What's in Your Fermenter 2023?

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pitched my pale ale about an hour ago, didn't have to fridge the cube this time as the overnight temperature brought it perfectly down to 18 degrees which it will be fermented at. 20 litres at 1.048 in the end. 

Meanwhile, the pilsner in the other fridge is due to be stepped down to lagering temps from tomorrow. It'll be brought down to 12, then 2-3 degrees per day until it gets as low as that fridge will go, which is about 2-3 degrees. Then into a keg in two weeks time. 

Re cold crashing, it's probably unlikely that the compressor would run non stop until the brew temp reaches target temperature. Its own thermostat still controls the operation of the compressor and the air inside would cool down much quicker than the brew itself. In any case, one thing I've done in the summer months in one of my fridges is to remove the probe from the fermenter and leave it dangling in the fridge. Set the temp to zero or whatever but change the variance to 2 degrees from the 0.3 it's at while attached to the fermenter. The brew itself may not get down to zero but it makes it easier on the fridge. Then again I have an old beast of a fridge from the late 50s/early 60s that makes light work of it anyway. YMMV. 

With the other fridge (old kegerator) I just set it to -8 or something ridiculous, and its own temp to the lowest it'll go, otherwise it switches on and off and resets its own temp and doesn't go below about 6 degrees. 

[Kegory]

31 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Pitched my pale ale about an hour ago, didn't have to fridge the cube this time as the overnight temperature brought it perfectly down to 18 degrees which it will be fermented at. 20 litres at 1.048 in the end. 

Meanwhile, the pilsner in the other fridge is due to be stepped down to lagering temps from tomorrow. It'll be brought down to 12, then 2-3 degrees per day until it gets as low as that fridge will go, which is about 2-3 degrees. Then into a keg in two weeks time. 

Re cold crashing, it's probably unlikely that the compressor would run non stop until the brew temp reaches target temperature. Its own thermostat still controls the operation of the compressor and the air inside would cool down much quicker than the brew itself. In any case, one thing I've done in the summer months in one of my fridges is to remove the probe from the fermenter and leave it dangling in the fridge. Set the temp to zero or whatever but change the variance to 2 degrees from the 0.3 it's at while attached to the fermenter. The brew itself may not get down to zero but it makes it easier on the fridge. Then again I have an old beast of a fridge from the late 50s/early 60s that makes light work of it anyway. YMMV. 

With the other fridge (old kegerator) I just set it to -8 or something ridiculous, and its own temp to the lowest it'll go, otherwise it switches on and off and resets its own temp and doesn't go below about 6 degrees. 

Fridge wrangling is an underappreciated art.

[Kegory]

Coopers Sparkling Ale with brew can dried yeast packet. Brew 002.

It was a lot quicker this time. I did a bit of prepping yesterday which helped but familiarity with the process sped things up considerably.

OG 1.052 on both the glass and plastic hydrometers.

[DavidM]

27 minutes ago, Kegory said:

Coopers Sparkling Ale with brew can dried yeast packet. Brew 002.

If you don't mind sharing what were your ingredients?

You have enough "wires" there to become a mad scientist.

[Kegory]

6 minutes ago, DavidM said:

If you don't mind sharing what were your ingredients?

You have enough "wires" there to become a mad scientist.

1.5kg light dry malt extract, 300g dextrose, 1 x Inkeepers Daughter Sparkling Ale liquid malt extract, water and the brew can yeast.

[Kegory]

9 minutes ago, DavidM said:

You have enough "wires" there to become a mad scientist.

1 Inkbird is running the lagering fridge which seems to think it's a freezer, 1 is for the FV, the other one is for the conditioning cave. There's also a probe running from an in/out thermometer/weather station, on top of the fridge out of shot, to the FV.

[DavidM]

51 minutes ago, Kegory said:

1 Inkbird is running the lagering fridge which seems to think it's a freezer, 1 is for the FV, the other one is for the conditioning cave. There's also a probe running from an in/out thermometer/weather station, on top of the fridge out of shot, to the FV.

Nice!

[Aussiekraut]

The Vienna Lager from yesterday. Just emptied the cube and pitched the yeast. Fermenting at 14C Now let’s see if NovaLager lives up to its reputation.

 

[DavidM]

Draught, (will check the brand tomorrow). It's Beermaker, My first non Coopers Brew!

Picked up a few Clearance items from Mount Barker, $10 cans of goop!

200g Carapils, steeped for 30 min. (while I was bottling a Pale Ale brew)

200g Maltodextrin, 1.2k Light Dry Malt (about 3L of water, Swirl the fermenter)

30g Pride of Ringwood hops, boiled for 5 (sat in a tub of water to cool a bit, the steep, not me)

Added the Can of Draught, (swirl and stir the fermenter)

Strained the Carapils and Hops into the Fermenter and topped up to 21L (stirring as the water goes in)

Add the can yeast and stir

Set in the brew fridge at 21 deg.

Easy!

(On the correct Page now)

[jennyss]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

30g Pride of Ringwood hops, boiled for 5 (sat in a tub of water to cool a bit, the steep, not me)

[Back Brewing]

Hi fellow brewers I have just got back to brewing after 35 years. I have got my first brew to go into the keg on Sunday. I am looking for some silicone hose to do the transfer but can't find any.

All I have managed to find is food grade pvc would this be OK to use?

[Classic Brewing Co]

29 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

Hi fellow brewers I have just got back to brewing after 35 years. I have got my first brew to go into the keg on Sunday. I am looking for some silicone hose to do the transfer but can't find any.

All I have managed to find is food grade pvc would this be OK to use?

