South Carolina SC midlands area brewers

[carpathia]

That's awesome, thanks for the heads up. So they also have manure? What about compost? Didn't want a whole bed of just top soil, ya know?

They had it when I went; I got a ton of bagged. They don't seem to have it listed on their website any more, but I went with organic top soil and organic composed manure. There's a few other soil places I've seen near shop road, but I don't remember what streets they were on

 

[carpathia]

Definitely think ill get a hop spider now and figure out how to recirculate ice water for chilling.

When I had to stove top brew, I did 50 pounds of ice in a sink, pumped with a 1/2 hp sump pump off amazon ($50 or so). Now I do the same thing, but with a gallon of water and in a big wheeled cooler, recirculating the chilling water the entire time.

 

[TravelingLight]

They had it when I went; I got a ton of bagged. They don't seem to have it listed on their website any more, but I went with organic top soil and organic composed manure. There's a few other soil places I've seen near shop road, but I don't remember what streets they were on

Thanks dude. I ended up getting a yard and a half of the mushroom compost from Garners Ferry Supply. My back was all kinds of stove up after many loads of wheelbarrow from the driveway to the back of the backyard.

 

[carpathia]

No doubt; getting a 4 wheeled garden cart was one of my better ideas for the same reason.

 

[TravelingLight]

No doubt; getting a 4 wheeled garden cart was one of my better ideas for the same reason.

Damn. That's a good idea. We didn't even own a wheelbarrow, had to borrow it from my FIL when I borrowed his trailer for the compost.

 

[SHAIV]

Yes i should have recieved my pump from amazon today. And i also ordered a stainless hop spider. I had so much loss from hops. I mean 8 oz in 6.5 gallons idk what i was thinking. It was coming out so clear for a while. I was like i dont need anything. Then i only got like 4.5 gallons in the fermenter and at the end it spit out a lot of trub. The whirlpooling apparently didnt work as well as id hoped. I have a cooler im going to use for the recirculating pump. I think ill chill normally till it gets to about 130 ish maybe then switch to recirculating ice water. I could even just take it inside at that time to do the ice water chill. I also thought about putting ice or something on the outside of the kettle. Really i just need to install my window ac unit that i have in my garage and that would help a lot too. But im afraid to put a hole in my wall... anyone know how to do that? Lol

 

[CarolinaMatt]

View attachment 569506
So i did this yesterday! Added a thermometer to my kettle. Got it leak tested and calibrated too!

Looks awesome! How exactly did you do this -- the thermometer and the spigot?

I just bought a new 15 gallon tall boy and would consider doing this!

 

[SHAIV]

Looks awesome! How exactly did you do this -- the thermometer and the spigot?

I just bought a new 15 gallon tall boy and would consider doing this!

Yes i drilled both but only recently added the thermometer
Man drilling stainless isnt too hard but its not easy either. What i found is that you need to make a small pilot hole first, like a 1/8, use some sort of lubricant to keep the metal from overheating, like dish soap and water mix or car/vegetable oil. I used wd40 this time but it wasnt the best option. If the metal grts too hot it will harden and become virtually indestructible. Lol jk but dont let it overheat it will harden. The first time i just kept switching out drill bits till it got to the right size. This IMO is the best option. This time i tried a step bit and the bit got so hot it became almost useless and heating the metal for nothing. When i switched it out for a regular bit it went in so smooth. So if you keep switching the bit out you start with a cool bit and it cuts sooo much better than a overheated step bit. Continually spray it with your soapy water to cool it every so often (another set of hands is best for this, also my opinion) its not that hard but i did this in my garage bent over the pot and my back started hurting for like a day or two. Maybe try to put it on a table and brace it. Idk

 

[carpathia]

We bought a gorilla cart specifically for planting season; ABS doesn't rust, my sharpest shovel won't penetrate it, and it has a shockingly useful dump function.

As far as brewing; about to bottle a ~8.0% wheat beer (OG 1.076 or 0.078 if memory serves, gravity reading is at 0.016 as of a few days ago) that tastes like nice, smooth banana (shockingly mild, actually) and beautifully gold. What do you all have in the pipe?

 

[TravelingLight]

We bought a gorilla cart specifically for planting season; ABS doesn't rust, my sharpest shovel won't penetrate it, and it has a shockingly useful dump function.

