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It is good to take care, though I have no concerns about botulism as it is anaerobic, and I do not store any samples in vacuum conditions. As far as sterilization, guidance from USDA references a temperature range between 240-250. You’re right that time helps ensure temperature equilibrium for...

I use it for sterilizing containers and non-hopped wort for yeast preparations and long-term storage. Since the numbers are much lower, one bad cell can spoil the bunch! For hopped wort, sterilizing is heavy-handed, but earlier reference was to those dealing with wild fermentations and Brett...

Good tip on the Instant Pot - I do the same. I’ve read for sterilization that 15 min at 15 psi (240 F) is necessary for bacteria, molds, and their spores, etc. Since the pressure for the Instant Pot only goes to ~11 psi (230 F), I run it for 30 minutes, which is also the the time the sterilize...

I’ve got seltzer on tap and have the same performance. I believe the quickly dissipated foam is expected due to the higher dissolved CO2, so I never considered it an issue. I usually just fill glasses with an initial pour and then top up after the foam dissipates in a few seconds.

Do you employ temperature control for the different steps? Without this, the mix of sugars and moisture will grow all sorts of things. Also, some level of air circulation access is needed to avoid anaerobic pests - typically large shallow vessels are used for germination. See How To Malt At...

Same here with 80 F ground water and half barrel batches, recirc is a must. Typically bring it to below 100, stop recirc for 20 min to allow whirlpool to settle, the push into chilled conical to drop to pitch temp.

I’ve got an MM3 and no rust over the years I’ve used it, and it lives in a humid garage. That said, I don’t condition the malt and use compressed air to keep it clean, YMMV.

yeah, racking, butterfly, sampling, and pressure coil if carbed up. I typically spund and finish carb from top after cold crashing, but if in a hurry will carb stone via a TC tee on bottom after dropping cone and cold crashing. Get carbed up in hours via monitoring headspace pressure, but will...

I typically do 5 psi delta between fermenter and keg to avoid fast transfer foaming, 5/10, 7/12, 10/15, etc. the last option is easiest as no need to pressure keg up to serving if I’m storing it, but sometimes trips the PRV, so I typically dial it back a few psi

Thinking over the last 10 years, I would put it at: 1. Sanitation (I used to make up a 5 gallon dunk bucket, but since just use a spray bottle, but mindset is key to avoid non sanitized item touched post boil wort) 2. Cold side temperature control (ESP if warm climate, less so if cool climate...

I commando exclusively and never a clogged poppet. I also typically keep racking arm straight down and don’t bother with the rotation unless clarity is critical, as it will drop clear at some point anyhow. Key steps are dropping the cone slowly and I also flush the racking arm through a TC...

After reading this, I’m rethinking my PBW recirc after every brew... generally I do that, along with disconnecting the silicone hoses and breaking down the pump heads (riptides), but I don’t break any of the threaded connections. Every few brews, I also break down the Blichmann linear flow...

I figured as much, but asked and answered. All free hand would take a lot of time, but creating a fixture or two, I thought you might be able to get time down and run 10-20 pieces in a day that would net you 300-400 bucks for a day’s work.

Considering it’s aluminum that you can get extruded for $15/ft, which you could make ~5 from, along with the fact that a piece of hack sawed PVC could do the same job, I’d ballpark it at $20. If it was steel, might pay more because of improved durability, but not sure the increased machining...

I’d also be interested in an aluminum tool as well at the right price - what would you ball park a small production run price at?

A closed pressure transfer into a cold keg should minimize foaming with added benefit of minimizing oxygen exposure and preserving you IPA hops aroma. I typically push at 10 psi into a 5 psi keg set with a spunding valve on the keg, but before I had that, I would burp the keg when the flow...

I I’ve not seen any suitable for 5 gallon batches, i.e. in the 7-10 gallon range, but there are a few suitable for 10 gal or half barrel such as Speidel, Stout, and a bunch make fermenters suitable for 1 bbl, which I expect is the upper limit of batch size for home brewing.

IME, you can hit FG in a couple days, though yeast keeps working in cleaning up. I have never had a case of a beer tasted at week 1 that wasn’t better at week 2 and reaching a taste steady state at week 3 (not counting big beers that do well with months for the flavors to meld). There are some...

Finally got to crashing the brew, so I thought I’d post a picture - I only brought it to 32 F with a 30 F cooler point as it is a low ABV (~3%), so has a higher freeze point than the 28 F guideline for 5% ABV. With a 90+ ambient temperature (FL in spring lol) and driven by a temperature...

Recently did a 15G high gravity porter (1.069) and hit mid 70s. I pay attention to water chemistry, rake the top third of the MT, and add rice hulls to improve circulation. Finally, I have a hops spider (fabric) and whirlpool to minimize hop trub going into fermenter, but don’t sweat whatever...