Random Brewing Thoughts

[Phischy1]

**** Better Bottles if you ever have to move them. It's impossible to pick them up without the airlock sucking in o2 & sanitizer.

I put mine in milk cartons to move them around. Same with carboys.

 

[hornydevil]

I put mine in milk cartons to move them around. Same with carboys.

Indeed.

Get sick of posting brewing rig pics on AW yet?

 

[Phischy1]

Indeed.

Get sick of posting brewing rig pics on AW yet?

You know it's down for repairs and upgrades!

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

I am going to try and bottle with a bottling bucket for the first time since I don't know when, 3 or 4 years probably.

Keg, picnic tap, and a short length of plastic tubing. That's how I do mine. I just add the bottling sugar and beer to a purged keg. Give it a good mix and use 3 PSI or whatever it takes to push it out. Works great.

 

[JCastle1]

Keg, picnic tap, and a short length of plastic tubing. That's how I do mine. I just add the bottling sugar and beer to a purged keg. Give it a good mix and use 3 PSI or whatever it takes to push it out. Works great.

Tell me more about this! I have to bottle 20 gallons soon and not looking forward to it. Can't believe this hadn't occurred to me before.

 

[Snarf1]

Keg, picnic tap, and a short length of plastic tubing. That's how I do mine. I just add the bottling sugar and beer to a purged keg. Give it a good mix and use 3 PSI or whatever it takes to push it out. Works great.

Sure does, that's why I havent used a bucket in forever, but need new cobra tap etc.

procrastimated until

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

Tell me more about this! I have to bottle 20 gallons soon and not looking forward to it. Can't believe this hadn't occurred to me before.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24678

Basically those instruction. But instead of a carbonated keg, just rack your un-carbed beer, bottling sugar, and any bottling yeast to a keg. Then fill bottles.

 

[jivex5k1]

I'm about ready for a keg setup, finally motivated myself to bottle today. I've been sticking to 22oz or bigger to make it more tolerable lately.

 

[Phischy1]

I'm about ready for a keg setup, finally motivated myself to bottle today. I've been sticking to 22oz or bigger to make it more tolerable lately.

Your paper towel situation is much more dire.

 

[Snarf1]

Anyone let a mixed ferment beer sit so long it 'died' for lack of a better term?

I expected fairly quick takeoff on the saison I put on grapes, but nothing. I've had some slow starts with old beer, but it has been a couple weeks now.

I guess it might be fermenting so slowly as to not be visibly evident, particularly as the beer is dead flat, but if that were the case I'd think the fruit would form a cap or at least make the carboy look like a bottle of Orbitz, but it is all on the bottom still.

 

[FTowne1]

Anyone let a mixed ferment beer sit so long it 'died' for lack of a better term?

I expected fairly quick takeoff on the saison I put on grapes, but nothing. I've had some slow starts with old beer, but it has been a couple weeks now.

I guess it might be fermenting so slowly as to not be visibly evident, particularly as the beer is dead flat, but if that were the case I'd think the fruit would form a cap or at least make the carboy look like a bottle of Orbitz, but it is all on the bottom still.

How long did it ferment for before you put it on the fruit?

 

[Snarf1]

How long did it ferment for before you put it on the fruit?

Year and a half maybe? Hadn't looked in a couple days and it actually has a few little bubbles around the top today.

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

Year and a half maybe? Hadn't looked in a couple days and it actually has a few little bubbles around the top today.

Low pH and a year old, that yeast and bacteria is going to be on the struggle bus. Brett is always slow AF to kick back up anyway. I'd say watch it. If nothing sees to happens, make a small starter of with dregs or what ever yeast you used.

 

[Snarf1]

Low pH and a year old, that yeast and bacteria is going to be on the struggle bus. Brett is always slow AF to kick back up anyway. I'd say watch it. If nothing sees to happens, make a small starter of with dregs or what ever yeast you used.

I don't think time and pH is the sole factor here. I've done plenty of refermentations of old, acidic beer before without such lengthy lag time, which is why I thought this was odd enough to mention. There is no way I would add any sort of additional microbes to the beer at this point, even if it failed to referment. I doubt they'd do much of anything if it is in fact a low pH situation that is the cause of the delay. I've had more acidic beer lag less, though.

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

I don't think time and pH is the sole factor here. I've done plenty of refermentations of old, acidic beer before without such lengthy lag time, which is why I thought this was odd enough to mention. There is no way I would add any sort of additional microbes to the beer at this point, even if it failed to referment. I doubt they'd do much of anything if it is in fact a low pH situation that is the cause of the delay. I've had more acidic beer lag less, though.

You can add a portion of your beer to your base starter medium to acclimate the new yeast and bacteria to the low pH environment.

http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Saccharomyces#Fermentation_Under_Low_pH_Conditions
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Packaging#Acid_Shock_Starters

 

[Snarf1]

You can add a portion of your beer to your base starter medium to acclimate the new yeast and bacteria to the low pH environment.

http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Saccharomyces#Fermentation_Under_Low_pH_Conditions
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Packaging#Acid_Shock_Starters

Considering that's the 'Upland technique' I think the better plan is to make less acidic beer if you need to acclimatize your bottling strain to it.

If your beer will kill wine yeast, it probably doesn't taste good.

