South Carolina SC midlands area brewers

[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!

 

[TravelingLight]

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!

I want some more of that blonde coffee stout y'all did! That was delicious.

 

[TravelingLight]

Got my parts in for my tri clover sanke fermenter setup. Please ignore the janky ass gas post setup on the left side. Bobby was out of the MNPT to MFL flare fitting I needed, so this is just a stand in until he gets that in stock. I'll be adding this to the fermenter when I toss in the first dry hop for the NEIPA I brewed yesterday.

 

[grandetacos]

Got my parts in for my tri clover sanke fermenter setup. Please ignore the janky ass gas post setup on the left side. Bobby was out of the MNPT to MFL flare fitting I needed, so this is just a stand in until he gets that in stock. I'll be adding this to the fermenter when I toss in the first dry hop for the NEIPA I brewed yesterday.

That is beastly!

 

[Poopsmitherson]

Okay guys, I wanted a small sounding board for something. Say there existed a subscription service for craft malt--I'm talking the small craft malt houses that are starting to pop up but you can't really find their stuff outside of their locale. You get X amount of malt per month from a different maltster with a description of said malt and how the maltster suggests using it. Would you be interested in such a thing?

 

[TravelingLight]

Okay guys, I wanted a small sounding board for something. Say there existed a subscription service for craft malt--I'm talking the small craft malt houses that are starting to pop up but you can't really find their stuff outside of their locale. You get X amount of malt per month from a different maltster with a description of said malt and how the maltster suggests using it. Would you be interested in such a thing?

 

[grandetacos]

Okay guys, I wanted a small sounding board for something. Say there existed a subscription service for craft malt--I'm talking the small craft malt houses that are starting to pop up but you can't really find their stuff outside of their locale. You get X amount of malt per month from a different maltster with a description of said malt and how the maltster suggests using it. Would you be interested in such a thing?

I’m a cheapskate on a colossal scale. That being said, if it wasn’t overly expensive, I’d give it a shot. And by overly expensive - if it costs me $65 for a sack of regular 2-row and said service wants $100 for their 2-row- no way. Between 65 and 80 - probably as long as it made something decent.

 

[TravelingLight]

I’m a cheapskate on a colossal scale. That being said, if it wasn’t overly expensive, I’d give it a shot. And by overly expensive - if it costs me $65 for a sack of regular 2-row and said service wants $100 for their 2-row- no way. Between 65 and 80 - probably as long as it made something decent.

That's a good point, and I agree for the most part. But I assumed (maybe wrongly) that this wouldn't be full (50#) sacks, right? They would get murdered in shipping.

 

[Poopsmitherson]

I’m a cheapskate on a colossal scale. That being said, if it wasn’t overly expensive, I’d give it a shot. And by overly expensive - if it costs me $65 for a sack of regular 2-row and said service wants $100 for their 2-row- no way. Between 65 and 80 - probably as long as it made something decent.

So speaking from that side of things (I too am what’s i like to call “frugal”), would you be expecting a full sack of malt or like enough to make one or two beers with (I.e., 1-3 lbs. for specialty malts or accent base malts, or 10ish lbs for base malt that’s something like an heirloom variety)?

 

[Poopsmitherson]

That's a good point, and I agree for the most part. But I assumed (maybe wrongly) that this wouldn't be full (50#) sacks, right? They would get murdered in shipping.

Right. I was thinking more like enough to brew one or two beers with. Maybe 10-12 lbs if it’s a base malt or 1-3 lbs for a specialty or accent malt. Shipping alone for a full sack would skyrocket that price if it were a monthly thing. I dont even want to think about it.

 

[TravelingLight]

Right. I was thinking more like enough to brew one or two beers with. Maybe 10-12 lbs if it’s a base malt or 1-3 lbs for a specialty or accent malt. Shipping alone for a full sack would skyrocket that price if it were a monthly thing. I dont even want to think about it.

Yeah, I would be interested in checking out something like that. I've also realized lately that my knowledge of malts is severely limited, and I'd like to improve that. I considered getting the Malt book. But after being so disappointed with Yeast, and someone confirming they were similarly disappointed with Malt, I'm looking for something else.

 

[grandetacos]

Right. I was thinking more like enough to brew one or two beers with. Maybe 10-12 lbs if it’s a base malt or 1-3 lbs for a specialty or accent malt. Shipping alone for a full sack would skyrocket that price if it were a monthly thing. I dont even want to think about it.

Gotcha. Yeah shipping on 55lb bags sucks. Small bags makes sense. Doesn’t sound bad!

 

[Lifer59]

Kevin sells a bag of grain for less than what you will pay online if you include the PSB discount. You can also order 5 - ten lb bags of grain from NB or Morebeer and still get flat rate shipping.

