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I had a "doh" moment after listening to this week's Master Brewer's podcast (Episode 286: Fluid for Though). I have a 7 gal SSBrewtech Unitank that I use for making lagers. I use a fermentation schedule that I got from an interview with the owners of Bierstadt Lagerhaus in Denver that starts at...

So, I decided that I needed to upgrade my brewery dashboard. I had some LED seven-segment displays that showed the temperature in my mash tun, and the highest and lowest temperatures of my six serving keezer probes. Some LEDs showed whether or not my flowmeters were sending a signal to the...

Prompted by @Brooothru I pulled the trigger on an Easydens. I am totally in love with it. Four digit temperature-compensated precision for SG (or three digits for Plato). I put 25 ml of beer in a 250ml glass reagent flask, shake the crap out of it to degas it and then take the reading. Accurate...

I just traced the small CO2 leak in my system to my Taprite secondary regulator. It's really small, but it's enough to depressurized the primary CO2 gauge over 48 hours. However, it's not big enough to find with a star-san sprayer. Since it's not at any of the connections, as far as I can tell...

In case anyone is interested in getting a beer engine, UK Brewing Supplies has a special on their reconditioned units. They are 20% off until April 15 with the code CQSpecial https://www.ukbrewing.com/Angram_Beer_Engine_CQ_1_4_Pt_Single_WaterJacket_p/23160.htm I have no connection with them...

In the process of tearing down my HLT to fix an element leak, I had to remove my HERMS coil. It's a stainless-steel coil held in by two compression fittings. To get the coil out, I had to unscrew the compression side of the fitting. The ferrule is pretty tightly bound to the coil's tube so it...

Four or five brews ago, I accidentally let the level in my HLT dip below the highest part of my Camco 5500W low-density element. When I lifted the lid to find the source of the steam, I found about 3 cm of the element glowing red. I immediately shut it off and it seemed ok when it had cooled...

In another thread @mabrungard mentioned cleaning pumps and piping with caustic: I'm curious to hear more details from people who do periodic cleaning of their equipment with caustic. Do people use BLC or food-grade sodium hydroxide (or something else)? What concentrations do people use?

I'm switching out all of my gas lines to barrier tubing, since I have a ton of the stuff so I might as well use it to keep oxygen out of the gas lines as well. To make this easier, I'm switching my connectors to John Guest connectors. However, I'm struggling to unscrew the gas in barb on my...

I just discovered that Micromatic have discontinued their premium regulator series for both the primary and secondary regulators. This was my favorite type of regulator as the construction is rock solid and it has a nice twist knob with a locking ring that you can use to prevent accidental...

I know there are a thousand threads on the 3724 saison stall, but this isn't a yeast I normally use so here's my data point. I pitched a nice healthy batch of 3724 from a 1.6 gal starter into 5.5 gal of 1.056 wort at 80F. This was my daugter's first brew day and I wanted bubbles before bedtime...

"Dad, can I brew with you?" Only one right answer to that question!

Has anyone tried using the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation in a 7gal SSBT Chronical to purge Star San from a 5 gal corny keg? My quick calculation is 10 m of water is 1 atm, or around 16 psi, so a 1 m head of Star San is a corny keg would give me a pressure of 1.6 psi in the...

I have three Tilt hydrometers (two first generation, and one second generation) that are great for monitoring my beers. Two of them have dead or dying batteries and I've seen a bit of liquid ingress into them. I decided to give them all a good clean inside and out. I started by removing the end...

I normally ferment my English bitters (OG 1.038) and best bitters (OG 1.045) with 1318 (supposedly the Boddingtons strain), but I thought I'd give 1469 (Timothy Taylor) a try. My basement is at 62F this time of year. With 1318, I chill my wort to 60F, pitch, and let 1318 free rise in my...

Not taste of the beer that it makes, but the yeast itself. I generally taste my starters and fast fermentation tests to check for off flavors but when I taste thick slurry, I'm always surprised by the taste. To me, it has a very sharp taste. Not astringent or sour, but sharp. The yeast I tasted...

I've picked up a bunch of useful information on how to build a keezer on these forums, so I thought I'd create a post to document my build incase it's useful to others. The keezer sits in front of the wall that divides the back part of our basement (where the brewery is) to the front (where the...

I’ve just upgraded to a 7 gal Ss Brewtech Chromical BME and I was wondering how people handle cleaning and sanitizing. I have the mini CIP ball and a blast with warm PBW gets it nice and clean, but do people break down all the weldless fittings between every brew? With my brew bucket, I’d remove...