What I did for beer today

[Brewer_Dad]

I did 2 batches, 5 gallons each. An American IPA and a hoppy golden ale - I'm exhausted.

Reason I did this is that I wanted to take advantage of the current temperature of the room I use to ferment (has been steady 19C), since spring just started and temps will start to rise. Also I'm starting my shifts next week, I work 4 days of 3 days off at a mine site, so it gives me plenty of time to let it cold crashing while I'm away.

 

[Ayzala]

Finished setting up the new fermentation fridge, by cutting off some of the plastic in the door and hooking up the inkbird. Brewed 6 gallons of a Smithwick's clone. Cleaned brewing equipment, and of course, drank homebrew.

 

[govner1]

Began reorganizing my brew stand to accommodate my new HERMS system by putting 4 layers of reflectix on my 15 gal MT and swapping out my old 10 gal HLT with a 15 gal kettle.
I put cam locks on my Riptide that will handle the recirc.
Next is setting up my soul vide for maintaining temp in the HERMS coil.
Im going to do a test run of everything Tuesda-Wednesday.

 

[bobeer]

I cleaned and de-labeled 2 cases of bottles, then bottled a 5 gallon batch, then washed yeast, then put yesterdays wort in the fermenter and pitched the yeast.
Haven't had bottled homebrew in forever.

 

[ba-brewer]

Started yesterday and finished today the process of moving my brew controller from the temporary plastic box I prototyped it a few years back to a nice metal enclosure. Did a slight upgrade in the process as I now have two ez-boils in the new box vs only one in the prototype so less chance of over-heating my sparge water now.

Everything appears to work but I will do some load testing tomorrow and hopefully a real brew in few days.

 

[Pkrd]

I added gelatine to my cold crashing pale ale last night. Didn't quite get the door closed so now I have an angry frost monster living in there...

 

[JAReeves]

Yesterday I learned a valuable (although too late) lesson; propane tanks CAN fail. During the brewday I noticed a slight propane stink around the BK burner; thought it was coming from where the line attaches to the tank. Fortunately the boil was almost done, so I just let it go as it wasn't huge (and yes I do ventilate my brewery). Once cleaning was done looked into it more, and the leak got worse. On a side note, I have two tanks hooked up to my brewstand, one for each burner. I didn't move the tank to the other burner to see if it was the tank (big mistake), just went to amazon and ordered a new line/regulator, and paid extra to have it by last night. Once it arrived I installed it, and tried it on the same tank; still a leak. This time I put the OTHER tank on that same line, and no leak. Bad valve on the tank, first I've had in over 4 years of using propane for brewing. It's barely 1/3 gone, hoping HD will be nice and give me a full, not-defective, tank, but I doubt it. Worst part is that I had planned another brew for today, but got frustrated and sad the heck with it, I'll brew next weekend.

I had this from a propane tank from HD as well. I use some keg lube and an o-ring from a ball-lock post to make a better seal and solved the problem. Probably should have taken it back, but I was in the middle of brew day and didn't want to call it a day. Emptied the tank and traded it back for one that doesn't leak.

 

[seatazzz]

I had this from a propane tank from HD as well. I use some keg lube and an o-ring from a ball-lock post to make a better seal and solved the problem. Probably should have taken it back, but I was in the middle of brew day and didn't want to call it a day. Emptied the tank and traded it back for one that doesn't leak.

Damn, I didn't think of that. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. thanks!!! now to find where the hell the keg lube got to....

 

[Nick&Worty]

Not sure if I screwed up.. 5th brew ever. I wanted to springboard off the Witbier I just finished and kegged, so I saved all the trub and refrigerated it. I ran the same recipe, and got the right OG when I pitched, but holy mother of pasta look at this! Wonder how that’s gonna turn out??

 

[seatazzz]

Not sure if I screwed up.. 5th brew ever. I wanted to springboard off the Witbier I just finished and kegged, so I saved all the trub and refrigerated it. I ran the same recipe, and got the right OG when I pitched, but holy mother of pasta look at this! Wonder how that’s gonna turn out??
View attachment 700458

I've had a few slurry pitches where the slurry/trub just about hit the halfway mark on the carboy before it compacted down to something reasonable. Couple questions; how long after pitching was this pic taken? Did you aerate the wort? Did you let the slurry warm up to room temp before pitching? If it's still good, I'd say it's a good thing you have plenty of headspace...

 

[seatazzz]

Not directly for beer, but husband and I just finished flight of the bumblebee cleaning of the house before the notary public comes by tomorrow afternoon for the ritual signing of the refinance papers. Mopped up the sticky spots on the kitchen floor that get tracked in from the brewery, found a missing airlock, and a random growler that I left next to the woodstove to soak out the dried crap in the bottom. Also bought a new heavy-duty mop head for the garage floor to mop up after brewdays. Still looking for that damned keg lube...

 

[Nick&Worty]

I've had a few slurry pitches where the slurry/trub just about hit the halfway mark on the carboy before it compacted down to something reasonable. Couple questions; how long after pitching was this pic taken? Did you aerate the wort? Did you let the slurry warm up to room temp before pitching? If it's still good, I'd say it's a good thing you have plenty of headspace...

You are probably spot on. Aerated quite a bit w an O2 wand. Pitched cold slurry into wort @ 65. Original pic was taken about an hour after pitching. Looks a lot more normal this morning. You’re right about the headspace too!!

 

[JAReeves]

Last night tasted the port, ice wine, and saison. Topped off the port barrel, apparently the angels are freakin' thirsty! Put the Blonde Ale on 30PSI overnight, looking forward to a fresh one when I get home from work today!

 

[Nick&Worty]

Stupid blow off hoses never seem to want to stay nicely submerged underwater where I put them, so I’m exercising my best redneck ingenuity. Turns out the blow off tube fits perfectly down the handle of a water jug. Muahahaha! Problem solved!

