# The one thing to improve your brewday and quality of beer....



## Brewno Marz (23/3/17)

Being new to brewing I am keen to learn and get advice on how to improve my brewday and, of course, the quality of the end product. So, as they say, "every day is a school day" and for me and all those others keen to learn, please pass on that one piece of advice, that one pearl of wisdom, that made your brew day run smoother or delivered that imorovement in quality! It could be a change in technique, discovery of a cheaper alternative, modification to equipment, or advice from someone else.

For me, the one thing that vastly improved my brewday was involving my wife in the brewday planning, recipe selection and brewing. It also meant I wasn't planning a brew on the same day she was planning a picnic in the hinterland! 

What is the one thing, the one change you made, that improved the quality of your beer or made your brewday run that much smoother?

I know you all have lots of great advice to pass on, but take the challenge and nominate just ONE thing (Ok matbe two if they're really good)


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## Stouter (23/3/17)

-Prior proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance and Peter Piper picking pickled peppers.
-Temp control on your fermenting process.
Sorry thats two.


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## labels (23/3/17)

The first step to quality beer is to realise that human beings don't make beer.

Your job is to make a really nice wort and then tend to your billions of pets called yeast and give them the happiest environment in which to live.

Then you will get nice beer


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## Danscraftbeer (23/3/17)

Recorded notes in detail of your brewing experiences. Give brews your ratings. Then re read and check older notes.


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## Adr_0 (23/3/17)

Given you're In Brissie, I would say dechlorination of water with vitamin c (powdered).


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## pimpsqueak (23/3/17)

Don't crack the first beer until AFTER the boil has started.


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## earle (23/3/17)

Not getting funked up uptown. 

Also, fill your water the night before and set a timer so you can just get up and mash in. Cuts down time waiting for water to heat on brew day.


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## Brewno Marz (23/3/17)

love the humour...still laughing at some of the replies, especially Stouter's and Pimpsqueak's.


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## Tex083 (23/3/17)

Double brew day, sounds crazy but you can mash in the 2nd beer as the 1st has finished sparging. This adds 1.5hrs to my brew day and I get double the wort.

And pumps man they make things easy


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## Jack of all biers (23/3/17)

One thing? Research the hobby thoroughly before changing anything.

In other words, read. Learn how to use the search function on this site. Read some more. Learn from others, but don't believe everything you read, practice, read, learn, practice, read, learn, then :chug: (that's thorough research)


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## Brewno Marz (23/3/17)

What search function?


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## Jack of all biers (23/3/17)

I'm going to assume you're not taking the piss and answer that. At the top of the site under the sponsor advertisements is a search box with the word 'Search' in it. 

EDIT - http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/77444-searching-on-ahb/ It's the first thread on the Welcome page and will tell you how to use it.


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## mtb (23/3/17)

1. Temp control
2. Temp control


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## Grott (23/3/17)

I found having a set procedure that I do every time so I can almost do it in my sleep.


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## Brewno Marz (23/3/17)

Jack of all biers said:


> I'm going to assume you're not taking the piss and answer that. At the top of the site under the sponsor advertisements is a search box with the word 'Search' in it.


 thanks. I'm from the telex era (yes, pre-fax) so what most people take for granted in IT world is not so for me!


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## rude (23/3/17)

1 thing
If it was that easy that would be nice
No magic bullet but as you collect information & progress different things matter more at that time
But you said 1 so I'll say reading this site AHB has helped me immensely


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## Mardoo (23/3/17)

The brewday is only the beginning. See labels' response and go from there.

Don't complicate your recipes. Keep it simple, and your chances of brewing a beer that will make you throw that "I love you man!" smile to your glass of your beer increase exponentially. Three malts, no more, in general. As you work on a recipe and gain knowledge you can add more malts to add nuance, if you wish. But fewer malts tend to make better beer. I wasted two years learning this. It's often said, and totally true. Masters like Matt Brynildson are the ones who can add 9 malts for effect, and even he tries to keep it simple.


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## malt junkie (23/3/17)

My brew days are pretty good, aircon would be nice but to really improve the day and the beer being produced, naked pole dancers to do the hop additions.

Alas SWMBO said maybe ... I said ok, so long as your willing to continue drinking slightly less than Awesome beer.....

Now Just need a spot to install the poles :blink:


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## WarmerBeer (23/3/17)

Metal.

No, jazz.

No, bluegrass.

Oh, dammit, tunes. You need good tunes.


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## Droopy Brew (23/3/17)

Take your pants off.

