Monster 17 gallon batch tonight

[sirsloop]

I went up to Bobby_M's place with a freakin ton of ingredients and some fresh yeast. I just racked a 5 gallon batch of belgian wit to keg and took along about a half gallon of WLP400 Belgian slurry along with me. We used Bobby's famous always-changing brewstand setup and keggle. We started out with 9 gallons of water and started heating up 4oz of coriander, 3oz of bitter orange peel, and 3oz of sweet orange peel in the water. While we waited for boil, we heated up about a quart of water to boil on the stove and dissolved a pound of belgian candi rocks. Once the keggle hit boil we tossed in 5oz of saaz, 13# of wheat DME, and 7.3# of wheat LME, and the candi water . Real roughly 45 minutes later we killed the burner and started draining the concentrated wort into smaller buckets. We pulled 7gallons through the CFC into my primary, and around ~3.3gallons into a buck for Bobby. A couple cups of the slurry went into Bobby's bucket, and the rest came home w/ me in an apple juice container. When I got home I modded the lid on my new 14.7 gallon primary...1/2" grommet, 1/2 nipple-nipple connector, 1/2" blow off hose. The water was filled to just over 12 gallons and the yeast was dumped in.

At any rate, freakin monster 17 gallon batch, batman!

13# Wheat DME
7.3# Wheat LME
1# Belgian Candi 0L
5oz Saaz 45min
4oz coriander seed
3oz Sweet Orange Peel
3oz Bitter Orange Peel
A crap load of WLP400 Belgian Wit slurry - now 2nd gen.

I forgot to hit it with the hydrometer, but a couple different brew apps put it at 1.052-54. I could check, but I'm lazy and I'm sure its gonna make some kind of beer. Even if its short 10 points we're still sitting pretty w/ the wit.

 

[sirsloop]

btw, the thing had activity within 90 minutes of pitching!!! WOOT!!1/3rd of a gallon slurry starter kicks arse!

 

[Torchiest]

Awesome. A half gallon of slurry... *Homer Simpson drool*

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, mine took off quickly as well. Well, the krausen was just about to touch the lid at about 7am this morning. I'd say it got a nice start.

 

[sirsloop]

My blow off was clean this morning, but the CO2 was pouring out virtually at a steady stream out a 1/2" hose!! I fully expect to find a mess this afternoon! I only had about 2 gallons worth of headspace on 12.5ish gallons (after that slurry)

 

[sirsloop]

heh heh... blew off about 1/4 gallon of krausen...

 

[Willy Boner]

Where did you get that fermenter?

 

[olllllo]

Ok, I'm seing a toilet paper roll and a mysterious basin.
I've used my guest bathroom for the fermenter in the past, but I'm puzzled by the basin.
Is the tub on the john?
Is that a mop sink?

 

[HarvInSTL]

Where did you get that fermenter?

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=62107&hl=

And read the whole thread and all ye questions shall be answered.

 

[sirsloop]

its just a big ass rubbermaid container. I put about 10 gallons of water in there and draped a wet towel over the primary to keep temps below ambient. Its hitting 90 this week, so every little but of cooling I can get on this thing helps. Bathroom...yes... its the coldest place in my apartment so thats where I ferment. This is my first batch with the 15 gallon primary, and yeah its a bit oversized for that room. I only have 700sqft to work with here...so it gets used. BTW, I stopped fermenting in my closet when my german chocolate exploded all over the place. Its much easier to clean tile if there's an accident. Carpet + stout = no security deposit

 

[olllllo]

I'm an idiot. And I have a bad monitor at work. Now that I am home I can see the white styrofoam object. I thought it was some sort of porcelin basin like a mop sink.

Like I said. I have also used said room for that purpose.

It's always a laffer when you forget about it and someone comes out with a, "WTF is that in your bathroom?"

 

[sirsloop]

Beer > TP

 

[Bobby_M]

I wouldn't want to leave the door shut with a big apfelwein fermenting in there. First you'd gag on the sulpher smell, then you'd be asphixiated by all the CO2.

 

[Ryanh1801]

I like that fermenter very cool looking. Im interested to know how the wit turns out with the sweet orange peel.

 

[sirsloop]

I've made tons of the stuff with a few different twists. All of my batches have had roughly half bitter and half sweet orange though... it makes for an easy drinker.

 

[sirsloop]

chug chug chug.... 6 days in and the damn thing is still bubbling out the 1/2" hose once every two seconds!!! From what I hear, bobby's had blow off for three days and is steady like mine still. Mine blew for one day...

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, in all fairness, I filled the 6.5g bucket to a little over 5.5 gallons and I still tried using an airlock. I watched it twice a day and it seemed to be a slow and steady ferment. 3-4 days in though, it brew the stopper out of the lid. The weird thing is it happed AFTER I moved the bucket to an area of lower ambient temp (closer to 68 instead of 72).It's what, 6 days now and it's still got krausen to the lid. Go wit go.

 

[sirsloop]

Well.. when you moved it you probably shook some of the yeasties back into the gogo-juice and they went ballistic.