I am using air, I just let it bubble away while I am doing other stuff.  The wand would be in the wort for at least 10 minutes.

 

[Kegory]

30 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I think you could use an aquarium air stone if you already have one.  They cost about the same as one for beer.  A difference might be the size of the bubbles.  Mine is the standard one from Kegland.  It makes lots of bubbles. 

With mine, I have to have the air running before I immerse it in liquid or it blocks up, even in water.  Some instructions say to boil the stone before use.  I just turn on the pump, spray the wand and the stone with sanitiser, dunk the stone into a jug of sanitiser for 1-2 minutes, then I put it into the wort.

I read that if you are doing it properly, with an actual oxygen bottle, the trick is to have it fast enough to produce bubbles, but so they disappear before they get to the surface.  I am not fussed.  As I am using air, I just let it bubble away while I am doing other stuff.  The wand would be in the wort for at least 10 minutes.

 

Thanks Shamus.

That's interesting about getting the oxygen bubbles to absorb before breaking the surface. That goes a long way to explaining why they talk about the microns on the LHBS websites. But, yeah, with air you're not paying for it so it doesn't matter if some escapes just so long as enough gets absorbed.

I'll give the aquarium air stones a test and if they seem to go ok I'll try them out in some wort. I'm sure it'll provide better aeration than my current techniques even if the bubbles are a few microns too big.

[Graculus]

Summer Grapefruit Cerveza

Coopers Cerveza

250 grams Dextrose

Diamond Lager yeast I harvested from an All Inn Brewing Kissaki

I made it up to 18 litres to start with. I'll be adding 3 litres of grapefruit juice at some point. Maybe at the weekend.

I seem to recall reading that fruit should be added, or it's better to be added after fermenting for a few days.

Anyhow I put it in the fridge this morning and I'll be brewing it @ 13C or so.

Having read that there's a German wheat beer with grapefruit that's quite popular I nearly went with a wheat beer. But I had the lager yeast, so went with the tried and tested.

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Graculus

[Graculus]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:14 PM, Pale Man said:

The only issue is pouring it in, I just cant master it. I tried it your way but still spilt it.

Why cant they go back to the plastic container.

I know exactly what you mean. Trying to pull that little bit out of the spout to pour it.

I've got a Pale Lager here ready to put in the FV. I was going to wait until my son is home on Friday.

I watched the video where the bloke cut the corner. I'm not sure but I think the All Inn Brewing bags are a bit heavier

and I not positive it will be able to be twisted and cut quite like that.

[Pale Man]

15 minutes ago, Graculus said:

I know exactly what you mean. Trying to pull that little bit out of the spout to pour it.

I've got a Pale Lager here ready to put in the FV. I was going to wait until my son is home on Friday.

I watched the video where the bloke cut the corner. I'm not sure but I think the All Inn Brewing bags are a bit heavier

and I not positive it will be able to be twisted and cut quite like that.

Agreed, its a royal PITA to pour without spilling. My old man has been brewing with the All In Brewing kits for years and still has had the problem since they went from a firm plastic container to the bag style.

[kmar92]

4 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

Agreed, its a royal PITA to pour without spilling. My old man has been brewing with the All In Brewing kits for years and still has had the problem since they went from a firm plastic container to the bag style.

The way I do it after, some advice from my LHBS, is to lay the bladder on a bench with the FV below the bench at a suitable height and then grab a corner, lift it higher than the bladder and grip it tight then cut the corner and carefully lower the corner to the top of the FV before releasing the grip on the corner slowly. So far that is the best method I have tried.

[Pale Man]

6 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

The way I do it after, some advice from my LHBS, is to lay the bladder on a bench with the FV below the bench at a suitable height and then grab a corner, lift it higher than the bladder and grip it tight then cut the corner and carefully lower the corner to the top of the FV before releasing the grip on the corner slowly. So far that is the best method I have tried.

I havent tried that yet, but my next one I'll give that a go. 

[Graculus]

8 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

The way I do it after, some advice from my LHBS, is to lay the bladder on a bench with the FV below the bench at a suitable height and then grab a corner, lift it higher than the bladder and grip it tight then cut the corner and carefully lower the corner to the top of the FV before releasing the grip on the corner slowly. So far that is the best method I have tried.

I'll have a look before I pour the next one. But really this AIB spout with the tiny little thing you're supposed to pull out is ridiculous.

[Pale Man]

17 minutes ago, Graculus said:

I'll have a look before I pour the next one. But really this AIB spout with the tiny little thing you're supposed to pull out is ridiculous.

Ive just sent them an email seeing if theyre interested in changing anything.

[Classic Brewing Co]

I have never spilt a dop laying the box on the bench & draining it into the FV.

[kmar92]

14 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have never spilt a dop laying the box on the bench & draining it into the FV.

Wow, you are my hero @Classic Brewing Co, I have never done a pour without some spillage. Pesky bloody things to get in the FV

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Wow, you are my hero @Classic Brewing Co, I have never done a pour without some spillage. Pesky bloody things to get in the FV

I am serious, I just place the box on the bench with the FV built up enough just to be under the tap thingy & it just goes straight in the barrel & then I just lift it up & drain the rest.

