What I did for beer today

[JAReeves]

Stopped at Total Wine and bought a sampling of Scottish beers because I am about to make @Brewbuzzard's Scottish Export recipe for my sister and need to know what I am shooting for.

Oh damn, I have to drink beer.

Oh, I also took a taste of the DIPA I kegged the other day. More malty/sweet (too much crystal I think) than I expected, but also came in at 9.2% which is way over the mark.

 

[fourfarthing]

 

[ba-brewer]

Took a 2nd gravity sample of the Bohemian Pils I brewed at the city house a couple of weeks ago. Still at .014, down from .054. Bottling this weekend.
View attachment 706526

You always seem to get great clarity in your hydro samples.

 

[fourfarthing]

 

[seatazzz]

Rebuilding the mash tun; the valve on it was crappy plastic, bulkhead was too loose, and my false bottom (on 3" legs) is what I think may have been contributing to less than optimum efficiency. Bought a new 12" domed false bottom this week, and stopped at HD on the way home today to get the hardware. Replaced the 3/4" bulkhead with a 1/2", and a solid brass ball valve to replace the crappy plastic one; but bought the wrong size MIP to barb fitting for the hose from the bottom to the bulkhead. No matter, will get another one tomorrow after brewday; I'll just tip the tun up when it's time to drain as I've done in the past. Now my bag will go all the way to the bottom of the tun, I'm losing that 3" of dead space that I'm about 98% positive kept my efficiency down. Or that's what I'm telling myself. It's also fun to build things; doing a leak test now, and it's got just a tiny one that will go away once it gets gummed up with wort. I'll provide pics when it's all done. Gonna be a double brew weekend, doing a WF lager tomorrow and some IPA on Sunday. For anyone who hasn't seen my setup before, my mash tun is a repurposed 16g blue extract barrel with a sparge arm built into the lid, wrapped in two layers of thermowrap; love that thing. I can do 10g batches in it, just choose not to, because hefting that much wet spent grain is just a bit too much. And I like variety.

 

[ba-brewer]

Rebuilding the mash tun; the valve on it was crappy plastic, bulkhead was too loose, and my false bottom (on 3" legs) is what I think may have been contributing to less than optimum efficiency. Bought a new 12" domed false bottom this week, and stopped at HD on the way home today to get the hardware. Replaced the 3/4" bulkhead with a 1/2", and a solid brass ball valve to replace the crappy plastic one; but bought the wrong size MIP to barb fitting for the hose from the bottom to the bulkhead. No matter, will get another one tomorrow after brewday; I'll just tip the tun up when it's time to drain as I've done in the past. Now my bag will go all the way to the bottom of the tun, I'm losing that 3" of dead space that I'm about 98% positive kept my efficiency down. Or that's what I'm telling myself. It's also fun to build things; doing a leak test now, and it's got just a tiny one that will go away once it gets gummed up with wort. I'll provide pics when it's all done. Gonna be a double brew weekend, doing a WF lager tomorrow and some IPA on Sunday. For anyone who hasn't seen my setup before, my mash tun is a repurposed 16g blue extract barrel with a sparge arm built into the lid, wrapped in two layers of thermowrap; love that thing. I can do 10g batches in it, just choose not to, because hefting that much wet spent grain is just a bit too much. And I like variety.

When I went from a stainless braid to a domed false bottom I was no long able to tip the mashtun to get all of the wort. I also needed to drain slower to keep from losing a vacuum and end up unable to recover all of the wort.

 

[seatazzz]

When I went from a stainless braid to a domed false bottom I was no long able to tip the mashtun to get all of the wort. I also needed to drain slower to keep from losing a vacuum and end up unable to recover all of the wort.

I'm thinking I might be okay, since I use the ball valve to keep the flow to what the pump/bag can handle; if it starts to stick I'll just ramp down more on the valve. Since I won't have the bottom connected to the valve tomorrow, it should be okay? Only way to tell is to try....

 

[fourfarthing]

Thanks for not pointing out that I was not posting in the ‘what are you drinking’ thread. I got this. Sorry guys and gals.

 

[ba-brewer]

Thanks for not pointing out that I was not posting in the ‘what are you drinking’ thread. I got this. Sorry guys and gals.

Glad you did the name of the first one gave me a smile.

 

[ba-brewer]

I'm thinking I might be okay, since I use the ball valve to keep the flow to what the pump/bag can handle; if it starts to stick I'll just ramp down more on the valve. Since I won't have the bottom connected to the valve tomorrow, it should be okay? Only way to tell is to try....

If it is not hooked up seems like it should work like it was. If you lift the bag then also probably not issue with over running and losing vacuum, but if you leave the bag in place while draining then the flow will matter more. If you draw wort from below the level of your valve then you need to make sure you don't draw too fast as you get near the bottom.

I use a pump during the mash, then gravity feed into the boil kettle.

 

[seatazzz]

If it is not hooked up seems like it should work like it was. If you lift the bag then also probably not issue with over running and losing vacuum, but if you leave the bag in place while draining then the flow will matter more. If you draw wort from below the level of your valve then you need to make sure you don't draw too fast as you get near the bottom.

I use a pump during the mash, then gravity feed into the boil kettle.

