Beermann's

[BretBeermann]

Dry Stout #1

 

12 L Batch Size

1,34 kg Golden Promise (Fawcetts)

200 g Roasted Barley

400 g Flaked Barley

 

22 g East Kent Goldings 4,5% (60 min)

 

Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 6 L of 73 C water to mash this beer at 65.5 C, then added water to mash out. Batch sparged once. Total water volume was 19 L. Boiled it for a full hour with a single hop addition. Poured into sanitized keg fermentor and sealed on CO2 to prevent negative pressure from damaging the keg. Left it overnight before putting it in the fridge to chill to 16 C for fermentation. Pitching Fermentum Mobile Irish Darkness (FM13)

 

                

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Belgian Blonde #1 with Montmorency Cherries

 

16 L Batch Size

 

3,5 kg Barke Pilsner

500 g Table Sugar (Sucrose)

 

50 g Mittelfruh 4,7% (30 min)

 

 

Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 10 L of 74 C water to mash this beer at 66 C, then added water to mash out. Batch sparged once. Total water volume was 19 L. Boiled it for a half hour with a single hop addition. Poured into sanitized keg fermentor and sealed on CO2 to prevent negative pressure from damaging the keg. Left it overnight before putting it in the fridge to chill to 20 C for fermentation. Pitching Fermentum Mobile Monk's Meditation (FM25). Racked 9 L into a keg to drink straight. Added 2,5 kg cherries when primary fermentation was finished to the remainder. Bottled both verions.

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Festbier #1

 

12 L Batch Size

 

1,5 kg Barke Pilsner

1,2 kg Barke Vienna

150 g Melanoiden

 

17 g Mittelfruh 4,7% (60 min)

 

 

Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 9 L of 74 C water to mash this beer at 67 C, then added water to mash out. Batch sparged once. Total water volume was 17 L for 16 L total runnings. Boiled it for an hour with a single hop addition. Poured into sanitized 19 L keg fermentor and sealed on CO2 to prevent negative pressure from damaging the keg. Left it overnight before putting it in the fridge to chill to 12 C.

 

Fermented it 4 days at 12 C, before removing it to ambient and kegging at a week. Drank a decent amount of it off the tap. Contains a nice malty backbone, low hop presence, with very good drinkability. Still needs some time to clear so I bottled the remainder off with a beer gun and put it in the cellar (12 C) to age.

 

 

Brewed on 07.01.2017

Edytowane 5 Lutego 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Doppelbock #1

 

12 L Batch Size

 

3,5 kg mix of Munich/Vienna

150 g Melanoiden malt

150 g Caramunich II

 

30 g Tettnang (60 min)

 

Pushed my gear to the limit with this beer. Intended for it to use more grain, but couldn't manage in my time constraints that day. Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 10 L of 74 C water to mash this beer at 66 C, then sparged it as much as I could not to overdo my kettle. Boiled it long, to get it down to a suitable volume and gravity. Ended up around 18 BLG in gravity. Added one bittering addition for the last 60 minutes of the boil. Racked to a clean keg for no-chilling overnight. Dumped through a sanitized funnel into the fermentor with the yeast cake from the festbier. Fermented it a week before kegging. Bottled as much as I could so that my wife wouldn't drink it all. One of her favorites, but will benefit from some aging. 12 bottles of various sizes labeled and in the cellar for later.

 

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Session Dunkel #1

 

12 L Batch Size

 

1,25 kg mix of Munich/Vienna

75 g Melanoiden malt

75 g Caramunich II

 

6 g Challenger (60 min)

 

Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 6 L of 74 C water to mash this beer at 66 C, then sparged it with the remainder of my 19 L of liquor. Boiled it long, to get it down to a suitable volume and gravity. Ended up around 18 BLG in gravity. Added one bittering addition for the last 60 minutes of the boil. Racked to a clean keg for no-chilling overnight. Dumped through a sanitized funnel into the fermentor with the yeast cake from the festbier and doppelbock. Fermented it in my cellar at 12 C.

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

I bottle off of a keg. It takes less time and is cleanlier than using a bottling bucket. If I want to bottle condition, I can still prime in the keg and fill using my setup. It takes me little time, whereas many people find bottling to be a chore.

 

I begin by setting up my equipment. I've got my things stored in the cellar. It takes me 5 minutes or so to take two trips down and get everything put together.

Sanitizing bottles and putting them on the tree takes a few seconds a bottle. Couple minutes for a whole batch. I keep sanitizer on hand for sanitizing my kegerator, and purging equipment, so there is no need to make a new batch. I use demineralized water from the store (5 L bottles) and add the Star San right into the container, filling my smaller containers from this (stored in the cellar).

