What I did for beer today

Williams 728
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Took hydro sample dropped to 1.010 on the base of the hard rootbeer, delabled a batch of bottles and cleaned them for bottling said rootbeer tomorrow, and made a contraption to get the most out of my bottling bucket
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And now enjoying said gravity sample that's at 10.2%
 
Got everything ready for bottling tomorrow. Realized I don't have enough bottle caps. Will have to make a run in the morning.
 
Isn't there a diagram of a kid doing that exact same thing saying not too let them do that right there on the side of that bucket? Good thing your assistant can't read yet.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Isn't there a diagram of a kid doing that exact same thing saying not too let them do that right there on the side of that bucket? Good thing your assistant can't read yet.
Click to expand...

Yes, which is why I wanted to get a picture. :D

The bucket was empty, or I wouldn't have let her do it.
 
Bottled a pale mild today. It was milder and sweeter than expected. What is most annoying is that my hydrometer and refractometer are telling me contradictory things, and I don't know which to trust. Both are accurate with distilled water.
 
Trippel-A said:
Bottled a pale mild today. It was milder and sweeter than expected. What is most annoying is that my hydrometer and refractometer are telling me contradictory things, and I don't know which to trust. Both are accurate with distilled water.
Click to expand...


You are using a calculator with the refractometer reading right? I didnt realize that ethanol had an effect on the readings the first time i tried doing that.
 
Trippel-A said:
Bottled a pale mild today. It was milder and sweeter than expected. What is most annoying is that my hydrometer and refractometer are telling me contradictory things, and I don't know which to trust. Both are accurate with distilled water.
Click to expand...


The hydrometer is always going to be the most accurate. Even if you adjust your refractometer for alcohol, it is always going to be an estimate.
 
Bottles half te batch of root beer loving that the color resembles root beer this time left over glass gave me a nice buzz once it carbs aroma should pop, taste is amazing
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finsfan said:
You are using a calculator with the refractometer reading right? I didnt realize that ethanol had an effect on the readings the first time i tried doing that.
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I'm using the Brewzor calculator for Android. But even the original readings pre-fermentation were different.
 
bleme said:
The hydrometer is always going to be the most accurate. Even if you adjust your refractometer for alcohol, it is always going to be an estimate.
Click to expand...

Does that also hold true with the OG reading? Before there is ethanol in the wort to mess up the refractometer reading?

What I find interesting is that the OG measured by the refractometer matched the UNcorrected (for temp) hydrometer reading. The refractometer is supposed to have "automatic temperature correction."
 
I never understand why people waste money on refractometers. They don't do anything without a bunch of calculation and then it's still a guess. I suppose they look cool?
 
You don't have to adjust for temp in a refractometer because as soon as the drop hits the glass, it becomes the temperature of the glass.

There are a lot of refractometers that don't convert from BRIX to Plato precisely. Another possibility is that when you adjust your hydrometer for temperature, that is another estimation.

It sounds like they are only a few points apart so I wouldn't sweat the small stuff. The refractometer is most useful for seeing if you have reached final gravity without losing a pint of beer in hydrometer samples. As long as you are comparing its own readings, it will be fine. If you figure your beer is 7.1% ABV and it is really 7.2%, the law isn't going to bust down your door.
 
I've been on a tear lately on upgrading my brewery. I ordered a pH meter, got a 30 plate dudadiesel, and a decent folding table from Walmart for brewdays. I will probably get a pump next payday and I would like to upgrade my pos cereal killer grain mill before summer.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app
 
Hopinista said:
Yeah but a hydrometer is a dollar. Win :cool:
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I got my refractometer on a promotion, so it was (sort of) free. And it uses almost no wort/beer, and doesn't break as easily as a hydrometer. I've been through 2, and therefore always keep 2 on hand.
 
bleme said:
You don't have to adjust for temp in a refractometer because as soon as the drop hits the glass, it becomes the temperature of the glass.

