Let's say I want to brew on Saturday and today on Tuesday I have a package of WLP400 in my refrigerator.
Let's say I'm brewing 5 gallons of witbier targeting 1.050 OG?
I'm looking for recommendations for mini fridges that can hold 1-2 5 gallon batches. I moved to my current apartment about 4 months ago, and the fridge that it came with is tiny, it barely holds food for 2 people. As such, my girlfriend was not very keen on the idea of me doing 5 gallon batches of beer, so I've been unable to brew at my place for a while. Now that the holidays are over I'm in the market for a fridge that I can hold ~1.5 batches of beer. Does anyone have recommendations about either specific refrigerators that would work well or generally a capacity that I should look for?
Thanks!
Hey all. I just got a refrigerator and an old keg, so I'm gonna make the jump to kegging. I want to get an additional 5 gallon keg, so I'm going to add two taps to a refrigerator. I've been looking at kits and I came across this one from MoreBeer: Kegerator Conversion Kit - Two Faucet. It has sanke keg taps, but my existing keg is a ball lock and I'm gonna get another ball lock. When I looked, it seems like that I can just take the sanke out and attach the tubing to the in and out ports. Is that kit a better option than buying a double regulator and two of these kits with all associated tubing?
Or better yet, does anyone have any other ideas on what I should do? I have a top freezer refrigerator that I can use exclusively for beer and supplies, as well as a 5 gallon corny with a ball lock, and plans to buy another. Thanks for all of your help!
Let's say you've been kegging for a few years now. What worked best for you? What would you do differently? What equipment can't you live without?
For Christmas I received this awesome tap!
...but I don't have any kegging equipment. (I do have a bar in my basement...to which I'm gonna be making some modifications for all this...)
But I know I'm still gonna need a small refrigerator large enough for a corny keg, and the tubing, valves, CO2 canister, and whatever else...
Anyway, I know bunches of you have already mastered this, and some of you are probably quite proud of your setups ;-) So I'm just trying to crowdsource some best practices!
Title says it all. I have been bestowed with a gift of $200 to MoreBeer, and am gunning for a keg setup that can fit into a 2.7 Cu. Ft. Mini Fridge. I am not drilling any holes for it, but would not mind a line that you would see at a party, with the handheld dispenser.
If a setup goes over $200, its not the end of the world for sure! I am just seeing if you guys have any ideas.
For Reference, this is the fridge that I can use: http://ift.tt/2gcIxCU
Starting to get a decent collection of my own home brew plus some other fun stuff (cantillon etc) that should receive better treatment than just a shelf in my house so I am trying to figure out the best way to store them. In my looking around it seems that a refrigerator is a good option if you don’t have another way to cellar the beer. Questions I have:
I’m having a hard time finding fridge only storage and so I may have to get a fridge/freezer combo. If I use an external temperature controller am I likely to render the freezer portion unsafe for storing food (my wife says she wouldn’t mind some extra freezer space).
If the above does make the freezer unsafe would setting the fridge portion to the highest setting would that still be too cold for ideal storage?
If forced to choose between storing a little too cold (fridge in 2) or too warm (~65 degrees in my pantry) which is less deleterious to the quality of my beer?
Thanks!
My wife and I are trying something new this year for Christmas. In lieu of an exchange, we’re allowing ourselves to spend $100 on whatever we want for ourselves. So, I need you’re help thinking of things to spend $100 on!
Here’s my current setup: - 120-qt. mashtun - 10 gallon Tall Boy brewpot - DIY immersion chiller - Converted refrigerator fermentation chamber - 9cuft keezer with two kegs - Two perlick 650ss taps - Very accurate gram scale - Hop spider - Propane burner - Refractometer - Water adjustment stuff (except pH)
For brew days, I buy a vast majority of my grain at the Northern Brewer location in Minneapolis and crush it there.
So, what would you get if you had $100 to spend on this hobby?
I go and do something stupid.
I got a rather respectable red ale on tap last weekend, and poured myself a glass on Wednesday evening. It was about my fifth glass out of this keg.
So far so good.