[Pale Man]

 

The boxes I've had from AIB do not have those hole punch outs in the box. Only carry slots. So I haven't been able to do this.

[Aussiekraut]

On 11/5/2023 at 8:33 AM, Classic Brewing Co said:

@Pale Man I still can't find the photo, but this is the same principle, I just lay the FWK on the bench & have the FV propped high enough underneath for a smooth transfer, the only lifting is the last bit which of course is light & easy to handle.

No spillage!

 

Yeah, I have done that with an FWK. Instantly, the wort overshot and went right over the FV onto the kitchen floor 

[Kegory]

I had reasonable success the only time I've tried a FWK. It was a Kegland kit, so, a goon bag/bladder with no spout notch in the box.

My great mentor @Stickers had given me a demo some months earlier. He put the bladder on a chair only a little higher than the FV, put some towels on the floor, cut the corner off the bag and executed a pretty efficient pour.

When I tried I sat the bladder on a small chest of drawers in the brewery with a tea towel underneath to protect the front of the drawers.

It was awkward, like wrestling an uncooperative baby walrus. I used the far less than optimal ring pull thing on the spout, eventually utilizing a pair of pliers after breaking the ring on the first attempt. I managed to get most of the wort into the fermenter but if I do one of those again I'll definitely just cut the corner off.

[Kegory]

Pan Handle Caramel Cream Ale

I was a little too ambitious with my plans yesterday and ended up starting my brew day later than I'd hoped with a few too many things to do.

Adding the steep to the boil pot. The new steeping vessel seems to be a winner but it may have squeezed the grain bag a little too much when I extracted it. I'll find out when I give it a taste test.

It was getting late when I strained the mixture into the fermenter. I dashed up to the supermarket, rushed back, had a beer watching the cricket, cooked some dinner and started another beer whilst still watching the cricket.

When I woke up on the couch at stupid o'clock with the Aussies in all sorts of strife I still had half a glass of beer in front of me and an unfermenting wort sitting in the brewery. I was not in a suitable condition to deal with any of them so I went to bed.

Woke early, the Aussies won, tipped the half a glass, drank some coffee, and finished the brew. Now it's sitting pretty in it's temperature controlled chamber and I better head off to work.

[Tricky Micky]

On 11/8/2023 at 8:59 AM, Kegory said:

I had reasonable success the only time I've tried a FWK. It was a Kegland kit, so, a goon bag/bladder with no spout notch in the box.

My great mentor @Stickers had given me a demo some months earlier. He put the bladder on a chair only a little higher than the FV, put some towels on the floor, cut the corner off the bag and executed a pretty efficient pour.

When I tried I sat the bladder on a small chest of drawers in the brewery with a tea towel underneath to protect the front of the drawers.

It was awkward, like wrestling an uncooperative baby walrus. I used the far less than optimal ring pull thing on the spout, eventually utilizing a pair of pliers after breaking the ring on the first attempt. I managed to get most of the wort into the fermenter but if I do one of those again I'll definitely just cut the corner off.

I solved that ages ago K, I get the missus to pour it into the FV. 

[Cheap Charlie]

On 11/7/2023 at 4:47 PM, Graculus said:

Summer Grapefruit Cerveza

Coopers Cerveza

250 grams Dextrose

Diamond Lager yeast I harvested from an All Inn Brewing Kissaki

I made it up to 18 litres to start with. I'll be adding 3 litres of grapefruit juice at some point. Maybe at the weekend.

I seem to recall reading that fruit should be added, or it's better to be added after fermenting for a few days.

Anyhow I put it in the fridge this morning and I'll be brewing it @ 13C or so.

Having read that there's a German wheat beer with grapefruit that's quite popular I nearly went with a wheat beer. But I had the lager yeast, so went with the tried and tested.

 

Wow, that's a corageous brew! Are you expecting a sour brew? It's an interesting concept though, maybe add the juice at bottling time as a priming agent instead of sugar. I hope you post the results of this brew! 

[NBillett09]

Has anyone tried the hydrolyzed dried oat extract from KegLand? I watched Gash’s video about it on the homebrew network and it seems to have the versatility of light dry malt in almost every way, I was just wondering if you’d dose it the same? Eg 500g-1kg in an ~20L batch.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, NBillett09 said:

Has anyone tried the hydrolyzed dried oat extract from KegLand? I watched Gash’s video about it on the homebrew network and it seems to have the versatility of light dry malt in almost every way, I was just wondering if you’d dose it the same? Eg 500g-1kg in an ~20L batch.

Not yet, but saw the video.

It looks like you could just use it instead of Light Dry Malt.

I do wonder if it is 100% Oats.  Some Wheat extracts, especially liquid extract is roughly 50% Wheat and 50% Barley.  So not sure about the Dry Oat Extract.  Maybe it was mentioned in the video, I do not remember.

It definitely sounds like an interesting and useful product.