 

[seatazzz]

Stupid blow off hoses never seem to want to stay nicely submerged underwater where I put them, so I’m exercising my best redneck ingenuity. Turns out the blow off tube fits perfectly down the handle of a water jug. Muahahaha! Problem solved!
View attachment 700492

I'm gonna try that for my next one....

 

[seatazzz]

Not directly for beer, but husband and I just finished flight of the bumblebee cleaning of the house before the notary public comes by tomorrow afternoon for the ritual signing of the refinance papers. Mopped up the sticky spots on the kitchen floor that get tracked in from the brewery, found a missing airlock, and a random growler that I left next to the woodstove to soak out the dried crap in the bottom. Also bought a new heavy-duty mop head for the garage floor to mop up after brewdays. Still looking for that damned keg lube...

After all the cleaning, including racing home to put a few final touches on the bathroom, the notary suggested sitting outside to sign the papers (it's a gorgeous day). Probably a covid thing. Gonna get about 2 grand back from the former mortgage company's escrow account, and I have tacit permission to possibly buy a new SS mash tun....maybe.

 

[ba-brewer]

After all the cleaning, including racing home to put a few final touches on the bathroom, the notary suggested sitting outside to sign the papers (it's a gorgeous day). Probably a covid thing. Gonna get about 2 grand back from the former mortgage company's escrow account, and I have tacit permission to possibly buy a new SS mash tun....maybe.

Looks like you did not use the keg lube for plumbing in the kitchen or bathroom.

 

[seatazzz]

Looks like you did not use the keg lube for plumbing in the kitchen or bathroom.

Nope. That damn tube (which I've been using since I started kegging three years ago) has flown the proverbial coop. Had to use vaseline on the last keg, yes I know it's pretty much the same thing, but that crunched up tube has some memories in it.

 

[Nick&Worty]

My O2 tank was dead today and I didn’t realize it till pitching time! Today was the first time I’ve had to shake and pray! Hopefully the old truffle shuffle will come through for me!

 

[day_trippr]

Made some progress today on my keezer build. I finished painting the lid...

...then, because my bag of connectors is still in limbo within the bowels of the USPS in a facility 20 minutes from me - now Day 14 ffs! - I decided to steal connectors from the test panel for my brewery controller. Sucks, but had to be done if I was going to make any headway.

Populated the two panels with the connectors...

...and started building cables.

Lots of stuff still to do but at least there are no blockers now...

Cheers!

 

[Beermeister32]

Petroleum jelly will prematurely decompose nitrile, neoprene and EPDM O-rings. Make sure to use silicone keg lube.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Pretty boring for me. On day 2 of diacetyl rest so just checked temp to make sure it didn’t get too high.

 

[BrewMan13]

Kicked the NEIPA last night, so cleaned the keg and line, and threw the porter on.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Stupid blow off hoses never seem to want to stay nicely submerged underwater where I put them, so I’m exercising my best redneck ingenuity. Turns out the blow off tube fits perfectly down the handle of a water jug. Muahahaha! Problem solved!
View attachment 700653

I put a few holes in an AZ tea jug cap, one for the tube and some to let gas escape and screw it back on the jug.

Got some entries ready to ship out.

 

[aharri1]

Made a starter for an 11gal czech dark lager!

 

[camonick]

Bottled some beer for a trade and approved the proof to have my logo professionally screen printed on some pint glasses and finalized the order.

 

[Pkrd]

Weeded my hops.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I brewed a CAP and kegged a helles.

I'm not sure why I continue to brew helles. I suppose it's because of the, "If you can brew a helles you can brew anything" thing. I suppose it's a good calibration beer that ensures the brewery is running as it should. It's a nice enough beer and I'll enjoy it, but I'm not sure I agree with the German aphorism--there are much more difficult styles out there.

I'm really looking forward to that CAP, though. I've been running that beer every other month this year, it's really hitting the spot these days.

 

[Bramling Cross]

My O2 tank was dead today and I didn’t realize it till pitching time! Today was the first time I’ve had to shake and pray! Hopefully the old truffle shuffle will come through for me!

That sucks!

I'm sure things will work out fine, though. For what it's worth, I learned that it's worth it to keep a working bottle on hand and a full spare. When the working bottle dies, the spare becomes the working bottle and the spare gets replaced. I also like writing the purchase date on each bottle. I managed to kick my Dec. '18 bottle a couple of months ago. It's amazing how long they last!

 

[day_trippr]

Good progress on "K3" today. Have almost all the wiring done - just need to mount the interior led light bars and the lid switch.

Made a significant ECO to the lid, moving the gas manifold from its original location to the opposite end, more like my current keezer lid. Although I had my reasons for the original location, I had created a big ass mess having it stationed above the edge of the hump, which slammed it against the gas bulkheads. And when I drop in the rinser it'd be Grand Central of tubing. No bueno.

nbd. If that's the worst change I made it's cake. And, ime, no worthy design ever makes it from start to finish without at least one good change

Tomorrow I'll mount the light bars and switch, then hook up my backup controller and test out all of the wiring, making sure all the flow meter runs go to the right places, and same with all the temperature sensor and fan power ports. At that point I'll be ready to pull off The Big Switch, where K2 is decommissioned, and I strip it for the tower, beer lines, drip tray, glass rinser system, and finally the primary brewery controller.

Speaking of K2, I've been steadily drawing it down. Aside from the stout there's about a six pack of beer left in it.

I do have four full kegs plus that stout for when K3 is commissioned, but this is literally the first time in fourteen years I've had one tap empty for more than the time to swap in a freshie, never mind five of them pretty much goners...

Cheers!