118 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

they are going to have to start selling water with the recipe kits to make it easier

[3rd party JKor]

they are going to have to start selling water with the recipe kits to make it easier

Maybe just sell wort and let people ferment it? ABInbev's next venture! Home fermentable Bud!

[neddles]

they are going to have to start selling water with the recipe kits to make it easier

Prepackaged salts and acid with instructions to use RO/distilled would be a cinch. Someone is probably already doing that.

[positiveContact]

Prepackaged salts and acid with instructions to use RO/distilled would be a cinch. Someone is probably already doing that.

 

if you trust that your RO is actually RO.

[neddles]

if you trust that your RO is actually RO.

Iron-ic of you to say that.

[positiveContact]

Iron-ic of you to say that.

 

well played

[DieselGopher]

Maybe just sell wort and let people ferment it? ABInbev's next venture! Home fermentable Bud!

Granite city (chain restaurant) already does this. They have one brewing facility, and sanitized tankers deliver wort to the restaurants. Pretty sure it's only for the mainstay beers, seasonal safe done on site.

[johnpreuss]

Here's just a few random thoughts in general after scanning this thread... As I have the itch to get going again but have been too busy with a home remodel. 

 

The extras - water adjustments, worrying about mash temps varying by less that 2 or 3 degrees, OGs, FGs.... for get all of them.  Bigger batches, probably a great idea.  I think if you find a couple styles that work well with your water, why mess with the water?  Mash temps.... I honestly don't get a much different brew on a 1.050 APA with a mash temp anywhere from 150 to 155dF.  Maybe some yeast will vary but using 001/1054/US05... it all comes in around 1.010, so as long as I'm somewhere in the ball park for a mash temp in that 5 degree range I'm good.  I stopped checking gravities, but most of my beers should fall in that 1.045-1.055 range, the grist doesn't change much, the process doesn't change much.  L value of the crystal may vary, the hops vary, the yeast, well it's W34/70 or US05 99% of the time. 

 

Now, all this works great for me.  I'm sure if you have a pallet like Ken's forget it.  I don't get the subtle differences he does.  And being an engineer... your head probably exploded reading this, and I'm sorry. 

 

All this from the guy that's only brewed twice in the last year but hey, I've been thinking about it a lot lately. 

 

Just my 2 cents

 

Oh yeah, I forgot.  Batch sparge. RDWHAHB. 

[3rd party JKor]

Here's just a few random thoughts in general after scanning this thread... As I have the itch to get going again but have been too busy with a home remodel.

The extras - water adjustments, worrying about mash temps varying by less that 2 or 3 degrees, OGs, FGs.... for get all of them. Bigger batches, probably a great idea. I think if you find a couple styles that work well with your water, why mess with the water? Mash temps.... I honestly don't get a much different brew on a 1.050 APA with a mash temp anywhere from 150 to 155dF. Maybe some yeast will vary but using 001/1054/US05... it all comes in around 1.010, so as long as I'm somewhere in the ball park for a mash temp in that 5 degree range I'm good. I stopped checking gravities, but most of my beers should fall in that 1.045-1.055 range, the grist doesn't change much, the process doesn't change much. L value of the crystal may vary, the hops vary, the yeast, well it's W34/70 or US05 99% of the time.

Now, all this works great for me. I'm sure if you have a pallet like Ken's forget it. I don't get the subtle differences he does. And being an engineer... your head probably exploded reading this, and I'm sorry.

All this from the guy that's only brewed twice in the last year but hey, I've been thinking about it a lot lately.

Just my 2 cents

Oh yeah, I forgot. Batch sparge. RDWHAHB.

Yeah, all that makes sense to me. I'll probably still do a water adjustment, but i don't plan on changing up all that often. I already have my water addition dialed in so its not much of a big deal.

[Bklmt2000]

JKor, you do know we'll need to see pics of your forthcoming brewday, right? 

 

For verification purposes, if nothing else. 

[3rd party JKor]

JKor, you do know we'll need to see pics of your forthcoming brewday, right?

For verification purposes, if nothing else.

I'll be sure chronicle it for everyone. It could be a total disaster but that would be almost as entertaining, i suppose.

[neddles]

It's really too bad you didn't put this thread in the PH. Noofus could have started his most appropriate spoof thread yet.

[denny]

they are going to have to start selling water with the recipe kits to make it easier

 

Maybe, but for many people that just doesn't matter.  Most new brewers will be using extract so if their water isn't OK, they can use distilled.  I still maintain that if your water is at all decent, water treatment is about the last thing you have to worry about.

Maybe just sell wort and let people ferment it? ABInbev's next venture! Home fermentable Bud!

 

That's been done before and still is to a small extent.

[3rd party JKor]

The session went pretty smoothly.  I used the 70qt Coleman Xtreme to mash.  I hit my mash temp right on, 154.  It lost about 2.5 degrees over an hour, not too bad.  I enjoyed not having to worry about the recirc system, hooking up all the hoses, priming the pump, worrying that a hose will come loose, etc. etc.

 

I didn't have time to put a manifold or screen in the Coleman, so I just transferred the mash to my other cooler to act as a lauter tun.  It ended up as a batch sparge with about 70% of the liquid in the first running and 30% in the second sparge.  I blew my efficiency out of the water.  I don't think I've ever been so far off on efficiency.  I was aiming for 1.050 OG, which would've been 70%, and I hit 1.064, which is about 85%.

 

Doing the ferment in the kettle is the bomb.  I didn't have to sanitize anything.  I dropped my O2 stone in the boil with a few minutes left and cooled with it in there.  As soon as the wort hit temp I pumped some O2 in, pitched the yeast and put the cover back on.  Done.

 

I taped together a few pieces of foam board and dropped it over the kettle for a ferm chamber.  It's in the garage, so it will need heating.  I have a 200W industrial cabinet heater that I use for that purpose.  I just put it right on the ground under the kettle (the kettle is still on the burner) and set it to ~60.  When I checked this morning the wort was at about 71 (was 67 when I went to bed), so I probably have to fool with the temp control.  I don have a PID I can plug the heater into, so that's the next step.

 

Overall, it was one of the easier brew days I've had in a long time.  I will definitely try a true BIAB next time.  While the cooler/batch sparge method is easy I think in an effort to minimize transfer and cleanup (i.e. work) as much as possible the BIAB system is the best.  The idea of not having to clean any vessels after a brewday, not even the kettle, is revolutionary.  Wow.  Mind blown.

[denny]

You can use the bag in your cooler as a filter and not have to xfer to a lauter tun.  I plan to try that soon.  Not a true BIAB because I'm not lifting the bag out, which I find to be a PITA for larger batches.

[3rd party JKor]

You can use the bag in your cooler as a filter and not have to xfer to a lauter tun. I plan to try that soon. Not a true BIAB because I'm not lifting the bag out, which I find to be a PITA for larger batches.

Yes, i would have done that...if i had a bag.

I think its six in one hand, half dozen in the other. I like the idea on removing a vessel from the process, though i will have to contend with effectively insulating a kettle to do so.

[denny]

Yes, i would have done that...if i had a bag.

I think its six in one hand, half dozen in the other. I like the idea on removing a vessel from the process, though i will have to contend with effectively insulating a kettle to do so.

 

Ah, I thought that since you mentioned BIAB you either had or were getting a bag.

[3rd party JKor]

Ah, I thought that since you mentioned BIAB you either had or were getting a bag.

I will, just not there yet.

[denny]

I will, just not there yet.

 

Well, THEN you can try what I suggested!

[3rd party JKor]

Ok, the custom BIAB is ordered. hopefully i'll get to use it in December.