It offers a variety of advantages but if nothing else it keeps the kids and missus away so you can concentrate on making beer.


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## mtb (23/3/17)

I second both metal and sans-pants.


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## Black Devil Dog (23/3/17)

I like metal pants.


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## Brewno Marz (23/3/17)

Rookie error. I got the missus to take off her pants....no brewing that day


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## mtb (23/3/17)

Time it during the mash!


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## malt junkie (23/3/17)

mtb said:


> Time it during the mash!


Reported!


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## Adr_0 (24/3/17)

mtb said:


> Time it during the mash!


I'm able to time it during the transfer to the kettle...


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## Dan Pratt (24/3/17)

The one thing that makes better beer, experience! 

The more often you brew, the more you will understand your ingredients and processes.


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## zeggie (24/3/17)

First big tip was temp control. All the magic happens in fermentation. You can turn the best wort into crap beer if the temps aren't right.

Second, water. Filter, treat, use Bru'n water or EZ water spreadsheet.

Third, oxygen is the enemy. Try and get your DO as little as possible. Take care transferring and purging.


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## manticle (24/3/17)

3 things.
Reading
Brewing
Tasting.
Repeat


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## malt junkie (24/3/17)

Hot water ..... no brewer has ever said 'I had too much hot water on hand' Make that HLT huge.


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## good4whatAlesU (24/3/17)

Time.

Don't be impatient.

Allow brews to ferment out and age properly.


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## JDW81 (24/3/17)

WarmerBeer said:


> No, bluegrass.


I don't agree. There's nothing like listening to bluegrass while brewing to honour the memory of our moonshinin' forefathers.

Oh, and you need a blue milk crate. Grey is OK, blue is better.


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## LorriSanga (24/3/17)

Keep the yeast happy - all important processes that lead to that goal. Pitching rates, aeration, temp control, enough fermentation time. 
Get that right and you will taste the recipe for what it is.


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## Adr_0 (24/3/17)

zeggie said:


> Third, oxygen is the enemy. Try and get your DO as little as possible. Take care transferring and purging.


To further clarify this, you want oxygen away from your wort/beer at all times except for the couple of hours around yeast pitching/lag phases.

Oxygen before this will stale the wort, dulling the fresh/bright flavours. 

Oxygen after the yeast has taken off will have the same staling effect in addition to a some extra off flavours, including acetaldehyde.

Oxygen around pitching will improve yeast vitality, producing a cleaner beer (less off flavours) and generally finishing stronger. But that's the only time oxygen is a good thing for beer.


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## mstrelan (24/3/17)

JDW81 said:


> I don't agree. There's nothing like listening to bluegrass while brewing to honour the memory of our moonshinin' forefathers.


I think the comma after "no" was him changing his mind, i.e. "no, not metal, bluegrass is what you want".


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## Adr_0 (24/3/17)

Another one: getting copper out of equipment in contact with wort/beer and replacing with stainless.

Understanding mash pH vs base water and grain makeup (pale, crystal, roast), and chloride:sulphate ratio.


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## Gigantorus (24/3/17)

No1 Rule....clean and sanitise EVERYTHING that comes in contact with your brew.


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## manticle (24/3/17)

mstrelan said:


> I think the comma after "no" was him changing his mind, i.e. "no, not metal, bluegrass is what you want".



Um......death industrial, thanks guys.
And sludge


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## evoo4u (24/3/17)

Adr_0 said:


> Another one: getting copper out of equipment in contact with wort/beer and replacing with stainless.


Food for thought , this one.

My heat exchanger consists of 9 metres of copper tube, and my transfer "wand" over the lip of the kettle and reaching down to the bottom (to avoid splashing and aeration) is also about 700mm of copper tube.

So could you discern a difference in taste if I were to make identical brews, one with the existing setup, and another If I replaced the copper with S/S?


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## malt junkie (24/3/17)

Copper prevents the use of harsh chemical in place cleaning.


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## pcqypcqy (24/3/17)

malt junkie said:


> Copper prevents the use of harsh chemical in place cleaning.


I use a copper immersion chiller. I usually leave it sit in my kettle as I'm recirculating a napisan solution through the kettle, lines and pumps. I then give it a rinse and that's about it. 

Are you more talking about wort in contact with the inside of copper pipes?


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## pcqypcqy (24/3/17)

I'd add a few.

1. Don't try to do too much. Some have suggested double brew days, but don't try it until you're confident in doing one. I'd rather brew twice on separate days then try that again any time soon. Got flustered, didn't have ingredients prepared, lost track of what I was doing a lot. Beers still turned out OK but the brew day wasn't enjoyable.

