Jim's Beer Kit

vacant wrote: ↑

Wed May 28, 2025 1:00 pm

JohnRB wrote: ↑

Wed May 28, 2025 12:19 pm

What's the best way to clean the inside of the hose?

I drop a piece of string through the hose, tie a bit of rag to the end and pull it back through.

That's rocket science as I like it. Simple and functional. Thank you.

Thanks everyone for your replies. They've prompted me think about not only syphoning but the whole brewing process which after a long break has to be a good thing. Jim was right. I like to transfer from fermenter to bottling bucket and, in the past, have had problems with auto-syphons.I'll try the t...

I'm making a tentaive return to brewing after a long absence. One task I remember not enjoying too much was transfering a brew from one bucket to another. Has technology moved on are people still using a plastic 'auto-syphon' or a length of silicone hose. Advice will be much appreciated. Thank you, ...

I must have a different set of instructions - mine clearly say "stand the fermentor in a warm place (25C) and let ferment for about 10 days". I have these instructions saved as a .PDF, they may have updated them. Interesting! Looks like two completely different sets of instructions. Makes me wonder...

John, How do you `tip out` CO2? New one for me! #-o WA Good question! CO2's heavier than air so if you tilt the fermenter a lot of it will flow out to be replaced by air. Do this a number of times and the the CO2 will be significantly diluted. More importantly this gas will contain a lot more oxyge...

Update: The present gravity is now 1012 and could drop further. I got the fermentation re-started by tipping out the CO2 (heavier than air) and vigourously aerating. A taste this morning sugests, fingers crossed, that I've not introduced an infection.I'll leave well alone until early next week when ...

Brewferm instructions recommend fermenting at 25C (yes, higher than I would have thought) so maybe 19C was a bit low for it? Well that made me re-read the intructions but all is well! The 25C refers to the temperature for re-hydrating the yeast prior to pitching. The instructions then say that ferm...

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the quick reply.
My concern with re-aerating isn't so much oxidation, which I agree shouldn't be a masjor problem, but infection from whatever bugs are in the air.

With 500g of dark candi sugar I hit target OG of 1071. Rehydrated the yeast at 26degC and pitched it at 19degC. Vigorous fermentation kicked off within 12 hours and finished within 3 days. Fermentation temperature was held steady at 19degC. After 5 days (this morning) I had a present gravity of 1030...

My son is keen to resurrect my Massive Brewery which is a 10l BIAB system. He's found all the parts and manual but I seem to have deleted the Excel spreadsheet which is used to calculate mash and sparge volumes. Does anyone have a copy they could share? I know that there are lots of other calcualtor...

That's the first bottle opened. It looks and smells fantastic but the taste is a little one dimensional. As I'd hoped using US05 it's very clean but it's missing much of the wheat beer estery character. Swirling the sediment in didn't make for any improvement. I'll certainly brew this again but will...

I've just bought my first bottle and read the stark safety warnings on the back.

Once diluted do I really need to take great care (wearing gloves/goggles perhaps) or treat it as a bare hands job which I've done with VWP?

shepp wrote:This is interesting.

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-im ... t-results/

Great. Thanks, shepp and Haydnexport! I'll leave this one on the trub and be ultra careful when siphoning to the bottling bucket. Next brew I'll siphon into the fermenter.

Haydnexport wrote:could you not siphon the wort out ?

Now that's a thought! But for yesterday's brew?

My BIAB kettle has no tap so I either pour or jug the wort into the fermenter. Even with a strainer, a lot of trub gets carried over. Question is, once the trub has settled out should I rack to a secondary and risk infection or leave well alone?