LBK capacity question

[bpgreen]

I'm going to preface my question with a bit of an explanation. I think I've already mentioned ir, but i was in a serious accident a little now than a year ago. A truck ran a stop sign and hit me while i was riding a bicycle.

I'm mostly recovered, but still have some lingering effects, like not being as strong as i was. My brain also bounced around inside my head a bit, so I've got some memory and cognition issues. That leads to my question.

I want to try brewing a batch (or a couple of them) after i bottle stone beer that has been fermenting quite a while. I thought i remembered that the LBK has a capacity of 2.4 gallons. When i look at the markings on the end, the biggest I see is 8.5 qt, which is only 2.125 gallons. I *think* I remember that somebody overfilled to a specific spot, then measured and came up with 2.4 gallons.

Am i remembering correctly, or is this a figment of my imagination? It wouldn't surprise me if it's not a real memory. My memory problems are odd. I'll forget things that happened, but I'll also remember things that didn't happen.

If I'm remembering correctly, where do I fill to in n order to reach 2.4 gallons?

If I'm not remembering correctly, it's not a big deal. I'll just make a batch that's 8.5 qt. It would be nice to get a little more than another quart out of a batch, though.

I'm pretty sure i can maneuver 2.4 gallons (that's basically how I'll bottle the batches in the basement-- transfer to LBK and bottle half a batch or almost half at a time).

[FrozenInTime]

I always did mine to a planned 2 gallons. I have not had one for quite a while, wasn't there a mark on one end showing fill level which was 2 gallons?

I think after a hiatus of brewing, I'd start out at recommended size/ingredients until I got back into brewing. You can fill it up for a slightly bigger batch but, it would depend on how much ferment-able sugar was involved and the yeast. If your unsure, don't forget to put the LBK in a rubber maid container or cooler to catch your over flow if it happens. IMHO

Are you doing a kit, or doing an old recipe of your own?

[FrozenInTime]

I also let mine sit in the LBH close to 3 weeks. It's small enough, I would place it in the fridge for 3 days to settle all the solids out before bottling, I'd get very clear beer. I would also make sure I put the sugar for carbonation in the bottle first as beer in a bottle does not like having sugar dumped in after..... always acted like a volcano.... LOL

[FrozenInTime]

after i bottle stone beer that has been fermenting quite a while.

Quick question, this beer you need to bottle, how long has it been sitting in a carboy? Did you do these before your accident, if so, honestly after this long, I would dump it and start over. You might even have infected carboys/LBK after sitting full that long, I found when that happened to me, I could never get them dis-infected and had to throw them away. If so, I'd recommend buying new ones from our sponsor, they are not expensive but ruining a couple batches of beer using old carboys could be spendy in the end. IMHO

[bpgreen]

Last comment first. The wort (I guess since it's fermented, it's considered beer) has been in the fermenters (plastic buckets) for at least a year. My original plan was that i would throw them out when i could get them upstairs. Then my brother told me he forgot about a batch for a year and decided to keg it and the results were ok. He did say that it wasn't really what he'd call really good, but he drank it, and so did people who came over, and nobody complained, so he considered it acceptable. I'm not really physically up to kegging, so I'm going to bottle. And I'm looking for ways to make it easy, so I'm using carb drops. I actually bought a sodastream to "keg" a little. The sofastream will likely go to my daughter after this experiment (she has another one and likes it). If it works really well, i may just keep it. I'm not expecting the beer to be good, but I'll settle for barely drinkable.

I'm in Utah, after all.

Until recently, anything above 3.2 was only available at state owned stores. Now, i think the limit is 6 (maybe 5; that's what's in the fridge now). Oh. The 3.2 was abw, which is about 4 abv, so the increase wasn't as big as people thought.

I'm definitely planning to toss the fermenters. They're plastic buckets that came from Costco filled with oatmeal and or wheat. I probably have a half dozen empty buckets. If i need to replace the lids, I'll get them at the lhbs. I'm planning on buying some other stuff there for some quick smaller extract batches.

For my first couple od batches, I'm actually doing 1.5 gallon "pinter" batches from prehopped kits.i *think* these are dump ingredients in, wait a couple of weeks, stick in the fridge, serve. They ferment, carbonate, and serve in one container.

I'm probably going to do a couple more extract batches, maybe even in the pinters, but using my own ingredients. I'll probably buy some lme at the brew store in salt lake, but I'll have to buy it on line or over the phone and have my daughter pick it up. They have free delivery for orders another a certain amount, but i don't think i want to deal with that much lme geting delivered. I have a *lot* of hops. Maybe 6-8 oz homegrown and a couple of pounds I bought in bulk deals.

Once I've done a few pinter batches (some of their recipes, some with extract and hops on hand) and feel up to it, I've got a bunch of 5 lb bags of 2 row and some c60. I can't see doing a mash for 1.5 gallons, but maybe for an lbk sized batch. But at that point, the 2.4 vs 2.125 starts to make a difference. The recipe won't change much, but it would be nice to get a little more at the end of the process. But that could well be next summer.

For some reason, I've got about 50 small (3g) packets of Mangrove Jack M44 yeast. It says us west coast ale on the package, so i thought maybe a chico strain, but online consensus seems to be that it's similar to pacman, but not quite the same. Still seems like a good choice for a variety of beer styles. 3g seems pretty small, so my guess is it was something like mr beer, brewdemon, beer machine, etc. It was probably supposed to be 3g for a 2-3 gallon batch, but I'll use more than that (especially since i have so much).

I meant to ask. You mentioned buying from our sponsor. Who is that? If i need things, I'd rather support companies that support us.

[FrozenInTime]

Brew Demon is, I think... been a while since I've done any beer supply shopping.

Sounds like you pretty much remember brewing, cool, have fun.

When I used to do 2.5 gallon brewing, I would usually do all grain as a BIAB. I've always disliked using LME, for some reason I always ended up scorching the bottom of the pans.

[bpgreen]

I got pretty good at using LME before i went all grain. My lhbs sold it in bulk for something like $15 for a 6 lb container if you bought a certain amount and brought your own containers. They now sell the 6 lb containers for $22. I don't know if they still offer a discount for bigger amounts when you supply the containers. I'm hoping i don't have to do extract very long, and i can't drive there yet (I'm going to buy it and have my daughter pick it up), so it may be a moot point.


I'm going to do a couple of batches with the pinter (prehopped extract) then use the pinter for some extract batches. Maybe by that time, I'll be able to handle the lbk and all grain. Then, maybe I'll get back to 5 gallon batches. I'm just not able to handle the volume or the work yet, but I'm geting better.

[mashani]

I used to do 2.4 gallon batches in my LBKs but I don't remember the exact fill level. But it's possible, except if using a true top cropping yeast that makes huge krausen.