Cool Tricks you have learned over the years.

[histo320]

This is for all you you experienced brewers out there to help us noobs.

I have came across a bunch of neat tricks on this site in terms of making the brewing process easier, such as using a tennis ball to aerate, steeping in the oven, bottling over dishwasher, etc.

What are some other cool techniques you have found helpful.

 

[scinerd3000]

use speant grain for bread or cookies. Use bunk messed up beers for chili and marinating meat or braising.....Starsan in a garden sprayer to reach down inside the carboy to save sanitizer....

 

[homebrewer_99]

Instead of the dish washer door for bottling I place the bucket on the counter and place the bottling bucket on top it (lid on) to bottle right on the counter.

Getting StarSan inside the carboy? Autosyphon about a 1/2 gal of it into the carboy and shake it to get the insides coated, pour SS back into holding bucket.

At capping time place 3-4 bottles in a line/row leading away from you leaving a little room between bottles and cap each one. It goes 1, 2, 3, 4 done. Set aside. Line up 3-4 more and repeat. Capping goes pretty fast this way when working alone.

Pre-measure DME into 1 lb bags per your recipe to add them 1 at a time after flame out (late addition method). Adding each pound then stirring in to dissolve before adding the next pound.

Just a few...

 

[p4ck37p1mp]

Hmm, harvesting yeast saves cash and forgoes the need for a starter 90% of the time, I find I really don't need to aerate ales. You can be quite scientific about brewing, but it really is not an exact science to make good beer. Much as great chefs don't measure, they just put what they think is right. RDWHAHB.

 

[remilard]

Much as great chefs don't measure, they just put what they think is right. RDWHAHB.

I'm not sure this is a great comparison. Great bakers always do measure precisely. Since baking and brewing both involve fermentation and chemistry and cooking usually does not (and when it does, like maillard reactions, the cook usually does measure which is why a steakhouse can tell you what temperature they cook a steak at), I want to be like the baker.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Try to always remember you brew for fun. It is a hobby and is a way to spend some time away from the rest of your life. If you enjoy taking temp reading every 3 seconds then take temp readings every 3 seconds. If you do not want to check the temp then don't. You will have some fun, and still have beer.

 

[madewithchicken]

BierMunchers Bottle Filler is very nice if you keg (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/). I do not use it as often as i should.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

You can save on toilet paper by using both sides.


Oh, and Revvy's bottling tip is the greatest!!

 

[Dagatris]

You can save on toilet paper by using both sides.

But you spend more on soap. I hope you do anyway....

My greatest piece of advice: The bent part of the racking cane goes at the top part of the bucket. The first time we racked, I thought it went down into the bucket so that it would sit up off the bottom and not pull in the yeast. But that just meant that it kinked up the hose and made it pull in air cause of a bad connection.

 

[BierMuncher]

Clothes clip on your racking cane lets you suspend the tip above the trub.


Some perforated hose on the end of your racking cane creates a simple aeration device.



Some holes in a bucket create a very simple fly sparge system using gravity.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-3WNUXtA64]YouTube - Fly Sparge Bucket[/ame]

Keep your horny uncle away from your hound dog when she's in heat.

 

[big supper]

Keep your horny uncle away from your hound dog when she's in heat.
View attachment 9099

Oooooooooo..........that picture makes me shudder!

 

[Nablis]

You can reseal the bags of hops you get from hopsdirect with a hot iron.

 

[FlyGuy]

If you are fermenting in a basement or other room that is a bit on the cool side, you can set up amazing temperature control with a big plastic Rubbermaid container and an aquarium heater. Fill the Rubbermaid container with water, put the aquarium heater into it and simply dial in the temperature you want (those heaters are usually very precise). Then put your fermenter in the water bath.

The nice thing about this system is that the water has a lot of thermal mass, meaning that any fluctuations in ambient temperature are buffered by the water bath. The same principle applies to the fermentation -- there is a lot of heat generated when fermentation really starts to get going, but the water bath buffers this, too.

If you want to start fermenting cool, then slowly ramp up the temps (say for a Belgian yeast), this system is fantastic. I also have a fridge on a temperature controller, but I like the heated water bath FAR better. It is also a MUCH cheaper and easier solution.

Here's a shot of the same thing, but using a cooler that can hold two fermenters:

 

[chase]

Flyguy... awesome. I've been using a heating pad in a box... and it sucks.

I learned to go through the whole bottling process with sanitizer first.
1. fill bottling bucket with sanitizer
2. insert siphon with bottling wand attached.
3. fill bottles with sanitizer using this setup.
4. empty sanitizer from bottles back into bucket and repeat process with beer.