Hi @Back Brewing Welcome to the forum.

Go to https://www.kegland.com.au/collections/hosing-tubing

There are of course others online but a lot of us on here get great service from them.

Cheers

Phil

Edited May 11, 2023 by Classic Brewing Co

[Back Brewing]

I should have mentioned I am in Adelaide if someone knows where I can get some it would be greatly appreciated. If not I will give with the food grade pvc for this one

[Classic Brewing Co]

19 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

I should have mentioned I am in Adelaide if someone knows where I can get some it would be greatly appreciated. If not I will give with the food grade pvc for this one

I am in Adelaide also, down the Bay, there are a few Home Brew Shops that handle them, I don't want to promote any business that is in competition with Coopers but if you Google Home Brew Shops in Adelaide you will have the list, otherwise send me a message & I can assist you further.

[Aussiekraut]

46 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

I should have mentioned I am in Adelaide if someone knows where I can get some it would be greatly appreciated. If not I will give with the food grade pvc for this one

Food-grade PVC is fine. I use a PVC hose all the time to transfer into kegs.

[Aussiekraut]

So NovaLager is indeed a bit of a beast. OG of the Vienna Lager was 1.051 and after three days, SG dropped to 1.023 at 14C. Just ramped temp up for a D-rest at 18C. Should be able to drop the temperature for a cold crash by Sunday.

[Back Brewing]

10 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Food-grade PVC is fine. I use a PVC hose all the time to transfer into kegs.

Thanks for that AK I will get some now I know all is good with it also thanks CBC

[Tone boy]

Got the summer ale in the FV and it smells awesome. Galaxy, motueka and Nelson Suavin hops are smelling great. Fermenting at 18 degrees with US05.

Will dry hop with more of the same during the cold crash.

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Food-grade PVC is fine. I use a PVC hose all the time to transfer into kegs.

Agreed @Back Brewing, welcome Back.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

On 4/30/2023 at 10:45 AM, Brauhaus Fritz said:

First time I have all three fermenters going since October. Down to the last dozen bottles of homebrew (and two crates of Cider, which is really not my preferred drink, but I enjoy brewing them and they all turned out so delicious). Taking advantage of the cooler weather (constant 21 degrees in the garage) as I still have no fermenting fridge and the absence of the missus (on holiday).

(fltr) Coopers Pale Ale , dry hopped today on day 5 with 25gr of East Kent Golding. Down from OG1044 to 1010. Tastes and smells quiet nice.

Coopers Stout, day 7, OG was 1056 and was down two days ago to 1018. Gave it a little shake today and might check again tomorrow.

Coopers Dark Ale, dry hopped yesterday on day 6 with 25gr East Kent Golding. OG 1053 and was down to 1013 on Friday.  Both the Pale and Dark Ale have some slow airlock activity again after adding the hops and a little shake

This is my bottling effort from last weekend. All three brews bottled up in various sized bottles (stubbies, pints, longnecks and two 1.5l monsters). Had to carry them all up into the first floor front room, as the temperature dropped immensely last weekend. This room is my cold season preconditioning room, as the sun still warms it up to over 25 degrees even on chilly days. in a few days they'll go back down into the "beer dungeon", the coldest room in the house to finish of their conditioning and mature into pure deliciousness.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

Got myself a thermometer to keep a constant check on the temperature in my garage. It's actually an indoor/outdoor one with a probe, I can actually use it on one of the fermenters as well. It also shows me maximum and minimum temperatures until being reset, nice little gimmick.

And thanks to my old coaching jacket my Ginger beer is staying snuck around the 19 degree mark. found a can of Morgan's extract and followed the Kingsley Ginger Beer recipe. As I used 1.5kg (as recommended) of Light Muscovado Sugar to boost the Abv I thought the supplied packet of yeast wont be enough to eat through all the sugar ( the recipe also contains 250 grams of honey) and I added an old packet of Verdant IPA yeast  (LalBrew® Verdant IPA was specially selected in collaboration with Verdant Brewing Co. (UK) for its ability to produce a variety of hop-forward and malty beers. Prominent notes of apricot and undertones of tropical fruit and citrus merge seamlessly with hop aromas). OG 1034 and after a week at 1010. Will let it ferment for at least the second recommended week. It's tasting nice so far, very sweet buy nice and spicy.

Next to it is "The Dark Monk", an old ROTM, a Belgian Brown Ale. Followed the recipe but used a can of Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager instead. It's bubbling away nicely.

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, Brauhaus Fritz said:

This is my bottling effort from last weekend. All three brews bottled up in various sized bottles (stubbies, pints, longnecks and two 1.5l monsters). Had to carry them all up into the first floor front room, as the temperature dropped immensely last weekend. This room is my cold season preconditioning room, as the sun still warms it up to over 25 degrees even on chilly days. in a few days they'll go back down into the "beer dungeon", the coldest room in the house to finish of their conditioning and mature into pure deliciousness.

Well done mate, lots to drink there. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

The AG - Eclipse XPA going into the fermenter, it smells & looks pretty good.

 

.

[Classic Brewing Co]

The AG - Eclipse XPA  SG  from the other day was 1.042. The software states it should be 1.048, I don't suppose that will matter.

 

[Aussiekraut]

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

The AG - Eclipse XPA  SG  from the other day was 1.042. The software states it should be 1.048, I don't suppose that will matter.

 

It'll still be beer  

The software calculates based on the grains selected. But even the same type of grain has different colour attributes and has different potential, if that's the right word to use. So variations are not unusual. I wouldn't worry too much about it.