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Are the gas tube and liquid tube orings the same size? The gas tube on the (brand new) keg I just got came pre-cracked. A nice crack across the width of the thing on where it seals onto the threaded part. I also bought some floating dip tubes (I won’t try it out first time to make things simpler) which have some orings on the short dip tubes so I was going to swap out one of those for the cracked one if they’re the same size. Edit: I might have more problems anyway. It looks like the top of the threaded part is chewed up to me. Does this look right?  I got 2 smaller kegs, the other one had nice and flat surfaces there. Eeyo fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Apr 10, 2021 |
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Apr 10, 2021 21:00
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Eeyo posted:Are the gas tube and liquid tube orings the same size? Yeah, the o-rings on the tubes should be the same. You could borrow from the floating dip tubes you got if you're not going to use them. If you're just getting into kegs (or have had them for a while) you should just buy an assortment of o-rings to keep on hand. They crack and wear out inconsistently and you'll save frustration if you just have a small box of assorted ones. E: Saw your picture and it shouldn't keep your gas in from sealing, but it's new so there's nothing wrong with sending pics and asking they send you a replacement post that doesn't show defects.
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Apr 10, 2021 21:21
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Jhet posted:Yeah, the o-rings on the tubes should be the same. You could borrow from the floating dip tubes you got if you're not going to use them. Yeah definitely should have bought a big bag while I had a big order. I read that several times too and thought "surely I'll be fine". On my keg at least I don't think that part is replaceable though, is it for other corny kegs? That's with the post off, by the way. If it was just the post It probably wouldn't matter, since it doesn't seal on the outer surface, but the defects are on the male threaded piece the post threads onto (or in other words that's what the dip tube oring is supposed to seal onto I think). They shipped it pressurized so presumably it does hold pressure, but my intuition is that it may be hard for me to get it to consistently seal.
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Apr 10, 2021 21:48
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I’m not sure, but you’d need to see where the tube sits on top then. If you can check where the o-ring lines up, then you should be able to tell if it’ll cause issues or not. They’re going to conform to a better range of inconsistencies than you’d expect.
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Apr 10, 2021 22:03
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calandryll posted:How much of a difference in attenuation will there be between a 148 and 151 mash? I'm working on getting my Kolsch more attuned to the style guideline and I don't think I'm getting as dry as the style suggests. Little to none. Attenuation will likely be identical if you’re holding identical temperatures. For a kolsch, krausen and spunding will get you where you want, as long as you’re willing to put in the time. Krausening will help drive finishing gravity a bit lower if there’s room to move. Higher carb can also help simulate a drier mouthfeel, as long as VDK is relatively low. Then there’s the basics of just selecting a good yeast strain and just treating it well. Stepping up the pitch is always a good idea for a lager in my experience. A lot of options to try besides immediately jumping to temperature.
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Apr 11, 2021 05:10
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Thanks for the advice. The most recent beer, I used a Kolsch yeast from GigaYeast but it's one I hadn't used in awhile. I think I've had better results from Imperial but wasn't able to find their Kolsch strain in stock. I did some digging into my Kolsch book published by the BA. I think I'm going to just revamp my recipe entirely to meet the style guidelines.
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Apr 11, 2021 11:47
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Another brew day in the books! This time a 5 gal amber kellerbier batch. Really came out to 4.5 gallons after a 60 minute boil starting with 5.75 gallons so at least I know my boil rate for the future. OG came out to 1.053 so not too shabby. I’ve found that my mash tun burner heats really unevenly, anyone else run into such a problem? When raising the mash to 160 for a beta-amylase rest I found I couldn’t just let it rest and some spots were reading 140 and some up to 180! Mixed it around with the paddle and shut off the heat when I got a 160 reading in the center but hopefully not too many tannins or other baddies got loose :/
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Apr 12, 2021 03:45
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It’s probably going to be just fine. If you didn’t leave it sit at 180 for an hour I’d expect you’ll get what about you’re expecting. I will say that if you’re working outside that I’ve used different boil off rates for winter (freezing) and summer for my system. The cold winter kept me from getting as good of a rolling boil as I could get in the summer.
