Whats in Your Fermenter - 2024?

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 minute ago, iBooz2 said:

Thanks.  The smell reminds me of a fresh poured (or as they say built) Guinness.  It based loosely on @stquinto recipe.  Hope it's nice as I now have ~ 44 L of the stuff.  Unsure if I will bottle half of it yet for longer term storage as I have five dozen Coopers Best Extra Stout empty long necks here, I can use.  If I keg it, I can use the stout tap.  Jury is still out.

I have a Stout tap & was going to invest in a Nitro set-up but decided against it. Just poring Stout with the tap & CO2 is awesome, but I realise it would be better with nitro.

I have got to the stage now where I couldn't be st****d bottling anything apart from my 2 x 2l Growlers & I have 2 x smaller kegs, 1 x 5l & 1 x 10l.

[Back Brewing]

12 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have a Stout tap & was going to invest in a Nitro set-up but decided against it. Just poring Stout with the tap & CO2 is awesome, but I realise it would be better with nitro.

I have got to the stage now where I couldn't be st****d bottling anything apart from my 2 x 2l Growlers & I have 2 x smaller kegs, 1 x 5l & 1 x 10l.

I always botte at least 3 from every batch they are good for travellers and when I'm waiting for a keg to carbonate it saves buying commercial beer 

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

I always botte at least 3 from every batch they are good for travellers and when I'm waiting for a keg to carbonate it saves buying commercial beer 

Yes, they are handy, but I don't travel much these days as I did it for years for a living, I am happy to just buy a six-pack/carton when I am away, I have even taken a 2l Growler with me, but it's hard to stop once you open it.

[iBooz2]

24 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I have a Stout tap & was going to invest in a Nitro set-up but decided against it. Just poring Stout with the tap & CO2 is awesome, but I realise it would be better with nitro.

I have got to the stage now where I couldn't be st****d bottling anything apart from my 2 x 2l Growlers & I have 2 x smaller kegs, 1 x 5l & 1 x 10l.

 

10 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

I always botte at least 3 from every batch they are good for travellers and when I'm waiting for a keg to carbonate it saves buying commercial beer 

The problem is that I am not really into dark beers and stouts, but I do like a Guinness (if that makes sense), and I don't want to tie up a couple of kegs as I would probably only drink one or two pints of this Guinness clone a week during the colder months.  If I have half in bottles, then I can crack one of those open for my couple of pints "fix" and then that's it for a while.  If it's hogging up a keg (or two) and a stout tap that might annoy me.  Dunno could be so delicious I might end up having a night cap of Guinness every couple of nights and if that is the case then a keg & stout tap wins.

Edited March 4 by iBooz2

[stquinto]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Thanks.  The smell reminds me of a fresh poured (or as they say built) Guinness.  It's based loosely on @stquinto recipe.  Hope it's nice as I now have ~ 44 L of the stuff.  Unsure if I will bottle half of it yet for longer term storage as I have five dozen Coopers Best Extra Stout empty long necks here, I can use.  If I keg it, I can use the stout tap.  Jury is still out.

Although I have gone back to bottling the rest of a brew after taking a keg's worth from it, I wouldn't do that with stout. Personally I'm not mad keen on bottled stout and after you get the rich creamy head from your own nitro-poured stout the bottles just don't cut the mustard. Out of interest, did you sour the brew ?

A shame you have to rent the bottles. I pay a 100 ChF deposit (about AUD 150) and then a gas bottle fill is about 55 ChF. Lasts ages, if I don't bugger up the beer lines and both empty the keg and the gas bottle (last time it was only the beer) 

I would like to get hold of a Harris regulator as I gather they are the business. I can't find them here, only in Germany, and they won't ship them to Switzerland. I got this instead from iKegger :

 

 

[stquinto]

2 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

he problem is that I am not really into dark beers and stouts, but I do like a Guinness (if that makes sense), and I don't want to tie up a couple of kegs as I would probably only drink one or two pints of this Guinness clone a week during the colder months.  If I have half in bottles, then I can crack one of those open for my couple of pints "fix" and then that's it for a while.  If it's hogging up a keg (or two) and a stout tap that might annoy me.  Dunno could be so delicious I might end up having a night cap of Guinness every couple of nights and if that is the case then a keg & stout tap wins.

