BeerBorg

Kealia wrote:7oz of hops? Watch it or Beer-lord will start imposing a hop tax on you. Or show up at your door with a pint glass.

Nah, I put that much in me tea!
Seriously, I've cut back but that looks tasty!

Beer-lord wrote:

Kealia wrote:7oz of hops? Watch it or Beer-lord will start imposing a hop tax on you. Or show up at your door with a pint glass.

Nah, I put that much in me tea!
Seriously, I've cut back but that looks tasty!

hA hA This started out as a Midwest kit extract Hophead double IPA and have changed it a lot, AG and mostly home grown hops, I got a blue ribbon on it last year. It is one of my favorites. I got 1.074 out of projected 1.075 this time but am still working on the boil off rate on this M&B but close enough for me.

75.88 I am good with that. Have got higher with less strike water but not that much. My first batch with this unit was 74 and had a 78 efficacy on the one before this one, But not really looking for the high numbers, but it is fun to try, but like to keep it the same. Next up a full volume as per mashani type on a 3 gal try and see what that brings and sounds easier and faster then what I have been doing

I pitched 3 packs of us-05 @ 68 was warmer then I wanted but knew it would come down fast in my cooler and this morning it was bubbling away @ 63 deg with the ambient at 54. Using a blow-off on this one but will switch to a air lock when things slow down and dry hop.
It took me 30 min to cool down to 68 with 49 deg well water, not only is that a long time but a lot of water usage.. This is pricy but I am going to order one before summer.
https://jadedbrewing.com/collections/fr ... ng-systems

If that chiller is only half as good as the Hydra, you'll love it. Those dudes are crazy smart!

I did a PBW soak this time every thing was a mess, that stuff is a little pricy but works and I don’t do it after every batch



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Beer-lord wrote:If that chiller is only half as good as the Hydra, you'll love it. Those dudes are crazy smart!

I see it is $10 more then the hydra but they built it to fit the all in ones. I was told a Hydra will fit but close and was going to get one, but I think this would be a better way to go if you are going to spend that much money anyways.

I have to decide if I want to spend 70% as much as I did on the M&B on a new chiller like that, and also deal with the fact that my water + sewer bills are 200% higher now then they were last year due to water/sewer projects, or just keep on slow-chilling.

I'm going to do a 95% pilsner beer soon (Kolsch) with a 100 minute boil and a slow-chill, and see if "bad things happen" or not. But the no-chill people seem to have no problems with pilsner as long as they boil 100 minutes, so we will see.

mashani wrote:I have to decide if I want to spend 70% as much as I did on the M&B on a new chiller like that, and also deal with the fact that my water + sewer bills are 200% higher now then they were last year due to water/sewer projects, or just keep on slow-chilling.

I know that is a lot of money for a chiller, I haven't done the math yet but just guessing if my 3/8 25 ft. one takes 30 mins to get down to 68 with full flow. This one at 3/8 75 ft. and more efficient and can cool in under 5 mins will use less water in the long run. I am getting one in the next few weeks and I will do a review and try to calculate the water usage also.

Okay, I'm going for the ultimate slow-chill test for another 3 gallon batch in the Mash & Boil, which will be like hoppy Kolsch.

I have almost 5 gallons of water heating up to 154 for a 147 strike for a light body mash. I used my local water + campden as usual, but treated it with a some calcium chloride, and a little bit of gypsum and table salt to get it closeish to Cologne water. I can't make perfect Cologne water without starting from RO, but I managed to get it closer without throwing anything totally out of whack.

Will do a 90 minute mash @147, and then a 172 degree mashout of:

4.5# Pilsner
9oz Acidulated Malt (needs this much to get my PH right even with the water adjustments)
4oz Munich Malt
4oz Flaked Wheat
1oz Honey Malt

I'm going to do a 100 minute boil, with

0.5oz Tettnang FWH
0.5oz Tettnang @20
1/3rd a whirfloc @10
1.0oz Tettnang @flameout

I'm going to use K-97 (full pack) after it chills, but this will be slow chill the way I've been doing it with the fermentation lid and foam stopper and some foil covering all that. So, if there is a DMS god, then I might be invoking him. But supposedly the no-slow-chill people do fine with a 100 minute boil.

I'll update with actual OGs and such later.

EDIT: Post mash temperature corrected OG was 1.038 at 4.6 gallons of pre-boil volume. That is like 86.8% mash efficiency. Okaaay.... This will end up giving me a 1.050 beer instead of the 1.047ish beer I was going for when its all said and done. So the overall "brewhouse efficiency" since I lose 0.5 gallons to kettle trub will be 75%ish. (I actually really only lose 0.25 if I tilt it, so it is actually higher then that, but I'm brewing at volumes configured in beersmith so that I don't have to, that way if something does go wrong, IE I accidently boil off a bit too much or want to boil it down a bit to obtain a higher FG I have a bit of extra to play with).