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Apr 12, 2021 04:16
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Thanks for the advice earlier in the thread. Had my first brew day in years on Sunday and it went mostly OK. The stove at my house takes a bit longer than I'd like to get 6 gallons to a rolling boil but it did get there. Using a yeast starter for the first time seemed to go ok too. But I'm still afraid I'm going to end up with poo poo beer in 4 weeks for all my efforts. I was using a big mouth bubbler fermentor from Northern Brewer and for some reason, guessing profits to them, they now use these push down lids with a silicon gasket that are supposed to seal. I went to check on the fermenter about 5-6 hours later and it had come loose! I pushed it back down and have it held down my some small dumbbells now, hoping that keeps it sealed tight. It was just sitting in my basement covered in this big Cool Brew bag, that I use as a poor mans temperature controller. Really hoping I didnt mess up this batch. It would be the 2nd batch in a row I've botched, after last time discovering that my bottles didnt seal right due to a faulty old capper.
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Apr 12, 2021 14:40
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you'll still probably have good beer.. just not perfect beer. I've made a LOT of beer that didn't turn out how I envisioned it but ti was still good and people liked it and drank it all up.. I just missed some subtle flavor from the yeast, or it wasn't as dark / light / flavored I like. for temp control in the future check the inkbird or homebrew reddit (they often offer 50% discounts) and grab an $8 seed mat (or 12 whatever they are now). I just tape the mat to my fermenter and the probe to the other. works well for basement since my basement doesn't really ever get too warm I don't need to worry about a fridge.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:09
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This is what I have and have used with some mixed success - https://www.beer-wine.com/the-cool-brew-a-cool-brewing-fermentation-cooler. Basically a big soft cooler I can put ice packs in. I can keep temps down, but not consistent. I'll often have fluctuations of about 5 degrees but can keep it under 65 downstairs in my basement this way. Im just pissed about that stupid lid popping off! I'm hoping it was early enough in the process that it wont have a great effect.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:18
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I bet it’s fine, especially if it was just opened a small crack. There’s still plenty of time for it to drive off all the oxygen.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:23
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BaseballPCHiker posted:But I'm still afraid I'm going to end up with poo poo beer in 4 weeks for all my efforts. I was using a big mouth bubbler fermentor from Northern Brewer and for some reason, guessing profits to them, they now use these push down lids with a silicon gasket that are supposed to seal. I went to check on the fermenter about 5-6 hours later and it had come loose! I pushed it back down and have it held down my some small dumbbells now, hoping that keeps it sealed tight. If you used yeast that you put in at near the right temperature, you'll have no issues from the lid coming a little loose. I will regularly ferment things without a tight lid and just something to cover the bucket to keep things from falling in for the first two days. When I use WY3924 I don't even use an airlock and just tape some paper towel over the hole for a few days past that too. Caps not sealing blows, but this isn't anywhere near that in unfortunate and this won't affect if you have fine beer at the end.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:38
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Thanks for the reassurance everyone. I was right on the fence about just throwing in the towel before this brew session. The gear was taking up a bunch of space and had sat unused for close to 2 years. I was disheartened after some previous bad sessions and bottling experiences. I had fun yesterday though. I got the itch to start tinkering with my own recipes again as well. Hopefully this batch is at least drinkable I can keep working on making the perfect homebrew cream ale one day.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:43
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Covid's made me brewin the poo poo of everything. I've also had more "fun money" to toss at equipment because I'm not driving, I"m not eating out, I'm not drinking beers: I usually brew like once every 3 months or so time depending etc. In the last year I've brewed sooo flippin much with all my free time. I'm about once every 6 weeks or so sometimes 2 fermenters running at the same time. Brewing is fun, cleaning up sucks though  Every time I clean up after a brew day I remember that I need a brewmaid to do all my cleanup.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:06
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It took 2 years but my rosemary & thyme mead finally settled into something extremely tasty. It was drat near undrinkable right after fermentation. I wonder if I got too much chlorophyll or other plant components into the brew--it started off almost green--and it just took some time for those to go away. Now it's a beautiful golden color with a gentle herbal taste.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:16