2. Don't drink. I start early in the morning so I'm on coffee until I'm done.


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## Adr_0 (24/3/17)

evoo4u said:


> Food for thought , this one.
> 
> My heat exchanger consists of 9 metres of copper tube, and my transfer "wand" over the lip of the kettle and reaching down to the bottom (to avoid splashing and aeration) is also about 700mm of copper tube.
> 
> So could you discern a difference in taste if I were to make identical brews, one with the existing setup, and another If I replaced the copper with S/S?


I think if you're going to have any copper, the chiller coil would have the least impact: vs a copper manifold or hard-plumbed copper tubing. The rationale for this is:
-at wort pH and temperature the CuO (oxide) layer will dissolve and dissociate into Cu and O
-the continued contact in a manifold or piping basically oxidises the wort, staling the fresh, punchy flavours
-at 60-70°C the wort can potentially hold ~4ppm dissolved oxygen, vs 0ppm when boiling, so potentially less impact when boiling.

To answer your question, possibly - being more confident if you leave it in for a while and swirl your beer. 

I had hard-plumbed copper, manifold, and chiller with continuous circulation. I compared this to my old 50L keg/drum setups and the malt was always very subdued compared to my old beers - which were typically chilled with copper coils, sometimes not. Since moving to fully stainless there has been a significant improvement in the malt punchiness. Incidentally that wheat doppelbock in the winter case swap was on the copper system - but needed a good chunk of Cara-munich II and a double decoction to have any sort of malt left over.

So I think if you had a manifold and chiller and changed to stainless, yes I could pick it. A chiller only I could pick if you left it in for a while and swirled your wort. 

And yes... Stainless can be cleaned easier and has less potential for surface nasties.


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## malt junkie (24/3/17)

pcqypcqy said:


> I use a copper immersion chiller. I usually leave it sit in my kettle as I'm recirculating a napisan solution through the kettle, lines and pumps. I then give it a rinse and that's about it.
> 
> Are you more talking about wort in contact with the inside of copper pipes?


more around CIP. obviously your copper bits are removed as routine. I caustic the lot every few months, but everything is SS.


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## laxation (28/3/17)

labels said:


> The first step to quality beer is to realise that human beings don't make beer.
> 
> Your job is to make a really nice wort and then tend to your billions of pets called yeast and give them the happiest environment in which to live.
> 
> Then you will get nice beer


This is a real nice Bob Ross sort of thing. I like it 

Creating happy little yeasts...


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## klangers (28/3/17)

No one yet has mentioned something where many an effort is often squandered - packaging your beer. 

The best beer can be undone by poor packaging (bottling or kegging). Oxygen ingress or an unclean bottle can wreak havoc.

Invest in a decent bottle filling apparatus so you get good results without spending half your day doing so. If you're moving into kegging ensure you understand the ins and outs of your kegs, especially the CO2 system.


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## mtb (28/3/17)

klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest


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## Leyther (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
> I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest


I used sodium perc on my kegs, leave them overnight then I use star san before kegging. Whats the issue with Sodium Perc? or you just suggesting you should also santise afterwards? I find Sodium Perc is a ripper cleaner.


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## mtb (28/3/17)

Oh it's great as a cleaner Leyther. Just rinse it out afterwards (as you do with starsan)


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## Matplat (28/3/17)

My most recent step change in beer quality was due to caustic soda.

I now clean all fermenters and taps in 60 degree caustic after every brew, before that I was using sodium perc and would probably loose 1 in 5 brews to infection. Perhaps it was the way I was using the perc, but since changing to hot caustic, nil problems.

On an equal level with cleaning and sanitation, temperature control; second hand fridges are cheap as chips (even free!), seriously minimal investment for a big change in beer quality.

Sorry, nothing revolutionary coming from this corner!


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## Leyther (28/3/17)

Matplat said:


> On an equal level with cleaning and sanitation, temperature control; second hand fridges are cheap as chips (even free!), seriously minimal investment for a big change in beer quality.


I was chatting to someone looking to get into brewing on the weekend, I'm only on about brew no 8 myself so no expert but I reckon that's the biggest thing I've found, I've tipped one which fermented too high and drank another through gritted teeth but since I went temp control they've all come out well.


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## laxation (28/3/17)

klangers said:


> Oxygen ingress
> ....
> 
> Invest in a decent bottle filling apparatus so you get good results without spending half your day doing so. If you're moving into kegging ensure you understand the ins and outs of your kegs, especially the CO2 system.


