whattheschmidt
Well-Known Member
So, I had all kinds of new equipment for this batch.
15gal Bru-Gear kettle
new BIAB bag (obviously) with a pulley
oxygenation stone + tank
longer vinyl tubing for wort chiller (annoying running 35 feet)
True refrigerator with stc 1000+ for temp control
and I brewed in my garage yesterday with temps below freezing.
Most things went pretty well. Mash temp was very hard to hold so I kept firing the heat up on very low (Blichmann burner) and stirring the wort.
I brewed the Krispy Kolsch recipe here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?t=60
One thing that didn't work well is the propane - it just didn't want to keep up a good flame. I changed out the tank and the newer one was working well for the first 20 min of the boil then I could only get a weak boil from it. I extended the boil due to knowing I wasn't getting the boil off I needed. Ended the batch at 1.046 about instead of 1.048 no biggy.
Everything else was somewhat normal. The problem is, I brewed the starter 5-6 weeks ago about - can't remember, and the yeast hasn't shown any activity at all in the FastFerment. I'm wondering if maybe the yeast isn't viable anymore? being 8 or so weeks total old. I don't believe the fermenter is at fault, I know it had a seal the last 2 brews I did with it and the airlock worked fine.
Perhaps RDWHAHB but my fermentations take off within 24 hours, and this time using the oxygen tank and temp control I figured it would work very well.
One other thing I need to figure out is how to have the pot high enough so it can be emptied into the Fastferment. Perhaps sanitize a bucket as well and use that to transfer it with a funnel but I rather avoid that. Cinder-blocks seems unsafe...but would work haha.
Thanks for all of the help so far!
15gal Bru-Gear kettle
new BIAB bag (obviously) with a pulley
oxygenation stone + tank
longer vinyl tubing for wort chiller (annoying running 35 feet)
True refrigerator with stc 1000+ for temp control
and I brewed in my garage yesterday with temps below freezing.
Most things went pretty well. Mash temp was very hard to hold so I kept firing the heat up on very low (Blichmann burner) and stirring the wort.
I brewed the Krispy Kolsch recipe here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?t=60
One thing that didn't work well is the propane - it just didn't want to keep up a good flame. I changed out the tank and the newer one was working well for the first 20 min of the boil then I could only get a weak boil from it. I extended the boil due to knowing I wasn't getting the boil off I needed. Ended the batch at 1.046 about instead of 1.048 no biggy.
Everything else was somewhat normal. The problem is, I brewed the starter 5-6 weeks ago about - can't remember, and the yeast hasn't shown any activity at all in the FastFerment. I'm wondering if maybe the yeast isn't viable anymore? being 8 or so weeks total old. I don't believe the fermenter is at fault, I know it had a seal the last 2 brews I did with it and the airlock worked fine.
Perhaps RDWHAHB but my fermentations take off within 24 hours, and this time using the oxygen tank and temp control I figured it would work very well.
One other thing I need to figure out is how to have the pot high enough so it can be emptied into the Fastferment. Perhaps sanitize a bucket as well and use that to transfer it with a funnel but I rather avoid that. Cinder-blocks seems unsafe...but would work haha.
Thanks for all of the help so far!
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