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Pham Nuwen posted:It took 2 years but my rosemary & thyme mead finally settled into something extremely tasty. It was drat near undrinkable right after fermentation. I wonder if I got too much chlorophyll or other plant components into the brew--it started off almost green--and it just took some time for those to go away. Now it's a beautiful golden color with a gentle herbal taste. Did you use fresh or dried? I often consider throwing some hunks of rosemary into a saison, but I just haven’t done it yet. I don’t often reach for meads, but that sounds like it is delicious.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:42
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Jhet posted:Did you use fresh or dried? I often consider throwing some hunks of rosemary into a saison, but I just haven’t done it yet. Fresh. I picked a modest handful of each and simmered them in some water for a bit, then removed the herbs and used the green and fragrant water in the must. Reviewing my notes, it was 9 months between brewing and bottling, so that particular mead is actually closer to 3 years old. It was only a gallon batch since it was an experimental thing, but after the reception it got at a dinner party yesterday I'm wishing I'd made 3 gallons.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:53
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I'm trying to wrap my head around the practical difference between an amber-ish kellerbier and a märzen/oktoberfest. There seems to be quite a bit of overlap when looking at commercial examples, and there's not a lot of sources to draw inspiration from. If I was going to brew either of them, the recipes I would go with at this point in time are as follows, and I'd love to hear what all of you think, and what recipes you've had luck with for either style. Kellerbier OG: 12,6% IBU: 30 Hops: Mittelfruh and Saphir 70% Pilsner, 28% Light Munich, 2% Melanoidin Märzen/Oktoberfest OG: 13,8% IBU: 25 Hops: Tettnang and Spalter Select 50% Pilsner, 35% Dark Munich, 15% Vienna
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Apr 12, 2021 18:44
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thotsky posted:I'm trying to wrap my head around the practical difference between an amber-ish kellerbier and a märzen/oktoberfest. There seems to be quite a bit of overlap when looking at commercial examples, and there's not a lot of sources to draw inspiration from. If I was going to brew either of them, the recipes I would go with at this point in time are as follows, and I'd love to hear what all of you think, and what recipes you've had luck with for either style. The amber kellerbier I just made yesterday was 6 lbs vienna, 3 lbs pilsner and .5 lbs CaraAroma, color came out great and an OG of 1.053. Used Northern Brewer and Mt Hood for the hops for what should be 28 IBUs since Mt Hood is derived from Mittelfrüh anyway and I already had a bag open. The main differences as far as I can tell is whether clarity is sought after and if it's drunk young or not 
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Apr 12, 2021 19:16
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I did consider using some (2 - 4%) Caramunich II or III in the Märzen to deepen the color (both it and the Kellerbier are probably on the light side), but I worry that the kilned malts might be adding quite a bit of sweetness and caramel aroma already. To achieve a slightly darker color in the Kellerbier I would prefer using Franconian (Ireks) Munich (8L) but since I can't get it I might use a combination of Dark Munich (11L) and Light Munich (6L). I think my ideal SRM's would be something like 11 and 6.5 respectively, but I don't mind sacrificing some color for drinkability.
thotsky fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Apr 12, 2021 |
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Apr 12, 2021 19:48
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My kolsch is very dark, oops. It’s uh... it’s an altbier now. 
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Apr 12, 2021 20:06
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I'm trying to track down a 40L Kolsch recipe I sampled recently. It looked like a Kolsch, but the yeast ended up producing this honey/raisin damascanone (sp?) aroma that was spectacular.
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Apr 12, 2021 20:29
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thotsky posted:I'm trying to wrap my head around the practical difference between an amber-ish kellerbier and a märzen/oktoberfest. There seems to be quite a bit of overlap when looking at commercial examples, and there's not a lot of sources to draw inspiration from. If I was going to brew either of them, the recipes I would go with at this point in time are as follows, and I'd love to hear what all of you think, and what recipes you've had luck with for either style. Kellerbier is just "cellar beer" in German. It's not really a style by itself, and it entirely depends what style of lager you want to base it on. It's just unfiltered, cellared, and with maybe a bit more hops. But leave it to the BJCP to invent a style that isn't a style, just a method. So to answer the question of practical difference in recipe making, there's very little. You could make a Bohemian Pilsner kellerbier or a Dunkel kellerbier. For an amber color, my head thinks initially of a Vienna lager and I've had good success with an almost 100% vienna malt grist. I think I tossed an ounce or two of something for color. It was very delicious and I should really do it again. But both of your recipes would make a good very drinkable lager turned kellerbier too.
