Home Brew Maggots

[Peruvian]

Propagated Conan yeast from Heady Topper doing it's thing in an IPA I brewed on Sunday. Swirling like a whirlpool.

Click for vid:

[jamesp]

I had a batch get infected last year (had what looked like a brent pellicle), I let it ferment for ~12 months thinking it might turn into a drinkable sour beer. No luck.

Am I wasting my time trying to sterilise the plastic fermenter to use again? Or is it likely to get infected again?

[Peruvian]

I know nothing about Brett or sour beer brewing but get very nervous about folks using plastic fermenters. I understand the safety and convenience but it's not worth it to me.

[BigJay]

Propagated Conan yeast from Heady Topper doing it's thing in an IPA I brewed on Sunday. Swirling like a whirlpool.

Click for vid:

How did you propagate the yeast? I've got 7 cans left and am looking to do the same. Did you just step up your starters for like 100ml, 500, 2000?

[Peruvian]

^^^save the dregs from 2 or more cans and step it up. If you have a few ounces from 7 cans you probably can just get going with a 1.030 or even 1.040 starter since you will likely have a decent amount of yeast. Once you have a decent starter, let it ferment 24-48 hours and cold crash. Rinse the yeast at that point and save it in the fridge. Let me know if you need more info on rinsing it.

[SB]

Luv the disposal grinder and bottle jack method.

[BigJay]

^^^save the dregs from 2 or more cans and step it up. If you have a few ounces from 7 cans you probably can just get going with a 1.030 or even 1.040 starter since you will likely have a decent amount of yeast. Once you have a decent starter, let it ferment 24-48 hours and cold crash. Rinse the yeast at that point and save it in the fridge. Let me know if you need more info on rinsing it.

Probably won't drink all 7--I'd be shitfaced--and will probably use about 2 cans. I can look up the yeast rinsing techniques and the bottle culturing techniques online I'm sure. How long did it take you to do? I'm planning on brewing Thanksgiving weekend and want to make sure I've got enough yeast built up to get 12 gallons going.

[Peruvian]

Probably won't drink all 7--I'd be shitfaced--and will probably use about 2 cans. I can look up the yeast rinsing techniques and the bottle culturing techniques online I'm sure. How long did it take you to do? I'm planning on brewing Thanksgiving weekend and want to make sure I've got enough yeast built up to get 12 gallons going.

You can save the dregs for a few days to a week in a sanitized jar if you want time to build up more yeast by drinking the others. Otherwise, each step takes about 48 hrs so after a solid week you should have enough to pitch for 5 gallons. Keep stepping up for a 12 gallon batch.

BTW my starter was only 16oz (600 ml?) for the batch above.

[tarrl]

I lay the rack on top and then use a 4 ton bottle jack to press. I use some scrap wood to take up top space as the cheeses press out:

Nice setup! I especially like the garbage disposal. That's a great idea.

Word of caution with the bottle jack: We were using the press setup and the jack proved too much. Our press shattered in a could-have-been-bad sort of way. I think that was the 2nd or 3rd year we had used it. We also had the jack kick out once or twice when the scrapwood filler boards suddenly gave out. So, just a word of caution.h

At the same time, we were using an old food processor to chop the apples, so you're probably having a way easier press time after running everything through the garbage disposal.

[supermodel159]

This is a cross post, but for those of you that might have easy access to apples, it's a fun project.

I build a scratter (to chop up apples) and press several years ago out of scrap lumber and a Sears garbage disposal. I paid $80 for the disposal, $10 for the bottle jack, $20 in a new extension cord and water tight switch box, and a few bucks for bolts/nuts/screws but even most of the hardware was already in the garage. The mesh is a window curtain cut into 4 panels.

Here's the scratter on the stand I built (don't hate my crappy carpentry, it works!):



The pomace is like apple sauce:



My press is styled after a rack and cheese version like the big boys use. I don't have racks between every cheese because I haven't made them yet and so far they haven't been necessary.

Building the first cheese (those are santizier bubbles):





I lay up a rack and then build another cheese on top until it's four high:







You can see juice pouring out and I haven't even pressed yet.

I lay the rack on top and then use a 4 ton bottle jack to press. I use some scrap wood to take up top space as the cheeses press out:



It's been a banner year and I've pressed 24 gallons so far. My neighbor has plenty more apples so I probably will exceed thirty gallons this year.

That's funny.

When my parents were getting their kitchen remodeled, my dad had the contractors secretly build him that exact apple press (via garbage disposal). We all laughed at how weird it looked...but damn, his cider is amazing. My parents have about a solid acre of different apple varieties, now the family loves it.

[potatoeskillme]

Holidays are comin up... it was time to brew an xmas favorite. Made 15 gallons of Gingerbread Ale this weekend. This one smells amazing during the boil.

[SB]

FAK, blew another keg. Gotta brew soon.

[SailCat]

I've wanted to try brewing for a while, but knew I didn't have the patience to properly control fermenting temps.
after a successful kitchen renovation



I was left with a perfectly good refrigerator on the back porch.

figured it was time to start making beer

added a cheap temp controller and upgraded the outlet on the back porch to a GFI
when it got a little cooler I added a shelf support / heat source

been doing 5 gal stovetop partial boil extract kits and sometimes tweaking them a bit
just bottling using recycled glass for now.
some batches have turned out better than others, but I've been happy to drink everything so far

Cathouse Brew

[SB]

Nice re purpose of the old fridge, looks like you used a Love controller?

It does put extra heat load on your fridge to have it in the sun like that. Not sure where you are located but it will kill it eventually by reducing the heat transfer.

Be bettur if you had a garage to stick it in or even shade it.

[SailCat]

not sure what a Love controller is - this one is labeled STC-1000. cheap, but only comes in deg. C
The sun only hits the fridge in early morning so I'm not too worried about it overworking, especially since it is only cooling to 55-65 deg F. The freezer side runs about 10 deg cooler.

[Peruvian]

Any northeastern homebrewers have any cornys that they want to sell?

[Gone Skiing]

67 IBU 7.3 SRM IPA on the burner right now! Stoked to drink this one after skiing in January

[Peruvian]

Major northeast meltdown made today a good day for brewing. I got together with two other friends and we each brewed a batch. I repeated a Scottish Ale I brewed in Oct. '12 and nailed the O.G. again.

[SB]

AIH had a few ball lock for around $60 each but they are drying up.

You can get the pin locks cheaper and convert them. Last year a buddy gave me a pin lock 5gal keg and for about $10 I converted it to ball fittings.

I got a few 3 gallon ball lock cornys years ago but paid high dollar for them. They are handy for my sodas.

Have you checked around at salvage yards?

[SB]

4000ml starter of London ale 1028 on the plate. Gonna try to split it into two batches. Moose Drool and a 2xIPA.

[SB]

Merry Fkn Moose Drool batch in progress.

[Tutuko]

Had a 7.4% scotch ale, dogma, from brewdog, run through a pressurised 3-5l? canister of gluewein ingredients plus some more berries. Check the brewdog Camden fb page for more details. It was pretty special, and I've done my best to clone it with traditional secondary additions. Will report back on how it goes of anyone is interested, but the brewdog version would be a killer winter beer. Easy to pilot blend in the kitchen I imagine.

[SB]

Double Trouble IPA in the can.

[SailCat]

#1 son gave me a bottle of beer for Christmas ( soon emptied)
so I refilled it with a bit of my latest batch of porter.
now bottle conditioning with the next batch fermenting.

[Maximus Gradient]

Not really home brew scale, but still pretty cool...



Open fermentation?!