What I did for beer today

[seatazzz]

OMG it is the easiest thing in the world. Get yourself a 1 gallon pump garden sprayer from your local home/garden store, the kind with a wand. Take the nozzle off (mine comes apart where the trigger is) and then use a LOT of teflon tape on those threads, and attach a spare liquid-out post from a keg to it. Done! All you have to do then is fill it with your cleaning solution of choice, pump it up, hook it up to your line, and let it rip. I ran hot oxyclean solution through mine and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then flushed it out with a lot of clean hot water. Then reattached the keg. Simple as anything. Bonus, for me anyway, was running hot water through the lines let me straighten them out from the tangle they'd gotten into.

*edit Here's a photo:

*

 

[Beermeister32]

Used my new most excellent beer line cleaning gizmo to clean and flush out all four taps. And promised myself that from now on, even if I'm immediately tapping another beer, to flush out the lines as soon as a keg kicks. Also tackled the backbreaking task of unloading the truck from yesterday's adventure, cleaned all the equipment and put it away, and did the monthly flush of the plate chiller (both ways) with boiling water.

How were the eggs?

 

[seatazzz]

How were the eggs?

Deeeeelicious!!!

 

[seanjwalker1]

How were the eggs?

 

[T Murph]

Gee @seatazzz how cool is that. That is indeed simpler than what I was thinking about doing. Thanks for the info. That's a great way to clean and sanitize a lot equipment quick and easy.

 

[seatazzz]

Gee @seatazzz how cool is that. That is indeed simpler than what I was thinking about doing. Thanks for the info. That's a great way to clean and sanitize a lot equipment quick and easy.

And relatively cheap, too. I spent less than $20 for the whole setup. I clean & sanitize the heck out of my brewing equipment, but sadly have neglected keeping my lines clean, mainly because I didn't want to waste the co2, and the hassle of filling a keg with cleaning solution; then having to rinse that out, and fill with hot water to flush. This way is SO much easier.

 

[Beerstein]

I made a pretty big batch (for me) today. Ended up pitching 75 grams of dry yeast.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Bottled up 12 - 6 packs from kegs (tapcooler!) yesterday.
Today I hauled the 6 packs into the office and delivered to fellow employees!!
Happy holidays all around!!

 

[vtmikko]

I labeled some bottles

 

[JAReeves]

I labeled some bottlesView attachment 752143

Wow! How much were the caps, or is that a sticker on top?

 

[grampamark]

Bottled an Altbier. 2.5 gal batch ended up at 3 gallons.

Got 30, 12 oz bottles, so it ended up at 4.5% instead of 5. I doubt anyone will notice. The sample from the bottling bucket tasted pretty good.

 

[seatazzz]

Brewed a blonde on kveik a couple weeks ago, and probably cold-crashed it a bit too early, or the yeast stalled out; only came down to 1.029 from 1.051. But I was antsy. So this morning I pulled the keg out of the kegerator, let off the gas, and put it in my warm spare room with a blowoff. Tonight I dumped about a 1/2 cup of yeast slurry in it, and gave it a good few whirls around; going to let it sit until the weekend and see what happens. If it doesn't come down any more, or turns into yuck, I'll dump it.

 

[ba-brewer]

Keg my IPA today. Been a while since I used wlp007 and it was nice to see cleared beer on kegging.

I was able to remove the blowoff tube on my strong ale, I think I lost a good pint of beer. I normally brew smaller beers and can get away with filling the fermentor quite full and still not use a blowoff tube. Just glad I caught it before it made a big mess.

 

[vtmikko]

Wow! How much were the caps, or is that a sticker on top?

stickers.

 

[seatazzz]

Yesterday ordered the eva barrier line & duotight fittings to re-do the beer lines in the kegerator this weekend; yes I just cleaned them, but they could stand being changed out since I haven't done it since I bought the thing. Also I'm jonesing for a DIY project. Eventually I'll do the gas lines as well, but this weekend just doing the beer side. Should be fun.

 

[Bill9000]

Moved a few bottles of my recent brew from bottle conditioning to refrigerator so they are ready when I return from my business trip Friday evening.

 

[bracconiere]

i swapped my co2 cylinder, forgot the scale again...but lucked out! the new tank has a TW stamp, and it has actually 21lbs in it! (scale might be wrong, but should be close to 20lbs!!! first time that's happened! usually 18lbs at best)

 

[T Murph]

Drove 55 miles one way to get co2. Swapped out an old 20lb for a good like new one and had 5er filled. I'm learning quickly why other north Alabama brewers say the have a hard time getting things. Been here 2 months and already miss Alabrew.

Big shout out to J&M Gases in Decatur. They were Johnnig on the spot taking care of me. Very polite and helpful folks. And they welcome everyone from the brewing community.

