Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2

[Leon103]

It’s been two weeks since I last cleaned my beer lines so today is beer line cleaning day - yay! While cleaning the disconnects I noticed a small problem with a split adapter. I’ve replaced it with a spare but will look out for this from now on because a failure here could potentially result in a keg of beer being sprayed around the brewshed.
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After the line cleaning I always test the beers on tap. In part I am actually making sure the beers are all still tasting good but mostly I’m just enjoying a beer . All the beers on tap I’m pleased to say are good to go.
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While cleaning the lines I also turned my mind to my next batch and decided it is likely to include Rye IPA for the swap, another porter because that’s gone down quickly, another Butterfly Effect because by the weight of the keg I’m about to run out, and of course a bitter because that’s my staple. I’ll check on stocks and get an order in for anything I need so I can start early in the new year.

Someone tightened it too tight.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Someone tightened it too tight.

Yeah, that’s my assumption too.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Got the neighbours round tonight for a Christmas meet (we don’t need too much of an excuse) so I’m checking on stock. Good thing I did, the best bitter keg was just about to kick so I’ve put a new keg on and poured a drop for quality assurance. It’s a touch under carbonated so I’ve put the keg on 25psi where it will stay for the next six hours before I bleed off the excess and bring it back to 6psi for serving. It’s crystal clear and tastes nicely conditioned despite being still quite young so I’m happy.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

…also, the dark mild is getting a bit old now and there’s probably only about 6 pints left so I’ve replaced it with my latest batch of porter. This is really moreish, the flavour is very clean with a real hit of smooth cold-pressed coffee (there’s no coffee in it, this is from the malt) and just a touch of sweet chocolate on the finish. I think between the porter and bitter I’m sorted for the night!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

One other small upset, the Butterfly Effect (single) has just kicked . I’ve put Summer Breeze on in it’s place but I think I now prefer Butterfly Effect. No matter, it still tastes good so I’ll go with that. I’m almost out of reserves now, just a brown ale sitting in the wings.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today I brewed my Rye IPA for the next swap so that’s the first brew of the batch and the first brew of the year in the bag.

I also just tried a test bottle of one of the beers I bottled for the Scottish Nationals. It tasted stale compared to the kegged version which is still clean and bright. I do tend to have issues with bottling because I don’t have a counter-pressure bottle filler (I am working on that) and I fill from the tap with a little added sugar to top up the lost carbonation. I’m beginning to wonder though if secondary fermentation in the bottle is producing off-flavours - maybe from tired yeast? It’s a working theory at the moment but for now I need to come up with some replacements for the competition.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

That’s it - time for a project!

This year I intend to build into my brew-shed a low temperature cabinet for cold-crashing and for bottling. It will incorporate a counter-pressure bottling tap too.

This is long overdue and I definitely feel it’s time for a project. Details will follow in due course!

 

[Leon103]

That’s it - time for a project!

This year I intend to build into my brew-shed a low temperature cabinet for cold-crashing and for bottling. It will incorporate a counter-pressure bottling tap too.

This is long overdue and I definitely feel it’s time for a project. Details will follow in due course!

Just buy a tapcooler counter pressure bottle filler. Easy to use

 

[samale]

Just buy a tapcooler counter pressure bottle filler. Easy to use

The nukatap looks similar and is half the price

 

[SMP Brewery]

The nukatap looks similar and is half the price

Mine was £29 from aliexpress, took a bit of getting used to, starting to get the hang of it now.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just ordered the Nukatap version. I really wanted a Boel iTap but being Russian manufactured they are not easy to source at a reasonable price. Maybe one will fall into my lap at some point.

Also, it’s two weeks since I last cleaned my beer lines so I cleaned those this morning. As is my usual routine I tasted all the beers after and I can’t get over the difference between my bottled beer (from keg) and my kegged beer, they could be from completely different brews - with the kegged beers being far better. In part this is what has prompted me to buy the counter-pressure bottle filler, I’m hoping it will close the gap

The beers: Pilsner, Cherry sour, DIPA, Summer Breeze, Porter, Bitter, Bourbon imperial.

 

[Pennine]

I’ve just ordered the Nukatap version. I really wanted a Boel iTap but being Russian manufactured they are not easy to source at a reasonable price. Maybe one will fall into my lap at some point.

Also, it’s two weeks since I last cleaned my beer lines so I cleaned those this morning. As is my usual routine I tasted all the beers after and I can’t get over the difference between my bottled beer (from keg) and my kegged beer, they could be from completely different brews - with the kegged beers being far better. In part this is what has prompted me to buy the counter-pressure bottle filler, I’m hoping it will close the gap

The beers: Pilsner, Cherry sour, DIPA, Summer Breeze, Porter, Bitter, Bourbon imperial.
View attachment 80341

Are you bottle conditioning or do you do the add a small amount of sugar to recarbonate from the keg?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Are you bottle conditioning or do you do the add a small amount of sugar to recarbonate from the keg?