As far as brewing; about to bottle a ~8.0% wheat beer (OG 1.076 or 0.078 if memory serves, gravity reading is at 0.016 as of a few days ago) that tastes like nice, smooth banana (shockingly mild, actually) and beautifully gold. What do you all have in the pipe?

Damn that sounds tasty. I'm not a huge wheat beer fan, but I can definitely get down with an "imperial" wheat!

I've got two currently that I jumped to dry hop kegs yesterday. Another NEIPA (I've always got a NEIPA on tap or in the fermenter), and a sour orange creamsicle. I'll jump those to serving kegs probably tomorrow night. Only thing on tap right now is a chocolate coffee stout and a sour rosé.

 

[Lifer59]

I’ve got a Centennial IPA in the bottle and should be ready to sample this weekend.
Also a Sage Saison in the bottle that should be ready the week following.
Final batch is a Honey Wheat that will be ready to bottle this weekend.
That may end my brewing season until it starts to cool down.

 

[TravelingLight]

I’ve got a Centennial IPA in the bottle and should be ready to sample this weekend.
Also a Sage Saison in the bottle that should be ready the week following.
Final batch is a Honey Wheat that will be ready to bottle this weekend.
That may end my brewing season until it starts to cool down.

Sage Saison sounds awesome. Can you expand on your process? Any sage in the boil? Only dry "herbing"? Amounts? My wife would go ape sheet over that beer.

 

[Lifer59]

Actually got it from BYO mag. I used sage, rosemary and thyme in the boil. The bottling leftovers were pretty good. Herbs just come through.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Yep, exactly. Basically I start out with two bags of ice (could probably use 3 or even 4), dump in a "normal" sized cooler and fill it up with water. Then as it's chilling, if the water in the cooler starts getting too low, I just add more with the garden hose. Then redirect it back into the cooler once it gets below 100.

I may eventually add a tee fitting to the cleaner with a ball lock post on it to clean posts and/or faucets. But for now, I just used 1/2" PVC with a cap on one end and a 3/4" garden hose fitting on the other. So it screws right onto my pump. Then I drilled some holes in the pipe for spray. Cost me about $10 (since I already had the pump) and took about 10 minutes to throw it together.

Sounds like we had pretty similar ideas.

I think this is going to end up being a handy thing that I should have put together years ago. The only thing I might change is to shorten the tubing for the keg disconnects, right now they’re just getting in the way.

The last picture has the attachment for the wort chiller.

 

[SHAIV]

Is that like a keg/fermenter washer? Thats pretty cool. I hadnt thought of that. I did get my pump so i could try to use it for that as well as a recirculating chiller

 

[TravelingLight]

Sounds like we had pretty similar ideas.

I think this is going to end up being a handy thing that I should have put together years ago. The only thing I might change is to shorten the tubing for the keg disconnects, right now they’re just getting in the way.

The last picture has the attachment for the wort chiller.

View attachment 570291View attachment 570292View attachment 570293View attachment 570294View attachment 570295

Yep. That's basically what I'm doing as well. I have a hole cut in my bucket lid and have the kegs sitting on that while washing. I just need to check if that gives me enough clearance to put BLQDs on the posts. I used the washer for the first time last night. My God why did I not build this years ago. 15-20 minutes and they were sparkling clean. In the past I would soak kegs and either get lazy or forget about it for a week. Not anymore!

 

[SHAIV]

Yep. That's basically what I'm doing as well. I have a hole cut in my bucket lid and have the kegs sitting on that while washing. I just need to check if that gives me enough clearance to put BLQDs on the posts. I used the washer for the first time last night. My God why did I not build this years ago. 15-20 minutes and they were sparkling clean. In the past I would soak kegs and either get lazy or forget about it for a week. Not anymore!

I did that one time and got some surface rust in a keg. I got some bar cleaners friend to clean it out and its been fine ever since. I never leave pbw cleaner in my kegs anymore

 

[TravelingLight]

I did that one time and got some surface rust in a keg. I got some bar cleaners friend to clean it out and its been fine ever since. I never leave pbw cleaner in my kegs anymore

Weird. Never happened to me before. But regardless, it's a non-issue now! And BKF is amazing stuff. I shined up my kettle the other week with it. Damn it was nasty.

