What did you learn this week?

I learned that the side burner on my propane grill lacks the BTUs to maintain the required boil.

 

I learned that I have got a serious beer brewing problem and have run out of primaries.

 

I learned that, despite making Ambers, IPAs, Dark Pales, English Brown, and American Blondes - the brewers at 16 Mile Brewery in Deleware only use one strand of yeast for all their beers. Surprised the hell out of me...

 

I learned that my new digital thermometer was not as waterproof as I had thought.

I also learned my first all grain batch took about twice as long as I thought it would have. Nothing like cleaning up mashed grains at 10pm while SWMBO is growing angry with hunger because I have been in the kitchen the entire day and haven't made any food.

 

I read this as primates. For fear of starting up the OT bears in beer type of debate, I will drop this, but I laughed... Ok, going back to my corner now.

 

Yes, running out of primates would be almost as disastrous.

 

I learned that my local aquatics store sells RO water for 10p a litre, so that solves my cloudy StarSan issue. I also learned that StarSan's dilution ratio is 1oz to 5 gals, not 1 oz per gallon. Oops!

 

That....I too.... can make a yeast starter.

 

I learned that this addiction is never ending and that there is always new gadget/ equipment that will catch your eye

 

Something else I learned this week is how to explain to swmbo that brewing beer is saving us tons of money and here's how.

I have a micro brew down the street from me and after swmbo got online with the bank and seen the amount of cash being spent she was sorta pissed but I just add it to the list of stuff I do wrong no worries.

With that being said I explained that now with me brewing more at home we are saving lotso cash.

batch of beer = $25 - $30 for 5 gallons

Local brewery growlers = $8.50 which I usually get 1-2 per week.

8 growlers = 5 gallon which = $68

So instead of me spending dam near $70 for 5 gal of craft beer from the micro brew I now spend less than $30 making it at home.

That my friends is how I recently kept her foot out of my azz for brewing beer.

 

There is a huge gap between actually liking and tolerating commercial beer.

 

I learned that a person with absolutely no construction skills can build a keezer by reading all of the articles on this site (although it won't be pretty enough to put IN the house)

I learned that I need Fermcap-S for 2 Liter yeast starters in a 2 Liter flask

I learned that I am NEVER happy with my inventory of equipment. This is becoming more extreme than the Harley addiction since you can only chrome so many pieces.

 

My dog likes the flavor of spent fireworks. Sunday vet visits cost extra.

 

I learned that there was a bottle of brown ale with a loose cap sitting in the bottom of my keezer...

 

That the 66" long keg line cleaning brushes are the right size for cleaning blow off tubes,racking tubes,etc with a little PBW.

 

To keep better inventory. I have 2 batches ready to bottle, but only 30 caps. Also, that I can get craft beers much closer than I thought.

 

I learned there is always tomorrow. Today was my first all grain batch. Was so excited and then… Efficiency was way low, had my first ever boil over, did everything I was supposed to but still let a metric **** ton of grain get into the kettle, hooked my wort chiller up to the hose and then to the spigot only to find it frozen shut. Then I put some muscle into (dumb I know) and broke the handle right off. Moved the hose to the spigot in the back yard (which was working) only to find there was ice inside the hose somewhere even though I drained it last time. Wort chiller was useless. Buried the 11 gallon kettle to the top in snow in 15* weather. After an hour still above pitching temps. Ended up pitching just above proper pitching temps. After all of this nonsense, in a couple weeks I will still have beer.

 

Or you need more 22oz bottles

 

I learned that a 3-gallon keg isn't as much beer as I thought.

 

I learned that my beer is as good or better than the trappists monks make. Tried my first chamay blue and it was just ok.

 

1. Opened my first bottle and learned I can make a really good beer.
2. You can re-use star san. I now keep a 5 gallon bucket on hand.
3. You can use a growler to make yeast starter.
4. Making a yeast starter is very simple.
5. I have the itch to go AG
6. I want to get a keg system

 

I learned that autolysis is pretty much a fictional boogieman nowadays for small batch homebrewers thanks to the evolution and high quality yeasts we now use.

 

I learned that I'm not immune.

 

1.) Slow down
2.) create a checklist with your process
3.) Don't forget to take an OG!

 

I need to start keeping a journal!

 

I learned a lot.
I've been brewing off and on for 10 or so years. But I just finally got together the remaining equipment and got around to brewing my first all-grain batch in about 6 years. But I had to learn a whole bunch of new gadgets i'd never used before.

I made starters of two yeasts for the brew. I've never done that before, and now that I see how easy it is, will do it from now on.

New pump, chiller, camlocks on a new kettle on a new burner. I had played around a little bit with them as I picked them up, but never used them for a brew.

In the end, all went well. My favorite part was how amazingly fast my new plate chiller did its work. I cooled over 12 gallons to the mid 70s in about 8 minutes of whirlpooling (also my first time whirlpooling). I couldn't believe it. Chill water was in the low 50's .

I'm excited to have something fermenting away right now after so long without brewing.

 

I guess blowoff tubes aren't just for us carboy folks. Sorry for your loss.

 

I did have a blow off but it threw the stopper and tube straight out. All cleaned up and "reinforced"

 

I ended up using a 1 inch tube to avoid blockage. Might be an easy option with the bucket too. Lucky you were in a freezer!!!

 

yeah, it's a week full of firsts. First yeast starter, first full boil on bayou burner, first brew in my new ferm chamber, and my first blow off.

 

Wow, Caputo 00. Good stuff for pizza, hard to find

 

As one who also uses a freezer and had dealt with blowoff in it, I would debate just how "lucky" it is. Those things are neither was not fun to clean inside.

I learned that a refractometer is wildly inaccurate for gravity measurements after fermentation had begun... Refractometer read 1.045 after 11 days in primary, which sent me into a stuck-fermentation-panic, but hydrometer read 1.024, which is really close to the FG I'm looking for (barleywine). Whew.

 

Yeah, I work for a food wholesaler so I get ahold of some interesting things.

 

I was thinking "lucky" compared to blowoff in the house. I ferment in my closet...I am one blowoff away from being banned from the house, so I am overly careful.

 

Happy wife, Happy life!

 

Point taken. I stand corrected.

 

Classic!!

 

Duct tape and 12#s of flour for the win!

 

what twalte said. Try using some 1" tubing. It fits really snug in the opening of the carboy and provides enough room for a blowoff to travel through. The problem with the small hose is it has an easier chance of blockage and then pressure builds up and will erupt in your fermentation area. use the larger tube and you wont have any issues

 

If you had your tube on an airlock make sure it doesn't have the little grid like plastic on the bottom. If so cut it off to make one clean hole that won't get easily clogged.