Could of things... What is oxygen ingress?
How do you best learn the ins & outs of your kegs for a first time filling a keg?




mtb said:


> klangers has a point, if you consider sodium percarbonate a suitable no-rinse sanitiser for your keg, you're gonna have a bad time.
> I'm inclined to install a headstone where 57L of ruined beer was laid to rest


Whats wrong with sodium percarbonate? Keg king suggested it for cleaning and i've been using it to sanitise my fermenter forever...


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## mtb (28/3/17)

laxation said:


> Whats wrong with sodium percarbonate? Keg king suggested it for cleaning and i've been using it to sanitise my fermenter forever...


Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.


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## laxation (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.


what do you use instead?


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## mtb (28/3/17)

perc, heavy rinse, then starsan


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## eungaibitter1 (28/3/17)

grott said:


> I found having a set procedure that I do every time so I can almost do it in my sleep.


Pretty much this and take notes.


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## labels (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> Perc breaks down into - among other things - oxygen. It's fine to sanitise your fermenter with it, because the oxygen is useful, but in a keg it's a real easy way to stale beer quick.


I was always of the understanding that sodium percarbonate breaks down into carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It's a great cleaner, classified as non toxic and is mildly alkaline.
I think the issue here is separating cleaning and sanitation into two distinct processes. Clean first and sanitise afterwards and Star San is the most widely used sanitiser in home brewing.
With reference to using caustic soda, it might do a great job but being so very alkaline it is also a heavy oxidation agent. Dissolves aluminium and can make even the best stainless steel go rusty - something which I would avoid. It is also toxic.


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## wide eyed and legless (28/3/17)

I think that once you get your beer good enough to drink at 10 to 12 degrees C without an overload of hops then you have cracked it.


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## Grott (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> Oh it's great as a cleaner Leyther. Just rinse it out afterwards (as you do with starsan)


Why are you rinsing out your starsan? In the right mix it's non- rinse. I believe if you rinse a sanitiser then the sanitation is only as good as what you rinse it with.


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## mtb (28/3/17)

Sorry, poor wording on my part. Rinse out the perc afterwards, ie with starsan


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## laxation (28/3/17)

Buying some starsan now 

So 1.5ml for 1L... do i just use a L in my keg and rinse it around? or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?


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## Grott (28/3/17)

Use 250 to 500 ml and put keg lid on. Shake keg, take off lid, drain and retain the starsan (it's reusable whilst pH is 0-3). Make sure you remove the lid seal and star San lid and seal.

I rinse the sodium perc. out with water as this will give longer life to reusing the starsan


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## pcqypcqy (28/3/17)

laxation said:


> Buying some starsan now
> 
> So 1.5ml for 1L... do i just use a L in my keg and rinse it around? or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?


I make up 5 litres at a time and use a bunnings $10 garden sprayer to spray everything with. Lasts a few brews this way and doesn't seem to lose it's magical powers.

If I'm bulk sanitising something that's already crystal clean, I'll pour/transfer the star san back into the sprayer to re use.


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## Camo6 (28/3/17)

pcqypcqy said:


> *snip* Don't drink. I start early in the morning so I'm on coffee until I'm done.


^This above all others. Too easy to have a few and throw that proven recipe to the wind while you toss in a plethora of random hops. I brew awesome beer when I don't drink on brewday. But I've brewed a lot of average beer.

Plenty of good advice given above, like yeast health and temp control. One I might add that I all too often do is leave the beer on the yeast cake too long, especially if dry or cube hopping. Give it a day or two after FG and then either keg it or secondary it.

My 2c


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## mtb (28/3/17)

laxation said:


> or do you fill the keg and put in 19x1.5ml?


I fill mine to the top, but not for sanitising purposes. I fill and purge the starsan via the beer out line, and in doing so I ensure almost no oxygen is present in the keg - just the CO2 I used to purge the starsan. I can then transfer from fermenter to keg using a silicon hose attached to a MFL disconnect, further minimising O2 exposure.
Not sure how much evidence there is to suggest the fill-purge method is more effective in purging oxygen than the ol "connect CO2 and pull the PRV a bunch of times", but someone smart on here vouched for the method so it's got my vote


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## manticle (28/3/17)

Camo6 said:


> ^This above all others.


You guys ohs reps or something?

That rule, if I might grace it with such an undeserved ephitet, should be burned.

Utterly.

The beer gods are not pleased with the lack of appropriate sacrifice and libation.


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## mtb (28/3/17)

Yeah I did wonder that myself. Like everything, just do it in moderation.


