You Can’t Do That! It Won’t Work for F**k Sake!

[GuingesRock]

I feel that brewing is like martial arts in some ways. What I mean is that mastery is not possible as it's something you are always chasing hence the appeal. There are amazing brewers but they can always get better or learn something new. That is what I love about it....I want to be 90 home brewing and talking about beer with friends or anyone who will listen. lol

YES! Brilliant post! I’m only just scratching the surface too, and find it really enjoyable. I think we all have a secret aspiration to brew full time and some of us will get there. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been thinking, and the condom machine was 3-4 projects ago. This “project” is keeping me constantly entertained. It’s also an opportunity to make others happy with the beer and is a sociable hobby (thanks to this club).

[Woody]

Beer really does bring happiness. It's like food as it joins people together to talk. And what brewer doesn't like seeing someone enjoy their beer. Don't be embarrassed. Just don't start filling your beer in condoms or you will really have something to be embarrassed about. ha ha ok bad joke!!

[GuingesRock]

I did think of a vented 5gal water container, lined with something like a giant condom, for real-ale, so the beer didn’t spoil as it was poured, as no air would come in contact with the beer. So I was thinking of condoms full of beer (how did you guess). I posted my idea on my last site, and someone posted a link to something like that (the Key Keg) which has very recently become commercially available. Always happens…nothing new under the sun.

I just posted some videos and a podcast on real ale here. It's a fascinating and delicious subject.

[jtmwhyte]

I decided to try a brew in kettle with the last runnings from my imperial Stout and a pound of extract I had here.

[GuingesRock]

Careful there you'll get hooked. It's so simple...but maybe you won't like the results. I think you will though...let me know please! and thanks.

...of course, if there is a problem, it will be because of the extract

I used to have glass lids but don't now on my 16 gal pots, but It doesn't seem to mind if I lift the lid the following day to look at the yeast. I've been fermenting in the kettle since November, one or two brews per week and no problems yet.

[jtmwhyte]

I don't have a lid for the large brew kettle, this is only a 3 gallon pot

[Jayme]

I thought about getting a Blichmann Beer Gun for quite a while but was put off by the videos as it seemed to take about half an hour to connect it up, same to disassemble and clean. I came up with the idea of putting a Corny post on the gun (got the fittings to do that from OBK), and I ended up getting one from NG, used it this weekend and I really like it. Hook up is all by Corny ball lock connecters, which is quick as a wink

Cleaning it out is just the same as cleaning a beer line. Also dunk it in the Starsan bucket before use (and between each bottle). The brass button is used to charge the bottle with CO2 first, and then the big trigger, (which unfortunately has twisted behind the gun in the first picture and not shown) injects beer into the bottom of the bottle, the tip is submerged in the beer as it fills. If you have the beer pressure low, you get very little foaming. Both gas line taps are on during use.

I did essentially the same thing a few years ago when I bought my beer gun, only I used the compressed air fittings from Princess Auto. I have the same fittings on the output of all my regulars, and on any gas lines that i need to hook up to a regulator. I find it to be a flexible way to quickly swap things around.

What you did certainly works well I'm sure, though I think you can buy a whole kit (which gives you around a dozen fittings IIRC) from Princess auto for around the same price as those two fittings you bought. I looked quickly on their website and didn't see it, but they still had them last time I looked in the physical store.

[GuingesRock]

I did essentially the same thing a few years ago when I bought my beer gun, only I used the compressed air fittings from Princess Auto. I have the same fittings on the output of all my regulars, and on any gas lines that i need to hook up to a regulator. I find it to be a flexible way to quickly swap things around.

What you did certainly works well I'm sure, though I think you can buy a whole kit (which gives you around a dozen fittings IIRC) from Princess auto for around the same price as those two fittings you bought. I looked quickly on their website and didn't see it, but they still had them last time I looked in the physical store.

That sounds like a really good idea.

[Jayme]

It's worked well for me. I have the ability to hook my regulator up to my kegerator, or an 8 way manifold (on the deck in the cold months), or a gas ball lock QD, or a liquid ball lock QD (for purging empty kegs prior to filling), or a barb to push wort out of a carboy.

[GuingesRock]

I still think that’s a great idea. Do you find the air compressor fittings lose any CO2? I suspect they might be better than ball lock connectors maybe?

I ran out of kegs today so I finally decided to try the 1 litre stainless steel “growlers” (drink bottles) that I got from the Canadian Tire sale for $3.99 each (reduced from $9.99) and I emptied a couple of kegs into them with the Blichmann Beer Gun.

I sanitised and washed a load in the dishwasher with 1-Step, with the dishwasher sanitize setting on.

I really liked them and it went well.

[Jayme]

The air compressor fittings have yet to leak for me at all!


Sent from a rotary telephone using taps talk

[GuingesRock]

Thanks Jayme. Just after you first posted about that, I used your idea and made a new keg pressure tester for my real ale. It doesn’t leak pressure either. The quick disconnect allows me to depressurise the gauge after testing a keg so I can check the next one. I got a set of fittings from CT for $10.

I wonder if the 1L growlers pictured 2 posts above would be a good idea for micro/nanno owners to sell their beer in. If you bought them by bulk order they would probably be less than $3 each. Could charge $5 and make them non-refundable so you don’t have to wash foul beer out of them, and the customer is getting a 1 litre SS growler/drink bottle with a retail value of $10.00 for five dollars. They are well packaged from the factory and might even be sterile and ready for bottling, although a person would have to check that. If not, they can be washed and sanitized in a standard dishwasher.

