Time to get back on Track! Might need a little help

[duffman2]

What's up everybody? Happy Memorial Day to all of you. I am a fellow homebrewer in need of a little help because it's time for me to get back on the homebrew horse.

Last June I got into a car accident and broke the 2 biggest bones in my leg. So that put my brewing on the back burner. But it didn't seem to hinder all of my skills because I soon found out that I had my first kid coming to me at the end of the year. So, after healing up and helping the Mrs bring my little girl into the world I have been occupying my time watching her grow up through her first 6 months of life while working the job to get her college fund going in the right direction. It has been a crazy but very awesome year.

My problem is that before I "stopped" brewing, my last few batches were on the decline. After 54 mostly amazing batches of beer, my last few were going sour on me with infections and no ability to replicate the success of some of my past batches. My glass carboys have been terrible to clean and my plastic buckets are scratced up houses of bacteria. My keezer was never really dialed in that well with pressure and I kept on losing gas way too easily. Also my propane burners have been crapping out and I think parts need to be cleaned out and replaced.

What I'm really looking for is any advice/suggestions from those out there who understand what I'm going through and could point me in the right direction. Also, I'd really like to dial in an efficient process. Without a wort chiller down here in Houston, it takes me 6 to 8 hours for a batch. And If I have to scrap my old equipment and start over then maybe somebody knows some good startup sets or sites that could help? I have been brewing All Grain exclusively with my beat up batch sparge cooler with a SS braid. I tried a couple BIAB's and some no chill batches without great success.

I will get this brew thing back, and I don't care what it takes or how long it takes it is going to happen!

 

[duboman]

Glad to hear you're getting back on track!

I would start by taking good inventory of what you have. Salvage, clean, buy necessary parts, etc and make a list of things that you know you need to replace just to brew. It sounds like you have most of what you need already so if it can be cleaned and fixed do that to save $$.

 

[Dirty25]

Good sanitation and a way to chill your wort would be a great start back on the right track. Trash your plastic buckets and maybe all your siphons and plastic wear. Get a glass carboy to ferment in.

If you brew extract a easy way to get to pitching temps is to add 2 gallons of almost ice water to a ice bath cooled wort. If you do all grain get a wort chiller it's a must. A trip to lowes/home depot you could pick up some copper pipe for a DIY wort chiller.

 

[Bensiff]

If you have infections I would toss anything that isn't metal or glass that can come in contact with beer on the cold side of the brewhouse. If you glass is somehow all scratched up on the inside you might consider tossing those as well. For you keezer, make sure you have a good temp controller as maintaining a constant temp goes a long ways to getting consistent carbonation. I would do a leak down test on the system as well to find if you have a leak...pressurize it and get some soapy water and spritz things down and look for it to start bubbling up and there is your leak. Propane burners are pretty simple, check make sure you don't have any clogs in the openings as can happen if you get a boil over (other than that perhaps a problem with the valve). I would highly recommend saving up and getting a wort chiller, an immersion chiller is pretty inexpensive and effective, you can build your own counterflow for cheap, and there are now a lot of competing plate chillers so you can get those cheaply as well. Rapid cooling of the wort isn't just about saving time, there is a lot of benefits from making better, clearer beer to getting the beer out of the danger zone for infections much quicker.

Glad you are on the mend.

 

[forstmeister]

Your mash tun shouldn't be an issue for infections. I agree that you should trash or repurpose all of your plastic gear. I have never had an infection and I ferment in plastic. Eventually I will I suppose.

I think that a wort chiller is your most important piece at this time. Check amazon.com. They are cheap and a huge step toward improvement.

You are doing all grain, so after you get chilling down, yeast health is your next step up. You can do starters in a growler or other similarly sized jug if using liquid yeast. For me it was a huge step up in quality.

Above all, have fun. I got discouraged a while back and almost quit too. A spinal issue coupled with a couple mediocre batches almost put me at my wits end. I learned to take it easy, I figured out a couple ways to lessen the load, and I started paying attention to style and ingredients more. My last 2 batches (the only ones I have done a yeast starter for) have been my best.

The biggest thing for me was letting go of control. This is not a new process. There is generations of knowledge out there. Don't be afraid to accept it is fact.

 

[Braufessor]

I had a similar situation in my brewing career . . . no injury.... but, had a time in my life where other priorities took center stage (marriage, step-kids, grad. school)..... Batches were mediocre to bad. Ended up taking 3 years off of brewing. Eventually got the bug back, immersed myself in learning more about it, and have been brewing good-great beer for the past 5 years. Things that I did that helped get back into it:
1.) I took a couple days and completely and totally dedicated myself to cleaning my equipment, cleaning my brew space, washing kegs, bottles, pots, you name it - long pbw soak and starsan dip. No brewing - just cleaning and organizing all my gear so that when I brewed, I would be ready to roll.
2.) I threw out or repurposed EVERYTHING that was plastic - buckets, tubing, tap lines, CO2 lines, spigots, airlocks - all of it. Purchased new plastic.
3.) Went with plastic buckets for my new fermenters - cheap, easy to clean, easy to use..... never regretted it since.
4.) Started out with some basic recipes - basically just used Northern Brewer kits and recipe's for a few batches - brewed things that were quick turn around - pale ale, british bitter, british mild, etc.
5.) Temperature control.
6.) Reevaluated my Entire process -
**sanitation techniques and went to using pbw and starsan. Star san has been an important change in my process. I now keep a big tub with 10 gallons of star san in it for dunking stuff as I need it..... I know that is overkill, but I brew in my basement and the tub of starsan lasts a month or two before I remix - just really handy and it works for my process.
**Started doing yeast starters, got a stir plate.
**Learned about water and what I needed to do that was specific to my regional water. Bru'n water.
**Better notes, iBrewmaster for software.
**Patience - 3 week primaries, no secondary usually.
**Tried and true recipes..... I use Brewing Classic Styles for basic starting points. start with something that is a basic recipe, brew as-is, tweak later if I want.
Basically - just sort of re-immerse yourself. Special attention to sanitation cannot be stressed enough.

 

[duffman2]

Above all, have fun. I got discouraged a while back and almost quit too. I figured out a couple ways to lessen the load, and I started paying attention to style and ingredients more.

Yes. Exactly. It was getting to be a chore and when I couldn't brew one of my favorites after 3 times without messing it up, I got just a little pissed off. And I do want to find a couple ways to lighten the load a bit without compromising quality. I tried no-chilling in a plastic container, and that didn't work long (Could never really nail down my hops utilization like I could conventionally, and also had problems getting into the bucket to clean it right).

 

[duffman2]

Ok, anybody else?

I've went through my equipment and gotten rid of/repurposed the plastic. Except for my C02 lines and keg tap lines. Do those really have to go too?


Also, I'm committed to making my process hopefully easier. I hope to achieve this by building a chiller and a tiered brew stand. I need to find something light and easy to transport that I can combine with a utility pump and go from mash to sparge to brew kettle so that I'm not dragging giant pots from my electric stove to my back patio.

I'm sure that I should dial in my local water one day too, just not sure where to start with that yet. But clean and sterile equipment combined with an easier and more efficient process sounds like my ticket back to fun town . Just got to get myself on the road to get there