tamoore
Well-Known Member
I made a 5.25 gallon batch of BierMuncher's Nierra Sevada.
2nd Generation/washed Wyeast 1056.
For cleaning, I boiled the valves and couplers, installed them with Teflon tape, and filled the MiniBrew with hot tap water and Oxyclean for probably 2 hours. I dropped the liquid through both valves, and then rinsed with hot, then cold water. I then added 2.5 gallons of star-san solution, and shook it up every 20 minutes, wetting and foaming the inside. I sloshed the star-san around one last time before dumping it via the ports, just minutes before I was ready to transfer the wort to it.
I've been fermenting in ale pails, and for transfer from my boil kettle, just dumping the wort into the clean and sanitized pail. Due to the shape and orientation of the MiniBrew, I had to change my method a bit.
First, I didn't want to carry the full MiniBrew down to the basement where I ferment, because it looks like it would be kind of hard to manage. So instead I decided to carry the cooled wort down to the basement and fill it there.
In order to get the wort from the kettle into the MiniBrew, I had to clean and sanitize an auto siphon. This represented an extra step. I aerated the wort with Oxygen and a stone, pitched the yeast, put the cap on (which fit very nicely), and put the airlock in.
I had a short lag time due to pitching a strong starter, and fermentation started quite quickly. I dumped the first trub about 35 hours after pitch, and got most of the break and hop material out.
About 5 days later (7 days into fermentation), I decided to try to harvest some yeast. I found it kind of hard to clean and sanitize the port, and I'm not totally sure I did a good job. I dumped a bunch of material into a jar until I saw nice, clean white yeast, and then switched to clean and sanitized half pint jar, and pulled a sample of yeast. I then switched back to the first jar, and continued to dump until I saw clear liquid.
To be honest, the yeast I pulled from the conical, I won't use. It doesn't look as clean or as nice as the yeast I get from rinsing/washing from a bucket. I'm also a bit skeptical about the sanitation of the threaded racking port. Maybe I'll get used to it, and gain confidence, but for now, I'm not comfortable with the harvest.
15 days from brew day, I carried the MiniBrew upstairs to cold crash in my garage. I found it much easier to lift and transport than I thought I might. It also fit in my refrigerator, wonderfully enough.
20 days from brew day, I was ready to transfer to the keg. I sanitized and purged the keg and cleaned and sanitized the racking port. I noticed that the yeast cake was thick and compacted below the racking port, so I didn't figure I'd need to drop the cake before I started the transfer. I didn't think about the residual yeast that might have ended up IN the racking port, so I did get a couple of teaspoons of yeast directly into the keg after I opened the port. Oops.
Transfer was FAST! 5 gallons in probably just a bit more than a minute.
Purged the head space, put it on gas, and did my usual force carb routine.
Pulled the first young sample off the keg about 30 minutes later, and was surprised just how much 'junk' was floating in it. But, I figured it was agitated, so If I let it sit for a while in the fridge, that stuff would settle out. I pulled a sample this morning, and it was still filled with junk. This is not like beers I've racked out of buckets after cold crashing... But, I'm willing to give this beer some time to condition in the keg to see if it'll drop out.
So, now that it's over, what do I think?
I'll have to say that I don't think this conical helped me make better beer, and I know for sure it didn't help me harvest yeast. It did help speed the transfer to the keg, but I'm not sure that's a huge deal.
I'll learn from this and move forward from here the next time I brew with it.
I'm brewing tomorrow, and since I want to harvest this yeast (my last of the second generation 1056), I'm going to be fermenting in a bucket.
2nd Generation/washed Wyeast 1056.
For cleaning, I boiled the valves and couplers, installed them with Teflon tape, and filled the MiniBrew with hot tap water and Oxyclean for probably 2 hours. I dropped the liquid through both valves, and then rinsed with hot, then cold water. I then added 2.5 gallons of star-san solution, and shook it up every 20 minutes, wetting and foaming the inside. I sloshed the star-san around one last time before dumping it via the ports, just minutes before I was ready to transfer the wort to it.
I've been fermenting in ale pails, and for transfer from my boil kettle, just dumping the wort into the clean and sanitized pail. Due to the shape and orientation of the MiniBrew, I had to change my method a bit.
First, I didn't want to carry the full MiniBrew down to the basement where I ferment, because it looks like it would be kind of hard to manage. So instead I decided to carry the cooled wort down to the basement and fill it there.
In order to get the wort from the kettle into the MiniBrew, I had to clean and sanitize an auto siphon. This represented an extra step. I aerated the wort with Oxygen and a stone, pitched the yeast, put the cap on (which fit very nicely), and put the airlock in.
I had a short lag time due to pitching a strong starter, and fermentation started quite quickly. I dumped the first trub about 35 hours after pitch, and got most of the break and hop material out.
About 5 days later (7 days into fermentation), I decided to try to harvest some yeast. I found it kind of hard to clean and sanitize the port, and I'm not totally sure I did a good job. I dumped a bunch of material into a jar until I saw nice, clean white yeast, and then switched to clean and sanitized half pint jar, and pulled a sample of yeast. I then switched back to the first jar, and continued to dump until I saw clear liquid.
To be honest, the yeast I pulled from the conical, I won't use. It doesn't look as clean or as nice as the yeast I get from rinsing/washing from a bucket. I'm also a bit skeptical about the sanitation of the threaded racking port. Maybe I'll get used to it, and gain confidence, but for now, I'm not comfortable with the harvest.
15 days from brew day, I carried the MiniBrew upstairs to cold crash in my garage. I found it much easier to lift and transport than I thought I might. It also fit in my refrigerator, wonderfully enough.
20 days from brew day, I was ready to transfer to the keg. I sanitized and purged the keg and cleaned and sanitized the racking port. I noticed that the yeast cake was thick and compacted below the racking port, so I didn't figure I'd need to drop the cake before I started the transfer. I didn't think about the residual yeast that might have ended up IN the racking port, so I did get a couple of teaspoons of yeast directly into the keg after I opened the port. Oops.
Transfer was FAST! 5 gallons in probably just a bit more than a minute.
Purged the head space, put it on gas, and did my usual force carb routine.
Pulled the first young sample off the keg about 30 minutes later, and was surprised just how much 'junk' was floating in it. But, I figured it was agitated, so If I let it sit for a while in the fridge, that stuff would settle out. I pulled a sample this morning, and it was still filled with junk. This is not like beers I've racked out of buckets after cold crashing... But, I'm willing to give this beer some time to condition in the keg to see if it'll drop out.
So, now that it's over, what do I think?
I'll have to say that I don't think this conical helped me make better beer, and I know for sure it didn't help me harvest yeast. It did help speed the transfer to the keg, but I'm not sure that's a huge deal.
I'll learn from this and move forward from here the next time I brew with it.
I'm brewing tomorrow, and since I want to harvest this yeast (my last of the second generation 1056), I'm going to be fermenting in a bucket.