Apparently when I closed the refrigerator door I closed it on the picnic tap, so it continued pouring into the bottom of the refrigerator and then spilled out onto the floor of the garage. When the beer was exhausted the CO2 bottle continued to vent, so that's empty too.
The good news is that nothing else in the refrigerator or garage was ruined, and as soon as I replace the empty CO2 bottle (tomorrow) I'll be able to drink the otnew beer I have on tap (stout). The bad news, besides the obvious, is that my garage smells like a frat house on Sunday morning.
I learned an important lesson, and I share this in the hope that others can learn from my stupidity and not lose almost all of a brand new keg. I'm brewing a replacement right now.
Home brewery is now complete. Our garage has had a car inside it once in the past 18 years so the wife allowed me to convert half of it to a home brewery. To help convince her I said her refrigerator/freezer for storing fresh juice and frozen berries could be there along with the plastic jugs she uses for transporting freshly mashed apple juice. She also doesn't like beer or the smell of brewing beer which helped secure the OK. I should confess I store my hops in "her" berry freezer. I also hope to use some of her berries in a recipe and convince her to make some cider with some of her juice
I'm not a DIY type of guy so I can't take credit for the craftsmanship; only the ideas and the installation of shelves.
Key aspects of brewery: * SS table - bought used from a reseller * Water valve under table for connecting carbon water filter or spray hose for cleaning bigger items. It has separate control valves for hot and cold allowing to get desired temperature. * Plenty of outlets above table for Braumeister, pump, ... A switch to control a plug where pump will be plugged in and in-wall channel for running the corresponding wire to a chugger pump that will be mounted on lower wooden shelf * Exhaust fan for extracting steam and vent in door for allowing replacement air when the exhaust is on. * A lot of tile and a floor drain for easy cleaning * Plenty of plugs for refrigerators and (inkbird) control unit * The small refrigerator holds 2 ball-lock kegs. I plan to get another for fermenting with the SS conical * wired network from main house
Instagram pic cause I can't find a way to copy the link from Imgur with my cellphone..
Beers are in the refrigerator and I'm going to drink both of them during the weekend. Thanks all for the support
Hey everyone! I’m about to start gathering supplies for my first brew session in over a few years. I was concentrating on what to do with my beer when it’s ready for packaging, and I’d really like to dive into kegging.
I’ve got a eBIAB system that I can put out anywhere between 2 gallon-4 gallon batches, but I do like staying around the 2.5 gallon mark for simplicity and variety. Also, I don’t have a keezer yet, but I do plan on building a small one (5-7 cu. ft.) as soon as I can.
In the mean time, I’m wondering if you’d have any recommendations on kegs that’d fit my needs (and future needs) and that would fit into a typical kitchen refrigerator. We have a second fridge out in the garage that sits mostly empty right now that I’m wondering if I could use to house a small keg or two. I also can’t modify it completely to turn it into a kegerator.
This morning I woke up to find my trippel has finally melted all the ice in its ice bath and reached equilibrium with its bath at 45F. This is my first time using gelatin, and first time cold crashing.
As it turns out, my fermentation stalled and needed to be restarted, so my tilt arrived before it finished....so... here is your data porn... http://ift.tt/2gUqjGY
The SG was bouncing between 23 and 22 and favoring 22 before the ice bath, the ice bath seems to be driving the trend up very slightly.
My intended FG was actually 20, but, I also caught a few errors I made, that lead me to expect it higher. Specifically my OG was at the top of my high range (1.090) yet, I am pretty sure I forgot to adjust for temp (so likelu 1.092 or 3) AND messed up my volume and missed adding a half gallon of make-up water giving me a 4.5 gallon batch.
The total is NOW 5 gallons, but the extra volume was made up by re-pitching a beastly starter which started at 1.040 so shouldn't really move SG down much.
Need more ice.... or, a refrigerator.
I live in Panama, is very hot here, like 30 C (86F)degrees all the year. I am planning to buy a Catalyst fermenter, and my refrigerator where i use to brew is not big enough to hold the size. Is there a yeast suitable for this temperatures, or a method to keep the fermenter relative cool in a place like a walking closet? something yo recommend me to use without buying a new refrigerator? Thanks in advance and sorry about my poor english
Hi Everyone, I'm brand new to homebrewing (brewed my first batch from a kit 10 days ago) so please excuse my naivete. The one thing I've been reading over and over again is how important temperature control is for brewing so I was looking for ways to build a fermentation chamber when I came across this on craigslist.