There are a lot of refractometers that don't convert from BRIX to Plato precisely. Another possibility is that when you adjust your hydrometer for temperature, that is another estimation.

It sounds like they are only a few points apart so I wouldn't sweat the small stuff. The refractometer is most useful for seeing if you have reached final gravity without losing a pint of beer in hydrometer samples. As long as you are comparing its own readings, it will be fine. If you figure your beer is 7.1% ABV and it is really 7.2%, the law isn't going to bust down your door.
Click to expand...

My refractometer certainly isn't high end. It's that cheap one you see everywhere. I just convert Brix straight to OG with a calculator, but who knows how accurate it is. I think I'll start calibrating it more often, see what happens.

My ABV calculations based on different instruments for this last batch were more significant than I would have liked. More like a swing of 0.8% than 0.1%.
 
I put a bottle of my Alaska Amber clone in the fridge this morning and looking forward to drinking it tonight. It is a bit young yet as it has only been in the bottle for 7 days. I just can't wait any longer.
 
Set up my new Ranco Dual Stage temp control for my ferm chamber to replace my Love control that failed.
Will be setting up my new lager ferm chamber w/ single stage controller tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Today, I racked a batch of IIPA, to a keg. Then dry hopped in that keg, with 2 ounces each of Columbus, and Simcoe. Smells amazing!:rockin:
 
Tapped the second keg of a 10gal batch of ESB which was split into two using two different yeasts: Essex Ale and English Ale. It is my second 10g batch and is officially the first time I have ever had two different beers on tap at once (just put a tap on my beer fridge)... gotta love it. I have learned a lot on these forums as I researched brewing methods and am having a blast designing and brewing great beer in large quantities for cheap. Thanks to everyone here who shares info freely and modestly so that we may all learn and brew better beer.
 
Innoculated my first sour beer experiment with god only knows how much lactobacillus, wish I had a time machine to fast forward a year and a half till its done and carbonated and I can open my Purple Drank Blueberry Sour.
 
Pulled the trigger on buying everything I need to convert my chest freezer into a keezer. I have the CO2 tank in hand and I have to wait for everything else to ship. Better get to brewing so I can get those kegs filled. I think I'll start with an IPA this weekend.
 
nukebrewer said:
Pulled the trigger on buying everything I need to convert my chest freezer into a keezer. I have the CO2 tank in hand and I have to wait for everything else to ship. Better get to brewing so I can get those kegs filled. I think I'll start with an IPA this weekend.
Click to expand...

Nice! I think im about to buy a big cheest freezer off CL for $75. Just waiting on pictures. I will probably use it as fermentation chamber so I can do more then one brew at a time, and eventually make a keezer out of it.
 
finsfan said:
Nice! I think im about to buy a big cheest freezer off CL for $75. Just waiting on pictures. I will probably use it as fermentation chamber so I can do more then one brew at a time, and eventually make a keezer out of it.
Click to expand...

Nice! My freezer is the one I bought from HD a couple years ago for $250. I'm thinking of getting another one for cheap off CL to dedicate to hops so the hops aren't sitting in the keezer above freezing temp.
 
Drank a couple.

I've got 25 gallons in fermenters. All aging at this point. Work has me so busy I can't find any time to spend in the brew house. Stupid work.....
 
Put my Irish Red Ale into a keg. Kept drinking my Red Chair clone. Have a couple of more days off. Will brew a Northwest pale ale...... Fun. Fun.
 
I got a Conan starter going for a possible brewday tomorrow. I also reboiled my aluminum pot since I steel wooled some of the oxide layer off after etching volume marks into it. I cleaned some carboys too. Need to get them filled up.
 
Cleaned it up off my floor. This Belgian yeast strain is extremely sudden and very violent. I had a nice bit of krausen on the floor when I got home. I was gone 7 hrs and within that time fermentation started and blew peeled the top back
 
Checked black IPA gravity. ....disappointingly high after 11 days...1.025......waiting game is on.
 

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