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I agree that foaming with purging is a non-issue for me. The price you pay for reducing oxygen exposure is to leave a teaspoon of Star San in the keg after purging it. That is a small price to pay that is well worth it or me. Of course, it doesn't matter whether you purged it with...

Yes it works and it works great. I connect my Spunding valve to my fermenter (Fermzilla All Rounder for me) and connect another hose from the outlet of the Spunding valve to the gas inlet side of the Star San filled keg that I want to purge. I then attach my usual serving hose from the beer...

Agree that there is almost no reason not to purge a Star San filled keg during early fermentation if you have a Fermzilla and a Spunding Valve. I even then run the Star San out of the purging keg through my serving hose which sanitizes that at the same time.

My Fermzilla lid could be 10 times tighter and I could easily loosen it with a good strap wrench and a good whack with my hand or a hammer. The lid also requires a screwdriver or similar to pry up. There is no need to fight it. You just need the correct tools.

I don't have that particular Fermzilla but a strap wrench works great on my All Rounder if you are talking about removing the top. Something like this...

I don't really ferment under pressure to achieve "correct carbonation." I do it mostly just because I can with the Fermzilla. It also probably speeds up fermentation a little at a slightly higher temperature. Probably the biggest benefit is that is greatly reduces the risk of oxidation. I...

Are you planning to just drink it from the Fermzilla? Do you keg? With my Fermzilla All Rounder, I do a pressure transfer to my keg after fermentation is complete through the floating dip tube. Then I cold crash in the sealed keg and maintain the correct pressure to complete carbonation. The...

I started recording my brew day times to try to systematically shorten them. I am down to 5 hours if I have everything set up the night before so my first step in the morning is flicking the lighter to start the propane burner with my treated water already in the pot. Here is another trick I...

Completely agree with this. I don't depend on any temperature reading (mash, water and boil kettles, etc.) unless I have stirred well and checked with a handheld thermometer in a representative part of the vessel.

He should probably also then test to see if transferring to a tertiary fermenter makes the beer even clearer yet :). I agree though - to each his own.

Maybe a better experiment would be to try other options to reduce sediment in your beer other than using a secondary fermenter. There is more than one way to skin that cat.

I heat up 3-4 gallons of water to 170-180 degrees to preheat my cooler for 15 min or so before the mash which slows down cooling considerably. I also keep some hot water on hand and add it if the temperature drops too much after 30 min or so. Since the majority of the mash takes place within...

I don't even like to give my beer to my immediate family because they don't want or appreciate it enough to make it worthwhile for my long brewing days. They would much rather have Miller Lite or Michelob Ultra which is fine. Most people simply don't want homebrew or even better craft beer if...

If you take a Thermapen apart (when it inevitably quits working), there is a very tiny wire that wraps around the hinge area and has to move with each opening of the device. With repeated use of the hinge, that wire gets twisted and worn and will eventually break. I have had this happen to two...

Honestly, if mine died I would order another one immediately. The one I have has worked perfect for a long time for $35. For the price, it has been a steal just like their $22 handheld temperature probes which last longer than the $100 Thermapens that I have worn out.

I would like to know this as well? When I priced this out once, it looked like replacing the 3 filters for my home would cost about $50 total (??? if they would need to be replaced yearly).

I agree with the others that this is a simple math problem. I brew 30-40 gallons per year so it is cheaper and easier to buy water even if it costs $1 per gallon. If you need 360 gallons per year, you need a home RO system.

I buy 4 gallon "purified water" from my local big box hardware store for a little over $3 per jug. Their detailed water report is on the companies web site which makes it very easy to make brewing water adjustments. I use 2 of them for a 5 gal batch. I couldn't care less if it isn't exactly RO...

I had the same thought. Did you go straight to NEIPA's? It might be reasonable to start with a more forgiving beer till you have everything down pat. You seem like you have researched this pretty well. There is no reason you should be throwing out undrinkable beer even if you missed a few...

They key to a pressure transfer without foaming is to have minimal pressure difference between the fermenter and the keg (like 1-2 psi difference at most). If the fermenter is pressurized to 12 psi, I then pressurize my purged keg to 12 psi. Then with a spunding valve on the keg I connect my...