I use a carbonator cap and PET bottle with sanitizer to sanitize and purge things, including the beer gun. If you invert the bottle, sanitizer is pushed through the lines. You can leave it sit for 30 seconds, turn the bottle right-side-up and then purge using the CO2 in the headspace. I refill the CO2 pressure in the bottle after a session of filling, but it is enough for all the purging and sanitizing needed before I put things away.

 

 

Filling the first bottle causes a bit of foaming, but it is still acceptable and I cap on foam. If it isn't 9 AM like today, then I just drink the first bit to chill the lines down.

 

 

The second bottle on look great. No need to chill your bottles, the cold beer and wet glass are enough to keep foaming minimal. 

 

 

I can close the door on my 3/16 ID line without it pinching the line. I bottle with the door closed.

 

 

7 PSI (0,5 bar) isn't too much, and leads to a pretty quick fill.

 

 

Carbonation is great, oxidation is minimal, and the beer looks great having come out of the keg, carbonated, without any yeast sediment.

 

 

Today's filling session took me under an hour. During this time I:

Got all my gear out

Sanitized what was needed (Caps, Gun, Bottles)

Bottled off a keg

Sanitized the Beer Gun and beer lines in the kegerator

Hooked up a new keg and filled the lines

Cleaned my kegerator interior, countertop, drip tray, and tower

Put all my equipment away

Drank the 250 mL of beer that didn't quite fill a bottle and what was left in the lines

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Foreign Extra Stout

 

12 L Batch Size

 

3,4 kg Golden Promise

200 g Black Roasted Barley

170 g 80 L

170 g 40 L

135 g Chocolate Malt

 

65 g East Kent Goldings (60 min)

 

 Brewed with sulfited water to remove chlorine/chloramines. Mashed in with 11 L of 75 C water to mash this beer at 67 C, then sparged it with the remainder of my 19 L of liquor and another 4 L sulfited water. Boiled it long, to get it down to a suitable volume and gravity. Ended up around 17 BLG in gravity. Added one bittering addition for the last 60 minutes of the boil. Racked to a clean keg for no-chilling overnight. Dumped through a sanitized funnel into the fermentor with a starter of Irladzkie Ciemności. Fermented at 19 C.

 

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Today I decided to try out my new InterTap faucet's ball lock spout for bottling. I hooked up the beer gun directly to the faucet and filled without issue. The faucet and the height of the fill (due to low foaming) are noted below. I did not adjust pressure from serving pressure.

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

I recently set out to upgrade my Celli tower faucets to something which forward seals. The price and versatility of the InterTap faucets made them an easy choice. For less than the price of a Perlick 630SS (no compensator) I was able to grab the InterTap Flow Control faucets. I've only installed one (the other is in the US until I get it this July) but ran into an issue when I found that the threading on faucets is a larger diameter here in Europe. So, I needed to replace my shanks with stainless US shanks. I ordered them for about 40 PLN a piece, and my mother forwarded me them in the mail. Enter, next issue. The shanks for a Celli tower are recessed to form a seal with an o-ring at the tower. 

 

 

I needed to find someone to help me get them lathed out to match the EU shanks. Luckily, someone here on the forums was able to have a friend of his lathe out my US shanks to look like this.

 

 

Finally, I was able to upgrade my faucets to something which works much better (no sticking) than the Celli faucets I had gotten before.

 

[BretBeermann]

Belgian Blonde #2

 

16 L Batch Size

 

3,5 kg Golden Promise

500 g Table Sugar (Sucrose)

 

50 g Mittelfruh 4,7% (30 min)

 

Rebrewed this beer with FM26 Belgiskie Pagórki to see the difference. Switched to Golden Promise as I'm trying to use up an old sack of malt. Fermented it under pressure at about 10 PSI, and let it build up to 25 to naturally carbonate later in fermentation. Same fermentation schedule otherwise, same mash schedule. Lots of great esters came off on this beer. Slight peppery bite in my first samples. Cleared up nicely after a few months in the keg. Nice balanced bitterness, easy drinker. Little bit more phenolic than I usually aim for, so I will probably ferment it a bit cooler next time.

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Belgian Single #1

 

12 L Batch Size

 

1,8 kg Golden Promise

300 g Table Sugar (Sucrose)

250 g CaraBelge

125 g Carapils

125 g Special B

100 g Biscuit

75 g Carafa II Special

75 g Melanoiden

 

7,3 g Challenger (60 min)

13 g East Kent Goldings (60 min)

 

Brewed this beer on the cake from my blonde and saw an active krausen within a few hours. Fermented hard the first day, but the temperature seemed to cause it to stall around 4 BLG. I brought it upstairs to warm up and fermentation restarted and pressure built up to 35 PSI before I noticed and spunding it appropriately. Mashed in with 7 L of 77 C water. Did not sulfite, to see how it affected the beer using straight tap water. Sparged with hot water from the tap. Hit 14 BLG post-boil.

