Sour-Brett brewing (separate equipment)?

[Pyg]

I currently have a lacto sour aging with Brett.
I need to rack off the krasuen caused by secondary fermentation.
With my normal brews I use a vacuum pump and the bottling/racking attachments. I find using the vacuum pump makes racking & cleaning easy, (this is not an endorsement).

Can I use these with a sour, with out the potential for contamination? What if I soaked in Star-San?View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1490566138.777497.jpg

Is it more ideal to use different gear all together?

I am in process of trying to make an alternative to the pic below using the red cap, glue and hoses.
Realistically I have separate hoses & racking can for spurs, I just need something to use in 1 carboy with the vacuum pump?

Any ideas or advice?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1490566160.915198.jpg

 

[SanPancho]

I find using the vacuum pump makes racking & cleaning easy, (this is not an endorsement).

please explain.


as for having separate gear, its a personal preference. glasswares i'll generally boil or hit with 160+ water for a while. hoses generally dont rate that high in temp so they get the usual pbw/oxiclean wash with star san soak.

never had a contamination issue. using same gear.

other folks will say why risk it when hoses are cheap.

personal preference.

 

[crusader1612]

I need to rack off the krasuen caused by secondary fermentation.

Why?

 

[oceanic_brew]

It is possible to get contamination from plastic equipment no matter how much you clean it.

That is just a risk you'll have to take.

I have separate equipment because I'm one of the people who took the risk and paid the price. I'll admit that I can't prove it was from the equipment but it's the most likely culprit.

 

[oceanic_brew]

Also, I too do not understand your need to rack a sour beer off of the krausen. I think you mean trub and a lot of people leave their sours on the cake from secondary onward.

There's a recipe on here for a multiple award winning sour that's left in the trub right from primary.

 

[beergolf]

Just down cycle your plastic equipment. By that I mean, just use your current equipment ( hoses, bottling bucket, bottling wand, etc. ) for the sour beer and then buy new for your clean beers.

 

[Pyg]

please explain.





as for having separate gear, its a personal preference. glasswares i'll generally boil or hit with 160+ water for a while. hoses generally dont rate that high in temp so they get the usual pbw/oxiclean wash with star san soak.



never had a contamination issue. using same gear.



other folks will say why risk it when hoses are cheap.



personal preference.

Why?

I find it easier and quicker to use a vacuum pump.
I only use a racking cane, 2 hoses and the attachment.
I don't have to fiddle around with an auto siphon which I find a pain to clean the inside of.
Not to mention racking takes 1/2 the time.
When bottling I use a racking can, hose & attachment.
I can power through the bottling in no time.
I find I am one of the rare few beer makers who uses a vacuum pump and not bottling bucket.

As far as the cake, I guess I have just always been told to get beer of the yeast cake.
I did not know that sours were different

 

[oceanic_brew]

I find it easier and quicker to use a vacuum pump.
I only use a racking cane, 2 hoses and the attachment.
I don't have to fiddle around with an auto siphon which I find a pain to clean the inside of.
Not to mention racking takes 1/2 the time.
When bottling I use a racking can, hose & attachment.
I can power through the bottling in no time.
I find I am one of the rare few beer makers who uses a vacuum pump and not bottling bucket.

As far as the cake, I guess I have just always been told to get beer of the yeast cake.
I did not know that sours were different

We were confused cause you said krausen not cake. Sone of us remove krausen from the beer for other purposes but that's a whole other thing. If you are doing extended aging then many people prefer to get the beer off the cake to avoid excess destruction and breakdown of yeast cells from their own enzymes. If you have a lot of hop debris than sometimes it's best not to leave that stuff around to rot.

Autolysis problems are common in large production and it's been mentioned that the large volume, and pressure adds to this.

Many people have left beer in fermentors for months without off flavors. I'm generally ok with two months in plastic bucket and 3-4 in stainless on the cake before I'll think about transferring.

Regarding the sour yeast cake even if you did transfer there's plenty of bugs left over to do their job but yeast autolysis apparently can provide fuel for Brett so it's possible that there may be benefits to leaving it.

 

[SanPancho]

vacuum pump.

details about vacuum pump. that's what i was looking for.

thx

 

[Pyg]

details about vacuum pump. that's what i was looking for.



thx

It is called the All-in-one Vacuum pump (not an endorsement).
Picked it up back when I strictly making wine.
Works well enough for beer as well. If I was more handy I would have built my own, but I am all thumbs!
https://www.allinonewinepump.com

(Once again, not an endorsement)

 

[Sadu]

I have been racking and bottling with just a silicone hose. Got rid of my spigots, bottling wands, autosiphons etc. All too much hassle to keep clean and IMO there is less transfer oxidation with just a racking hose.

It's pretty simple. To rack to secondary, hose goes into beer, I suck on the end to start a siphon (using a little plastic insert over the hose end so my mouth never touches the hose). Then pinch the hose at the top to stop the flow, place the hose in the secondary, then unpinch to restart the flow. Tilt the primary when the level gets a bit low and job done.

Bottling is much the same. Start with all bottles sanitised and lined up on the floor. Start a siphon, pinch to stop the flow, place end of hose in a bottle, release to start the flow. As the bottle fills I move the hose up the bottle and I can fill to the exact level without needing a jug to top up each bottle (like you need to with a bottling wand). As the silicone hose goes right to the bottom of the bottle there is less splashing than a bottling wand. Plus I can control the flow and begin the transfer slowly.

All in all, less oxidation, less gear to buy and clean, higher standard of sanitation due to less gear, and bottling day is much faster.