South Carolina SC midlands area brewers

[TravelingLight]

You know the alchemists john kimmick doesnt sparge... the next time i do all grain i think ill try the no sparge method and see how it turns out

I actually did not know Kimmick doesn't sparge. I've been wanting to try no sparge, just haven't sat down to figure out my volumes and such. But I know plenty of people do and have no issues with it. Lots of Brulosopher posts about it.

 

[SHAIV]

Yeah he says it pulls more tannins and bad stuff from the grains and the sugar loss is negligable. Basically he can charge whatever he wants for his beer so im sure it doesnt matter to him. Lol

 

[SHAIV]

So im still stuck trying to figure what i should get lol. Homebrew problems... if i got the chapman fermenter i could put a heating element in it one day and make it electric or ive read that people put it on their stove to heat up water. Theres also induction plates... Man so many options

 

[dieharduscfan]

So im still stuck trying to figure what i should get lol. Homebrew problems... if i got the chapman fermenter i could put a heating element in it one day and make it electric or ive read that people put it on their stove to heat up water. Theres also induction plates... Man so many options

I’ve got everything you need to do a 5-6 gallon batch of all grain beer. It includes:
Two 10 gallon SS kettle with thermometer and valve
One 10 gallon igloo mashtun with false bottom and valve
One banjo burner
One DIY sparge arm
One copper coil immersion wort chiller
One 6.5 gallon glass carboy
One carboy stand
All of the hoses and connections
$400

For and extra $100(which is a deal), you can have my Duda diesel 40 plate chiller with thrumometer and hoses and fittings

You can start brewing all grain today

 

[SHAIV]

Haha well thanks but i dont have that much money and im not gonna be doing all grain for a while. I already have all grain equipment. I just dont have the time to do all grain now with two kids under 2 yrs old. Im trying to get something to shorten my brew day doing extract for now. I may get something for no chill but not sure yet. I did just find a 10 gallon pot with welded ports for 69$!
https://www.homebrewing.org/10-Gallon-1-Weld-Volume-Marked-Brew-Pot_p_6065.html
I may get one of those

 

[dieharduscfan]

Haha well thanks but i dont have that much money and im not gonna be doing all grain for a while. I already have all grain equipment. I just dont have the time to do all grain now with two kids under 2 yrs old. Im trying to get something to shorten my brew day doing extract for now. I may get something for no chill but not sure yet. I did just find a 10 gallon pot with welded ports for 69$!
https://www.homebrewing.org/10-Gallon-1-Weld-Volume-Marked-Brew-Pot_p_6065.html
I may get one of those

Gotcha. If you know anybody looking for equipment send them my way. The kettles are triclad bottoms also.

 

[grandetacos]

Haha well thanks but i dont have that much money and im not gonna be doing all grain for a while. I already have all grain equipment. I just dont have the time to do all grain now with two kids under 2 yrs old. Im trying to get something to shorten my brew day doing extract for now. I may get something for no chill but not sure yet. I did just find a 10 gallon pot with welded ports for 69$!
https://www.homebrewing.org/10-Gallon-1-Weld-Volume-Marked-Brew-Pot_p_6065.html
I may get one of those

When I’m short on time, I do stovetop 2.5 gallon in a ss pot, cover it with tin foil after boil and stick it in a bathtub full of cold water. At some point when I have time again in the next day or so, I’ll spray the crap out of the pot with starsan, transfer the wort to a fermenter and pitch the yeast. Spreads the brew out over time so it’s easier to juggle kids.

I do brew in a bag in a regular 6 qt pot for my mash, preheat the oven to 170, turn it off and shove the pot in the oven with a top on. Holds temp, great extraction, and easy clean up. The just turn the oven on to 170 for mashout.

 

[SHAIV]

When I’m short on time, I do stovetop 2.5 gallon in a ss pot, cover it with tin foil after boil and stick it in a bathtub full of cold water. At some point when I have time again in the next day or so, I’ll spray the crap out of the pot with starsan, transfer the wort to a fermenter and pitch the yeast. Spreads the brew out over time so it’s easier to juggle kids.

I do brew in a bag in a regular 6 qt pot for my mash, preheat the oven to 170, turn it off and shove the pot in the oven with a top on. Holds temp, great extraction, and easy clean up. The just turn the oven on to 170 for mashout.

