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Chilling the Conical Fermenter

April 22, 2016 5 Comments Written by John

A good fermentation is critical in brewing. Temperature control is a huge part of that. When I got my conical fermenter I needed to figure out a new temperature control method. What I had for my plastic carboys is not large enough to accommodate the conical. So far I have my heating method figured out. Until now I did not need a chilling method. The ambient temperatures over winter were only required heating.

The last couple weeks have accelerated my need for a chilling solution. The outside temperatures have hit the mid 80s earlier than normal and that caused the fermenter in the garage to reach as high as 72 degrees with 5 gallons of beer inside (at least the times I was able to check it). Thankfully the beer still in the conical was just resting on some coffee beans. No harm done.

If I could set up the perfect chilling system, I would have a small glycol chiller in my garage. It would be efficient, I wouldn’t have to change ice bottles, or move the conical in and out of a chamber. Plus it would just be really cool. However, I just spent my money on a conical and a glycol unit is not cheap so that’s not going to happen.

So where does that leave me? The way I see it there are 4 paths forward:

  • DIY glycol chiller
  • Fermentation Chamber
  • Cooler and a pump to circulate chilled water
  • Only brew in the winter

Let’s look at these from worst to the winner. Clearly I’m not going to only brew in the winter. That was a dumb idea. Next.

The fermentation chamber is what I had before I got the conical. It worked really well and the reason I’m not using it now is the conical doesn’t fit. I would need to build a new chamber or buy an upright freezer/fridge to do the job. There are logistical issues to this as well. The conical with 10 gallons of beer is heavy and the only spot to put a chamber is on the opposite side of my garage. So it would require a lot of moving the conical around or pumping long distance. The logistics plus the fact that I would be buying a lot of items that could not transfer to a glycol solution later on takes this option off the table.

The DIY glycol option seems like the logical move from an actual glycol chiller. It would involve partially disassembling an air conditioner to chill glycol in a cooler. The glycol would then be pumped through the coil inside the conical. I strongly considered this option, but if the ultimate goal of the chiller is to get to the glycol chiller than I need to save money. The air conditioner is an added expense that would not translate to the glycol solution and would not be reusable after being torn apart for this use.

That leaves the cooler and chilled water option. This is essentially the DIY glycol solution but sub ice packs for the air conditioner and water for the glycol. The big point of this solution is its cheap and can be repurposed. I got all of the pieces for this for about $40. I can reuse the pump and tubing with the glycol solution and I can use the cooler for its intended purpose when I’m done with it. That lets me work towards the glycol chiller with minimal waste. The big downside of this solution is the large increase in labor. I’ll have to keep swapping ice packs to keep the water cold.

Parts List

Assembly

  1. Drill 1/2″ holes in the cooler. Drill pilot holes from the inside of the cooler. I used the grooves in the lid to align the holes with a thin portion of the lid.
    Cooler_holes
  2. Cut tubing to length
  3. Attach return hose to the bottom barb of the chilling coil and secure with clamp.
  4. Attach hose to the pump and secure with clamp.
    Inside Setup
  5. Feed hose through cooler and attach to the top barb of the chilling coil. Secure with clamp.
    Outside Setup
  6. Drink a beer

Chilling the Conical

The assembly was easy and the use is even easier. Just fill with cold water and ice packs, plug it in to a temperature controller and watch the conical stay cool. Ice packs will need to be swapped out as the chilling water warms. The power cord for the pump is small enough that it can close in the lid without additional modification.

Unfortunately I have not been able to test the cooling efficiency of this setup yet. I confirmed that the pump is strong enough to move the water through the coil. The pump is running in the above picture of the inside of the cooler. It is providing a decent flow. The question now is how fast it can chill and how often the ice packs need to be swapped out. A move might need to be made to a bigger cooler for a larger thermal mass of cooling water.

I’ll have an update on how this works. I have a batch ready to go for this weekend, but the heat has subsided so I may not be able to test out the chilling system too well. The heat will return and then I’ll be able to really put it through its paces.

UPDATE: Although the ambient temperature dropped significantly, I was able to test the chilling setup when my hop screen clogged and I was forced to pour the last 2 gallons hot into the conical. After the wort temperature stabilized at 80 degrees, I filled the cooler with water and a couple ice packs and hooked it up to the temperature controller. It dropped the conical by 4 degrees in about 30 minutes. It was getting late and I needed some rest so I called it a night.