That's what I was thinking. Bag is just long enough to hit the top of the new false bottom, and I might just tighten it up a bit so it doesn't flab out all over the place (if that makes sense). I use a pump for everything, from adding the strike, lautering, to running in the sparge, recirculating, and draining. For tomorrow's brew I'm going with a lighter grain bill than I usually do (10lbs) so if things go sideways I can always heft the bag out and put the old false bottom in there. It's gonna be beer, I do know that. Thanks for the input! I'll be updating tomorrow, sure of that.

 

[grampamark]

You always seem to get great clarity in your hydro samples.

Thanks, but, to be honest, that might have as much to do with knowing how long to let the sample settle out before taking the picture as anything.

The sample in my previous post is a true lager, not a WF lager. It had been at 55° for almost 2 weeks before I kicked it up to 70° for a couple of days, so it was pretty clear.

 

[ba-brewer]

I do keg most of beers in about half that time. Maybe too soon.

Just kidding, I do keg my beers fast, but that was actually fresh wort left out over night. I did a quick rinse of the hydro tube after kegging a beer then filled it up with wort I just brewed.

 

[Pkrd]

Vague plans for a brew this weekend so I got some RO water going and opened the freezer to check the Hop situation. It is not good. Should be able to put a Wit together for the work xmas do though.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Put away ingredients, washing bottles for a holiday cider that will be packaged tomorrow, and put a test bottle of fruitcake ale in the fridge to check how the carbonation is progressing later.

 

[Elric]

Did some work on my keezer. Taps should be coming next week. Looking forward to it!

 

[seatazzz]

Finished the work on the mash tun; got the right hose/barb combo from Amazon after paying to have it delivered same day. Today's brew (before the fix) didn't go as well as I thought it should, but it will be beer; tomorrow's brewday should be better. Here's a couple of pics of the new ball valve and what the inside looks like now (the mash tun is actually cleaner than it looks, trust me, also preboil so who cares).

 

[seatazzz]

I suppose I should also note, if the new improved mash tun/false bottom combo works, I have a very nice 12" false bottom on 3" legs that I would be willing to part with....paid $65 for it about 1.5 years ago. Just sayin.

 

[bracconiere]

I suppose I should also note, if the new improved mash tun/false bottom combo works, I have a very nice 12" false bottom on 3" legs that I would be willing to part with....paid $65 for it about 1.5 years ago. Just sayin.

i never had luck with the false bottoms. went to a stainless braid, and it got crushed eventually and now have a bazooka tube. way better.

and honestly, you mash tun looks cleaner then mine? but i don't know why it's blue? lol

 

[ba-brewer]

but i don't know why it's blue? lol

Because it is empty, It will cheer up once it get filled with grain.

 

[bracconiere]

Because it is empty, It will cheer up once it get filled with grain.

we'll have to "see azz" i'm sure next brew will be soon! (sorry if that's a bad joke )

 

[ba-brewer]

She mentioned a few posts back that it is an empty extract barrel.

 

[bracconiere]

She mentioned a few posts back that it is an empty extract barrel.

i'm sorry i missed it, but have no idea what that is. that would be a hell of a lot of LME!

 

[ba-brewer]

Beersmith says 6lbs of LME add .5gal to a batch of beer so 16gal is close to 200lbs.

Would like to have one of those for storing RO water.

 

[seatazzz]

Because it is empty, It will cheer up once it get filled with grain.

MOST EPIC RESPONSE EVER!!!

 

[seatazzz]

Beersmith says 6lbs of LME add .5gal to a batch of beer so 16gal is close to 200lbs.

Would like to have one of those for storing RO water.

My friend that has a brewpub has tons of these for storing his grain and other stuff, he built this for me originally. Has the original lid with the seal still in it so it keeps in heat wonderfully. I love my mash tun.

 

[seatazzz]

Okay guys, I am STOKED!! New false bottom with the right hose is now recirculating, no issues with flow, and got WAY higher gravity than expected with a thinner than usual mash. Yay! Only hitch in the giddiyup was my usual strike temp of 168 only got the mash to 146, and it dropped almost 5 degrees in an hour; for the next one will have to raise the strike to at least 172. Not worried, got 1.050 for first runnings and will get more in the sparge. Success!!!!

 

[Brewbuzzard]

Finished the work on the mash tun; got the right hose/barb combo from Amazon after paying to have it delivered same day. Today's brew (before the fix) didn't go as well as I thought it should, but it will be beer; tomorrow's brewday should be better. Here's a couple of pics of the new ball valve and what the inside looks like now (the mash tun is actually cleaner than it looks, trust me, also preboil so who cares).

View attachment 706686View attachment 706687

What is that blue stuff?

 

[Brewbuzzard]

I checked a keg of Scottish ale for carb level and am washing the coffee pots. Next I'll do QC on the festbier.

 

[seatazzz]

What is that blue stuff?

If you read @ba-brewer, it's my mash tun being depressed because no grain in it. It is, in reality, my mash tun. Which is a repurposed 16g extract barrel, the kind you see at the LHBS. Works great, mainly because it was practically free, and also because it's wrapped in two thicknesses of thermowrap and has a tight lid. Now it has a better false bottom however I need to increase my strike temp, as it only got up to 146 today. No matter, got good gravity out of the wort and it will be BEER.