Interesting... but i only have 5 gallon kegs so i might as well fill them. If i cant brew beer ill make cider and dry hop it so i still get my hop fix

 

[SHAIV]

Hey travelinglight what do you use to connect your carboy cap to your ball valve gas post? Im trying to find out. Is it just like a npt to hose barb adapter?

 

[SHAIV]

Would this stuff work?

And do you put the racking cane through and then put the plastic end on then attach the cap to the keg?

 

[grandetacos]

Interesting... but i only have 5 gallon kegs so i might as well fill them. If i cant brew beer ill make cider and dry hop it so i still get my hop fix

If you are limited on time, 2.5 gallons is much better than ZERO gallons

 

[SHAIV]

That is true i just dont think i could bring my self to it. Lol thats a lot of co2 use purging all that headspace

 

[TravelingLight]

Would this stuff work?
View attachment 553620
And do you put the racking cane through and then put the plastic end on then attach the cap to the keg?

Here's the exact setup of mine with part numbers...

What plastic end are you referring to? Are you talking about the plastic tips on the end of the racking cane? If so, no, I don't use that. I pretty much throw them away when I get a new racking cane. But, basically, during active fermentation, I use the center port of the cap (has the white cap on it in that picture) to run a tube to a blowoff vessel. If I feel like it, I'll replace it with an airlock after the initial vigorous fermentation. But when I am ready to transfer over, I just pull out the blowoff tube (or airlock), and slide the racking cane down through that port and go from there. Does that make sense?

Also, I put my receiving keg on a scale so I can fill by weight. This is much more accurate at letting me know exactly how much I get in the serving keg. When I first start the transfer, I have the racking cane about halfway down into the keg and I just let it go. When I start to see air bubbles in the line, I'll slowly slide it down some more. As one more piece of insurance, I added a worm clamp on the racking cane that stops it from sliding down anymore when it's about 1" above the bottom of the keg. This helps keep trub and crap out the transfer and the receiving keg.

 

[SHAIV]

Oh ok. That sounds like a good setup. Thanks man. Oh and if you are gonna sell a sanke let me know how much

 

[TravelingLight]

Oh ok. That sounds like a good setup. Thanks man. Oh and if you are gonna sell a sanke let me know how much

Will do brother. I plan on doing some clean up and inventory in the brewery this weekend so I'll let you know.

 

[grandetacos]

Here's the exact setup of mine with part numbers...

What plastic end are you referring to? Are you talking about the plastic tips on the end of the racking cane? If so, no, I don't use that. I pretty much throw them away when I get a new racking cane. But, basically, during active fermentation, I use the center port of the cap (has the white cap on it in that picture) to run a tube to a blowoff vessel. If I feel like it, I'll replace it with an airlock after the initial vigorous fermentation. But when I am ready to transfer over, I just pull out the blowoff tube (or airlock), and slide the racking cane down through that port and go from there. Does that make sense?

Also, I put my receiving keg on a scale so I can fill by weight. This is much more accurate at letting me know exactly how much I get in the serving keg. When I first start the transfer, I have the racking cane about halfway down into the keg and I just let it go. When I start to see air bubbles in the line, I'll slowly slide it down some more. As one more piece of insurance, I added a worm clamp on the racking cane that stops it from sliding down anymore when it's about 1" above the bottom of the keg. This helps keep trub and crap out the transfer and the receiving keg.

That is an amazing setup. I hate racking and siphoning. SS tacking cane with this setup sounds like the win. I’m eyeballing that SS blowoff probably pipe thing at Morebeer currently. I really despise plastic/pvc

 

[TravelingLight]

That is an amazing setup. I hate racking and siphoning. SS tacking cane with this setup sounds like the win. I’m eyeballing that SS blowoff probably pipe thing at Morebeer currently. I really despise plastic/pvc

Damn right. My thoughts as well, which is exactly why I built this. Initially I used it for closed transfers out the carboy. But I rarely ferment in carboys anymore, and it works just as well on sankes.