In the morning the wort was still at 72 degrees. I dropped a couple new ice packs in and it took the temp down the rest of the way pretty quickly (I forgot to time it this time). I still need to figure out how the system does managing the temperature. I hopefully won’t need to use it to drop the temperature in this fashion very often.

Equipment, How To
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Conical Fermenter Clean in Place Solution

March 21, 2016 2 Comments Written by John

One of the benefits of a conical fermenter is easy access to the interior of the vessel for cleaning, and, unlike a plastic bucket, the steel does not scratch easily. While the ability to apply a little elbow grease is nice, I’m lazy and want to just let the conical clean itself. Having a clean in place (CIP) solution was one of the first things I looked into when I decided to buy a conical fermenter.

SS Brewtech has a suggestion for a CIP build. I started with this as a base and made a couple changes. First, I set it up to use quick disconnects so I could leverage the hoses I already have built for my brew system. Second, I modified the outlet. SS Brewtech recommends using 3/4 inch hose on the outlet to get enough drainage. When I made my first attempt at the CIP solution, I used 1/2 inch hose on the outlet because that’s what I could set up with what I had on hand. Why buy more if I don’t have to? I had to.

half_inch_hoseAs seen in the picture above, the cleaning solution could not drain fast enough and solution was draining out of the racking arm. The pump would drain the cleaning solution reservoir in about 20 seconds. Making a switch to the 3/4 inch fitting a hose would be a purchase for something I would not use at all in the rest of my brewing setup. Part of my new mentality in the brewery is having compatibility and spares throughout my system. Instead of a 3/4 inch tri-clover fitting and hose I am using a 1.5 inch tri-clover elbow. It drains beautifully and I also use it on the outlet of the conical.

Parts List

  • Submersible Pump (Amazon)
  • CIP Spray Ball
  • Garden Hose to 1/2″ FPT Adapter (MoreBeer)
  • 1/2″ MPT to Male Quick Disconnect (MoreBeer)
  • 1/2″ FPT to Male Quick Disconnect (MoreBeer)
  • 1.5″ tri-clamp 90 degree elbow (MoreBeer)
  • 1.5″ tri-clamp gasket (MoreBeer)
  • 1.5″ tri-clamp (MoreBeer)
  • 5 gallon bucket
  • Teflon tape

As noted above, this setup was designed to work with the hoses that I already use with my brew system. You can set up a hose like this with:

Assembly

  1. Attach the hose to 1/2″ FPT adapter to the pump. For all of these fittings, use a few wraps of Teflon tape to ensure no leaks occur during use.
  2. Attach the 1/2″ MPT to male quick disconnect to the hose adapter.Pump_w_quick_dis
  3. Attach the 1/2 inch FPT male quick disconnect to the tri-clover lid.
  4. Attach the CIP fitting to the tri-clover lid.3_in_tri_cip
  5. Drink a beer!

Clean in Place

Now that everything is assembled it is time to clean! Everyone’s favorite activity. After my first use of the conical I had some build up from the yeast krausen. Everything else had rinsed out nicely with the hose.

pre_cleanSetup and the actual cleaning is very easy. Attach the elbow to the lower outlet of the conical. Install the CIP fitting in the lid and clamp the lid down. Fill the bucket with 2 gallons of cleaning solution. I use PBW and heat it to between 130 and 150 degrees before adding it to the bucket. Hook up the hose to the pump and CIP fitting and place the pump in the bucket. Open the lower valve and the racking cane valve (to allow extra venting). Plug in the pump and let the PBW do its thing!

tri_elbow_installedThe leg extensions from SS Brewtech make this very simple. The height of the lower port is just above the top of a 5 gallon bucket. The extensions are not necessary though. You could easily just lift the conical onto something to get the right height. I did have an issue with the tubing kinking at the top. I ended up running it through the handle on the side of the conical to give it some support.

final_buildThe elbow on the outlet worked wonderfully draining back into the bucket. With the elbow I’m not sure it’s necessary to open the racking cane as SS Brewtech suggests, but it doesn’t hurt anything to have it open so I figure better safe than sorry.

post_cleanI let the pump run for about 1.5-2 hours while I took care of some other things around the house. After it was done, I filled the bucket with hot water and turned the pump back on to let it rinse out the conical for a few minutes. It cleaned very well. Happy with the set up.

