Recent content by ThomasPaine

Too poor to invest in another keg? I have 4 kegs, so when I have 20gallons, 5 end up not getting filtered. Not really a big deal. Pressurizing the carboy may be a disaster.

You can use a vacuum. If you attach preferably a food saver vacuum sealer to the co2 port of the keg and pull out of the carboy through a filter into the out port. I've never tried that. I would like to think the carboy could handle that amount of pressure, but not sure.

There is always someone I guess

Hopefully nobody responds with the suggestion of time, cold crash, and gelatin.

One extra keg is what I use. Push through the filter with co2. The pressure required to push the beer through the filter could bust your carboy.

Buy a bottle of lager and chill it to 1c, open it and see if it is flat the next day.

4 Brewers is great, and Adam Carolla is funny. I like the Adam Carolla show a lot because there is a new one every day and they are at least an hour long.

He already has a carboy. Just put your wort in there solids and all. Solids in the primary are fine. No need to strain

Ok, sorry. I didn't understand that you were manually adjusting the temp. Just thought it was fluctuating between those temps. I would say that at 6 days, your fermentation is still going and the co2 hasn't had a chance to carry the sulfur smell out.

It doesn't really seem like you had temp controlled. The abbey ale yeast isn't meant to ferment over 72 degrees.

Any chlorine in your water? The off flavors caused by chlorine can be subtle to unbearable. The more hops and dark malts you use, the less noticeable it can be.

Looks good to me. The test will be if they rust after use

My first all grain blonde ale came out at maybe 40% efficiency. Channeled during sparge.

I never liked the manual part of the vorlauf. That is the main reason I got the pump. But I run it long enough to make sure I recirculate the full volume many times over. It just feels right.

Thanks, I'm feeling better about this all the time. Free Star San for me!