I posted a reply before seeing this. Yeah, I get you using up a space in the keezer or even a keg.  

[iBooz2]

1 hour ago, stquinto said:

I would like to get hold of a Harris regulator as I gather they are the business. I can't find them here, only in Germany, and they won't ship them to Switzerland. I got this instead from iKegger :

 

 

@stquinto yes, we can get the MK4 dual gauge regulators here for both CO2 and the N2 and they are not compatible with the other gas.  Wonder why yours (if it's the N2 version regulator) comes with a soda stream adapter.  Soda stream cylinders are CO2 and the Mk4 N2 gauge regulator says that it is not compatible with CO2 ?

[stquinto]

4 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

@stquinto yes, we can get the MK4 dual gauge regulators here for both CO2 and the N2 and they are not compatible with the other gas.  Wonder why yours (if it's the N2 version regulator) comes with a soda stream adapter.  Soda stream cylinders are CO2 and the Mk4 N2 gauge regulator says that it is not compatible with CO2 ?

The soda stream adapter is optional. I have one but don’t use it any more really.

My N2 fitting is the same as the CO2 fitting - the gas bottles are pretty much the same 

[Brauhaus Fritz]

On 3/1/2024 at 7:09 PM, iBooz2 said:

@Brauhaus Fritz yep bump the lager temp up by 2 C to 16 C for another two days to finish it off and for a D-rest.

Tried to bottle yesterday, but I think there is still activity since it’s sitting on 16 degrees. It’s 1016 now it I will wait another day. Nice taste so, citrussy bitter and slightly fizzy on the tongue 

[iBooz2]

On 3/4/2024 at 8:07 PM, stquinto said:

Out of interest, did you sour the brew ?

@stquinto still undecided but need to make my mind up soon as the FV is just starting to cold crash.  If I keg both maybe I will sour one keg and leave the other as is, Dunno.  I have a bottle of lactic acid here for lowing the PH of my mashes so could put some in when kegging.  In your opinion, how sour should it be to get the Guinness "effect"?  How many ml of acid did you add to your kegs and did it taste better than if just left alone?

[stquinto]

5 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

@stquinto still undecided but need to make my mind up soon as the FV is just starting to cold crash.  If I keg both maybe I will sour one keg and leave the other as is, Dunno.  I have a bottle of lactic acid here for lowing the PH of my mashes so could put some in when kegging.  In your opinion, how sour should it be to get the Guinness "effect"?  How many ml of acid did you add to your kegs and did it taste better than if just left alone?

I went for 4ml lactic for a cornie :

A simpler solution is to add 88% lactic acid to the beer after fermentation is done, before kegging. This is said to be what Guinness does today because it's cheaper, easier, and more efficient than relying on bacteria. All is takes is around 3-4 ml of acid per 5 gallons of beer. Go sparingly adding 0.5 ml at a time with a syringe (without needle) until the taste is to your liking. You can also use this method to do a trial run to see if you like the results: Once the beer is kegged and on tap, add one to two drops with an eye dropper to a 16 oz glass of beer and see what you think. One drop per 16 oz is equivalent to 2 ml in 5 gallon

https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/dry-irish-stout#:~:text=A simpler solution is to,per 5 gallons of beer.

 

[Kegory]

On 2/21/2024 at 6:02 PM, Back Brewing said:

How's your fermenter fridge going?

Fabulous, mate. The only drawback is it's just a little short, I can't manage to get the two fermenters in at once. I've got a new (old) fermenter to try out. Hopefully I can squeeze that in with the little fermenter and try some split batch exbeeriments.

[Red devil 44]

Cleaned up the All Rounder and transferred my Heineken All Grain Clone from the cube. 
‘This will ferment for a few weeks whilst I am on shift with 34-70. 
‘Came in at 1040.
Just waiting for it to cool to pitching temperature. 
‘I’m really impressed with the All Rounder, easy to clean and access.

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

Having just kegged my Low Carb Lager, I tipped the cube of Dave's Bitter straight onto the yeast cake.  It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.  The Low Carb Lager had Low Carb Enzyme added when the yeast was pitched.  The Enzyme converts unfermentable sugars into fermentable sugars so the yeast can chew through more and create a drier beer.  Now the Enzyme is meant to be used up through one fermentation.  However, I wonder if their might be any left to affect the Dave's Bitter.  Hopefully not or it might end up well above the planned 4.9% ABV.  I actually meant to brew the Low Carb Lager last in this three batch run with the yeast.  However, I moved things around because I did not have all the ingredients for the Dave's Bitter.