 

Equipment, How To

First Use of the Conical Fermenter

February 22, 2016 Leave a Comment Written by John

The anticipation to brew a beer and ferment it in the conical fermenter built day-by-day once it arrived in mid-December. I decided to brew a hoppy brown ale because I needed to get something hoppy on tap at the house. It would also let me take full advantage of the conical and using the 3″ port on the lid for the dry hop (which was really nice for the dry hop and adding the yeast). Here is a rundown of the major points for the conical.

Sanitizing

I bought a cheap 1-gallon weed sprayer to use to sanitize the conical. It would be easy to spray down everything inside. If it worked. I got it pieced together on brew day and it refused to hold pressure and actually spray. So to sanitize the conical I ended up just pouring it in the top with a measuring cup and using my hands to spread it around on the walls. I ended up with a clean beer so no harm, no foul this time. I did get the sprayer working later and it was helpful in spraying out the ports to keep things clean. Moving forward it will be a really easy method.

Transferring the Wort

It is recommended for the wort to be pumped into the conical from the bottom to fill. I didn’t have the fittings for that on brew day so I just pumped it in through the top. At least until my pump got air into it and I couldn’t get it going again. I ended up dumping the last 3 gallons into the fermenter from the kettle. There were a lot of hops that went with it, but I figured that wouldn’t be a problem since I can dump out the hops and trub (more on that later). I want to get the fittings worked out for pumping in through the bottom. I think that will be a nice clean way to deal with it.

Temperature Control

In my water tests with the heating wraps, I was able to maintain 67 degrees F in the fermenter. Having an actively fermenting beer in the conical was no different. The wrap kept the brown ale where I wanted it. The temperature was cold enough in the winter that I had no need for cooling. A cooling setup is next on my list. I’ll need it soon with spring arriving. Overall, this was a pain free part of the brew.

Dumping the Trub

This was one spot that was disappointing. I could not get the trub and yeast to drop out of the fermenter. Each time I tried I could only get a little bit of hops to come out. In hindsight, I think it may have been an issue with having the blowoff tube still in the liquid. It didn’t allow for a transfer and the pressure was keeping everything static. When I finally got it to dump at the end of fermentation, the hose was no longer in the blowoff sanitizer. When it happened, there was a ton of material (hops, yeast and proteins) that came out. If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if a robot could poop, dump thick trub out of a conical.

Transfer to the Keg

One of the reasons I got the conical was to be able to do pressurized transfers. I did purchase a second regulator to use away from the keezer, but I did not get the right fittings and hose combination put together before I had to transfer to the keg. I ended up doing a gravity transfer after getting the conical up on a low table. The transfer was fine, but I forgot to clear the racking arm before I started so I ended up with some sediment in each keg (some of the dry hop was still floating on top and kept the second keg from being clear).

When it came time to clean the conical I just sprayed it out with the hose. I was given the clean in place valve for the conical, but I am waiting on the delivery of the last few fittings for that setup so look for a post on that soon.

Overall it was a successful first beer in the conical. On my next brew I am going to be focusing on getting a good process in place for dumping the trub and yeast. That is one of the big benefits of having a conical so I need to get it figured out. I am happy with the conical so far and look forward to many more batches.

Equipment

Heating the Conical Fermenter

January 19, 2016 Leave a Comment Written by John

So I’ve got this conical fermenter and I want to put some wort in it right away. Then it hits me… the garage is 47 degrees. So I need to figure out how to heat this thing. I need to get a temperature controller hooked up, a heating method and I need to make sure it works. Even though I bought a conical fermenter, I’m still cheap at heart and I don’t want to waste a batch that will not ferment because it is too cold.

So the first step is getting the temperature controller figured out. In my current setup I am using a borrowed Ranco controller on a wine fridge to temp control a 6-gallon Better Bottle. The Ranco temperature probe fits snugly in the Chronical thermowell. For now, that is what I will be using. However, I also have all the parts to build my own temperature controller with an STC-1000. When I make the transition to that controller, I will be able to use both the controller and the LCD thermometer that is included with the Chronical. With the Ranco, the only thing that fits in the thermowell is the temperature probe. So I will have to check the controller to know what the temperature is in the fermenter.

My heating method in the wine fridge was two 20-watt Flexwatts sheets hanging on the wall. This was not overly efficient because it was just heating the air in the fridge, but it made it easier for me to get the Better Bottles in and out of the fridge. For the conical, I took the Flexwatt sheets and cut them apart. I figured I would only need one wrapped around the cone of the conical. I was wrong. One sheet only provided an internal temperature 10 degrees F higher than ambient (with 12-gallons of water in the conical).