I just "built" (or designed) essentially the same setup with a tri clover fitting to use on my sankes. Ordered all the parts from Bobby at Brew Hardware and they should actually get here today. Norcal sells a similar unit, but it includes some bells and whistles I didn't need, and I pieced mine together for just over half the price. Here's what I put together for the tri clover setup. Just imagine a ball lock gas post on the flare fitting coming off the tee, and my SS racking cane down through the compression fitting up top:

Little things like this make brewing SOOOOO much easier. As y'all have noticed, I'm a pretty big DIYer. I'm all about working smarter, not harder.

 

[grandetacos]

Damn right. My thoughts as well, which is exactly why I built this. Initially I used it for closed transfers out the carboy. But I rarely ferment in carboys anymore, and it works just as well on sankes.

I just "built" (or designed) essentially the same setup with a tri clover fitting to use on my sankes. Ordered all the parts from Bobby at Brew Hardware and they should actually get here today. Norcal sells a similar unit, but it includes some bells and whistles I didn't need, and I pieced mine together for just over half the price. Here's what I put together for the tri clover setup. Just imagine a ball lock gas post on the flare fitting coming off the tee, and my SS racking cane down through the compression fitting up top:

Little things like this make brewing SOOOOO much easier. As y'all have noticed, I'm a pretty big DIYer. I'm all about working smarter, not harder.

That’s awesome - what do you do about temperature control on the sankes? If there was such a thing as a 6.5 gallon corny, I’d ferment in that but 10 gallons is too heavy to lift into my chest freezer.

 

[TravelingLight]

That’s awesome - what do you do about temperature control on the sankes? If there was such a thing as a 6.5 gallon corny, I’d ferment in that but 10 gallons is too heavy to lift into my chest freezer.

Still working that out as I'm building a new ferm chamber currently, and I'm designing it to accommodate sankes as well. Or were you referring to thermo probe placement? If probe placement, I definitely haven't decided that yet. Normally I would use a bung with a thermowell, but obviously that wouldn't work with this setup. I wonder if I can find a 2" tri clover with the 1/2" MNPT and a thermowell???

I really want to start doing 10 gal batches for the beers I burn through quickly, ahem NEIPA! But, like you, I cringe at the thought of lifting that into my keezer. Of course, I could split it into two cornies, but hell that takes up another keg! Too many decisions...

 

[SHAIV]

Thats right, too many decisions, im currently trying to decide what to get to make my brew life easier as well but i want to make the most of my money too and i dont want stuff thatll bend/break/rust or generally wont last a while. Such is life.

Anyway so travelinglight, when you say you did closed transfers in carboys. Do you mean plastic or glass? Ive heard people say not to do it in glass carboys because they could shatter

 

[grandetacos]

Still working that out as I'm building a new ferm chamber currently, and I'm designing it to accommodate sankes as well. Or were you referring to thermo probe placement? If probe placement, I definitely haven't decided that yet. Normally I would use a bung with a thermowell, but obviously that wouldn't work with this setup. I wonder if I can find a 2" tri clover with the 1/2" MNPT and a thermowell???

I really want to start doing 10 gal batches for the beers I burn through quickly, ahem NEIPA! But, like you, I cringe at the thought of lifting that into my keezer. Of course, I could split it into two cornies, but hell that takes up another keg! Too many decisions...

I don’t really bother monitoring fermenter temp. I’ll set my chest freezer and assume 1-2 degree variance and leave it alone. I was looking up temp control for sankes today and someone mentioned either an engine block hoist to get them in or out or just pumping cooled wort directly to the sanke in the chest freezer. Pull it out when empty and clean/sanitize then. Not actually too bad an idea!!

 

[TravelingLight]

Thats right, too many decisions, im currently trying to decide what to get to make my brew life easier as well but i want to make the most of my money too and i dont want stuff thatll bend/break/rust or generally wont last a while. Such is life.

Anyway so travelinglight, when you say you did closed transfers in carboys. Do you mean plastic or glass? I've heard people say not to do it in glass carboys because they could shatter

Glass carboys. A lot of people freak out about doing that, but I'm pushing like maybe 3-4 psi to get it going. I'm no physicist, but IMO, that's hardly enough to do any damage. In fact, I'm willing to bet the weight of the beer in the carboy is more than that. Moreover, the orange carboy cap would more than likely blow off before it shattered the glass. I have had one pop off before and you're damn right it scared the poop out of me. But no broken carboys...knock on wood!