 

[seatazzz]

Gave my older sister some pointers on her very first attempt at mead; to use her words, "what does a housewife do with a huge bottle of crystallized honey, a gallon jar, and and a pinterest account?". I think she may have pitched the yeast too hot, but as of this morning she had some bubbles going and is quite excited. If this one turns out well, I may yet create another monster. She and I have been competitive all our lives (she's 57, I'm 54) and back in the day it was me, the kid sister, trying to emulate what she did; I'm quite chuffed that she's now taking up the gauntlet and seeing what she can do with fermenting beverages. I didn't do it this year, but for the last four I've brewed a holiday ale with her in mind, as she loves them. I may have to loan her my copy of How to Brew...but will I get it back???

 

[KDogg]

BIAB brewed the morebeer.com Strata Gem Pale Ale recipe. Idaho gem and Strata hopped Pale. Tasted sweet after brewing and should setup nicely. Safale us-05 and into the fermenter.

This is a simple recipe I was able to knock out as I have 2 empty Fermenters now after bottling my pre Christmas GRINDCORE clone Stout and jalapeno Kama Citra IPA.

Focused on water quality a bit more on this one and general deep cleaning of all equipment before. It was worth it.

 

[seatazzz]

Brewed a blonde on kveik a couple weeks ago, and probably cold-crashed it a bit too early, or the yeast stalled out; only came down to 1.029 from 1.051. But I was antsy. So this morning I pulled the keg out of the kegerator, let off the gas, and put it in my warm spare room with a blowoff. Tonight I dumped about a 1/2 cup of yeast slurry in it, and gave it a good few whirls around; going to let it sit until the weekend and see what happens. If it doesn't come down any more, or turns into yuck, I'll dump it.

And I just gave it a test; came down from 1.029 to 1.010, and tastes great! Keg back in the kegerator to crash out the yeast, then tomorrow I'll transfer it into a clean keg to get it off the yeast. So proud that this worked! And had the extra disconnects to build the "jumper" line to transfer it the right way!

 

[3 Dawg Night]

What I did for beer today? I looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and saw thunderstorms all day. That pushes my brewday to next Friday, at the earliest.

I haz the sad.

 

[seatazzz]

I post WAY too much in this thread. Finally dropped the hammer on a wilserbrewer bag setup; the last bag I bought already has a tear near one of the straps and will be useless soon.

 

[seatazzz]

And here I go again; new eva barrier line and duotight fittings finally arrived, LESS THAN 10 MINUTES LATER installed on all four taps in the kegerator (beer line only this time, doing the gas side next payday) and I have no idea why I didn't do this a long time ago. Did not overtighten the fittings, just hand-tight and no leaks. Tested taking them apart as well, very easy. If you haven't done this for your kegerator, do it NOW. I was a little apprehensive about it at first thinking the fittings for the disconnects on the keg side would be too tall but they are smaller than they look online.

 

[CJ-3]

Today I kegged a cider and finished a keg of stout so lots of cleaning today really.

 

[wetmk]

Drove 55 miles one way to get co2

Holy crap! Brings a whole nother meaning to a CO2 leak. I curse like a sailor when my tank leaks out; and my swap out place is only 2 miles away.

 

[wetmk]

Kegged a Chocolate Porter.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Dipped my toe further into the LODO world today and ran a batch in nearly full compliance. The Brew-tan B is still in the mail and I have no desire to replace my excellent copper IC, so I'm getting about as close as I'll ever get. I'm interested to see the results.

I was surprised at how little extra effort was involved. Aside from pre-boiling the strike and sparge liquor, goofing around with tin foil, and spending an extra 3 minutes measuring white powders on my gram scale, there really wasn't much to it.

 

[kmarkstevens]

OMG it is the easiest thing in the world. Get yourself a 1 gallon pump garden sprayer from your local home/garden store, the kind with a wand. Take the nozzle off (mine comes apart where the trigger is) and then use a LOT of teflon tape on those threads, and attach a spare liquid-out post from a keg to it. Done! All you have to do then is fill it with your cleaning solution of choice, pump it up, hook it up to your line, and let it rip. I ran hot oxyclean solution through mine and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then flushed it out with a lot of clean hot water. Then reattached the keg. Simple as anything. Bonus, for me anyway, was running hot water through the lines let me straighten them out from the tangle they'd gotten into.

*edit Here's a photo:

*View attachment 752090

Nice one. For those less DIY inclined, you could try this from kegland: Ball Lock Line Cleaning Kit w/ Mini Party Pump | MoreBeer

Video: Gas Free Beer Line Cleaning Kit For Homebrewers - YouTube

Full disclaimer: I don't have this nor have I ever cleaned a ball lock.