My garage has been sitting around 48 degrees F on our cooler days so I figured if I could get two sheets wired together I would have enough heat for a standard ale fermentation. My first attempt at wiring them together did not work. I thought I had clamped them together well enough, but one of the sheets was not getting power. So I completely tore it apart and redid the wiring.

These Flexwatt sheets get power using a clamp style connector. The clamp punctures the plastic coating on the sheet to reach a metal strip that runs on each side of the sheet. So when I rewired the sheets I took it completely apart and made sure the sheets were lined up and used a pair of pliers to make sure the clamp fully punctured. When I tested it with 12-gallons of water in the conical, I was able to hold an internal temperature 18 degrees F over ambient. I did some testing of water at the top, middle and bottom of the conical and the temperature was consistent throughout the vessel. Although heat rises, I was worried having the heat all at the bottom would cause the base of the conical to be very hot and gradually get cooler. I’m glad that is not a concern.

SS Brewtech now sells a heating/cooling kit that is designed for their Chronical line. They have a heating pad that wraps around the cone in a similar method that I used. Their heating pad is 60-watts. My two sheets are a combined 40-watts and are capable of barely holding the temperatures I need in my standard low temperature scenario. Depending on how the first couple beers go, I may have to get an additional sheet to wire in parallel with my current two to give myself some extra cushion.

Another option for additional heat would be to pump hot water through the coil to get the temperature higher. This could be beneficial for cold winters or beer styles that have a higher fermentation temperature like Belgians. A heat stick could be used to maintain the temperature of the water. Currently, I do not have a pump to use for this setup. SS Brewtech recommends a pump with a flow rate of 8-10 L/min and a head of roughly 4-6 meters. This is essentially what they sell in their kit and individually. However, their pump uses a connector that is specific to their FTS temperature control system. It is not a standard plug that could be used on any system.

Heating is the only temperature control I need in the winter. However, by the time spring arrives I will need to have my cooling setup figured out. In the spring and fall I will definitely need heating and cooling. When I have the cooling setup figured out I will detail it here. In the meantime, I can report that the first beer is currently in the fermenter and holding steady at 67 degrees F in first stages of fermentation.

Equipment

So I Got A Conical Fermenter

January 8, 2016 2 Comments Written by John

Ever since I started brewing one of the things I always coveted was a conical fermenter. I could never justify the cost for one. Buckets and carboys are cheap. Beer ferments just fine in those vessels. The desire for a conical persisted in the face of rational reasons not to buy one. They’re shiny.

So I finally rationalized getting a conical. Biggest reason: because I want one and I can. However, if I am going to spend the money on a conical I don’t want to be making a lot of compromises. The things I was looking for in a conical:

  • Integrated temperature control
  • Ability to do pressurized transfers
  • Ability to do 5 and 10 gallon batches
  • Sanitary fittings
  • Shiny

As my wife could attest, I do way too much research before making a purchase. This is especially true when the purchase is large like a conical. Without going into a dissection of all of the homebrew conical fermenters on the market, I can break down how I landed on the SS Brewtech 14 Gallon Chronical – Brewmaster Edition. Here is how it stacks up against my criteria:

Integrated Temperature Control: SS Brewtech first caught my eye on their standard line of Chronical fermenters with the lid immersion chiller they offered. One thing that stopped me from pulling the trigger on that set up was that by using the lid chiller you lose the ability to do pressurized transfers. The chilling coil in the Brewmaster Edition of the Chronical is side mounted which allows the use of the domed lid and pressurized transfers. Some are now thinking that I could have installed a coil like this in any conical, and they are right. However, I installed a coil in my hot liquor tank and it was the most nerve wracking part of my system build. Happy to have someone else drill those holes.

Pressurized Transfers: The Chronical Brewmaster Edition comes standard with the domed lid and pressure relief valve to protect the fermenter from over pressurization. A few fittings are required to connect the CO2 tank to the fermenter, but that would be required regardless of the fermenter chosen.

5 and 10 Gallon Batches: The chilling coil in the 14 gallon Chronical – Brewmaster Edition is installed from about 4 gallons to 10.75 gallons. With a 5 gallon batch, about 2 gallons will be in contact with the chiller. This will definitely decrease the efficiency of the chilling, but being in Seattle I expect no issues maintaining temperatures because extreme temperatures are not normal.

