Anna's Brewdays

[DocAnna]

Just another thought (sorry) if you connect the gas post from your corny (gas flushed) to your FB you will equilibrate the pressures and possibly (if you have a little pressure in the corny) have enough pressure to bleed the beer Syphon line.

On the second one the pressing down on the lid technique worked really well - took about 10 seconds to fill the syphon tubing. This time I didn’t burst the ballon either so just left that attached for the first 8 litres. Which made it a bit simpler. I’ve tried pressure a return gas loop before and never really manage to get it to work unfortunately.
I think based on your suggestion I’ll have another go sometime - will need to pick up some extra tubing though.
I’m really chuffed that the severity of ‘learning experiences’ today has been quite mild .

Anna

 

[matt76]

Great job @DocAnna

My method is very similar to yours so I totally get you re. the tightrope walk between pressurising the FV but not making the lid pop up!

One thing I've realised is that (obviously!) the 3/8" beer line I'm using to transfer has considerably more pressure drop per until length then the 10mm ID tube I was using previously to syphon to a bottling bucket...

...the upshot of which is the transfer is slower. And very very slow if you're doing an open transfer and just syphoning from FV to a keg via 3/8” line!

 

[Buffers brewery]

I use 3/8 beer line to gravity closed transfer and a 5 gallon batch takes 30-45 minutes to complete to my PB.

 

[matt76]

I use 3/8 beer line to gravity closed transfer and a 5 gallon batch takes 30-45 minutes to complete to my PB.

Crikey! I feel like I've had beers ferment quicker than that!

 

[Buffers brewery]

Crikey! I feel like I've had beers ferment quicker than that!

Gives one time to enjoy the fruits of one's earlier labour

 

[DocAnna]

I think I’m getting a bit fussy in my later years (can’t cope with the word ‘old’ yet)… tasted samples from the two and they both definitely need a couple of weeks conditioning. Despite being made with fresh wort in place of LME they both have that slight kit twang , it’s subtle but a bit disappointing. I mean they’re perfectly ok beers - MJ Pink Grapefruit and MJ NZ pale but I’m just not sure if they are worth the extra TLC I’ve given them.

I’ll leave them to condition and carbonate for a couple of weeks and if the twang is still there, then I’ll send them on to the students. I met up with a friend from Uni this week who’s son is starting at Stirling Uni and I’ve offered him some beer supples as well - so it might just be a case of sharing out the two kegs between the two students and their friends.

 

[Buffers brewery]

As you know I'm not one to over complicate but......if you fitted a second gas post to your FB lid you could leave your balloon connected to give your system a bit of "give" and connect your gas line from your keg to the second post. Though I only have one connection to my FB lid I do have both balloon and keg connected during transfer.

 

[DocAnna]

Great job @DocAnna One thing I've realised is that (obviously!) the 3/8" beer line I'm using to transfer has considerably more pressure drop per until length then the 10mm ID tube I was using previously to syphon to a bottling bucket...

...the upshot of which is the transfer is slower. And very very slow if you're doing an open transfer and just syphoning from FV to a keg via 3/8” line!

Thank you, I hadn’t thought of that - it did seem rather slow. Using a floating dip tube with a filter did make the whole experience fairly painless though. Some of that was also me not worrying if there was a small amount of yeast trub transfer as it will settle out over the next couple of weeks.

 

[matt76]

Did you ever post a pic or link for the filters you use? Is it ones like these?

So you have any issues getting all the beer out of the FV? My worry would be I'd end up leaving a litre or two at the bottom.

I've only done two closed transfers but since both were dry-hopped beers I used an inline filter which seems to work well but it needs to be purged beforehand. I wouldn't bother with a filter if I'm not dry hopping.

The only issue I have with the current setup is that I'm poking 3/8 beer line down through the airlock grommet - works fine but hard to tell exactly where the end of the tube is - as long as it's below the surface it's fine but obviously I don't want to start off the transfer by hoovering up all the trub and yeast cake!

 

[DocAnna]

Did you ever post a pic or link for the filters you use? Is it ones like these?

