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My friends and I have also been slowly piecing together a 1+ bbl system. Those damn stainless 55 gallon drums are hard to find. I'll have to keep checking in on this thread for tips.

I'd say to stay below 3 volumes with those long necks... not 100% sure on this, but I recall that being about the safe threshold. Also, I think the temperature is the current temp, not fermentation temp, so if you still have it at 86 use that, but if it is now room temp us that. See if you...

I'm not really sure on how many volumes of co2 standard bottles can hold. On my Belgian beers I usually look for heavier glass to put anything over 3 volumes of co2 in.

I just did a rauch barleywine/strong ale a month back. It was 50/50 pale malt and rauch for the base malts. I used the scottish ale yeast on it. Turned out incredible.

I'd be interested in some stuff

Sounds like it should be fine. Make sure to add an airlock to the bottles, the yeast will continue to work on any sugars left and still produce CO2. You can also do this with oak cubes. If you add some to your souring beer the bugs/brett take up residence, then you can then save them and add...

I dont' have the same corker, but what I found worked well for mine was to push the bottle+cork out with another cork using the press. On mine this sets the next cork up into the press and gets the previous bottle+cork out without the need for grabbing a screwdriver or whatever.

Yah, just wait till the pellicles form, talk about funky looking! Also, at some point the sourness may plateau off, I'm not certain each batch will keep getting more sour. Also, there is no absolutes on the sourness, some may get really sour and some just so-so, hence why they blend them. You...

I would recommend oak cubes instead of chips. The oak cubes are better suited for long term aging as they release deeper flavors over time. I wouldn't go about boiling it twice, and ounce shouldn't be that overwhelming in 5 gallons. Also, French and Hungarian oak is much smoother then American...

"As far as being too sour, nice thing is you have 4 batches you can blend as you please, and the leftovers can be blended with a 'virgin beer' if you need to cut the sourness. IMO, it's superior to doing one batch because you can blend and dial in the level of sourness/funkiness you want from...

Ideally you would want to let the beer age longer before adding onto fruit, but to answer your questions. 1. Yes, you can reuse the yeast 4 times.... but it will change the ratio of yeast/bacteria. I know with my sours with the Roselare blend each successive beer is getting more sour, so the...

Congrats! I was just up at Ice Harbor last weekend. Some decent stuff but a bit run of the mill on styles. Hope they let you build up some recipes. Are they bringing their fresh hop beer to the Hood River hops fest?

About how much do they normally sell for? Are there specifics on what to look for? like wall thickness? What about how the ends are sealed? Is one end usually clamped on somehow? or are they filled through a bunch and you have to cut out one end? A few friends and I have been looking into...

Where do people go about getting these awesome 55 gallon stainless drums? All the ones I tend to see online are just steel and usually coated with some chemical to make them food grade. Are there specific drums that people are using?

If you are aiming for a Lindaman's Framboise style beer it will be kinda different then a normal sour beer. Typical lambic blends will eat up all the sugars leaving your beer really dry and tart/sour, your beer will probably end up closer to Oud Beersel fruit levels if you've had those beers...

I think you did the right thing. If you are worried about oxidation just purge the headspace with CO2 or add in a bit of sugar to kick fermentation off again.

Here it is https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/ Great write up by Revvy. This is pretty much exactly how I bottle now minus the bottle tree and sanitizing pump thing, although I'll probably go that road someday.

If you dump the priming solution into secondary and mix you may stir up a bunch of fallen yeast, but it would work. I still use a bottling bucket and just run some hot oxyclean through the valve after each brew. You could also unscrew the valve and drop it into some hot oxyclean to clear any...

Sounds like your sanitation should be ok. I do the same with filling all my bottles then cap once they are all done. And it sounds like your fermentations should be done after 3 weeks, but a hydrometer never hurts. Your methods all seem sound, so probably just some funky plastic somewhere...

Couple questions: 1. Do you mill your own grain? 2. Do the bottle caps get boiled? 3. How are you cleaning the bottles? I'd take Yopper's advice and replace any plastic stuff that touches your beer post boil. If it smells "Belgiany" you might have a brett infection somewhere that your cleaning...