Sanitary Fittings: Brewmaster Edition Chronicals come standard with sanitary tri-clamp butterfly valves on the racking arm and dump valve. These fittings will help keep everything clean and sanitized. They also open the door for yeast harvesting with greater peace of mind.

Shiny: The fermenter is shiny out of the box. Then the neoprene insulation sleeve is installed and the lid and fittings are the only shiny parts still standing. It is a little disappointing that it does not fully gleam in the garage, but if I have to make a compromise, this is the category I’ll take it.

SS Brewtech 14 Gallon Chronical Brewmaster EditionAdditional pros for the Brewmaster Chronical are the sample port and the 3 inch tri-clamp on the lid. The sample port provides a quick method to take gravity readings and taste along with the beer. Using the sample port eliminates the risk of introducing contamination with a thief. The 3 inch tri-clamp allows for easier hop and miscellaneous additions. I am looking forward to this because lately I’ve been adding hops and coffee beans in the Better Bottles and that can be difficult with an inch and a half opening.

There are a couple cons for the Brewmaster Chronical. The neoprene sleeve is a huge pain to get on and off. In theory this should not be a problem long term because I should not be removing the sleeve very often. Another con that many have with the Chronical line of fermenters is the use of weldless fittings. The concern is that these fittings introduce places for bacteria and wild yeast to hide. Personally they are not an issue. I thing they are easy to manage and if I perceive a problem it takes 5 minutes to remove, clean and reinstall.

At this time, I have not put any beer into the fermenter yet. I am still working out the details of temperature control. I’ll have a post on temperature control for the conical once I have if figured out (at least the first iteration). I’ll also put up a more thorough review of my thoughts after using the fermenter for a couple batches. For now, I’m excited about the future of my brewing.

Equipment

Donnie IPA Brew Day

August 19, 2015 Leave a Comment Written by John

It started off as a nice little Sunday. Pleasant breakfast with the family despite my two sons having colds. I set up the brew system and started heating the water for the mash. At this point I still didn’t have a full recipe put together. I had my grain bill set and my yeast starter on the stir plate, but no plans for hops yet. So I set about trying to think about what I had in the fridge that might be fun to use with the HBC-438 (Ron Mexico) hops that I picked up at the National Homebrewers Conference this year.

With a rough idea of pairing some Amarillo and Mosaic with Ron Mexico, I realized I needed to transfer the water needed for the mash to the mash tun before my friend Pete showed up so we could start the brew day promptly. Almost on cue he showed up right as I was getting the transfer set up. We transferred the water and started the recirculation. Everything was going fine so we milled the grain and doughed in.

In my normal process I will add the grain to the mash water at a strike temperature a little higher than my expected mash temperature. The grain will take the temp below my desired mash temperature, but the HERMS system will recover fairly quickly. This is where we started noticing problems. The grain dropped the temperature as expected and started climbing back up as the HERMS system transferred the heat from the hot liquor tank to the mash via the coil. However, the temperature on the HLT started dropping as well.

I thought perhaps the HLT was just struggling today so I stopped the recirculation. I was counting on the large thermal mass of the mash to maintain the temperature we did have while we tried to right the ship with the HLT. We waited a few minutes and the temperature was going nowhere but down. After fiddling with the control panel and futzing with the power cord for the element we determined that the element wasn’t firing, and it appeared to have died. Even plugging it into the boil kettle outlet was getting no action.

So we just stared blankly at each other. He started at me expecting me to know what to do since I was the experience homebrewer. Me staring at him trying to figure out what that course of action would be. First step was to get the mash to temp. We were hovering about 10 degrees low and I wanted to get it to temp as quickly as possible. Using a brewing calculator we figured out that adding a couple gallons of boiling water should get us to our temp.  So we pulled my first brew kettle off the storage shelf and ran it upstairs to start heating water on the stove. We added the boiling water and after some extended stirring we hit our mash temp. So I threw on the lid and started the timer.

While the water was boiling we needed to solve the problem of how we were going to sparge. Normally I fly sparge from the HLT but that did not seem like it would be in the cards today. So we figured we could pull off a batch sparge just heating the water in the boil kettle and moving it back to the HLT to just hold there until it was time to sparge. Did I mention that we still needed to figure out our hops? With the mash seemingly stable and a plan in place we finally took the time to figure out when our hops would be added.