So you have any issues getting all the beer out of the FV? My worry would be I'd end up leaving a litre or two at bottom.

Apologies, I meant to post a picture of the filter ages ago. The longer metal dip tube to fit onto the silicone tube came together with the floating tube thingy but the filter was separate. These filters have small plastic rings on them where you can attach the float.

it worked fairly well as the filter means the tip of the tube can never be completely in the trub. As for leaving beer behind, I suspect because I couldn’t directly see the liquid drawn in that I took more than I would normally do, yes it was 2 litres ish but most of that was trub.

 

[matt76]

View attachment 53887
Apologies, I meant to post a picture of the filter ages ago. The longer metal dip tube to fit onto the silicone tube came together with the floating tube thingy but the filter was separate. These filters have small plastic rings on them where you can attach the float.

it worked fairly well as the filter means the tip of the tube can never be completely in the trub. As for leaving beer behind, I suspect because I couldn’t directly see the liquid drawn in that I took more than I would normally do, yes it was 2 litres ish but most of that was trub.

Thanks for posting that, very interesting

I can't see any major advantage that makes me think I need to change my method (the differences are fairly subtle anyway) but it's always fascinating to see different approaches in case you're missing something obvious.

 

[DocAnna]

Oh dear I was a bit too serious last night and think I rather killed the mood on the what are you drinking tonight thread. This weekend needs to be serious too - getting on with some bottling and labelling. This is a task that’s beginning to feel like the ironing basket. Lurking there all ready to be sorted but not quite desperately needed done now - and is fine once I get round to it but is really not my favourite task. There’s 8 gallons of various wines that have been sitting for months needing bottled, I’ve no idea if they are still any good.

So this is to be a couple of days of tidying up - bottling beer and wine….oh and the ironing needs done

 

[The Baron]

You'll get there it can get monotonous bottling etc but just look as it is the final stages of your work and the next one is popping a cork or sinking a cold one.
Can't help you with the ironing though

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You'll get there it can get monotonous bottling etc but just look as it is the final stages of your work and the next one is popping a cork or sinking a cold one.
Can't help you with the ironing though

Hey, if the family are getting beer and wine made for them then tell 'em they can do their own $%** ironing!!

 

[DocAnna]

My OH harvested our grapes today so my job was juicing them which is a messy job. My mother had given us an electric juicer since she had bought it to use but not then really used it - hence it being passed on. Using to juice the grapes seemed like a good idea but I had to run the pulp through it again. Twice as it was still really wet the first two times. The filter needed cleaned each time and took two batches. So overall it was a bit easier but still really quite messy!

The juice will be combined with what we have frozen from last year for hopefully about 10 or so bottles of wine - I’m hoping to not need to need add extra grape concentrate.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Red grapes in central Scotland impressive.

 

[DocAnna]

Red grapes in central Scotland impressive.

They're in the greenhouse, which is my OH's 'Man Shed' ... I feel vaguely that I have to ask permission to go in there as there is a risk of a grump if I move anything/leave anything else in there!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

My grandson who lives in Glasgow and is 8 yo asked my daughter what was that big yellow thing in the sky mum.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

They're in the greenhouse, which is my OH's 'Man Shed' ... I feel vaguely that I have to ask permission to go in there as there is a risk of a grump if I move anything/leave anything else in there!

Still very impressive IMHO

 

[DocAnna]

An interesting experience with my red X festbier this week.

As you may have read already, I was concerned that it was not clearing as it should even when chilled to 0.2° C for the last two weeks or so. I brought the temperature back up to 18° for about 3 1/2 to 4 days and have now re-chilled it.
Interestingly, there is a new settlement of yeast formed in the conical fermenter which had not been there before which suggests that it had not quite finished fermenting and there’s been a further expansion of the yeast while that wee bit warmer. The beer is now already a bit clearer too .

I had hoped to spend the weekend bottling but I’ve discovered I need to have a draft of my dissertation proposal in for Monday which is a bit eek! As such I’m going to be spending all weekend stuck in front of a computer screen☹