2can Going Nuts!

[mwd]

Found a picture of the Blow Off Tube in action thanks to Tidal Pete.
check post No. 62

 

[Jase71]

Stand your fermenter in one of those big plastic storage crates which you can get very cheap at most stores. Half fill with water add frozen water bottles and the wet towel draped around will help with temperature control

:icon_offtopic: I'm going to do this for my next, being that the current ferment is sitting on a constant 25c But my question is if using the method outlined above, will a stick-on aquarian type thermometer be indicating a true reading if the internal liquid, or be reading the temperature given off by the cold water in the tub ? I suppose accuracy issues can only e overcome with a proper thermometer right... ah there's something else for me to buy and therefore another excuse to get a whole bunch of other stuff to justify the delivery costs

 

[buttersd70]

:icon_offtopic: I'm going to do this for my next, being that the current ferment is sitting on a constant 25c But my question is if using the method outlined above, will a stick-on aquarian type thermometer be indicating a true reading if the internal liquid, or be reading the temperature given off by the cold water in the tub ? I suppose accuracy issues can only e overcome with a proper thermometer right... ah there's something else for me to buy and therefore another excuse to get a whole bunch of other stuff to justify the delivery costs

Yeah, if the cooling water is in contact with the thermo strip, it will give a dodge reading, unless the brew and the cooling water are equal...move the strip up a bit so it's out of the water, and it should be OK.

 

[KGB]

A blow off tube as mentioned by QIK86 on the first page of this thread is the way to go, just clean your water on a regular basis and add a little sanitiser to the water as well.

 

[Bribie G]

Stand your fermenter in one of those big plastic storage crates which you can get very cheap at most stores. Half fill with water add frozen water bottles and the wet towel draped around will help with temperature control.
Low temperatures never a problem here high temps are most of the time.

+1 with Tropical re the frozen bottles, actually even though SEQ has lower average temps than FNQ I'm in dire need of a brewing fridge, but am currently managing with the fermenter on the concrete floor, with three 2L PET frozen solid and arranged around the ferm, a large beach towel enveloping the lot like a cold cave and a car windscreen laminated foil protector thingy wrapped all around in a cylinder to provide extra insulation. Despite 27 to 30 temps lately I am just finishing off a Pennine Bitter at 20 degrees. Once you get it going, you only need to change over the frozen bottles dawn and dusk so it's a trivial amount of labour.



Edit: not the sort of thing you could do a traditional lager in, but works for ales for a week or therabouts

 

[Fermented]

I've just done the same thing... put a toucan down last evening: OG=1048, pitched @ 26C, 2 x standard issue yeast, Coopers Real Ale x 2, 24 litres. Bit of an experiment. OG sample tasting was delightfully bitter - hoping it can carry on through to the end product.

This morning the ferment decided to go brewgasmic and blow through the airlock. Has been going crazy all day at 22C.

I read some toucan recipes here which recommended 2 x yeast, others 1x. A chum in here mentioned using two, so I thought "What the heck..." and gave it a bash. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Next time around for a toucan I think I will just use one yeast. This wasn't meant to be a quality brew, but a quick 'un as I am trying to get my stocks up before it warms up too much to make a reasonable drop.

I won't post my video/pics of an exploding airlock... it would make me look like too much of a n00b, about which I am already embarrassed. However, the missus adored the exploding airlock video to her mobe - she just wants to be home to watch all of its Vesuvius-like goodness.


Cheers - Fermented.

 

[buttersd70]

Correct pitching rates should be considered whether it's a toucan or not. 24 litres of 1048 wort is 24 litres of 1048 wort, regardless of how many tins went in there to make it up to that gravity. So it should be pitched the same as any other 24L batch of 1048. reccomended pitching rates increase as the gravity increases, but (generally, for ales) 1 packet is fine for 18-25L of wort of OG<1060.

Edit..not trying to single you out at all by using your numbers, fermented...they just happened to be the closest at hand in the thread to illustrate my point.

 

[mwd]

Done a few toucans one yeast only either kit or US-05 pitched at 16-18C not had a ballistic yet. Must be the water :lol:

Touchwood. :blink:

 

[Fermented]

Edit..not trying to single you out at all by using your numbers, fermented...they just happened to be the closest at hand in the thread to illustrate my point.

Understood and appreciated.

Either way, in hindsight 2 yeasts was rather a silly thing to do.

The beast stopped blowing around ten or so last night and is just back to regular bubbling. SG=1011 this afternoon, so I'm guessing it's near done but it can stay there for a few days to develop some character. It tastes rather like what I remember the first sip of beer my Grandfather gave me at the mighty age of five.

Which leads me to another question... I live in an apartment building (old, 1930s) and there are the requisite Sydney cockroaches which refuse to die regardless of what chemical or organic warfare I wage. They were straight onto the spills from the overactive fermentation on the laundry floor. Not too many, but they sure look like they have a taste for beer now and doubtless they will be back in larger numbers. Is there a food safe approach for killing the ferals/bugs/vermin/insects/etc in the brew area other than hitting them?

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[buttersd70]

I don't know about cockys, but earwigs sure as hell don't like citric

:icon_offtopic: Your comment on Sydney cockroaches brought back memories, mate....I lived in Bankstown as a kid, and the house we were in at the time is still referred to by the family as "the cockroach house" :lol:

 

[Fermented]

Earwigs? Wow - haven't seen one of those since I was a kid. It's either tiny roaches or possums here or giant rats (in the garden, think 'possum') at the wife's olds' place in China.

There was some cocoa and alum that Mum used to make to kill / repel roaches when I was a kid, but iirc it turns into brown concrete which won't budge no matter what. We used to use crushed pandan leaveswhen we were in Singapore, but they're crazy expensive out here. Garlic bags (a pound) worked too but somehow I don't want my brew smelling like Vlad the Impaler's best enemy.

There's pretty much no way to avoid roaches in Sydney during the warmer months, especially in older buildings. They say "if you see one, then there are 300 more that you don't see". Seeing ten in the laundry gives me the willies as the kitchen is adjacent...

Obviously, I want a clean and pest free and safe brewing area. Doubtless an uphill battle even if it's super-sano. Anyway - all hints appreciated.

Cheers - Fermented.