[GuingesRock]

Full size Avery removable/reusable labels to spruce up the kegs.

[GuingesRock]

I shortened my dip tubes by 1 ½ inches with a mini tube cutter, for the real ale project: http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... f=3&t=4986

While I was at it, I thought I would try throwing 1 ½ oz pellet hops into the bottom of one of the kegs with the shortened dip tubes, for dry hopping. I ran the beer into the CO2 purged keg, onto the pellet hops, and they “melted” and dispersed nicely in the beer by doing it that way.

I put it in the keezer yesterday and was anxious to try the dry hopped beer and I tried pouring it right away without much success because the dip tube instantly clogged with hop debris. I did get enough to taste, however, and it was really good, and that provided the necessary determination to succeed. I held a gas line ball lock connecter onto the out post and blasted some CO2 down the dip tube to unclog it. The gas ball lock connector doesn’t lock into place on the out tube, you have to hold it in place for the second long blast of CO2, and it takes a tug to remove it from the post when you are done. If I wanted to get really fancy I could set up the correct connector for the out post onto a gas line.

Then I left it for a day for the hops to settle in the cold keezer, and I had another go at pouring today.

It is pouring nicely today and it is delicious! No hop debris at all in the beer. I compared it to its sister keg that wasn’t dry hopped and the dry hops are a really nice touch.

Possibly 2” off the dip tubes might work better for larger amounts of pellet hops in the dry hop.

[Jayme]

Possibly 2” off the dip tubes might work better for larger amounts of pellet hops in the dry hop.

I suggest you look into what's called a cask widge. I bought three of them and use them for fining out dry hops in the keg. It's essentially a floating device that replaces your bev out tube. You have to buy them through ukbrewing in North America.


Sent from a rotary telephone using taps talk

[GuingesRock]

Interesting to hear from someone who has those, I've only just read about them before. I'm hoping I won't need them though. I have a house full here drinking the dry hopped beer and still no hops or clogging.

[Jayme]

Fair enough. I'm quite happy with these but they were pricey.


Sent from a rotary telephone using taps talk

[GuingesRock]

From the original post in this thread:

I have collected a number of strange and wayward brewing habits. But until I compete, I don’t really have a leg to stand on, as all I can say is everyone loves my beer, (and what homebrewer can’t say that). Hence I decided to join this excellent organisation, in the hope of meeting local people and hopefully eventually testing my brewing methods in a local competition.

I thought I would make a thread to post some of this stuff, just in case anyone might be interested. And if anyone else has any unusual brewing habits that work for them, please would you add them and help me with a walk on the wild side of brewing.

I haven't updated this thread for a while ....

Well finally! I got a couple of medals.

I've been doing free range mash (letting the mash cool through a temperature range), fermenting in the brew kettle with the lid on for 4-5 days, then kegging into kegs with shortened dip tubes for keg conditioning at room temp for a week before chilling. This method allows me to make real ale if I want to, and described in the real ale thread. http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... t=real+ale" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I've been washing and sanitising my kegs simultaneously with 1-step (6 minutes per keg). Leaving all the hops in for the primary ferment.

I have some other developments. I now have a cooling coil installed in my brew pot which acts as a wort chiller, incorporating a whirlpool, and the cooling coil is also used to control fermentation temperature during the first four crucial days of the ferment. http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... oling+coil" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's another one. The much maligned “FWH skimming” I developed. I skim the FWH hops off the top of the boil after a period of time, maybe 10 mins for a bitter IPA, maybe 2-3 minutes for an APA. This allows me to use large FWH additions for flavour without paying the price of excessive bitterness. I think in heady Topper they use hop oils instead of long boils for the bitterness addition, and I believe that is to avoid stewing large amounts of hops and getting the stewed vegetable matter flavours. This is my version of that, and it all could easily be nonsense, but it makes me happy.

These ideas and practices are amateur. I’ve come to realise that unless things can be done like this on a commercial scale then they are of little value. I think though, I can carry some of the ideas forward and use them …if I ever do manage to retire and start up a real ale brewery.

Does anyone else have any strange brewing methods that work for them?

[Keith]

My theory is that if you make your beer twice as strong, which is easy to do, you drink half as much and therefore spend 50% less time brewing.

My theory isn’t right though. What actually happens is you get twice as drunk and have to brew the same amount, but now you have to brew with a hangover which is twice as hard.

There is no rest for the wicked.

A couple benefits of brewing higher ABV beers, and yes I agree no rest for the wicked.
Less bloated to get the same or greater effects.
Takes you to a whole new level of drunk. (Discovered this the night of the BAB tap take over)
Does reduce amount of time you spend brewing, not by much.
Brewing with a hang over is easily resolved. Simply have another beer.

As for brewing double reduces the amount you brew. I would agree. The bastards always show up if I have 1 or 2 kegs anyways.

[spickup]

Looking to pick up a few of the QD air compressor fittings. Best place to grab them? I was at ct not too long ago and they didn't seem to have any with barbs.

[LeafMan66_67]

Looking to pick up a few of the QD air compressor fittings. Best place to grab them? I was at ct not too long ago and they didn't seem to have any with barbs.

Princess Auto?

[LiverDance]

Looking to pick up a few of the QD air compressor fittings. Best place to grab them? I was at ct not too long ago and they didn't seem to have any with barbs.

Are you using these for brewing? If so I have some quick connects I could sell you that I got from mcmaster carr. They have barbed ends on them.

[spickup]

I actually found a couple in my toolbox. Thanks anyway liverdance.