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My first full Low-O2 beer scheduled for Saturday...


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#1 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 11:23 AM

I'm laying this out here for anyone interested or for anyone who may see an issue with any of the processes. I made two beers already with some Low-O2 measures but I knew that the tail end of the process would probably not be Low-O2. I'm doing this with a pale ale because I have the 1469 up and running. The recipe isn't that important but it's going to be Swaen Pale Ale malt, some Munich 1 and about 6 ounces of CaraAroma. Horizon to bitter and then late Styrian Goldings (10 and 2 minutes) and 1469. 5% beer, 25-28 IBUs, SRM 8. Very middle-of-the-road beer, maybe an "American Pub Ale".

I will filter my water and there will be 5 gallons in a pot and 2.5 gallons in a bucket. I will add 6.6g of bakers yeast & sugar to the pot and 3.3g of each to the bucket about 2 hours before I start brewing. This should get the O2 in the water close to zero. The water will be at a temp where the yeast will get active. I'll start heating the water in the pot and add lactic acid, CaCl and CaSO4. Near the end of the heating process I'll add the trifecta mix which is .66g of SMB, .66g of ascorbic acid and .33g of BTB. When I get to about 160° I'll transfer the water from the pot to my waiting [conditioned] milled grains using hi-temp tubing so I can 'underlet' the mash. I will stir gently and slowly but completely. I'll get the temp and pH correct and then place my newly-fabricated mash cap on top of the mash. Then I'll transfer the 2.5 gallons of sparge water to the pot and add acid and possibly BTB only. When the mash is done after 60 minutes I'll carefully recirc by using a short length of tubing into a measuring cup and pouring slowly back into the MT. Then I'll runoff. The same process for the sparge and then I'll boil (I'm going with 30 minutes for now) slowly and chill with my SS chiller slowly. When it comes time to rack to primary the Low-O2ers say it's okay to get a bit of O2 because the yeast are going to need it and they should lower the amount of it. Add some pure O2 and pitch. The primary here will be a 6.5 gallon plastic bottling bucket.

For the fermentation, I'll leave the primary on the basement floor (I have a bucket of water there now which has come in at 60° over the past week so the temp should be good for an ale) and I will connect tubing from the grommet in the lid of the primary to a liquid-out QD on a sanitized keg sitting next to it. On the gas-in side I'll have another length of tubing into a bucket of sanitizer to vent it. The CO2 from the fermentation will purge the keg of O2. When there is somewhere around 3-6 gravity points left in the primary (5 days?), I'll take the tubing from the top of the primary and connect it to the port on the bottling bucket. I'll take the gas-in side (that was in sanitizer) and place it into the grommet on top of the primary. I'll open the port on the primary and allow beer to flow into the purged keg while the primary displaces the beer with CO2 from the keg through the gas-in side. When that's done I can harvest yeast from the primary. Then hit the keg with a short burst of CO2 to get some pressure in there and then connect the spunding valve. Adjust the valve to 0.8 bar (about 12 psi) and if there isn't enough pressure in the keg to get it to that point, wait a bit for pressure to build from the remaining fermentation. Let the beer finish fermentation and allow to sit for a bit (a week? 2?) and then get it into the fridge for a conditioning phase.

The Low-O2ers are working on low-O2 ways to get finings into the equation because the spund seems to produce some cloudy beers depending on various factors. So I might have some cloudy beer for awhile. The trifecta mix is in place to cover any unsavory and "non-low-O2" actions that may take place. The piece with the bottling bucket and easy port-transfer of the beer was one hurdle I couldn't seem to get around with my standard plastic primaries. That was a big deal when someone over there mentioned it. I have been told that only 2-3 gravity points left in the beer is enough to carb it via spunding. The valve is there to bleed off any pressure higher than where the valve is set. I feel comfortable about that part but some others have mentioned that it's tricky to time. We'll see.

If anyone sees an issue or a better way to do something, let me know. I'll update on the brewday and eventually on the beer later. Cheers Beerheads.

#2 neddles

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 12:19 PM

With your lagers I would be surprised if a good 2-3 weeks (as cold as you could get them) doesn't clear them up almost as good as with finings.


Edited by neddles, 18 January 2018 - 12:19 PM.


#3 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 12:33 PM

With your lagers I would be surprised if a good 2-3 weeks (as cold as you could get them) doesn't clear them up almost as good as with finings.

To try to get a feel for that, I intentionally did not fine the blonde ale and amber ale I made in December. I just sent them to the keg and force-carbed them. It probably won't be a very good test because those beers sat in primary for a good amount of time and everything had the chance to settle. I racked relatively clear wort to the kegs which would not be the case with spunding. Still, your suggestion is what I'm hoping will happen. The guys over there say that clear spunded beers come from 'impeccable process'. It may take me awhile to get to that point.

One other thing: The primary that was originally suggested for the above process was a $129 stainless Anvil fermenting 'bucket'. The price doesn't concern me but the dimensions do. My lager fridge has a space of 17" x about 12" to sit a plastic primary. The Anvil's dimensions (handle-to-handle) are 16.5" (so that works) and I asked someone at AIH for the dimensions of the "bucket" itself. He emailed me back saying "about 12 inches". So that part is up in the air because I need to close my lager fridge door. I might order it and return it if it doesn't fit but in the meantime everyone I asked agreed that plastic is fine for this in the short time the beer would be in there.

