Brew Day What Have Ya Got - 2023

[ben 10]

2 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I want a bit of zing.

Hop Head is pretty good too

[Classic Brewing Co]

To say I am worried about my last AG brew would be an understatement.

I took a reading & it is down to 1.020 after 12 days but there is so much sediment, I think it is heading for the back lawn.

It has started clearing since I first poured it, but I am not sure if time & a cold crash will even clear it.

Any thoughts from some of you AG gurus?

Cheers.

Phil

 

[iBooz2]

26 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

To say I am worried about my last AG brew would be an understatement.

I took a reading & it is down to 1.020 after 12 days but there is so much sediment, I think it is heading for the back lawn.

It has started clearing since I first poured it, but I am not sure if time & a cold crash will even clear it.

Any thoughts from some of you AG gurus?

Phil, of course its going to measure 1.020 because you are taking the SG of mostly trub and trub is way denser than beer.  Tip that sample out and sanitise your SS siphon and take a sample of just beer from the top of the FV.  You will probably find the beer is finished and at FG when you take a reading of just beer.  You could also sanitize a small jug and scoop a sample off the top to get a proper reading.  

Do that and report back.  DO NOT TIP THE WHOLE BATCH ON THE BACK LAWN!!!

Edited April 24, 2023 by iBooz2

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Phil, of course its going to measure 1.020 because you are taking the SG of mostly trub and trub is way denser than beer.  Tip that sample out and sanitise your SS siphon and take a sample of just beer from the top of the FV.  You will probably find the beer is finished and at FG when you take a reading of just beer.  You could also sanitize a small jug and scoop a sample off the top to get a proper reading.  

Do that and report back.  DO NOT TIP THE WHOLE BATCH ON THE BACK LAWN!!!

OK Al, I will do that now, Cheers.

[Classic Brewing Co]

10 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

OK Al, I will do that now, Cheers.

Well Al, you may have saved the day, more importantly the beer! I cannot believe I didn't think of that.

It certainly does look much better & down to FG, fairly clear too.

Thanks for that Al, now I just have to find a way to get it kegged without all of the trub.

 

[iBooz2]

20 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Well Al, you may have saved the day, more importantly the beer! I cannot believe I didn't think of that.

It certainly does look much better & down to FG, fairly clear too.

Thanks for that Al, now I just have to find a way to get it kegged without all of the trub.

Phil, that will be easy as you have a KL SS siphon.  You will need to make an adapter to go from the KL SS siphon silicone tube to a beer line with a beer disconnect on it.  To do this cut about a 50 mm section off your Coopers bottling wand.  You will find this off cut will push up into the SS Siphon silicone tube.  Then you can push a length of beer line into the other end of the bottling wand off-cut and then you can fit a beer out disconnect to the  8mm OD beer line.  If you don't want to cut a bit off your wand simply pull the blue bottling valve off the wand and use the whole wand as your adapter.

Sanitize the lot, and connect the beer disconnect to your keg beer out post.  Pull up the PRV on the keg and turn 90 degrees clockwise it so it sits up in the open position.  Then jiggle your siphon in the top 200 mm of beer to prime it and to start the flow, don't jig it down near the trub.  You may have to jig it several times more than normal as you will only be lifting 200 mm of beer into the SS siphon with each jig.

When the flow starts, hold the SS siphon pick-up down lower but well clear of the trub.

Edited April 24, 2023 by iBooz2

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Phil, that will be easy as you have a KL SS siphon.  You will need to make an adapter to go from the KL SS siphon silicone tube to a beer line with a beer disconnect on it.  To do this cut about a 50 mm section off your Coopers bottling wand.  You will find this off cut will push up into the SS Siphon silicone tube.  Then you can push a length of beer line into the other end of the bottling wand off-cut and then you can fit a beer out disconnect to the  8mm OD beer line.  If you don't want to cut a bit off your wand simply pull the blue bottling valve off the wand and use the whole wand as your adapter.

Sanitize the lot, and connect the beer disconnect to your keg.  Pull up the PRV on the keg and turn 90 degrees clockwise it so it sits up in the open position.  Then jiggle your siphon in the top 200 mm of beer to prime it and to start the flow, don't jig it down near the trub.  You may have to jig it several times more than normal as you will only be lifting 200 mm of beer into the SS siphon with each jig.

When the flow starts, hold the SS siphon pick-up down lower but well clear of the trub.

OK I can try that, sounds easy enough, I have a few spare wands & a few brand new 8mm beer lines, better than drawing from the bottom obviously. What length of beer line would you suggest?

Thanks for the tips Al. 

 

[jennyss]

 

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

To say I am worried about my last AG brew would be an understatement

Homebrewing is never boring! And I think I have commented previously: Homebrewers are like farmers; always solving problems and inventing things.