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Apr 12, 2021 20:57
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I'm currently fermenting a coconut almond stout from a Brewers Best kit. And I gotta say, their instructions got me hosed up. I guess they were over simplifying, but I followed it anyway.They didn't have me sparge, or rehydrate the yeast. They also had me do a 2.5 gallon wort boil I topped off in the fermenter. The worst thing was when I opened the kit, the liquid malt was already past its best by date. After two days, I didn't see any bubbles in the lock, so I started fearing the worst. But when I opened it, I saw evidence of a healthy kraussen, so I closed it back up again. I'm gonna hold of judgments until it's all over, but I dont think I'll do another one of their kit again, or I'll at least do it the way I know to and not follow their instructions. Johnny-on-the-Spot fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Apr 12, 2021 |
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Apr 12, 2021 21:07
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Add a little bit of roasted barley (like 3-4oz) should color your beer red and not really flavor it
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Apr 12, 2021 21:16
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:I'm currently fermenting a coconut almond stout from a Brewers Best kit. And I gotta say, their instructions got me hosed up. I guess they were over simplifying, but I followed it anyway.They didn't have me sparge, or rehydrate the yeast. They also had me do a 2.5 gallon wort boil I topped off in the fermenter. The worst thing was when I opened the kit, the liquid malt was already past its best by date. This is pretty common for kits you get from random places. They’re pre packaged, so even if you get it from a brew shop they have no QC possible. There’s otherwise nothing unusual about the instructions. You don’t need to hydrate the yeast, and can just sprinkle it into your cooled wort anyway. And if you’re using extract there’s not a sparging step and you can just remove your steeped grains. Those kits are a bummer though and you can always get extract kits made by the brew shops either local or online that will have better ingredient quality. The instructions may still be infuriating, but at least it’ll still make beer.
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Apr 12, 2021 21:46
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:I'm currently fermenting a coconut almond stout from a Brewers Best kit. And I gotta say, their instructions got me hosed up. I guess they were over simplifying, but I followed it anyway.They didn't have me sparge, or rehydrate the yeast. They also had me do a 2.5 gallon wort boil I topped off in the fermenter. The worst thing was when I opened the kit, the liquid malt was already past its best by date. Sounds like it was an extract kit (the liquid malt is the extract, basically just very concentrated wort), and probably with some steeping grains. You don't need to sparge those -- sparging is a technique for rinsing extra sugars out of a thick mash, and you didn't do a mash. Extract kits pretty much always suggest doing a partial boil (2.5-3 gallons) because they're assuming you don't have a pot that can boil 6 gallons (I recommend at least an 8 gallon pot), and they're assuming you're using a stove, which, especially if it's a glass-top electric stove common in large parts of the US, won't be able to boil that much liquid. If you can boil full volume, go for it! Rehydrating yeast is a somewhat controversial topic, but I usually don't do it. Re: not seeing any bubbles: your fermenter (I'm assuming a bucket?) probably isn't perfectly sealed, so the CO2 is able to escape from the lid. That's not a big deal, it'll be totally fine. tl;dr: relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. Re: the liquid malt extract being past it's best by date: It's fine, but LME does oxidize over time. In a stout, you're probably not going to notice it, but the color will probably be slightly darker and the flavor will have some more maillard reaction flavors. There's not a lot you can do about kits you buy from the LHBS being old, but you can always get the recipe (they have PDFs of all the Brewer's Best recipes/instructions on their website: http://brewersbestkits.com/premium-kits.html) and buy the ingredients yourself, so you can guarantee your ingredients will be fresh. e: also, it's been a long time since I've done an extract kit, but the Northern Brewer ones always seemed like better quality. They pack their own extract, so it was always pretty fresh.
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Apr 12, 2021 21:54
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i've never rehydrated yeast, and whether it's beer, cider, or mead they've always worked fine.
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Apr 12, 2021 22:04
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There seems to be a bit of a difference between a few different manufacturers. Fermentis/Lesaffre (makers of US-05 and S-04 among others) don't say that rehydration is preferable, but I think Lallemand do say that it's preferable (but that both methods work). It's also unnecessary to oxygenate wort prior to pitching dry yeast as well, and both manufacturers agree on that point.
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Apr 12, 2021 23:14
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Eeyo posted:There seems to be a bit of a difference between a few different manufacturers. Fermentis/Lesaffre (makers of US-05 and S-04 among others) don't say that rehydration is preferable, but I think Lallemand do say that it's preferable (but that both methods work). I only oxygenate for lagers or big ales, over ~1.070 or so.