#4 HVB

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 12:36 PM

If they are needed why could you not use a "T" and inject biofine in through the gas in port?


To try to get a feel for that, I intentionally did not fine the blonde ale and amber ale I made in December. I just sent them to the keg and force-carbed them. It probably won't be a very good test because those beers sat in primary for a good amount of time and everything had the chance to settle. I racked relatively clear wort to the kegs which would not be the case with spunding. Still, your suggestion is what I'm hoping will happen. The guys over there say that clear spunded beers come from 'impeccable process'. It may take me awhile to get to that point.

One other thing: The primary that was originally suggested for the above process was a $129 stainless Anvil fermenting 'bucket'. The price doesn't concern me but the dimensions do. My lager fridge has a space of 17" x about 12" to sit a plastic primary. The Anvil's dimensions (handle-to-handle) are 16.5" (so that works) and I asked someone at AIH for the dimensions of the "bucket" itself. He emailed me back saying "about 12 inches". So that part is up in the air because I need to close my lager fridge door. I might order it and return it if it doesn't fit but in the meantime everyone I asked agreed that plastic is fine for this in the short time the beer would be in there.

What about the Chapman Steel Tank?  I can measure mine if you want.



#5 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 12:56 PM

If they are needed why could you not use a "T" and inject biofine in through the gas in port?

There have been a number of conversations over there about combating cloudy beer. Some don't seem to mind but others are very focused on finding a way to add finings in a low-O2 way. I mentioned this: boil some water and let it cool to about 170°, add some gel, mix, cover and let it sit and then pick it up in one of those larger plastic syringes (like a 30 - 40ml jobbie), open the keg and place the tip under the surface and inject the solution into the beer. They said NO because you'll pick up O2 just opening the keg. If you just "squirted" it through one of the ports you would also pick up oxygen. So I'll just watch and see what happens. Remember that everyone's beer is their own so maybe I'll do all the low-O2 things and STILL add gel solution the way I always have and still end up with better beer. Keep thinking of ways to do it. It will come in handy at some point.

What about the Chapman Steel Tank?  I can measure mine if you want.

That would be cool. I just went downstairs and measured a 6.5 gallon primary with the lid on it. It's right at 12" across on the top with the lid. It's about 10½" across on the bottom. The vertical clearance in this fridge is about 23½" because there is a small freezer in there (long story but it doesn't look like the freezer can be removed). My standard 6.5 gallon plastic primaries fit and I can close the door. If your tank fits those dimensions, I'll look at getting one. Thanks for that.

Another thing on the OP process: To make a lager and use that primary + keg setup, I drilled a hole in the door of my primary fridge to accept the tubing. When not in use, I just cover the hole with a magnet. :lol: I had to be resourceful because I'm clearly going to be using this process with lagers. Also, it's not a "hole", it's a "new Low-O2 brewing port". :D Cheers.

#6 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 01:10 PM

I checked the Chapman tank ($159 with the port) but I wonder about the handles and also the port in terms of it fitting. I would have to turn it so the port wouldn't hit the door but I would have to be careful because the more I turn it the more the handles would be towards the door. I'm keeping the stainless fermenter in mind but there are probably more important things to consider at this early stage. If I can make these beers (both ales and lagers) using the plastic ported buckets I'm fine with that for now.

#7 neddles

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 02:27 PM

Go to Home Depot and buy a larger dented fridge off the floor. Very basic model. Problem solved.

#8 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 02:32 PM

Go to Home Depot and buy a larger dented fridge off the floor. Very basic model. Problem solved.

I agree. I bought this current fridge at Sam's Club because it was on sale and planned to use it for serving. But it wasn't tall enough for kegs so instead I turned it into a lager fridge. It's very basic and cheap (4.3cf Black & Decker) and the thermostat broke and Dan the Brewman helped me fix that by using a old Johnson controller that I had. It still works and I think everything will be fine for these early low-O2 batches. At some point a new fridge will come along (I actually have an old fridge in the bar that my wife was considering swapping out for something else so I may already have my replacement fridge) and when I have the space then I can look at the stainless fermenting bucket too. But since I can actually do everything I need to... I'll get some low-O2 batches under my belt first.

#9 neddles

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 03:57 PM

Should have included a smiley. I was half teasing by spending your cash on the ideal solution.

#10 Big Nake

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Posted 18 January 2018 - 04:06 PM

Should have included a smiley. I was half teasing by spending your cash on the ideal solution.

If I saw a cheap & beat-up fridge I would have no issue with it. I remember looking on Craigslist once and there were 10 fridges inside of a 10-15 mile radius ranging from $25 to maybe $75. I would do that to make brewing easier or better, no question.

#11 Big Nake

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Posted 19 January 2018 - 08:13 AM

It seems like yeast health and the yeast's ability to get started quickly is as important as ever with Low-O2. It's always important but it sounds like they shine a light on the yeast's ability to get started quickly and start using the oxygen in the wort. This 1469 that I have has been used twice already... the last time was in mid-December and I harvested it last weekend (1.13.18) but it had probably sat in that primary for 3+ weeks or so. To make sure it's ready for tomorrow I made a small starter for it this morning. One of the suggestions was also to pitch yeast FIRST, then oxygenate. Not sure it will make a lot of difference but I plan to do that tomorrow too.


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