[iBooz2]

49 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

OK I can try that, sounds easy enough, I have a few spare wands & a few brand new 8mm beer lines, better than drawing from the bottom obviously. What length of beer line would you suggest?

Thanks for the tips Al. 

 

Phil,  I presume you will have your FV up on a bench or table top.  The reason I suggested feeding the beer into the keg via the beer in post is because the SS Siphon silicon tube will not be long enough to go from the top of the FV down to the very bottom of the keg, that's if you just drop the silicon tube into the keg via the open keg top.  Plus the risk of splashing in the keg as you are jigging the siphon so better to go via the beer in post to minimize air contact.

The beer line length required would be a comfortable length to go from the end of the silicone tube to the top of the keg and would depend on how high your bench-top is, how low or distant the keg is etc.  You will work this out but make sure you have just that bit extra for when you are jigging the siphon.  You don't want to be tugging on your new tube adapter lines and pull it all apart accidentally just as the beer starts to flow = a big mess.

Edited April 24, 2023 by iBooz2

[iBooz2]

Brew day today, another Carlton Draught clone for 44 L so a double batch into 2 x cubes.  This is batch # 102 AG # 59. 

It will be fermented out in the big 58 L SS kegmenter under pressure using my SGLY (Roger) starter trub.

Specs: ABV = 4.5%, IBU = 21, EBC = 11, BU:GU = 0.46, Mash PH = 5.4

I stuffed up the second mash step going from 45 C to 65 C by not watching (weighing out hops) and was heating it up with gas and it got up into mash out temps before I realized and killed the gas and then dropped several litres of filter cold water into the mash to cool it.  It came back down to 65 C pretty quickly but I ended up being 1 point short on the pre boil gravity and 2 points short on the final gravity due to the extra water and I forgot to adjust this stuff up with my sparge water volume.  Never mind it will be 4.5 % ABV now instead of 4.7 % and I got an extra 3 L for another starter as a bonus.

Edited April 24, 2023 by iBooz2

[Aussiekraut]

2 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

To say I am worried about my last AG brew would be an understatement.

I took a reading & it is down to 1.020 after 12 days but there is so much sediment, I think it is heading for the back lawn.

It has started clearing since I first poured it, but I am not sure if time & a cold crash will even clear it.

Any thoughts from some of you AG gurus?

Cheers.

Phil

 

Just a silly question: You do tip the first sample coming from the FV out? The first sample always lies.

A CC should clear it all up though, if it really is as bad as the sample indicates.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Just a silly question: You do tip the first sample coming from the FV out? The first sample always lies.

A CC should clear it all up though, if it really is as bad as the sample indicates.

 

Yes, I have always used the 2nd sample to take a reading but Al's suggestion to take it from the top was the answer, I used a small sanitised Pyrex jug to get the latter reading from the top. Today is day 12 tomorrow I will start the CC as FG has been reached,

Thanks for your input AK.

[iBooz2]

9 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Just a silly question: You do tip the first sample coming from the FV out? The first sample always lies.

A CC should clear it all up though, if it really is as bad as the sample indicates.

 

Problem is AK, his trub is up higher than the tap and using clarifiers only compounded the problem.  He probably would have drained the FV before he run out of trub in the sample tube by using the tap.

[Classic Brewing Co]

54 minutes ago, jennyss said:

 

Homebrewing is never boring! And I think I have commented previously: Homebrewers are like farmers; always solving problems and inventing things.

Yes Jenny, I agree, we all get comfortable with our brewing once you have consistent good brews but when you step up a rung on the ladder there are new things to learn & it is like starting all over again but with different techniques/equipment but once you get the hang of it, you're OK until you decide to go up a rung.

That is why this great forum is possibly the greatest asset & place to come no matter what level of brewing you are at, there is always someone coming to your aid, we all had to start somewhere but it is a never-ending journey.

I agree it is never boring.

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, iBooz2 said:

Phil,  I presume you will have your FV up on a bench or table top.  The reason I suggested feeding the beer into the keg via the beer in post is because the SS Siphon silicon tube will not be long enough to go from the top of the FV down to the very bottom of the keg, that's if you just drop the silicon tube into the keg via the open keg top.  Plus the risk of splashing in the keg as you are jigging the siphon so better to go via the beer in post to minimize air contact.

The beer line length required would be a comfortable length to go from the end of the silicone tube to the top of the keg and would depend on how high your bench-top is, how low or distant the keg is etc.  You will work this out but make sure you have just that bit extra for when you are jigging the siphon.  You don't want to be tugging on your new tube adapter lines and pull it all apart accidentally just as the beer starts to flow = a big mess.

