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What I did for beer today

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Cleaned my CF5
 
Yesterday between jobs braved nasty southbound traffic to hit up the LHBS for the pilsner I needed for today's brew. Totally forgot that my friend Jon is having his 1st anniversary sale today and I won't be able to be there; however, as one of his favored customers, I got to pick my freebies yesterday (a hat, sticker, and promotional chapstick) as well as a nice little discount on the grain. Anyone in Western Washington needs to hit up Jon's Homebrew & Wine Supply in Puyallup today for some great deals! (Yes shameless plug, but he's the one who really got me going in this crazy obsession I have!)
 
Back in December I adopted LOB and do closed transfers. That poses problems for making NEIPA or dry hopped pale ales.

Then had an epiphany, i decided to use my French Coffee Press.

I read about this long ago but never did it before and before going LOB.

https://beerandbrewing.com/use...o-enhance-flavors-in-your-beer

This is what I did yesterday.

1) Measured out a 1-liter trifecta using Sodium Metabisulfate, Asorbic Acid and Brewtan-B.
2) Dropped 20mg, 20mg, 40mg into a liter of post boiled water
3) Then poured it on an oz of Citra cryo in my coffee press.
4) Gently stirred and let it steep 10 minutes.
5) Then slowly pressed the hops to separate the particulate hop tea.
6) Poured it in a sanitized 2-liter (2L) bottle.
7) Using my carbonating cap and put 10psi on it.
8) Next, I inverted it to use the CO2 pressure to force it into my closed and purged keg. Using a gray gas connect on the 2L bottle and a black disconnect on liquid out. Both connected with a 3ft 3/16" transfer line. Popping off the black disconnect just before the 2L ran empty.
9) I had to vent my keg afterwards.
10) Then did my closed transfer for my pale ale and spunded.

The 2L was very clean, no particles got into the keg from what I could tell.

Don't know how it's gonna taste. It smelled damn good.

FWIW - I use my fermenter to purge my keg. Fermenter gas discharges to the keg's liquid out. My keg vents to a growler out the gas disconnect.

At filling time I swap keg lines using the 1/4" female flare swivels. Keg gas in to fermenter gas out. Keg liquid out to a fermenter ball valve fitted with a 1/4" male flare.

It's the easiest transfer yet. This was the first time I had the male flare on the ball valve.

Pictures of the flare fitting and my El Cheapo Menards Spund valve. It vents anything over 20psi right now. Then rechecks as you would expect a regulator to do. It's easy to adjust too.
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FWIW - I use my fermenter to purge my keg. Fermenter gas discharges to the keg's liquid out. My keg vents to a growler out the gas disconnect.

As for LODO, my hats off to those that are disciplined enough to stick to it, but I will be leaving that to others for the foreseeable future. Using the primary fermentation to purge the keg it’s destined to occupy, is however BRILLIANT, and will be implemented here immediately!! Thanks for sharing!
:mug:
 
As for LODO, my hats off to those that are disciplined enough to stick to it, but I will be leaving that to others for the foreseeable future. Using the primary fermentation to purge the keg it’s destined to occupy, is however BRILLIANT, and will be implemented here immediately!! Thanks for sharing!
:mug:
Yeah somebody turned me on to that saying it's 20 times of keg volume turnover. And free!
 
Finally remembered to stop at the store after dinner with Mom tonight to get the gelatine I will use to fine the lager getting kegged tomorrow. I'm tired of having my beers only clear when there's about a gallon left in the keg, I want them clear from the get-go. Why? I dunno. I know it's just an appearance thing and doesn't affect the final taste of the product, but it sure is pretty.
 
Kegged up my strong (7.2%!!) Czech lager this morning, and very apprehensively added the gelatine to help it clear out. First time using it; part of me can't wait to see the results, and the other part is concerned I messed it up somehow. This one tastes great coming out of the fermenter, slightly sweet (not underattenuated, got down to 1.010 from 1.068) and the late Saaz addition I did gave it a great aroma. Fingers crossed.
 
Brewed up a smoked porter over the weekend, got great efficiency. Also kegged a NEIPA - after a couple false starts. First I forgot to depressurize the keg, churning up the carboy something fierce. Waited a day for it to settle, then discovered my CO2 tank was empty. I have a backup, but that was empty too, of course. So finally Sunday evening I finished what I started Saturday morning. Appearance is on point for sure; can't wait for it to be fully carbed!
 
Finally got my strings ran for my hop trellis.... only 2 out of 8 rhizomes didn’t pop up yet.... sadly something ate the top of one and broke the top of another so I don’t know what I’ll end up with at the end of the year..... first time growing them!!
 

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Picking up 6 gallons of Cab Sav juice to play with in sours and make a Brut IPA (have no idea what I am doing with wine so we will see).

Taking a gravity on my miller lite and this weekend will be bottling 10 gallons of beer and 2 gallons of mead. And drinking, also drinking.
 
During a hellish workday did research on fixing the ferment fridge. Compressor won't run, either it's shot or the starter relay is. Since when did working on refrigerators resemble working on cars??? Tired tonight but will get behind the damn thing tomorrow with the multimeter to see where the problem lies. And OF COURSE it had to futz when the competition lager is in it....highest temp it has hit so far is 78. I'm gonna let it ride until tomorrow when the kegerator gets repurposed as the ferment fridge until I can afford the part to fix it. Darn pissed off right now.

*EDIT* After much research, found a part that will work, and will be here tomorrow for less than $12. If it doesn't work I'm not out much, but went with a 3 in 1 hard start capacitor for the compressor. Should be a quick easy install as long as I don't mess it up.
 
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Back in December I adopted LOB and do closed transfers. That poses problems for making NEIPA or dry hopped pale ales.

Then had an epiphany, i decided to use my French Coffee Press.

I read about this long ago but never did it before and before going LOB.

https://beerandbrewing.com/use...o-enhance-flavors-in-your-beer

This is what I did yesterday.

1) Measured out a 1-liter trifecta using Sodium Metabisulfate, Asorbic Acid and Brewtan-B.
2) Dropped 20mg, 20mg, 40mg into a liter of post boiled water
3) Then poured it on an oz of Citra cryo in my coffee press.
4) Gently stirred and let it steep 10 minutes.
5) Then slowly pressed the hops to separate the particulate hop tea.
6) Poured it in a sanitized 2-liter (2L) bottle.
7) Using my carbonating cap and put 10psi on it.
8) Next, I inverted it to use the CO2 pressure to force it into my closed and purged keg. Using a gray gas connect on the 2L bottle and a black disconnect on liquid out. Both connected with a 3ft 3/16" transfer line. Popping off the black disconnect just before the 2L ran empty.
9) I had to vent my keg afterwards.
10) Then did my closed transfer for my pale ale and spunded.

The 2L was very clean, no particles got into the keg from what I could tell.

Don't know how it's gonna taste. It smelled damn good.

FWIW - I use my fermenter to purge my keg. Fermenter gas discharges to the keg's liquid out. My keg vents to a growler out the gas disconnect.

At filling time I swap keg lines using the 1/4" female flare swivels. Keg gas in to fermenter gas out. Keg liquid out to a fermenter ball valve fitted with a 1/4" male flare.

It's the easiest transfer yet. This was the first time I had the male flare on the ball valve.

Pictures of the flare fitting and my El Cheapo Menards Spund valve. It vents anything over 20psi right now. Then rechecks as you would expect a regulator to do. It's easy to adjust too. View attachment 627323View attachment 627325View attachment 627327
Mad Fermentationalist!!! Nice
 

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