Transferring from the cube

Tucked in the fermenting fridge

[iBooz2]

31 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Having just kegged my Low Carb Lager, I tipped the cube of Dave's Bitter straight onto the yeast cake.  It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.  The Low Carb Lager had Low Carb Enzyme added when the yeast was pitched.  The Enzyme converts unfermentable sugars into fermentable sugars so the yeast can chew through more and create a drier beer.  Now the Enzyme is meant to be used up through one fermentation.  However, I wonder if their might be any left to affect the Dave's Bitter.  

Yes, it will be interesting Shamus to see if the Enzymes have any effect on a dirty batch.  To my thinking, if you have not killed them off then they will still be there, perhaps in greater numbers, to remember to "carry the one" so to speak in maths terms, which of course will increase the ABV of the DB.  Keep us posted please.

[Shamus O'Sean]

18 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Yes, it will be interesting Shamus to see if the Enzymes have any effect on a dirty batch.  To my thinking, if you have not killed them off then they will still be there, perhaps in greater numbers, to remember to "carry the one" so to speak in maths terms, which of course will increase the ABV of the DB.  Keep us posted please.

I will most definitely report back.  I am interested to see how it goes too.

I read somewhere that Philly Sour yeast has an Enzyme that does something so the fermentation creates Lactic Acid.  Lallemand also say to not reuse it.  I have read people stating it will not produce the Lactic Acid in a second brew.  Now, the Enzyme in Philly Sour is probably different to a Low Carb Enzyme, but it will be interesting to see what happens with this current brew.  It might suggest Philly Sour can be re-used.

[John304]

@Shamus O'Sean I noticed the tap on the lid of the cube, is that something you did yourself or can you buy them?

[Back Brewing]

44 minutes ago, John304 said:

@Shamus O'Sean I noticed the tap on the lid of the cube, is that something you did yourself or can you buy them?

You can buy them from kegland john

[iBooz2]

1 hour ago, John304 said:

@Shamus O'Sean I noticed the tap on the lid of the cube, is that something you did yourself or can you buy them?

@John304 AND many of the big camping stores stock them as well.

Edited March 12 by iBooz2

[John304]

Cheers, thanks guys, great idea

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, John304 said:

@Shamus O'Sean I noticed the tap on the lid of the cube, is that something you did yourself or can you buy them?

I got mine from Tentworld in Ferntree Gully.  It makes pouring from the cube easy.  I use a normal cube cap once the cube is filled.  On pitching day, I soak the Tap-in-a-Cap in sanitiser.  Remove the normal cap and fit the Tap-in-a-Cap and off you go.

[Triple B Brewing]

4 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I got mine from Tentworld in Ferntree Gully.  It makes pouring from the cube easy.  I use a normal cube cap once the cube is filled.  On pitching day, I soak the Tap-in-a-Cap in sanitiser.  Remove the normal cap and fit the Tap-in-a-Cap and off you go.

Do you just break the seal on the normal tap bung to allow the cube to breathe when racking @Shamus O'Sean

[Aussiekraut]

7 hours ago, Triple B Brewing said:

Do you just break the seal on the normal tap bung to allow the cube to breathe when racking @Shamus O'Sean

You don't need to. Those lids with the tap have a little tube in the tap, so air can flow backwards. Opening the bung bole would probably speed things up but isn't necessary. 

[Back Brewing]

7 hours ago, Triple B Brewing said:

Do you just break the seal on the normal tap bung to allow the cube to breathe when racking @Shamus O'Sean

My cube has the bung not drilled so I left it like that and just use the tap from kegland which is the same as tent world

[Shamus O'Sean]

19 hours ago, Triple B Brewing said:

Do you just break the seal on the normal tap bung to allow the cube to breathe when racking @Shamus O'Sean

I, like others, do not crack the tap bung.  Firstly, the tap does not need it, as explained by @Aussiekraut.  Secondly, I would be worried about the bung resealing if it was moved.  If it ain't broke.