 

[FTowne1]

Considering that's the 'Upland technique' I think the better plan is to make less acidic beer if you need to acclimatize your bottling strain to it.

If your beer will kill wine yeast, it probably doesn't taste good.

Next time you do a mixed ferment beer just bottle it up after a month or so and call it a "New World Sour".

 

[hornydevil]

Considering that's the 'Upland technique' I think the better plan is to make less acidic beer if you need to acclimatize your bottling strain to it.

Do you know about terminal acid shock? If you don't, you should read up on it.

If your beer will kill wine yeast, it probably doesn't taste good.

Really? That's uninformed in so many ways.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

I wouldn't be concerned with ph because the microbes in the beer have acclimated to that environment for the past year and a half--unless the ph has dropped ridiculously low. The issue is likely just lazy yeast plus the fruit. If the fruit went in whole it may take a little time to swell, burst and make for an easy food source for brett and friends.

 

[hornydevil]

I wouldn't be concerned with ph because the microbes in the beer have acclimated to that environment for the past year and a half--unless the ph has dropped ridiculously low.

Depends which microbes are more active at the time of bottling. After a certain period of time, your sacch. might not be very viable and your brett may take a longer time to carbonate. If you're looking for consistency, reyeasting with fresh sacch. is the way to go. If you don't mind waiting, using the microbes that you fermented with will usually do just fine.

The issue is likely just lazy yeast plus the fruit. If the fruit went in whole it may take a little time to swell, burst and make for an easy food source for brett and friends.

If yeast are "lazy" there is a reason and the old yarn about doing things to break cell walls in fruit is a bit more than a little exaggerated.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

Depends which microbes are more active at the time of bottling. After a certain period of time, your sacch. might not be very viable and your brett may take a longer time to carbonate. If you're looking for consistency, reyeasting with fresh sacch. is the way to go. If you don't mind waiting, using the microbes that you fermented with will usually do just fine.

He's not bottling right now so this is inapplicable.

If yeast are "lazy" there is a reason and the old yarn about doing things to break cell walls in fruit is a bit more than a little exaggerated.

Arguing with yourself.

 

[hornydevil]

He's not bottling right now so this is inapplicable.

Looks like I, indeed, failed to read the entire thread regarding this. Hazard of having threads with no specific direction, I guess. Don't worry, I'll eventually catch up.

 

[hornydevil]

I guess it might be fermenting so slowly as to not be visibly evident, particularly as the beer is dead flat, but if that were the case I'd think the fruit would form a cap or at least make the carboy look like a bottle of Orbitz, but it is all on the bottom still.

Ayep.

Not trying to be demanding, but additional details regarding this beer would be useful in troubleshooting.

 

[jivex5k1]

Made a label for the beer I recently bottled:

This House Sour culture is legit. A buddy from Ohio is visiting this weekend so I figured we should crack one even if it's undercarbed right now since I won't see him again for a while. Opened one last night to make sure I wouldn't be serving something awful, it's on point besides the low carbonation right now.

 

[hornydevil]

Made a label for the beer I recently bottled:

This House Sour culture is legit. A buddy from Ohio is visiting this weekend so I figured we should crack one even if it's undercarbed right now since I won't see him again for a while. Opened one last night to make sure I wouldn't be serving something awful, it's on point besides the low carbonation right now.

Nice. IBUs/hopping schedule?

 

[jivex5k1]

Nice. IBUs/hopping schedule?

0.25 oz East Kent Golding 60 min Boil Pellet 5.7%
0.5 oz Saaz 15 min Boil Pellet 2.8%
0.5 oz Motueka 5 min Boil Pellet 7.0%
0.25 oz East Kent Golding 5 min Whirlpool Pellet 5.7%

Kept IBU under 10 due to TYB's recommendation for the culture.

Full recipe is here: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/wild-saison-2-less-hops

IDK how I ended up at 1.070, I think I threw in too much wheat DME. I just eyeballed half the 3lb bag.

 

[hornydevil]

Kept IBU under 10 due to TYB's recommendation for the culture.

Did the beer get pretty tart/sour? Any chance you took a pH?

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

I wouldn't be concerned with ph because the microbes in the beer have acclimated to that environment for the past year and a half--unless the ph has dropped ridiculously low. The issue is likely just lazy yeast plus the fruit. If the fruit went in whole it may take a little time to swell, burst and make for an easy food source for brett and friends.

Considering that's the 'Upland technique' I think the better plan is to make less acidic beer if you need to acclimatize your bottling strain to it.

If your beer will kill wine yeast, it probably doesn't taste good.

This is dumb because most commercial sour producers have issues with bottle conditioning and having active yeast after extended aging. If it won't ferment baking sugar what makes you think it will ferment sugars bound in fruit.

you can **** on it as an Upland technique, but even Russian River has put out dead flat sour beer.

 

[jivex5k1]

Did the beer get pretty tart/sour? Any chance you took a pH?

It's somewhat tart but nowhere near the enamel stripping berliners I used to make using lacto for the first couple days by itself. I didn't bother taking ph.

It'll probably get more sour as it ages since there's pedio in it.

 

[hornydevil]

It'll probably get more sour as it ages since there's pedio in it.

That's certainly possible, but pedio grows just as fast as lacto (and other LABs like oenococcus) does, so I wouldn't expect a big increase in acidity if you copitched everything.