I’ve been bottling from keg via the tap and adding a little sugar to top-up the lost carbonation. I’m guessing there are two factors at play here; oxidation from exposure to the air while pouring beer into the bottle and off-flavours produced through secondary fermentation by old and tired yeast. I’m guessing but it seems plausible to me

 

[Pennine]

I’ve been bottling from keg via the tap and adding a little sugar to top-up the lost carbonation. I’m guessing there are two factors at play here; oxidation from exposure to the air while pouring beer into the bottle and off-flavours produced through secondary fermentation by old and tired yeast. I’m guessing but it seems plausible to me

I was wondering if you would be better off bottling right after you keg it and doing a full carbonation I the bottle. It might minimize the oxidation impact to once rather than twice, when you keg and when you bottle. Your theory could be spot on too, I would imagine the quantities of yeast will drop too as it sits in a keg. I guess another reason to do it right away.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I was wondering if you would be better off bottling right after you keg it and doing a full carbonation I the bottle. It might minimize the oxidation impact to once rather than twice, when you keg and when you bottle. Your theory could be spot on too, I would imagine the quantities of yeast will drop too as it sits in a keg. I guess another reason to do it right away.

Certainly bottling from the fermenter is a long established approach but I’ll see how I get on with the counter-pressure filler before thinking too seriously about other options. I’d like minimal sediment in the bottle and ideally I’d like to be able to bottle a beer as and when I want to.

 

[Pennine]

Certainly bottling from the fermenter is a long established approach but I’ll see how I get on with the counter-pressure filler before thinking too seriously about other options. I’d like minimal sediment in the bottle and ideally I’d like to be able to bottle a beer as and when I want to.

I meant bottling from keg right after you transferred before you carbonated, but yeah you are right counter pressure is the way to go. I also know you keep you lines clean but those things always get mucky so having a clean CPF is probably the way to go anyway.

 

[stripeyjoe]

I tend to brew 25l batches in my All Rounder so I can keg 19l and get about 8 or so bottles as well for comps. Depending on the beer I'll either just use a bottle wand into a glass bottle or, for hoppy beers, I use a carbonation cap on PET bottles so I can purge with CO2 and fill under a bit of pressure. I bottle condition in both cases, I use carb drops for simplicity, I found the Coopers and Muntuns are different weights (average of 3.7 and 2.3g) so it's possible to get 2.3, 3.7, 4.6, 6, 6.9 & 7.4g per bottle depending on the combo used.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

the tapcooler/nukatap system is fantastic…. really easy!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

So, my first impressions of the Nukatap counter-pressure bottle filler. I don’t like it. I recognise this is the first time I’ve used it but there are some things that got my goat from the off.

The first thing is that I wanted to fill a couple of PET bottles and the rubber bung you press the bottle against is too small for PET so to provide any kind of seal you have to press the bottle hard up against the filler and hold it there. The slightest movement let’s the pressure out and you lose control of the fill.

The next thing is that the filler comes with two sizes of John Guest type fittings for the gas in port. Neither of these is 3/16 or 3/8 which is what I and many other people use as standard. The work-around is a carbonation cap (supplied) but this arrangement is clumsy and ties up a spare gas disconnect.

Similarly there are options for the beer in port. The first one I tried is this adapter that you push up the tap spout. It doesn’t seal properly in my Intertap spouts and the problem is made worse by me having to press the PET bottle up against the tap because any movement allows pressure to escape here too. I’ll try another option where you unscrew the tap spout and screw in an adapter but now I have the bottle filler dangling by a tube.

Then there’s the filling. To an extent this worked albeit with some loss of control through gas leaks while I try to keep the bottle pressed tight against the filler seal. When I remove the bottle though the filler tube is full of beer that then gets dumped on my bar floor.

 

[Pennine]

So, my first impressions of the Nukatap counter-pressure bottle filler. I don’t like it. I recognise this is the first time I’ve used it but there are some things that got my goat from the off.

The first thing is that I wanted to fill a couple of PET bottles and the rubber bung you press the bottle against is too small for PET so to provide any kind of seal you have to press the bottle hard up against the filler and hold it there. The slightest movement let’s the pressure out and you lose control of the fill.
View attachment 80467
The next thing is that the filler comes with two sizes of John Guest type fittings for the gas in port. Neither of these is 3/16 or 3/8 which is what I and many other people use as standard. The work-around is a carbonation cap (supplied) but this arrangement is clumsy and ties up a spare gas disconnect.
View attachment 80468
Similarly there are options for the beer in port. The first one I tried is this adapter that you push up the tap spout. It doesn’t seal properly in my Intertap spouts and the problem is made worse by me having to press the PET bottle up against the tap because any movement allows pressure to escape here too. I’ll try another option where you unscrew the tap spout and screw in an adapter but now I have the bottle filler dangling by a tube.
View attachment 80465 View attachment 80466
Then there’s the filling. To an extent this worked albeit with some loss of control through gas leaks while I try to keep the bottle pressed tight against the filler seal. When I remove the bottle though the filler tube is full of beer that then gets dumped on my bar floor.

That sounds frustrating, hopefully the process will get a bit easier with reps. Thanks for posting about it, I have also been interested in getting one of these, but I may just stick with bottling from the fermenting keg when I transfer to the serving keg and then adding carb tabs to the bottles.