When the timer went off for the mash we discovered we lost a lot more temp than we expected. I had figured 24 pounds of grain and 11 gallons of water would have held its temperature pretty well over the course of 40 minutes, but we lost 8 degrees. My system is not designed for holding temperatures in a static environment. I don’t have insulation on the kettles, but that seems like a lot of temperature loss for that amount of thermal mass on a hot summer day.

Following the batch sparge, we found that our pre-boil gravity was almost 20 points too low. All of our mash shenanigans caused us to miss horribly. I had used the last of my malt extract to make my starter for this batch so we were stuck. We started the boil and through in our first hop addition without accounting for the smaller amount of sugars. I was being stubborn even though I knew I should lower the bitterness level and readjust to call this a pale ale.

As we were sitting and waiting for our first flavor/aroma hop addition, Pete pointed at a small container sitting near my brew stand and asked what it was. Turns out it was a container of honey that I had forgot to put into a previous batch of beer. We now had 2 pounds of sugar at our disposal to fix our gravity problem! We added all of the sugar and it got us much closer, but we still stayed about 8-10 points low of our expected gravity.

After the boil and 3 oz of Mosaic in the Hop Rocket we had some wort. Whether or not it will turn into anything worthwhile. Normally, this is where I would put the recipe. I’m not. Although the fermenters smell promising, only time will tell. If it turns out alright I’ll post some tasting notes and include the recipe with my best approximations for recreating it. If not, I’ll try to get my hands on some more Ron Mexico and give it another go.

But this still leaves me with the fact that I am short one working element in my homebrew system. Outside the heat of the moment I was able to take my time stepping through the issue. After some more fiddling I did get the element to turn on using the boil kettle wiring. So that isolated my problem to somewhere in the control panel for the HLT.

Tracing all my wiring and checking all my fuses left me with no answers. Fuses were still in tact and none of the wiring seemed to have melted or had anything else go awry. Out of frustration I poked one of the wires between the relay and the fuse and asked it, “why won’t you turn on?” There may have been another word or two thrown in there, but saying earmuffs doesn’t work in a textual format.

Low and behold the wire and its connection at the relay moved when I poked it. All along I had a loose wiring connection at the relay and it had finally moved enough to not complete the connection. I quickly tightened the screw and checked the other connections (all okay). I fired up the HLT again and it worked! A new lesson learned. I need to check my wiring connections from time to time and make sure nothing has loosened up.

In the end I could not have asked for a better solution to the problem. Prior to getting the element to fire using the boil kettle wiring I was already dreading replacing the element and having to do all the leak testing again to make sure I had a snug fit. Bottom line: I can brew again. And if this batch doesn’t turn out, I may need that ability sooner than later.

Brew Day, Equipment

How To: Store Malt in Bulk

August 9, 2015 Leave a Comment Written by John

Earlier this year I wrote about the power of buying in bulk. That post was focused on my bulk hop purchase, but also discussed the important factors for storing malt in bulk. Storing malt generally requires a low-humidity environment around room temperature in an air tight container. The caveat with storing anything in bulk is the need to use it in a timely fashion. So storing base malt in bulk is really the only legitimate option for homebrewers since we have to buy 50+ pounds at a time.

I was finally pushed over the edge for buying malt in bulk while planning a 10-gallon batch of IPA. At my local shop, the cost for 22-pounds of grain is close to the cost of a sack of the pale malt I generally use. So for about $5 more than I would have been spending I took home an additional 33-pounds of grain. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

So now how do I take proper care of my new found riches of grain? I decided to use buckets and Gamma Seal Lids. These screw-on lids are made of food safe plastic and snap on to buckets. They say the lid can work on 3.5-gallon to 7-gallon buckets. ;In keeping with the food safe theme, I used 6-gallon fermentation buckets. Two 6-gallon buckets held 55-pounds of grain with ease.

Gamma_Lid_Buckets

The Gamma lid does mention a rubber mallet might be needed to get the lid to snap onto the bucket. I found that by removing the screw-on top the ring snapped easily on the rim of the bucket without the mallet. It was more difficult to attach with the screw-on top in place.

Overall, I’m very happy so far with this solution.The buckets are easy to store and the lids make them air-tight and very accessible. The best part of it all is the savings from buying one sack of grain paid for the buckets and lids. From now on I will continue to save money on base grain!