 

[SHAIV]

Yeah i watched a video on you tube of a guy pushing like 1 psi he said on a plastic carboy i believe and it popped off and he was like omg that scared me

I was wondering because a lot of my fermenters are glass so what size barb fits the carboy cap. Is it 3/8?

 

[SHAIV]

So im thinking about getting a third corny keg for no chill and or fermenting in. It would be a short version so it would fit in my chamber with an airlock on it. I could use it for serving if needed also. So i would get an extra lid with a hole in it for an airlock. Then id get a sanitary air filter. Ive seen people use that for the no chill method on kegs that way when the wort cools and sucks in air it would be sanitary air. Id also get some stuff to do closed transfer and a spunding valve so i could try some pressurized fermentation. Plus some other goodies as well. What do you think? Then id have plenty of stuff to try out

 

[TravelingLight]

So im thinking about getting a third corny keg for no chill and or fermenting in. It would be a short version so it would fit in my chamber with an airlock on it. I could use it for serving if needed also. So i would get an extra lid with a hole in it for an airlock. Then id get a sanitary air filter. Ive seen people use that for the no chill method on kegs that way when the wort cools and sucks in air it would be sanitary air. Id also get some stuff to do closed transfer and a spunding valve so i could try some pressurized fermentation. Plus some other goodies as well. What do you think? Then id have plenty of stuff to try out

Sounds like a solid plan to me. But, curious why you mentioned the extra corny lid with a hole for an airlock. Usually if I ferment in a corny, I use the gas post as the blowoff, i.e., I just hook up a gas BLQD to the gas post (**with the poppet removed**) and run some tubing from that to my blowoff vessel. But I guess you're worried about doing no chill and it sucking in some unsanitary air as it cools? That makes sense. Wonder if you could still do my method and just bank on it not sucking the sanitizer all the way up into the keg? I would think (definitely don't know) that the suckback wouldn't be drastic. So if the tubing was long enough, it should be fine? I'm just spit balling here.

 

[SHAIV]

That is true. I dont know how much it would suck but with the extra corny lid i could just stick the sanitary air filter in the lid so any sucking would suck clean air

 

[grandetacos]

That is true. I dont know how much it would suck but with the extra corny lid i could just stick the sanitary air filter in the lid so any sucking would suck clean air

If you are dropping 200 degree wort into a chest freezer and leave a significant headspace, there is a good chance you will pull starsan into the tank. But if you minimize the headspace, the volume of starsan pulled towards the system should be similar to the volume of shrinkage in the wort from 200 to fermenting temp. I don’t remember what the shrinkage rate is (maybe 4%of total volume).

 

[SHAIV]

Trust me i would be leaving as little headspace as possible but thats why you get a sanitary air filter so I wouldnt have to worry about it sucking up anything. I heard someone say they do that with their sanke keg without any issues

 

[TravelingLight]

Hot damn fellas, glad to see some warmer weather this weekend! Anybody brewing this weekend? I'm racking a stout to a keg that I did for poopsmitherson's collab/brew-it-forward project. Fermenter samples are better than I was expecting! After I carb and bottle some for that, I'm jumping that keg to another with some coffee, vanilla, and cacao to 'junc it up some. Brewing another NEIPA tomorrow. Been wanting to use some El Dorado I have in the freezer, so this one will be citra (some cryo), mosaic (some cryo), and El D. Got my parts in from brew hardware for my tri clover sanke setup. I'll post a pic once I get it all setup. Have a great weekend, y'all.

 

[grandetacos]

Hot damn fellas, glad to see some warmer weather this weekend! Anybody brewing this weekend? I'm racking a stout to a keg that I did for poopsmitherson's collab/brew-it-forward project. Fermenter samples are better than I was expecting! After I carb and bottle some for that, I'm jumping that keg to another with some coffee, vanilla, and cacao to 'junc it up some. Brewing another NEIPA tomorrow. Been wanting to use some El Dorado I have in the freezer, so this one will be citra (some cryo), mosaic (some cryo), and El D. Got my parts in from brew hardware for my tri clover sanke setup. I'll post a pic once I get it all setup. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Snow last weekend- hot this one. I’ve got my 7- year olds birthday party tomorrow so no brewing for me. Did a 2 gallon dunkelweissen last weekend that is steady bubbling!