The FV will be placed on the kitchen bench which is 890mm high which I presume is around standard. This is how I keg my brews; this photo just shows the height in relation to the keg.

I just need to get the jiggling of the siphon correct to ensure it is only beer going in the keg.

 

 

[kmar92]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Brew day today, another Carlton Draught clone for 44 L so a double batch into 2 x cubes.  This is batch # 102 AG # 59. 

It will be fermented out in the big 58 L SS kegmenter under pressure using my SGLY (Roger) starter trub.

Specs: ABV = 4.5%, IBU = 21, EBC = 11, BU:GU = 0.46, Mash PH = 5.4

I stuffed up the second mash step going from 45 C to 65 C by not watching (weighing out hops) and was heating it up with gas and it got up into mash out temps before I realized and killed the gas and then dropped several litres of filter cold water into the mash to cool it.  It came back down to 65 C pretty quickly but I ended up being 1 point short on the pre boil gravity and 2 points short on the final gravity due to the extra water and I forgot to adjust this stuff up with my sparge water volume.  Never mind it will be 4.5 % ABV now instead of 4.7 % and I got an extra 3 L for another starter as a bonus.

@iBooz2 what is that white stuff floating around on the top of your boil? Just some hot break?

[iBooz2]

2 hours ago, kmar92 said:

@iBooz2 what is that white stuff floating around on the top of your boil? Just some hot break?

K, it was just before it started to boil, and that's where the steam first started to break the surface, i.e. the first couple of boil bubbles.

[jennyss]

For this topic, and all the topics on the Coopers Community, the photos add so much!

[kmar92]

A Pilsner in the cube today.

87.1% Bohemian Plilsner

6.6% Carapils

6.4% Munich 1

Mash was Beta amylase rest @ 63° for 45 mins, Alpha amylase rest @ 70° for 30 mins followed by mash out @ 78° for 10 mins. 90min boil.

43g Saaz @ 60, 45g Saaz @ 10, 75g Saaz @ 20min hopstand @ 80°. Yeast will be a fresh cultured WLP800. Ferment will be c.4 days @ 10°, then temp up 2°/day day for a diacetyl rest @ 19° before cold crashing and kegging.

I was a little short on my final volumes and a little over on my pre-boil gravity @ 1.043. Haven't taken a gravity reading yet as it is still pretty hot in the cube but expecting c. 1.052. I will put the cube in the ferment fridge tonight to bring it down to 10° overnight and pitch tomorrow.

Edited April 27, 2023 by kmar92

[Cheap Charlie]

Pacific Ale, Brew #46, AG #2. After a good sleep in and nothing much to do, it was a perfect day for a brew. I used the Grainfather website to formulate some sort of recipe with some already milled grain that I wanted to use up, so it's a Pacific Ale S&W type thing. I still am yet to read up on how to work out efficiency and all the numbers, at the moment just trying to make beer, so if the numbers are off it doesn't matter as long as the final product tastes nice

 

 

 

[Tone boy]

Looks good @Cheap Charlie!

I’m going down the same track. Mine will be a partial mash though. I’ll probably throw in some dextrose to keep it light but probably not a kilo….

[Cheap Charlie]

1 minute ago, Tone boy said:

Looks good @Cheap Charlie!

I’m going down the same track. Mine will be a partial mash though. I’ll probably throw in some dextrose to keep it light but probably not a kilo….

Yeah, I didn't intend to add any dex, it was a last minute decision to beef up the abv and make it a little lighter. I was only going to use 500g, but then thought WTH. It may have been a silly decision, but we will see in a couple of weeks when I keg it.

[Tone boy]

3 minutes ago, Cheap Charlie said:

Yeah, I didn't intend to add any dex, it was a last minute decision to beef up the abv and make it a little lighter. I was only going to use 500g, but then thought WTH. It may have been a silly decision, but we will see in a couple of weeks when I keg it.

It’ll probably be a great beer CC. My comments certainly weren’t meant as a criticism. 
 

I find when I add dextrose the head suffers, but adding wheat will probably counteract that. Cheers 

[Cheap Charlie]

1 minute ago, Tone boy said:

It’ll probably be a great beer CC. My comments certainly weren’t meant as a criticism. 
 

I find when I add dextrose the head suffers, but adding wheat will probably counteract that. Cheers 

All good mate, I certainly didn't take it as criticism, but I am open to critique, without it I will never learn. I appreciate your comments

[iBooz2]

2 hours ago, Tone boy said:

I find when I add dextrose the head suffers, but adding wheat will probably counteract that. Cheers 

@Cheap Charlie yep I agree with TB, 1 kg of wheat should easily create a nice head on that beer even with the 1 kg dex.