Recent content by livelyjay

That's how a drain and siphon works. When the level of the fluids is equal, it stops. You'll need to either pump it or mount the fermenter higher.

So I drain straight through the bottom into my kegs, so gravity does all the work. The people who rack through the side port let gravity work too, but it will only work until the bottom of the side port or the bottom of the dip tube attached to the side port. Either way, whatever is the lowest...

Just transferred to the keg today. Pretty easy to do. First I emptied and sanitized the secondary collector, hooked it up again, and cycled the valve to make sure there wasn't gunk stuck in the ball valve. Then I sanitized the tube and fittings, hook it up, and open the valve. Next time I...

I honestly didn't check mine. My current fermentation is going very slowly because the temperature in my basement is sitting around 63 degrees. Once it's done I'll clean it out and check. This batch has been weird and I'm not sure if it's from the fermenter or the temp. The foam/krausen...

The 2" clear PVC I got from McMaster Carr, part number 49035K48. It's really expensive. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have gone with straight 3" clear PVC and some different fittings and just have the 3" catch. You lose a lot of internal volume going with 2", but save a bit of money. That's...

Everything I read about the Fast Ferment is the quality of the plastics was bad and the build quality was bad. Crap shoot if you get a good sealing lid and a valve that holds up for more than 3 brews. That's why I chose to build my own.

I just finished building my first conical. I used a lot of silicone to make the ports and threaded fitting air tight. I put in my first batch on Saturday and there's no blow off action, so the lid is leaking around the lip. I put a silicone gasket around the lip of the lid, but it's obviously...

Just back them out and take them to your hardware store. If you oversize them it won't be a big deal since this is pretty soft plastic.

Put 12' of 3/16" line in place and serving at 12psi. There's still a few bubbles in the line, but the pour is coming out much much better than before. Thanks for the help everyone.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I increased my pressure to 12psi and the bubbles in the line have gone away. Since I am using 1/4 line, there's too much pressure at the tap. So like everyone is saying, I'll be getting some 3/16 line today. The online calculator says 4' at 3/16 for 12psi. I'll...

Thanks. I'll try pushing the PSI up this weekend and see what happens. I already have a 75mm PC fan at the top running to try and keep the temps even. I'll use my IR temp gauge I just got and see what the temp range is too.

So I just bought a new tap. Mine was old and crusty so figured why not try a brand new one. Still having the same problem. As the beer is pouring I can see lots of bubbles going through the line. When I stop pouring, the bubbles collect at the high points in the line. They eventually form...

First, I didn't realize 3/16 was the most common line diameter. I grabbed the smallest diameter I could find from Lowe's and used that. It fits perfectly over the nipples for my taps and faucets. Secondly, the length and resistance totally makes sense and escaped me before. I thought line...

This is probably my fourth or fifth commercial keg that I've had in the keezer next to my homebrew. This is the first time I've had a huge foam problem and I'm at a loss as to the problem. Setup below: 1/6 keg, Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA Line length ~ 20 inches Line diameter = 1/4 inch...

Thank you so very much for all this information. I found a nice blog HERE that lists out the lintner values for the base malts that I'll refer to from now on. Basically I've been steeping only and not mashing, hence why I'm getting a lot of unfermentables. Really the only change I need to...