That way you know everything is clean

I don't have a dishwasher, so I put my bottles in a tupperware box when I'm filling them.

 

[FlyGuy]

Chase... love your avatar!

--Fly

 

[chase]

Chase... love your avatar!

--Fly

Yeah... I've been meaning to change it. I do mouse genetics, not fruit fly. I just really like that picture.

 

[BrewinJack]

If your getting to Home Plate when you get her skirt up....

oh wait you wanted brewing tricks...

You can use a low stool instead of sitting on the floor while bottling, it actully makes you more accurate when you bottle cause you can see better.

you can flood a room with Argon gas to avoid oxidation of your beer while racking and bottleing... of course youll suffocate due to lack of O2 but it works if you have an O2 mask and cuts down on rats

Also to settle out yeast sediment in beer before bottleing take a plastic water cask and rack your brew into it and add your priming sugar. Seal up cask and leave covered on counter for a couple of days or set in cool dark place like you would ferment. Beer will start to carb, yeast sediment will fall out into bottom of cask. attach bottle filler to spigot on plastic cask and away you go. Can buy at your local walmart and resure forever... best to use plastic ones because as the pressure become negitive inside the cask the cheap plastic will contract and maintain the pressure. One level falls below spigot and will no long feed, your done bottleing, the rest is turb and your bottles are nearly sediment free.


if you were interested in what i was saying before i remember what i was supposed to be talking about forget it i havent been laid in nearly 500 days so its not like it worked anyway

cheers

 

[Jaybird]

don't dump out your Oxy-clean water....put it in your clothes washer, saves water and oxy-clean.

1/2 gallon of star san in a carboy is all you need

use your IC to aerate your cool wort.

put a quick disconnect on your water hose

buy a ½ safety siphon

use hand sanitizer

always buy the 6 gallon (or bigger) carboy, I prefer the plastic ones for safety

 

[Jaybird]

i havent been laid in nearly 500 days
cheers

DUDE!!!!!! you must be married!!!!



Just kidding
you need to get out more

 

[joety]

DUDE!!!!!! you must be married!!!!



Just kidding
you need to get out more

I was about to post the same thing.

 

[hungrymonkey]

I have not been doing this for years.

But I recently found out that if I swirl the water around in bottles, then turn them upside down to drain. It will take about 1.5 seconds to drain completely. Opposed to 5 or 6 seconds.

This does not sound like much. But if you are cleaning up to 100 bottles at a time. It really cuts down on the time.


If done correctly, the water comes out of the bottle as a cone shape.

 

[gwood]

use your IC to aerate your cool wort.

I think I might have had one too many to get this one Jaybird. Shed some light?

 

[ajwillys]

Before you empty a full carboy or keg, put your racking cane in there. The air will flow in through the racking cane and totally eliminate the 'glug-glug'. You can empty a full carboy in a few seconds.

 

[Special Hops]

Never dump your beer if you think you made a mistake. It's most likely OK.

 

[conpewter]

Before you empty a full carboy or keg, put your racking cane in there. The air will flow in through the racking cane and totally eliminate the 'glug-glug'. You can empty a full carboy in a few seconds.

So now I can shotgun a whole carboy... man am I gonna be drunk!

 

[BierMuncher]

Before you empty a full carboy or keg, put your racking cane in there. The air will flow in through the racking cane and totally eliminate the 'glug-glug'. You can empty a full carboy in a few seconds.

Guess I'm not visualizing this right.

How would you ever empty a carboy or keg that causes "glug glug"?

 

[pjj2ba]

When using oxyclean to remove the gunk at the top of a carboy, rather than filling it all the way up, just add the oxyclean, fill it only 1/3 full with water, then put a bucket on top (preferably the 5 gal. type) and flip the whole thing over and let it do it's thing.

 

[ajwillys]

Guess I'm not visualizing this right.

How would you ever empty a carboy or keg that causes "glug glug"?

Like if you have it full of oxyclean or something and you want to pour it out. If you turn it upside down, it will glug as the water leaves and the air rushes in to take its place. If you put a racking cane in there, the air can flow in through the cane and stop the glugging of the air coming in.

 

[Rottnme]

So now I can shotgun a whole carboy... man am I gonna be drunk!

I might be willing to pony up a few bucks to witness this...

 

[jkarp]

Some perforated hose on the end of your racking cane creates a simple aeration device.

Simply brilliant.