 

[SHAIV]

Tested out my pump. It connected tightly to my wort chiller. Ive got a cooler that i plan to use. It should work well. I guess the water direction flow through the chiller shouldn’t matter right?

 

[TravelingLight]

Tested out my pump. It connected tightly to my wort chiller. Ive got a cooler that i plan to use. It should work well. I guess the water direction flow through the chiller shouldn’t matter right?

Nah, won't matter at all.

 

[carpathia]

Tested out my pump. It connected tightly to my wort chiller. Ive got a cooler that i plan to use. It should work well. I guess the water direction flow through the chiller shouldn’t matter right?

If it's an immersion chiller, you'd want it to circulate downward through the coils first, and then leave through the straight pipe; hot liquids float, cold liquids sink, and you'd want the coolest water hitting the hottest wort first.

 

[carpathia]

Damn that sounds tasty. I'm not a huge wheat beer fan, but I can definitely get down with an "imperial" wheat!

"Weizenbock," though this is much more of a weizenhellesbock. Next up will be an export strength helles with my new grain crusher making a fine powder first. Not really sure after that; maybe a Dragon's Milk clone? Sour cherry tripel? Hard to gauge what i'll want to drink in September.

 

[SHAIV]

If it's an immersion chiller, you'd want it to circulate downward through the coils first, and then leave through the straight pipe; hot liquids float, cold liquids sink, and you'd want the coolest water hitting the hottest wort first.

Hmmm yeah that makes sense. It is an immersion. Well i wonder what the difference would be? Maybe i could get a connector so i wouldnt have to do so much to change it out

 

[TravelingLight]

I "love" the fact that my AC in my car goes out right as it starts getting hot as balls. Super.

 

[SHAIV]

I "love" the fact that my AC in my car goes out right as it starts getting hot as balls. Super.

Yeah. Is it just not blowing cold? Thats not too bad. You can just recharge it with a kit from your nearest auto parts store. Hopefully thats all it needs?

On another note i think i might try to just attach this hose splitter to my chiller. Then i can just turn the valves and switch the water input. That way itll be the right direction, what you think?

 

[TravelingLight]

Yeah. Is it just not blowing cold? Thats not too bad. You can just recharge it with a kit from your nearest auto parts store. Hopefully thats all it needs?

On another note i think i might try to just attach this hose splitter to my chiller. Then i can just turn the valves and switch the water input. That way itll be the right direction, what you think?
View attachment 570317

Yeah. It's blowing but not cold. I actually recharged it yesterday. Well, I tried. Hooked it up, showed zero psi. So I started charging to see if the compressor would kick on. Pressure was going up, compressor kicked on and knocked the pressure back down, but then it started going back up. I charged it until it was in the "filled" range. But it's still not blowing cold air. Sucks because now I have to pay someone to look at it. I'm a cheap ass and try to DIY everything I physically can. But this one is now out of my hands.

 

[carpathia]

On another note i think i might try to just attach this hose splitter to my chiller. Then i can just turn the valves and switch the water input. That way itll be the right direction, what you think?View attachment 570317

I guess I'm confused with what you're doing. Is this for an IC/CFC/Plate/Other? If it's for an IC, don't you have two identical fittings on both inlet/outlet, and can therefore just redirect which hose is plugged in where?

 

[TravelingLight]

I guess I'm confused with what you're doing. Is this for an IC/CFC/Plate/Other? If it's for an IC, don't you have two identical fittings on both inlet/outlet, and can therefore just redirect which hose is plugged in where?

I was confused as well and therefore did not address that question. SHAIV what dafuq you talking about brother?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I think he's wanting to hook up a garden hose and a hose coming from the recirculating pump to the manifold, which will flow through the chiller. Once he gets the wort down a bit with the garden hose he can shut off one manifold, turn the pump on and let the other one go without having to go to the spigot

How'd I do SHIAV?

 

[SHAIV]

You got it man!

Bottom left imagine a garden hose
Bottom right is coming from the pump
Top is going to the chiller. I can cut on the garden hose and then switch without leaving the garage. I can also control the water flow with the valves built into the splitter