Craft Series Cans

[Beervis]

Can see why you're a happy chap with those recipes! Chocolate orange stout - sounds sublime

 

I mostly got back into home brew to save money, at least for now, so I don't really want to get too creative. But you show the possibilities with George.

 

I'd actually much prefer to run all my brews in 2 Georgies than in the big fermenter, I find them a pain in the butt all round, the weight of it up to 23L, the cleaning, etc. Thinking I might invest in another George and split them all from now on.

 

I had a couple of questions for you - how do you store and measure fermentables and kits when you're not using the full thing in one go? For example, if you split a kilo of dried sugars, would you sanitise an airtight jar and keep it in the cupboard? Freezer? How about the liquid tins? Also - measuring. I've got kitchen scales, but they would need to be sanitised too - clean clean clean. I guess my issue with that is it isn't like baking where they're going to be exposed to extreme heat so it seems that splitting brews is also doubling the chance of infection.

 

On your defib - how much cold brew? that sounds amazing.

[Happy Chappies]

Does make a lot of sense to have two and run them separately. George is never a problem to shift around, and you can then vary recipes a little even if you're just doing it for cheapness. Try a different yeast, try fermenting one in the fridge and compare, vary timing, try sugar vs malt, cold crash one, etc.

 

For your q's:

 

- Dry sugars/malts just stay in the packet or at most a sealed tupperware! No fridge. I'm not sure if that's the best but I assume they're pretty resistant to infection being dry. Haven't had a problem yet anyway... If someone can correct me I'd be glad to hear it.

 

- Liquid tins (kits or LME) I pour the excess into a santised container which then goes into the fridge. If one of the split recipes requires the extract to be boiled then I'll do that one second and use the 'straight out of the can' stuff for the unboiled recipes. But so far I haven't seen a problem with extract getting infected.

 

- Measuring - I've got a simple flat digital scale and just put the whole container (be it the fermenter, pot, or sanitised tupperware) onto that and measure directly in most of the time. No extra sanitising required there.

 

I was a bit worried about sanitation with the split cans too, and I do try and plan them out so I use it as soon as possible (although at the moment I'll be alternating the pale ale and stout recipes, just so I'm building up a diversity of stock).

 

The defib used 1 cup of cold brew added just prior to bottling. Was an educated guess, but turned out just about right. The hops in that kit seem to complement the coffee very nicely.

 

[Happy Chappies]

If it's at all useful, I record all my current brews, tasting notes, and collect inspiration for new ones, here:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Bk4V7OzVeckosP6Ym1CMM4urebKgIPqFXrhNO53IFeo/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

[Beervis]

Thanks Chappie, the spreadsheet is great - I should do something like that myself. Given me some inspiration! I just discovered I can fit George and the big tub in the fridge at the same time, so I've got a bit more flexibility there now but thanks for the tips about storage.

 

That all sounds common sense enough - and the flat scale is a great idea. Could tare off the container beforehand and then not have to sanitise the scale top as well (I've got one of those analogue ones with a separate measuring box on top). I guess freezing the excess LME couldn't hurt if you knew you weren't gonna use it for a while.. although would be a huge pain to thaw.

 

The small size probably has other benefits too - I sometimes find the volume of the wort in the 23L means it's much slower to get to the correct temp in the brew fridge and I need to prechill water to offset that, which is yet another step... I can fit George in the laundry tub and fill him up in like 20 seconds, and the water straight from the tap like that would help aerate the wort too I reckon. Lots to consider!

 

Paul