Equipment, How To, Ingredients

How To: Adjust the Mill Gap of a Barley Crusher

March 9, 2015 Written by John

Part of being an engineer is wanting as much data as possible to enter into spreadsheets that spawn into other spreadsheets. Another part is wanting to control as many variables as possible. The more you can control, the more repeatable your process is and the more you can understand what will happen when you change a variable. So after I made the jump to brewing all-grain it wasn’t long before I wanted my own mill.

After doing some research I bought a Barley Crusher. I’ve been very happy with the mill (especially once I stopped hand cranking), but now that I own this part of the process I also have to take ownership of the maintenance. The gap between the mill rollers can change over time. Maintaining the proper gap is crucial to consistent and efficient brewing.

The gap controls the crush of the grain. A small gap produces more grain flour which increases both the efficiency and the risk of a stuck sparge. A large gap leaves larger pieces of grain husk which helps with mash runoff but leaves more of the endosperm in tact which lowers efficiency. Therefore, brewers must find a balance to break the endosperm down enough while leaving the grain husk intact enough to efficiently lauter. A common mill gap setting for homebrewers is 0.038 inches. My system recirculates the mash and in order to make sure my mash doesn’t stick or channel I use a gap of 0.045 inches.

In order to measure and set a gap that small you will want to use a feeler gauge. A feeler gauge is made up of a number of metal blades of varying thickness. By isolating multiple blades you can create different thicknesses. To test my mill gap I put the 0.022 and 0.023 inch blades together. If you are unwilling to spend the $5 for a feeler gauge I’ve read you could use a credit card to get close to a 0.038 inch gap. However, keep in mind the mill rollers will scratch whatever you use to set the gap so use a the credit card that your significant other uses way too often.

Feeler Gauge

When you are ready to set the gap it is very easy to adjust the position of the rollers for the Barley Crusher. First, loosen the two screws on the back of the mill with a phillips head screwdriver. It will only take about a quarter turn on these screws to free the rollers. After loosening the screws, just turn the knobs on either side of the mill to adjust each side of the roller gap.

Mill ScrewsPut the feeler gauge into the gap as you adjust the knobs. You want the feeler gauge to not be stuck in the mill, but also not be completely loose. The gauge should fit in the gap with some slight resistance, but you should not have to force it. Be sure to set the gap on each end of the rollers and the center. If you only set the gap on one side or in the middle, you could have an uneven gap with one side larger than the other. This would result in some grain passing through the mill relatively unscathed and some being pulverized to powder. The whole idea of setting the mill is to get a nice consistent crush.

Now your Barley Crusher is adjusted and set for your desired crush! My starting gravity issue disappeared on the brew day following my mill adjustment. It could have been complete coincidence, but it is one less thing I need to worry about. Setting the mill is another step in taking complete ownership of the brew day.

Equipment, How To

Planning for Problems

November 11, 2014 Leave a Comment Written by John

Over the past couple weeks I have been one of those times where I had bad luck if I had any luck at all.  Every simple task was made more difficult for no good reason.  A simple beer transfer that should take 20 minutes turned into a 3 day affair as I had to source replacements for equipment.  After a couple similar brewing issues in a week span I started to think about how I could avoid this problem in the future.  For me there are two areas that I am going to be working to improve.

The first is organization.  I have my space in the garage for my brew system and a space under the stairs for fermentation and storage.  Outside of these spaces I have equipment scattered in the basement and around a couple different sinks in the house.  This is a product of not having a true space in the garage to clean my equipment.  I need to have my brewing things in one place.  I also need to have bins for all of the small pieces like airlocks and stoppers.  Having better organization will not only help speed up my brewing tasks because I will not spend as much time looking for what I need, it will also help keep me aware of items that need attention.

The second area I am going to improve is eliminating single point failures in my homebrewery.  Basically, I need to stock spares.  I started doing this for beer dispensing earlier this year by getting a second CO2 tank.  It always seemed to happen that I would run out of CO2 on the day the homebrew shop was closed and I had friends coming over to enjoy some homebrew.  Now I always have spare CO2.  I need to extend this philosophy across the rest of my brewery.  I should have spare tubing for every size that I use in the brewery.  I should be swimming in air locks and stoppers.  Most of the items that I need spares for would only cost a few bucks to make it happen.  There is no reason to cause myself more pain by running out and not being able to transfer beer over $2 worth of tubing.

