Recent content by Fin-lander

So, I wanted to update what I finally decided on - which was out of left field. I figured, what the Hell? If I ruin it, who cares, and I'll learn a bit in the process (which has been the foundation of my brewing career). I finally got round to it, so I picked up a six-pack of Apricot nectar...

Good to know on peeling the fruit - live & learn. I've thought about the apricot extract, but to be honest - the couple times I used it, I don't think it did much of anything. I don't remember it adding any sweetness, which I think this beer needs some of. Do you think either a bottle of the...

I brewed an APA, sort of an apri-hop type clone last fall. Brewing went fine, and then I decided to rack the beer onto 3 lbs of blended apricots in the secondary for a week. I pitted the apricots, threw them in a blender with a bit of water, and boiled them for about 1/2 hr. There was a bit...

+1 I plan to just give them a call on Monday. The seals that came with my camlocks are 1 1/16" diameter, I figure I'll see what they suggest. I will probably call proflow as well - at the time I bought these about 6 months ago they had other options, but for the silicone ones you had to buy...

I use them on a system with a counterflow chiller - the seals do come into contact with boiling wort. I will not trust them anymore - but if your system doesn't pump boiling liquids through them, you may be fine. I have heard others using the seals that came with them as well, but that test...

Has anyone else come across any off-flavors due to these? The ones that came with mine are black (buna-N I think). I have been getting some off flavors since I upgraded to these fittings. I finally took the seals out today and boiled them in the microwave in a glass for a few minutes. When I...

The FB is made from a perforated commercial sheet of SS. I see your point though, and it's valid. Guess it's impossible to know either way what happened. I did get some great suggestions, so thanks again.

Perhaps a moot point, but I'd expect a cave in towards the middle (if we're talking a weight induced failure) as the support would be on the outer edge of the FB. The middle is not supported, and is the farthest from the support, thus the weakest point. I immagine if I started shoveling gravel...

Great info guys - thanks a tun! :D I will def. try the screw / spring thing on the FB. As I said earlier the FB kind of folded on one of the outer edges - not the middle where you'd expect if weight were the only factor. Didn't snap any pics as I was trying to save the batch. I'll prob...

Smee, Good point - you very well could have solved the mystery. If all of the liquid was pumped from below, there would be nothing there to help support the weight. I guess at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter why it happened (other than me not replicating the scenario) I just...

Evilgnome6 - thanks for that post about Beerthirty. That seems to be just about the same thing that happened. As you can see in his post with pictures, his FB looks like it was run over by a truck - I gotta think there was some other physics involved besides just weight on the FB. My FB...

The false bottom is just a smidge under 1/8" thick, still, it is quite strong considering all of the holes. I put all the force I could with my hand, and couldn't get it to budge. I don't know the math involved, but I still gotta think the vaccum idea holds some weight here (no pun intended)...

I guess that is what I'm suggesting. The power of a vacuum is a powerful thing. My guess is that a vacuum was created when the sparge compacted, and the pump kept on. The weight from the grain/wort on top added some force as well. Perhaps someone who's a bit more up on their fluid dynamics /...

I am posting this to see if anyone has gone through this and can shed some light as to why this happened: (sorry for the length) I have a brutus 10 system using keggles. My mash tun has a full diameter false bottom made out of approx. 1/8" thick perforated stainless sheet. It has no...

thanks guys - I figured it was mostly a temp issue. I haven't been too obsessive about it, but like to know the reasons behind what I'm doing. Thanks again.