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zacster · 12-08-2011, 07:23 PM

I made a batch a few weeks ago, the first one since last winter, and realized I never referred to any instructions except to the recipe itself. I didn't post, ask questions, look at the usual web sites or open a book. I just brewed. I also didn't make any mistakes or forget anything in the process. Everything just went from beginning to end.

It helps that I finally figured out a sanitizing setup that doesn't require much work. I make a 5 gallon batch of star-san in one carboy, and let it sit overnight to kill the foam. I have a flat plastic bin that I store my equipment in that coincidentally holds about 7 gallons so I now take out the equipment and siphon the sanitizer into the bin. It's flat so I don't even need to raise the carboy, I just pour the remainder in. Since the equipment all fits in, I can throw anything in and it will cover. I just use the siphon, tubing, funnel, airlock, caps and whatever straight from the bin. The carboy is also sanitized since it was holding the sanitizer. When I'm done brewing I siphon into my other carboy and I'm done cleaning too. I used to spend a lot of time washing, sanitizing, waiting to dry, having to run the long equipment through.

It also helps that I made a wort chiller. The two best purchases were an auto-siphon and the chiller. My next purchase will be a kettle for full boil.

The batch was an American Ale, nothing fancy, and first tastes were clean. Still in the secondary at this point.

JesseRC · 12-08-2011, 07:27 PM

I did the same thing the other day. I took a year off of brewing, then started back up last month. I brew 11 gal batches, my brew times were shorter, about 5-6 hours. Real lay back, taking it easy. I remember last year, I was spending all day brewing 8hrs plus. I dont know what changed?

zacster · 12-08-2011, 07:32 PM

That's the other thing, it didn't take that long. Beyond the steeping and boil times, it didn't feel like I was spending much time doing prep or cleanup. I must've done something wrong.

**unionrdr** · 12-08-2011, 09:31 PM

I'm at that point now. I don't need to think about it too much beyond the recipe. That's what getting a good process down is all about.

**daksin** · 12-09-2011, 12:35 AM

It's good to have a process that works for you, but why do you wait for the foam to subside? The best thing about starsan is the foam that coats everything and you don't have to rinse off. I feel much more secure racking into a carboy filled with foam, so I know anything that gets in is falling onto starsan before it hits my beer. I'd save yourself the time and stop fearing the foam!

zacster · 12-09-2011, 02:32 AM

It's not that I "fear the foam", it just gets in the way. More than I want gets stuck in the carboy. And it is one step that I do in advance anyway. Like I said, I just use all my equipment straight out of the starsan, no wiping or drying, including my hands. When I bottle, there is usually foam in all of them.

zacster · 01-08-2012, 03:20 AM

I bottled this 2 weeks ago, also without issue, and I took my first sample bottle today. Excellent! It needs at least another week or two, but I hit the mark on this one.

My biggest fear was that I noticed my tubing was stained when I cleaned up. That's never a good thing but it doesn't seem to have impacted it. Time for new tubing.