Toast Beer / Homebrew Thread

Player most likely to be a beer snob

  • Sam Butler

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Andrew Gaff

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Jack Watts

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • Brant Colledge

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Jonathan Giles

    Votes: 2 20.0%

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .

DanWCE

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FKASC do you out the gas on the liquid in valve when purging your kegs before filling?

You might not need to, as co2 is heavier than o2. Maybe purge through the gas line, then prepare your fermenter for transfer. That'll give it a few minutes for the gas to settle at the bottom of the keg and form that protective layer.

Upon reflection I think I only ever hooked gas to liquid line to force carb.
 
You might not need to, as co2 is heavier than o2. Maybe purge through the gas line, then prepare your fermenter for transfer. That'll give it a few minutes for the gas to settle at the bottom of the keg and form that protective layer.

Upon reflection I think I only ever hooked gas to liquid line to force carb.

So:

1: Spray sanitiser within keg and reseal.
2: Hook up gas as normal, run for a minute or so then turn off.
3: Prepare beer for transfer.
4: Open keg and ensure syphon tube is below liquid line at base and transfer as normal to about 18L.
5: Reseal keg and attach gas with 11PSI and purge with release valve for a couple of seconds every couple of minutes for about 4 times.
5: Leave to condition for about a week, with a couple of pours to clear out.

Thoughts?
It's all set-up and ready to go now, just waiting in the IPA to chill for a few days.
 

DanWCE

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So:

1: Spray sanitiser within keg and reseal.
2: Hook up gas as normal, run for a minute or so then turn off.
3: Prepare beer for transfer.
4: Open keg and ensure syphon tube is below liquid line at base and transfer as normal to about 18L.
5: Reseal keg and attach gas with 11PSI and purge with release valve for a couple of seconds every couple of minutes for about 4 times.
5: Leave to condition for about a week, with a couple of pours to clear out.

Thoughts?
It's all set-up and ready to go now, just waiting in the IPA to chill for a few days.

Yep that sounds good. I used to mix up a batch of sterilizer with warm or hot water, add that to the keg then seal, shake and roll it around so it touched every surface, then repeat that with star san (I'm talking a couple of litres of solution) just to be sure it's touched everywhere it needs to. That's why I ended up with the star san snakes coming out the top of my keg.

When you drop the siphon hose into the keg, leave the lid loosely on the keg just to protect it as much as you can.
 

DanWCE

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Also, put fermenter on a shelf/step/bench, keg at ground level. Seems to assist in the transfer so you don't have to tinker with re-pumping the siphon half way through.
 
Yep that sounds good. I used to mix up a batch of sterilizer with warm or hot water, add that to the keg then seal, shake and roll it around so it touched every surface, then repeat that with star san (I'm talking a couple of litres of solution) just to be sure it's touched everywhere it needs to. That's why I ended up with the star san snakes coming out the top of my keg.

When you drop the siphon hose into the keg, leave the lid loosely on the keg just to protect it as much as you can.

Sounds great. Cheers 🍻
 

FKASC

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May 28, 2017
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Sorry I’m out of town and didn’t have reception.

What I actually normally do is fill the keg to the brim with starsan solution (19 litres of water + 30 ml starsan) and then push that out using minimal co2 into another keg or a big bucket to use for next time. Then I rack the beer in through the liquid out post on the keg.

What that means is you are filling the keg with liquid, which should get rid of basically all the oxygen - any oxygen will get dissolved into the starsan and then pushed out. Then you end up with a keg full of CO2 at a low pressure.

So then it’s just the same closed transfer process as usual - pressurise your fermenter to roughly the same pressure as the keg, put a spunding valve on the gas post of the keg, attach the liquid hose between the fermenter and the keg, and slowly release the pressure using the spunding valve to start the liquid moving.

if you don’t have a spunding valve you can use the pressure release valve

I reuse the starsan solution for next time I fill the keg or just to use as general sanitiser
 
Sorry I’m out of town and didn’t have reception.

What I actually normally do is fill the keg to the brim with starsan solution (19 litres of water + 30 ml starsan) and then push that out using minimal co2 into another keg or a big bucket to use for next time. Then I rack the beer in through the liquid out post on the keg.

What that means is you are filling the keg with liquid, which should get rid of basically all the oxygen - any oxygen will get dissolved into the starsan and then pushed out. Then you end up with a keg full of CO2 at a low pressure.

So then it’s just the same closed transfer process as usual - pressurise your fermenter to roughly the same pressure as the keg, put a spunding valve on the gas post of the keg, attach the liquid hose between the fermenter and the keg, and slowly release the pressure using the spunding valve to start the liquid moving.

if you don’t have a spunding valve you can use the pressure release valve

I reuse the starsan solution for next time I fill the keg or just to use as general sanitiser

Not quite at the level of transferring under pressure yet - don't have the kit. But cheers anyway!

Any tips Doashuey?
 

DanWCE

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Not quite at the level of transferring under pressure yet - don't have the kit. But cheers anyway!

Any tips Doashuey?

Spacey's post actually reminded me that after I would sterilize a keg, I'd hook it up to the kegerator and run it through that beer line and tap as well. Then repeat the process with star san. This just keeps your lines and taps fresh between brews.

