NOVA Brewer

Recipes 

Well, with my second brew almost completely done, I've got a desire to buy a few little odds'n'ends to make my brewing life easier. Could y'all answer some questions I have about this equipment?


Are these really as cool as they sound? Throw one on top of your carboy, plug one hole with your airlock, and you're good to go. When ready to rack, thread your racking cane into one hole, and blow(?) in the other to start a siphon. Does it work that easily?


I have glass carboys for my primary and secondary, brew in my kitchen and ferment in an upstairs closet. I would really like an easy way to carry them around, empty and full. Will these handles help?


Or should I go for one of these nylon carrying harnesses?


Bottle dryer. I'm thinking I won't ever get my money's worth out of this, but I'd love to hear from anyone who swears by it.

That's about it for now. I'm pleased with all of my other basic equipment. I'm particularly fond of my beer thief, which is a convenience and not a neccessity, but I like it so much I'm considering these other little gadgets to make life easier.

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Primary 1 : (empty)
Primary 2 : (empty)
Secondary: Kolsch
Bottled: Pumpkin Ale, Ed's Apfelwein IV
Kegged: Irish Stout, Northwest Pale Ale II
Thinking about: Rye Ale, Russian Imperial Stout
Gone: Robust Irish Porter, Ed's Apfelwein I, Ed's Apfelwein II, Northwest Pale Ale, Ed's Apfelwein III, English Brown Ale, Blanche de Chambly clone

Timekiller

Recipes 

I can give you my opinion on two things...

As far as I know a carboy cap really does work (for siphoning)... but I have never used one, instead I bought an auto-siphon. Best $9 I ever spent. I figured it will work better for when I use buckets insted of carboys.

The carboy handle. I have one on my glass 6.5 gal carboy. It's great for when it is empty, but full I dont trust it so what I do when it is full is I use the handle to tip the carboy so I can lift from the bottom, then "bear hug" the carboy.

Hope this helps!

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-Ryan


PRIMARY-1: -
PRIMARY-2:-
KEG 1: Light Lager
KEG 2: Swapmeet Special (APA) *2nd place 2009 WestEnd Fair!
KEG 3: Irish Red
KEG 4: Oatmeal Stout *3rd place 2009 WestEnd Fair!
KEG 5: soda water
NEXT:
Orfy's Hobgoblin

brewhead

Recipes 

YES

YES

NO

NO

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grnich

Recipes 

The carboy cap works great for siphoning. I leave it on one of my racking canes all the time.

Like Timekiller, I have one carboy handle out of my 4 carboys because I don't trust it full and they're too expensive for all they do, IMO.

I love the bottle tree. I spray some starsan in a bottle through the spray nozzle you put on top of the tree, hang it upside down on the tree to dry for a 1/2 hour or so, then bottle. So easy!

brewhead

Recipes 

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

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grnich

Recipes 

One other gadget I don't know if you have or not is a bottling wand. Makes bottling much more enjoyable.

cweston

Recipes 

Agree. I have an auto siphon and I use it alot. But the thing I like about the carboy cap method is that you can leave it unattended while doing other tasks without worried about the racking cane slipping and picking up a bunch of unwanted trub.

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Primary: none
Secondary:
Bottle conditioning: Robust Porter
Drinking: Saison Dupont clone, tripel
Coming soon: Columbus APA, Rich Red ale

sullifan

Recipes 

Brewhead-

Why not the carboy carrier?

Sully

NOVA Brewer

Recipes 

Yes, that's my question. You guys have sold me on the caps, so they're going in my shopping cart. But like I said, I lug my full carboy downstairs when I need to rack to secondary, or bottle, etc. The carboy hauler looked like a good way to hold the thing steady and not kick up the trub into suspension again.

By the way brewhead, it's good to see someone from the Upstate. I went to school in Greenville.

__________________
Primary 1 : (empty)
Primary 2 : (empty)
Secondary: Kolsch
Bottled: Pumpkin Ale, Ed's Apfelwein IV
Kegged: Irish Stout, Northwest Pale Ale II
Thinking about: Rye Ale, Russian Imperial Stout
Gone: Robust Irish Porter, Ed's Apfelwein I, Ed's Apfelwein II, Northwest Pale Ale, Ed's Apfelwein III, English Brown Ale, Blanche de Chambly clone

Bernie Brewer

Recipes 

I disagree with Brewhead- get the carboy carriers. Twelve bucks apiece at Northern Brewer and well worth it. The carboy handles are fine with an empty carboy, but not trustworthy with a full one.

And yes, the carboy caps are that easy.

If you have a dishwasher, use that for a drying rack instead of buying a bottle treee. If you don't then the tree might not be a bad purchase. Cheers

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I like to squeeze the nickle until the buffalo craps-mt rob

"Why don't we get drunk and screw?" Jimmy Buffett