 

[grandetacos]

Kevin sells a bag of grain for less than what you will pay online if you include the PSB discount. You can also order 5 - ten lb bags of grain from NB or Morebeer and still get flat rate shipping.

Kevin definitely has the best prices. I think last time I did the math, the 10 lb bags at NB were costing the same per pound as the 50 shipped. That was about a year ago though.

 

[TravelingLight]

Kevin definitely has the best prices. I think last time I did the math, the 10 lb bags at NB were costing the same per pound as the 50 shipped. That was about a year ago though.

No doubt. And I always get hot dogs from Jimmy's when I go to DIY. I'm hoping Kevin can help me out with the 20 pounds of extract I need for my Piatz beer for my initial barrel fill. I've done maybe two extract beers ever. But brewing three or four back to back AG beers to fill the barrel gave me nightmares. So I'm doing a simple 50/50 pale/wheat extract beer for my initial fill. Then I'll let the yeast and bugs do some work. Damn that's gonna be expensive!

 

[SHAIV]

So guys i think im finally gonna have some time to brew a beer this weekend. I know its been a while and you already critiqued my recipe travelinglight, but i made a few more changes to it and just wondered what you think?

Thats all the mosaic i have and its my first time using mosaic and lupulin powder. I have more simcoe and more chinook i could add but i dont want to drown out the mosaic not that thats easy to do from what i read about it

 

[TravelingLight]

So guys i think im finally gonna have some time to brew a beer this weekend. I know its been a while and you already critiqued my recipe travelinglight, but i made a few more changes to it and just wondered what you think?

View attachment 555650

Thats all the mosaic i have and its my first time using mosaic and lupulin powder. I have more simcoe and more chinook i could add but i dont want to drown out the mosaic not that thats easy to do from what i read about it

Are you going for haze, or just a good west coaster with some fruity hops? I'll assume you're not going for haze...

First thoughts, I would move that chinook at five minutes either to the 30m bittering addition, or just drop it out right. Personally, I would drop it out right, but the more I get into NEIPAs, the less bittering I like in my IPAs. But that's personal preference. If you want some heavier bittering, just do 1 oz. chinook at 30. If you want softer bittering, just do 0.5 oz. at 30.

I also would not do any chinook in the dry hop. Granted, I haven't used it a ton, but I still feel it's better as just a bittering hop and I would leave it out of the dry hop. I also think it would muddy and possibly overpower the simcoe/mosaic in the dry hop.

Where are you using the mosaic lupulin? Unless I missed it, the recipe didn't state it. I'd just advise to use it in the whirlpool and/or dry hop. I don't even like using lupulin at flameout. Speaking of whirlpools, I'd drop that temp down to 175 at most. I prefer to do mine at 170, but as long as it's at least at 175, that's usually good. I get much better aroma and flavor extraction at below 180. 180 and above I still pull too much bittering.

 

[SHAIV]

Oh man chinook is a good all around citrus hop. Try a smash or a single hop chinook. Yes you are right im not going for haze just a light colored hop bomb. Im actually going to use whirlflock and fermcap also. Im testing out the fermcap so i can judge how much krausen is formed while using it so i can judge how much space i need when i ferment in a keg next time

 

[SHAIV]

Also the powder is in the whirlpool. Its the ones with the AA in the 20’s

 

[TravelingLight]

Oh man chinook is a good all around citrus hop. Try a smash or a single hop chinook. Yes you are right im not going for haze just a light colored hop bomb. Im actually going to use whirlflock and fermcap also. Im testing out the fermcap so i can judge how much krausen is formed while using it so i can judge how much space i need when i ferment in a keg next time

Interesting. I seem to get more piney/spicy from chinook. To each their own! You'll love the fermcap if you've never used it before. I don't use it all the time, but definitely a fair amount, depending on the beer and the fermenter I'm using. It's magical stuff. I definitely use it more often for starters!

Also the powder is in the whirlpool. Its the ones with the AA in the 20’s

Ahh yeah that makes sense, duh! I wasn't even paying attention to the AAs.

 

[SHAIV]

Interesting. I seem to get more piney/spicy from chinook. To each their own! You'll love the fermcap if you've never used it before. I don't use it all the time, but definitely a fair amount, depending on the beer and the fermenter I'm using. It's magical stuff. I definitely use it more often for starters!


Ahh yeah that makes sense, duh! I wasn't even paying attention to the AAs.

Yeah? Well maybe thats what i like about chinook. But its always used in grapefruit ipas... idk well anyway i just got an email today from brewers friend saying they updated their software to include powder pellets. So im about to check that out. Yeah ive never used fermcap. I had some a long time ago when i first started brewing but never used it. I guess i was a newb and didnt know anything about it at the time really it just came in a kit I bought from NB then it expired? So i threw it out. It said keep refrigerated on it and it had an expiration date on it. This bottle says neither of those... hmmm