 

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Hefeweizen #1

 

16 L Batch Size

 

3 kg Wheat Malt

1,2 kg Golden Promise

 

23 g Tettnanger(60 min)

 

FM41 Gwoździe i Banany

 

Brewed this beer Mashed in with 12 L of 77 C sulfited water. Sparged to reach 21 L into the kettle. Gravity of 8 L of first running was 17 BLG. Gravity of 13 L of second runnings was around 7 BLG. Boiled an hour with the hops before allowing it to no-chill in the basement. Racked to bucket with spigot and newly installed Ball Lock bulkhead. Fermenting first 24-36 hours without the lid on to promote banana esters, then covering and eventually closed racking with the new equipment into a keg.

 

 

Decided to mash up some starter wort in the pressure cooker while I was brewing. Filled 7 x 500 mL bottles with only about 100 mL left over. Guess I aimed that perfectly. 

 

 

First time using my newly made false bottom in the pressure cooker. Got it going while my boil was on so that I didn't waste any more time getting starter wort ready. 

 

 

And the fermentor

 

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[bart3q]

False bottom works good?

[BretBeermann]

Does what it needs to, thanks. Used it twice this weekend for starter wort.

[sugarsweet]

Bret, what is the purpose of ball lock mounted on fermentor lid?

[BretBeermann]

Bret, what is the purpose of ball lock mounted on fermentor lid?

 

I set it up so that I could closed transfer with my CO2 tank instead of using gravity. I hooked it up to my spare regulator/tank downstairs and moved 8 L to the keg, allowing me to brew slightly larger batches at times and still closed transfer (and only transfer part) into my 9 L kegs. Picture below:

 

[sugarsweet]

hahaha, laziness level 10 ;-)

Forgot that BA fermentors are so hermetic... my first one was maybe from brewferm, and there CO2 always had an exit even with lid tightly closed

[BretBeermann]

hahaha, laziness level 10 ;-)

Forgot that BA fermentors are so hermetic... my first one was maybe from brewferm, and there CO2 always had an exit even with lid tightly closed

 

More to keep out O2 than laziness. It would be easier to just rack it under gravity, for sure.

[BretBeermann]

Ordinary Bitter #1

 

12 L Batch Size

 

2 kg Fawcett's Golden Promise

225 g Caramel 80 L

75 g Brown Malt

 

20 g East Kent Golding (FWH)

8 g East Kent Golding (30 min)

7 g East Kent Golding (0 min)

 

Wyeast 1968 London ESB

 

Mashed in with 7 L of water to hit 67 C. Mashed for an hour. Sparged to collect 16 L of 7 BLG runnings. Boiled down to 12 L at 9.5 Plato. No-chilled in a keg, before pitching a previously prepared starter that sat in the fridge 48 h. 

 

Brewed 15.06.2017

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Extra Strong Bitter #1

 

8 L Batch Size

 

2 kg Fawcett's Golden Promise

200 g Caramunich II

125 g CaraPils

75 g Aromatic

 

40 g East Kent Golding (FWH)

15 g East Keng Golding (0 min)

 

Wyeast 1968 London ESB

 

Mashed in with 12 L of water to hit 66 C. Mashed for an hour. Full-volume mash. No-chilled, and pitched with slurry from 1968.

 

Brewed 25.06.2017

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

Northern English Brown #1

 

10 L Batch Size

 

2 kg Fawcett's Golden Promise

200 g Flaked Barley

75g Caramunich II

150 g Brown Malt

65 g Pale Chocolate

 

26 g Fuggles(FWH)

 

Wyeast 1968 London ESB

 

Mashed in with 14 L of water to hit 69 C. Mashed for an hour. Full-volume mash. Came out with 12 L at 11.3 BLG. No-chilled, and pitched with slurry from 1968.

 

Brewed 07.06.2017

 

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

English Barleywine #1

 

10 L Batch Size

 

4,6 kg Fawcett's Golden Promise

270 g Caramunich II

360 g Caramel 80 L

 

74 g Fuggles (FWH)

10 g Centennial (FWH)

 

Wyeast 1968 London ESB

 

Mashed in with 15 L of water to hit 66 C. Mashed for 90 minutes. Sparged with 3,5 L of water to collect 14 L pre-boil. Came out with 10 L at 25.5 BLG. No-chilled, and pitched with slurry from 1968.

 

Brewed 11.07.2017

 

Edytowane 10 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[BretBeermann]

I finally finished my kegerator project today. It took me a while to get to it with everything else I've had to deal with over the last year since I moved. I had it functional until the spring, when I finally disassembled it before I went on vacation. I picked up the last pieces when I got back and got around to building it today. I used an AMICA 16162 inbuilt fridge. I bought a pair of 2.5 gallon Torpedo Slimline kegs which fit with a normal 6 kg tank without any modifications. Using 2 AEB 2.5 gallon kegs won't let you close the door. Using one AEB and one Slimline just fits but doesn't allow you to use the door shelving. 