Basically the local habitat for humanity stores got a donation of used laboratory refrigerators with temperature control that can be set between 4 and 14C. They were selling them for $75 each so I decided to buy one after confirming that it would be tall enough for my 6 gallon carboy with airlock. It also seemed to have pretty accurate temperature sensing when I verified with another thermometer.
My plan is to use this in future batches for lagering and cold crashing and I think if I got a warming element like a fermwrap and hooked it up to a controller I could probably make it more versatile for other fermentation types as well. So what do you all think, did I make a good investment for my new brewing hobby? or are the temperature control set points going to be too low to be useful?
I've brewed 10 ciders so far. These are 5 gallon batches and I've always crushed 5 campden tablets and added to the fermenter all at once after fermentation is complete. I let that sit for a week or so and then I keg the cider.
The last few ciders have had a strong sulphur smell.
I recently read a recipe in BYO magazine on hopped ciders. I followed the recipe there and it talks about only adding a single tablet per day until the free sulphites are 0.5-0.8 ppm molecular SO2. The article says this is to protect against spoilage. It references an online calculator at http://ift.tt/2xEuO32 I've tried using this calculator after using a PH paper (very inaccurate). The calculator always says 0.25 tablets. I've tried setting the values in the calculator to all kinds of numbers but it always says 0.25 tablets, so obviously I don't trust it.
Hi r/Homebrewing, new-ish brewer here with a question about yeast. I purchased some White Labs Saison yeast about a month and a half ago from my local homebrew supply store. Its been stored in a extra refrigerator in the basement. Is it too old to use? If i make a starter will I be ok? If so, how do i make a starter?
I'm converting a side by side refrigerator into a kegerator w/ 2 taps. I'm imagining I can fit 2 1/6 barrels in there...anyway, I'm looking for a recommendation for the best brand of kit to buy...help me out
I'm converting a side by side refrigerator into a kegerator w/ 2 taps. I'm imagining I can fit 2 1/6 barrels in there...anyway, I'm looking for a recommendation for the best brand of kit to buy...help me out
So I need some help... I'm stumped on this one. I made a 10G batch of Schwarzbier last Saturday and split the batch to use two different yeasts: Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils & Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager. Before I get to the issue, here is my process... (all temps Fahrenheit) Chill wort to 50 degrees, aerate once cooled, pitch yeast starter that has also been chilled to 50 degrees. Once fermentation starts I adjust temp on refrigerator down to 40 degrees or lower and turn on the heat wraps with separate inkbird controllers to hold 50 degrees with my inkbirds. I've used this process multiple times and I haven't had any issues until now.
Ok, so here's my issue.... 2124 Bohemian Lager initially spiked up to 60 degrees but came right back down to close to 50 degrees. 2278 Czech Pils spiked up to 66-69 degrees and won't come down. I keep ratcheting down the temp for the fridge but am now battling with trying to balance the two fermentation temps and this morning 2124 Bohemian Lager was 47F and 2278 Czech Pils was 67F! So should I be worried about the high initial temps with the 2278 Czech Pils? Should I just be patient as the 2278 Czech Pils temp has to drop eventually... Any other suggestions?
Here are some pics: http://ift.tt/2hP3eZW
Thanks in advance for all of the help/suggestions!
Hi there, I want to modify a refrigerator so the temperature can be regulated to the one required for any given fermentation (so practically between 2°C (35°F) and 25°C (77°F) ). To do this I need a new thermostat to bypass the old one of the fridge, with maybe an extra output relay to attach to a heater.
So my question is or any of you have suggestions as to what thermostat I could be using for this. So far the options I found online are the DIN Autotune Controllers, but the ones that are available to me cost about 4 times as much as the fridge itself would cost me (230€ or 270$). They probably are a little overkill for what I am trying to achieve (I am a newbie to electronics like these). Are there cheaper options?