These changes are mostly about being prepared for when things go wrong.  Being prepared has become more important now that I have a son and another on the way.  My free time to do brewing tasks is now mostly at night.  I can no longer just stop what I am doing and head to the homebrew shop when I need something.  I need to be my own homebrew shop for common items.  By making these changes I should be able to remove some of the frustration when things go wrong.

Equipment, Process

Wort Chilling Methods

October 16, 2014 1 Comment Written by John

Following the boiling of your wort, the next step is to chill it down and prepare to ferment the beer. Every brewer has to chill their wort because if the yeast was added to near boiling wort it would not survive in that environment. Most ale yeasts are happiest around 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit. The faster the wort is cooled to the proper temperature and the yeast is added, the less likely the wort is to be inoculated by a wild yeast or bacteria.

Fast wort chilling forms what is called “cold break.” The cold break is a group of proteins that forced out of solution by the rapidly changing temperature. Forcing these proteins to precipitate out of the wort will protect the beer from developing chill haze. Chill haze is mostly a visual ‘defect.’ It will cause the beer to appear cloudy. However, it has been linked to long-term viability of the beer. So removing these proteins can help the beer last longer.

Here are some of the most common wort chilling methods, ranging from extreme low cost to more sophisticated set ups.

Ice Bath
An ice bath is the most basic method to chill wort.  It does not require any additional equipment. It is also the slowest method of chilling. The ice bath is as simple as the name suggests. Fill the sink or a tub with ice water and very carefully move the boil kettle into the ice bath. Gently stirring the ice water around the kettle can help speed up the cooling process. Be careful not to splash any of the water into the kettle as this could introduce contamination. Gently stirring the wort in a circular motion will also help speed things up. Be sure to use a sanitized spoon. I recommend stirring the bath and the wort in opposite directions. Otherwise the wort and ice bath will move together and negate some of the benefit of stirring.

Immersion Chiller
Stepping up to an immersion chiller is the most common first step for many homebrewers. The immersion chiller is the lowest cost option compared to the counterflow and plate chillers. As the name suggests this chiller is immersed in the boil kettle. Cold water is then run through the coils to cool the wort down. The water can come from a garden hose or the sink faucet. Make sure the chiller has the right connections for your situation when purchasing. The immersion chiller should be placed in the kettle with fifteen to twenty minutes remaining in the boil to sanitize the chiller. I recommend having the water source connected when placing the chiller in the wort. Similar to the ice bath, the wort can be gently stirred in a circular motion with a sanitized spoon to speed up the cooling process.

Counterflow Chiller
Counterflow chillers are coils with an interior and exterior coil. The wort is moved through the interior coil and cold water is moved through the outer coil. The wort could then be transferred directly into the fermenter or recirculated back into the kettle. Again the name is very descriptive because the wort and water run in opposite directions, counterflow. If the wort is connected to go in one side, the water should be connected to exit the chiller on that side and vice-versa. This design allows the chiller to take advantage of large temperature differences throughout the cycle which speeds up the chilling process. Because the wort needs to be moved through the chiller most brewers will use a pump. This adds to the cost of using this method  However, it would be possible to use gravity to drain the boil kettle into the chiller. To sanitize the chiller you can pump sanitizer through the inner beer coil or pump boiling water through it for 5-10 minutes. It is not necessary to sanitize the water side because the wort will not touch the inside of that coil.

Plate Chiller
Another creative name, plate chillers are a metal box with a series of thin metal plates on the inside of the box. Water is run through the chiller to cool the plates.  The wort is run through a different compartment and is cooled by the plates. Using plates increases the surface area and chills the wort more efficiently. This method also requires a way to move the wort, preferably a pump. Sanitize the plate chiller in a similar fashion to the counterflow chiller. Pump sanitizer or boiling water through the chiller prior to use. One downside of plate chillers is they can be difficult to clean. All of the plates provide a lot of nooks and crannies for hop matter or proteins to get stuck inside the chiller. Therefore it is important to flush the beer side of the chiller with water and a cleaning solution immediately after use.

No matter which method you choose, make sure you focus on the reason for this step in the process: to chill the wort as quickly as possible. Developing an over complicated process that doesn’t improve the speed of the wort chilling is just going to create more problems. One final reminder to be very careful with the beer after chilling!  Anything that touches the wort after this step needs to be sanitized prior to use.

Equipment, Process
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