I stirred it well at the beginning of the mash, then I just got on my bike and did an FTP test during the first 70 minutes or so of the mash, got off when it was over with (thank god, FTP tests hurt), stirred it once, then stirred it again during the mashout. Otherwise I just ignored it. Because you can't stop in the middle of an FTP test. Nor can you say anything out loud like "hey kid stir that" if your doing it right. Nope, all you can say is "aarrgghh" and that's only in your head.

Anyways, I'll take that kind of efficiency with this process any day.

I'm seeing no reason to fiddle with pumps and continuous recirculation using this process for 3 gallon batches. The thin mash works great. Just make sure you get your mash PH adjusted right because it works out differently then a thick mash. Beersmith does a good job estimating my PH adjustments, I'm always ending up right in the 5.2-5.4 range with the acid additions it calculates for me now that I've got the BIAB/Volumes nailed down for my setup, and my source water profile in there.

FWIW, when I put the above stuff in my fermenter it didn't seem to smell sulfury or like cooked cabbage or creamed corn, nor was they hydro sample offputting in any way like that. So I think I'm good.

mashani wrote:FWIW, when I put the above stuff in my fermenter it didn't seem to smell sulfury or like cooked cabbage or creamed corn, nor was they hydro sample offputting in any way like that. So I think I'm good.

I’ve only brewed a couple of lagers and don’t know what to expect. My second brew on the MB was a German Lager.
I used a full pack of 34-70 that I rehydrated.
The OG was 1.040 and the batch size was 2.5 gallons.
I aerated by swirling the chiller through the wort and letting it spilled the wort through the valve into the fermenter. I had a lot of foam in the wort by the time I hit pitching temperature.
I pitched at 55 degrees and was at that temperature until it was 75% fermented and then I ramped up to 65 degrees.
I held at the final gravity of 1.010 for 4 days.
I transferred to a serving keg that would also be the lagering keg and am holding it at 37 degrees.
This is the fast lagering method.
It is on Co2 and I vent it everyday.

Here’s the main point of my post:
I’ve never smelled such a sulfer,rotten egg smell as when I opened the primary fermenter.
It’s been cold crashed for about a week and the smell is much less but it’s still there. Is this normal or this a bad batch? I’m planning on let it lager and hopefully the sulfer smell will condition out.

Banjo-guy wrote:

mashani wrote:FWIW, when I put the above stuff in my fermenter it didn't seem to smell sulfury or like cooked cabbage or creamed corn, nor was they hydro sample offputting in any way like that. So I think I'm good.

I’ve only brewed a couple of lagers and don’t no what to expect. My second brew on the MB was a German Lager.
I used 34-70 that I rehydrated.
The OG was 1.040 and the batch size was 2.5 gallons.
I aerated by swirling the chiller through the wort and letting it spilled the wort through the valve into the fermenter. I had a lot of foam in the wort by the time I hit pitching temperature.
I pitched at 55 degrees and was at that temperature until it was 75% fermented and then I ramped up to 65 degrees.
I held at the final gravity of 1.010 for 4 days.
I transferred to a serving keg that would also be the lagering keg and am holding it at 37 degrees.
This is the fast lagering method.

Here’s the main point of my post:
I’ve never smelled such a sulfer,rotten egg smell as when I opened the primary fermenter.
It’s been cold crashed for about a week and the smell is much less but it’s still there. Is this normal or this a bad batch? I’m planning on let it lager and hopefully the sulfer smell will condition out.

Yes, that is perfectly normal. I’m not sure why some lagers give off more sulphor than others but there’s no need to worry.

Cold crashing it is the right thing to do. Also, the cold lagering period will also help reduce the sulfur. Patience is the key on lagers!!

Beer-lord wrote:

Banjo-guy wrote:

mashani wrote:FWIW, when I put the above stuff in my fermenter it didn't seem to smell sulfury or like cooked cabbage or creamed corn, nor was they hydro sample offputting in any way like that. So I think I'm good.

I’ve only brewed a couple of lagers and don’t no what to expect. My second brew on the MB was a German Lager.
I used 34-70 that I rehydrated.
The OG was 1.040 and the batch size was 2.5 gallons.
I aerated by swirling the chiller through the wort and letting it spilled the wort through the valve into the fermenter. I had a lot of foam in the wort by the time I hit pitching temperature.
I pitched at 55 degrees and was at that temperature until it was 75% fermented and then I ramped up to 65 degrees.
I held at the final gravity of 1.010 for 4 days.
I transferred to a serving keg that would also be the lagering keg and am holding it at 37 degrees.
This is the fast lagering method.

Here’s the main point of my post:
I’ve never smelled such a sulfer,rotten egg smell as when I opened the primary fermenter.
It’s been cold crashed for about a week and the smell is much less but it’s still there. Is this normal or this a bad batch? I’m planning on let it lager and hopefully the sulfer smell will condition out.

Yes, that is perfectly normal. I’m not sure why some lagers give off more sulphor than others but there’s no need to worry.

It’s the only brew that I’ve done where my wife walked into the garage and said “ What is that awful smell?”