Interesting way to carbonate.No matter how hard I try I stilll forget to empty the last of the starsan out of halfy bottles before filling them. :0
I learned, yet again, you let the yeasties do their thing, and it turns out good even with poor sparge, missing mash temps, etc.Interesting way to carbonate.
one of my favorite lessons is about making a starter: don't try to add the DME to 1.5L of boiling water in a 2L flask unless you want to show your kids how to make a volcano. Same goes for the stir bar. Put it all in their before it boils! and add some fermcap-s foam inhibitor before boiling!
I learned that I need a bottle tree, might as well get a vinerator as well.
No matter how hard I try I stilll forget to empty the last of the starsan out of halfy bottles before filling them. :0
I got both the vinator & 45 bottle tree from Ferrari,so the vinator fits on top. Not sure about it fitting other manufacturers stuff.
I learned that I apparently syphon at the third grade level...
When trying to rack to my bottling bucket with my auto syphon it stopped with about a gallon left. I could not for the life of me get it started back up. I tried tilting the carboy, holding the syphon off the dry hops/trub, everything I could think of. It seems like it would just immediately lose suction when trying to restart it. To complicate things further my outflow hose was a little on the short side. It never came above the water line, but I only had about two inches below the bottom of the carboy. I'm going to get some longer tubing for next time.
I learned just how expensive it is to set up a 3-faucet keezer, especially if you buy the good stuff (like Perlick 525SS faucets and stainless shanks).
I'm in the process of building one myself, I got the same faucets/shanks.
The good news is I had budgeted for a brand new 7.2 CF chest freezer but scored one on Craigslist for $50. I am debating adding nitro as well.
I learned just how expensive it is to set up a 3-faucet keezer, especially if you buy the good stuff (like Perlick 525SS faucets and stainless shanks).
I know what you mean they are expensive just got mine on Monday and installed them in my upright fridge.. supper happy with these perlick that i ordered though http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PERLICK-FORWARD-SEAL-FAUCET-WITH-STAINLESS-SHANK-P2162C65.aspx
hi guys... this week i may have learned a reason to use secondary fermentation.
if you happen to have a job that will take you away from brew stuff for kind of a long time (like 3 months), it might be a good idea to get the brew off the cake in primary if you get a little time somewhere in there.
any guess how i learned this?
btw... i'm just going to assume that three months in a fermenter isn't going to hurt anything except my feelings.
i also learned that darker, heavier, beers (like a porter or stout) are more forgiving than lighter beers (like a cream ale) for the occasional mis-step.
but the cream of three crops ale from the recipe section is an amazing brew.
highly recommended.
I learned that with a little oil a wing capper is not actually a complete pain in the butt to use. After a year and a half of jamming and pushing one handle against my chest, pulling the other handle up and making sure the bottle didn't go flying just to open the capper, I was staring at a six pick of uncapped beer and a completely stuck capper. Thought "maybe I'll just try oiling it. Surely it won't help because this thing has sucked since I started brewing and surely it just sucks because why would I have had to oil anything coming out of the box?"
I guess I also learned that assuming something should work correctly out of the box is a bit optimistic.
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