 

[Ultryx]

OMG it is the easiest thing in the world. Get yourself a 1 gallon pump garden sprayer from your local home/garden store, the kind with a wand. Take the nozzle off (mine comes apart where the trigger is) and then use a LOT of teflon tape on those threads, and attach a spare liquid-out post from a keg to it. Done! All you have to do then is fill it with your cleaning solution of choice, pump it up, hook it up to your line, and let it rip. I ran hot oxyclean solution through mine and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then flushed it out with a lot of clean hot water. Then reattached the keg. Simple as anything. Bonus, for me anyway, was running hot water through the lines let me straighten them out from the tangle they'd gotten into.

My LHBS sold me on this last week when I was there getting some stuff. It's a miracle and makes cleaning my draft lines so easy. And no use of CO2.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Checked the FG on the Christmas spiced brown ale after 2 weeks, down to 1.010 from 1.050 so ready. Will cold crash for 2 days then keg and force carb 1.75 gal out of 3 gal then bottle what's left for New Years. Should have used a TBS less sweet orange peel but it's not adverse.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Also cleaned the taps and beer lines, for when Jolly Big Red , The Big Guy , alias Nickky C,

drops in Christmas Eve. He and his muscle , Da Elves 12, might want to quench their thirst before dropping off that Keg Washer or Malt grinder

 

[ba-brewer]

Yesterday was busy for beer. I brewed a batch of beer, 9gals of IPA that I turned into 5gal of IPA and 5gal of golden ale by diluting the wort.

Cleaned a couple kegs and filled them up a strong bitter and a failed attempt at @grampamark 's Alt. The strong bitter tasted so good I ended up drinking the hydro sample, passed on the Alt. The Alt I made a mistake and used some old hops ending up with a beer that smelled like Kraft socks in box parmesan cheese with a very earthy dirty like flavor. Almost dumped it before adding the yeast. The cheese smell went away and just a bit of a dirty finish, changed the name to Kraft Alt. I know better than to buy hops without a harvest yeast but was in hurry to brew the beer. I gave them a good smell before using and did not notice any cheese aroma but it sure came out when they hit the hot wort. Hoping time and cold conditioning will mellow the flavor. @grampamark your Alt recipe was smelling so good and malty until I messed it up, I plan to give it another attempt when I get some fresh hops.

Watched a starter of wyeast 2042 danish lager a few time and stepped it up.

Today I am on bubble watch and will do the last step up of the wyeast 2042 starter.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Yesterday was busy for beer. I brewed a batch of beer, 9gals of IPA that I turned into 5gal of IPA and 5gal of golden ale by diluting the wort.

Cleaned a couple kegs and filled them up a strong bitter and a failed attempt at @grampamark 's Alt. The strong bitter tasted so good I ended up drinking the hydro sample, passed on the Alt. The Alt I made a mistake and used some old hops ending up with a beer that smelled like Kraft socks in box parmesan cheese with a very earthy dirty like flavor. Almost dumped it before adding the yeast. The cheese smell went away and just a bit of a dirty finish, changed the name to Kraft Alt. I know better than to buy hops without a harvest yeast but was in hurry to brew the beer. I gave them a good smell before using and did not notice any cheese aroma but it sure came out when they hit the hot wort. Hoping time and cold conditioning will mellow the flavor. @grampamark your Alt recipe was smelling so good and malty until I messed it up, I plan to give it another attempt when I get some fresh hops.

Watched a starter of wyeast 2042 danish lager a few time and stepped it up.

Today I am on bubble watch and will do the last step up of the wyeast 2042 starter.

Add some mulling spices. Could end up an Old Spice Xmas ale...worth a shot. Or if you are not into spices, maybe add some fruit to take away the frankness...???

 

[seanjwalker1]

Add some mulling spices. Could end up an Old Spice Xmas ale...worth a shot. Or if you are not into spices, maybe add some fruit to take away the frankness...???

Dankness...sorry, danged auto correct

 

[ba-brewer]

Add some mulling spices. Could end up an Old Spice Xmas ale...worth a shot. Or if you are not into spices, maybe add some fruit to take away the frankness...???

I had thought about trying to doctor it up, but I know what to look/taste for so I would rather not put too much more effort into the beer. Past attempts to fix broken beers never completely fixed them so I will just let it sit in the cooler for a couple months and see how it tastes.

 

[Gusso]

I brewed a Pils today for a party in Philly next month. I utilized my inground wort chiller...

 

[T Murph]

I brewed a Pils today for a party in Philly next month. I utilized my inground wort chiller...

You're a genius

 

[seatazzz]

Making plans for Christmas Eve WF lager brew; will be my very first attempt at full BIAB, since my most excellent new Wilser bag arrived yesterday with the pulley & rope. If nothing else I have a better way to get the bag out of the mash tun!

 

[Gusso]

You're a genius

Wish I could take credit. Trong, the inventor of the SPUNDit turned me on to the idea.