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## Camo6 (28/3/17)

manticle said:


> You guys ohs reps or something?
> 
> That rule, if I might grace it with such an undeserved ephitet, should be burned.
> 
> ...


Curse your Gods. I can out drink them all. And damn their opinions about hop imbalance.


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## Matplat (28/3/17)

I drank 3 longnecks before I mashed in on saturday night, it's pretty much my favourite thing to do while brewing


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## laxation (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> I fill mine to the top, but not for sanitising purposes. I fill and purge the starsan via the beer out line, and in doing so I ensure almost no oxygen is present in the keg - just the CO2 I used to purge the starsan. I can then transfer from fermenter to keg using a silicon hose attached to a MFL disconnect, further minimising O2 exposure.
> Not sure how much evidence there is to suggest the fill-purge method is more effective in purging oxygen than the ol "connect CO2 and pull the PRV a bunch of times", but someone smart on here vouched for the method so it's got my vote


What is a MFL disconnect? To put my brew from fermenter into keg I had just planned on using the bottle filler tube. Is that not how to do it?

Do you reuse the starsan using your method?


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## Mardoo (28/3/17)

Matplat said:


> I drank 3 longnecks before I mashed in on saturday night, it's pretty much my favourite thing to do while brewing


Do you even keg, bra?


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## mtb (28/3/17)

laxation said:


> What is a MFL disconnect? To put my brew from fermenter into keg I had just planned on using the bottle filler tube. Is that not how to do it?
> 
> Do you reuse the starsan using your method?


MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.

Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:


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## mtb (28/3/17)

Also - yes I reuse the starsan. Since I purge it from one keg into another, I always have a keg full of starsan. One could argue it's a waste of a keg but one would need to not own an unnecessarily large number of them


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## laxation (28/3/17)

mtb said:


> MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.
> 
> Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:


So your tube goes from the fermenter, into the MFL and straight through into the keg? That sounds simple enough...

I don't have a method I haven't kegged anything yet! Still waiting for it to ferment trying to figure out how it all works... there is a lot more to it than I thought. Easy enough if I watched someone do it once - but trying to figure it all out is difficult.


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## mtb (28/3/17)

I know what you mean. Take it slow, use the AHB search function or ask a question if you can't find the answer. Plenty here about kegging/bottling methods, reducing oxygen exposure, etc. Better minds than mine are very elaborate in explaining the reasoning behind some of their techniques and it's very valuable info.


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## manticle (28/3/17)

Camo6 said:


> Curse your Gods. I can out drink them all. And damn their opinions about hop imbalance.


**** yeah let's raid their liquor cabinets and spew on their carpets.


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## klangers (29/3/17)

labels said:


> I was always of the understanding that sodium percarbonate breaks down into carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. It's a great cleaner, classified as non toxic and is mildly alkaline.
> I think the issue here is separating cleaning and sanitation into two distinct processes. Clean first and sanitise afterwards and Star San is the most widely used sanitiser in home brewing.
> With reference to using caustic soda, it might do a great job but being so very alkaline it is also a heavy oxidation agent. Dissolves aluminium and can make even the best stainless steel go rusty - something which I would avoid. It is also toxic.


Caustic is like the hot wort that we're making - if you come into contact with it you'll have a bad time. Keep some sensible precautions with your procedure and be sensible with some protective equipment (glasses and long sleeves, be aware of how you will be able to flush your eyes etc) just like you do with boiling wort and you'll be fine. 

It won't make stainless rust at all. In fact it actually dissolves the rust/oxidation layer off the steel (but not the chromium passivation layer). Acids will make metals corrode. It's used all throughout the food and bev industry as an effective cleaner. Yes it's dangerous but let's not elevate it to mystical-level.


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## laxation (29/3/17)

mtb said:


> MFL disconnect is one of these. I use it because a silicon hose will attach nicely to it (maybe with a zip tie to hold it in place) with the other end connected to the fermenter's tap.
> 
> Bottle filler tube is probably fine, the only reason I do what I do is to minimise oxygen exposure at every step. I can't say from experience how much better my method works than yours so you may not be missing out on anything :lol:


Sorry one more on this... if you connect the hose to the MFL and then put it on the keg, does the beer run freely from the fermenter into the keg or is there another step somewhere?


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## mtb (29/3/17)

As long as the fermenter is higher than the keg, and the keg's PRV is set open (most of them allow you to pull & twist, locking them in OPEN position), the beer will feed into the keg. The higher your fermenter is compared to the keg, the faster it'll flow in. Just make sure the top of the fermenter allows air in the top, to displace the out-flowing beer


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