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Apr 12, 2021 23:24
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My understanding is both rehydration and oxygenation are supposed to increase the number of viable yeast cells in the wort directly after pitching and after they're done reproducing. Both of these are things that are commonly told as things that you should do, but are either debatably or pretty convincingly not important in most homebrew situations. Like the reasoning I've heard is that pitching dry yeast directly in the wort shocks the yeast and can kill of some viable cells while rehydrating in water doesn't. Similarly, oxygenating the wort is supposed to allow the yeast to reproduce more since they do so more easily in the presence of oxygen. If you're pitching anywhere close to 1 packet of US-05 per 5gal of relatively normal strength beer, this is almost certainly not an issue. If you're doing the same in like a 13%er, then maybe it's important but you could also just add another packet or two of yeast
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Apr 12, 2021 23:29
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gwrtheyrn posted:Like the reasoning I've heard is that pitching dry yeast directly in the wort shocks the yeast and can kill of some viable cells while rehydrating in water doesn't. That's a conclusion, but what's the reasoning? What's their explanation for why putting the yeast into water + sugar would shock it while putting it into plain water wouldn't?
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Apr 12, 2021 23:34
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Pham Nuwen posted:That's a conclusion, but what's the reasoning? What's their explanation for why putting the yeast into water + sugar would shock it while putting it into plain water wouldn't? Don't ask me this is one of many basically wives tales that exists in home brewing. I don't rehydrate my yeast.
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Apr 12, 2021 23:36
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I just dump the poo poo in there. I sue wyeast or dry. Wyeast I smack the pack and pour it in no starter and dry it just gets a sprinkle in.
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Apr 12, 2021 23:47
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Pham Nuwen posted:That's a conclusion, but what's the reasoning? What's their explanation for why putting the yeast into water + sugar would shock it while putting it into plain water wouldn't? I'm not a microbiologist, but something about membranes and osmosis.
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Apr 13, 2021 00:00
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I use wyeast smack packs because Oregon 4 lyfe, then use those to make a starter with DME and water in an erlenmeyer flask and stir plate because it's cool and science-y.
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Apr 13, 2021 00:05
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Thank you all for the information, it nice to know I can skip the rehydration step without worry. I usually go with the actual brew shops kit but they were out of stout and I was in a hurry that day. When I checked the fermenter yesterday, it was bubbling away just fine, so More Falafel Please was probably correct about the seal.
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Apr 13, 2021 00:20
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Pham Nuwen posted:That's a conclusion, but what's the reasoning? What's their explanation for why putting the yeast into water + sugar would shock it while putting it into plain water wouldn't? It doesn't. You don't have to rehydrate. It's an old brewer's tale from the baking world commonly found around people who only ferment in glass carboys and insist you secondary that IPA of yours. It's only really useful as a way to check if your yeast is dead. In baker's yeast, there are more than one type and you'd want to hydrate one in liquid and the others not.
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Apr 13, 2021 00:31
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Jhet posted:Kellerbier is just "cellar beer" in German. It's not really a style by itself, and it entirely depends what style of lager you want to base it on. It's just unfiltered, cellared, and with maybe a bit more hops. But leave it to the BJCP to invent a style that isn't a style, just a method. So to answer the question of practical difference in recipe making, there's very little. You could make a Bohemian Pilsner kellerbier or a Dunkel kellerbier. The name might not be great, but neither is the name IPA and that caught on. Yeah, it's probably more accurate to say it defines a method of lager conditioning (and arguably serving) but what I'm talking about specifically is a beer in the style of the amber lagers you might find brewed in the many small breweries of Franconia, and increasingly by American brewers inspired by those very same beers. That probably is a pretty wide net, you're right, but from my reading it seems to trend towards a smaller, lighter, slightly cloudy and more hoppy Märzen, unfortunately small brewpubs in Germany don't really share many details about their beers so I might be wrong. An all Vienna beer does sound very interesting, do you happen to remember what your gravity was like on that beer you made? tater_salad posted:Add a little bit of roasted barley (like 3-4oz) should color your beer red and not really flavor it I've used 3-4 oz of chocolate malt in a hoppy brown ale and a biere de garde and tasted it in both, so I'm a bit wary of that. I could probably color correct with like 1 oz of Simpsons Black Malt (it's really dark), but it's a pain to keep around/pay for such small amounts. A tiny amount of roast might actually be okay in a Märzen though... thotsky fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Apr 13, 2021 |
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Apr 13, 2021 00:38
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