 

My first issue was with the cabinet. I originally meant to put it in a standard kitchen cabinet with undercounter fridge from IKEA to match the kitchen. Turns out, that fridges not from IKEA won't quite fit. I abandoned that idea, and decided I'd have to cut down a 140 cm fridge to 100 cm to fit the fridge. Then I was able to use a 100 cm Bodbyn front to match my new kitchen. 

 

My second issue was with the shanks, as mentioned before. To move to InterTap faucets on a Cobra tower required me to get US shanks, which are not made to match the recess of a Cobra tower. I ended up getting help from a friend on the forums to lathe them out to match the tower. After that, I was able to install two InterTap flow control faucets without issue. They work great.

 

 

My third issue was with the IKEA installers. They wouldn't assemble it for me since I wouldn't let them attach it to the wall. They worried about it falling over (which isn't a concern based on dimensions). So I had to borrow some tools from a friend to cut the cabinet down to size. 

 

My last issue was with the door on the cabinet. Unfortunately, the bracket for the fridge interfered with the bottom hinge. I bent the top wing up on the hinge and ended up only installing it on one screw into the cabinet. The other two hinges should give it enough support anyways.

 

 

I had to use a jigsaw as it was the only thing available. It worked well enough, and made an especially nice cut on the masking panels.

 

 

I lined up the piece I had cut off and drilled through it to match the pattern for the bottom which was missing.

 

 

The top and bottom went on without an issue.

 

 

I installed the metal brackets a bit too high at first, and had to lower them one more placement. It left just a small space below the fridge for storage. I will probably put my large cutting board there.

 

 

I assembled the door and put the masking panels on before installing the fridge.

 

 

After using a spade bit to make a hole to fit the tower and counter, I was able to assemble it. The door was pretty simple to attach to the cabinet front, and I was able to hook up two kegs without issue. One last upgrade I made before being finished was to install some 90 degree John Guest fittings so that my beer line came out horizontal and was less prone to leaking from being pushed to the side.

 

Edytowane 2 Września 2017 przez BretBeermann

[Alexy]

Well done! It looks fantastic!!! Many good pours!

 

And yeah, IKEA sucks when you try to fit something non-IKEA 

[BretBeermann]

In the U.S., wort is often "canned" for safe storage to be used for yeast starters without having to heat and cool a wort using expensive and difficult to store DME. We tend to use mason jars, a common item similar to the Weck-style jars in Europe. In order to inhibit botulism toxin formation, pressure and heat must be used to destroy any spores. Without a pressure cooker/canner it is impossible to know your wort is safe. Although the risks are low, it is worth investing the small amount in reasonable equipment to protect one's life. Here in Poland, borosilicate lab jars are affordable (labglas.pl has good prices). These jars are autoclavable, allowing them to be sterilized in pressurized cookers. They act as a great substitute for mason jars, and do not have metal components which can oxidize. 

 

 

My 12-liter pressure cooker can fit 7 x 500 mL Labglas.pl autoclavable bottles without issue. I adapted a perforated flat false bottom for use in the cooker, keeping the jars off the bottom. The bottom of the cooker is filled with water to create the humidity necessary to sterilize.

 

 

When making a typical batch with wort suitable for starters, mashing more grain and using some of the runnings for this purpose is ideal. Starter wort should be between 7-10 BLG for optimal yeast propogation. Small mashes on the side can be a quick project for producing starter wort as well. In my setup, I am capable of running the pressure cooker next to my boil kettle, doing both at once.

 

 

Pre-boiling the starter wort helps drop out proteins in the hot break, but is not necessary. If you use the wort directly from the mash, it will have more sediment. With these bottles and their neck (unlike Mason jars) it is easy to keep most of the sediment in the bottle when pouring into your flask or other starter container.

 

 

I use a funnel to fill the bottles. If you fill them to the top, they will boil over during pressure cooking. Even at these kinds of levels, you will lose some wort in some cases. If you attempt to depressurize the cooker before it has cooled down completely, the change in pressure will cause them to boil over more than usual. It is best to make a batch matching the size of your pressure cooker, and let it sit overnight. The lids should be placed on and turned partially so that they are not fully sealed, but stay on the bottle.

 

 

Once they are cool, open the cooker and tighten down the lids. Wash the jars off and store them. I open 2-3 and dump them into a sanitized flask and pitch the yeast directly.

 

 

 

 

Edytowane 21 Kwietnia 2018 przez BretBeermann