Full closed loop transfers are very sexy, and if I got back to brewing I reckon I'd set up for that next time, but you can brew, transfer and serve great beer without that step - if you're careful.
 

Doashuey

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Not quite at the level of transferring under pressure yet - don't have the kit. But cheers anyway!

Any tips Doashuey?
Yeah I do the same if pressure fermenting- fill with starsan (or Idophore in my case) and push it into another keg (liquid post to liquid post) with CO2 so you have a perfectly purged keg. I use push on disconnects so once the keg runs out of starsan, I take off the disconnect at the other end and let the last dribble of starsan and some CO2 pass through the tube. Then reconnect the disconnect and use that for transfer from the fermenter.
If using a traditional fermenter, I swish a couple of litres of starsan in the keg along with my transfer hose (inside keg) and leave for 20 min. I then empty the starsan, hook up the transfer hose and place it in the keg and blast some CO2 in through the liquid post to mostly dispell O2 in the bottom. Then open the tap and as the liquid rises it is covered mostly by CO2. There will always be some gas mixing but it is as good as you can expect without a closed transfer. What is most important is to purge the remaining headspace with CO2 before moving the keg if possible (3-5 fill and burps). Moving the keg without purging offers the greatest chance of O2 mixing into your beer.
 
What is most important is to purge the remaining headspace with CO2 before moving the keg if possible (3-5 fill and burps). Moving the keg without purging offers the greatest chance of O2 mixing into your beer.

Thanks - that's a good one as I was going to fill outside then carry inside to purge. Will do it all outside now.
 
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Ok so the amber ale that was flat was way better after a week inside, lesson learnt: bottle conditioning temp should be warmer.

Did a draught base with hops and grain yesterday, bottled my VB copy as well.

The lager with grain came out quite sweet, it's not bad but want to see what it's like with hops as well, trying to figure all of the variables out.
 

FKASC

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It's starting to get a bit annoying. Like the Kolsch was 1.1% higher than it was supposed to be and it's too boozey for the style.

American Ale II for this one with a 1L starter.

I did a 2L starter for the Dubbel I'm doing Saturday, hoping this doesn't over-attenuate too as I'd rather not have a 9% beer that I can only have one of.
Ironically my most recent beer is currently 4 points lower than where I expected it to finish and it doesn’t appear to have given up just yet. Possibly the first time using a clean yeast where I have gotten higher than forecast attenuation
 
Busy morning with some mixed results.

Kegged the IPA, feels like it went smoothly though there was a decent head of foam from the residual sanitiser as it filled. Cut it off when it reached the handles on the keg which was about 18 or so litres. Sealed it up and did the gas/purge a few times then hooked it up in the fridge. Sprayed all the connections and can't see any issues right now but will keep an eye on it.

And then the Dubbel. Undershot the gravity hugely with only 1.056, even with an extra 100g of candi sugar. Looks and smells promising and will still taste quite good but just didn't start off as I'd hoped. Fingers crossed I get another stupid over-attenuation which should push it up a bit. If it stays around the 5-6% range I probably won't bottle and age it and will chuck it in a keg and leave for a few weeks instead. Will have to wait and see!
 

FKASC

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Busy morning with some mixed results.

Kegged the IPA, feels like it went smoothly though there was a decent head of foam from the residual sanitiser as it filled. Cut it off when it reached the handles on the keg which was about 18 or so litres. Sealed it up and did the gas/purge a few times then hooked it up in the fridge. Sprayed all the connections and can't see any issues right now but will keep an eye on it.

And then the Dubbel. Undershot the gravity hugely with only 1.056, even with an extra 100g of candi sugar. Looks and smells promising and will still taste quite good but just didn't start off as I'd hoped. Fingers crossed I get another stupid over-attenuation which should push it up a bit. If it stays around the 5-6% range I probably won't bottle and age it and will chuck it in a keg and leave for a few weeks instead. Will have to wait and see!
Sucks when you undershoot. You could always dissolve some malt extract in boiling water and add during fermentation if you want to bump it up a bit. It’ll taste fine though I reckon
 
Sucks when you undershoot. You could always dissolve some malt extract in boiling water and add during fermentation if you want to bump it up a bit. It’ll taste fine though I reckon

Could spray in some more candi syrup too.
 
This Belgian Ardennes yeast is a bit of a beast. I've increased the temp a degree for the past 2 days. This morning it had over-flowed the blow-off tube and container which I cleaned and changed over and in the 5 minutes it had started again almost at a constant flow of bubbles with dirty krausen. Interested to see how this one turns out!

The kegerator is going well, appears to have no leaks and now I'm getting impatient with the conditioning but trying to avoid doing the force carb on my first batch just so I can see the difference.
 

DanWCE

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Here's a question for you experts: how long did you have your beer line? Mine came pre-cut with 3m and the instructions said it should be 1.5m. Trimmed them down to 2m but just coz I didn't want to mess it up.

3m is the go. Shorter beer lines lead go foamy pours. I cable tied mine up nice and neatly then numbered them for which tap they were connected to.
 
3m is the go. Shorter beer lines lead go foamy pours. I cable tied mine up nice and neatly then numbered them for which tap they were connected to.

LOL yeah I've already done the same with the cable ties and label maker - thought I was being a bit OCD so good to hear that I'm not alone!

Okay will wait to see how this one pours and if necessary will change it over to 3m.
 
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