Big D,s Ag Adventure Has Started

[Batz]

Arr !
It's Jayse's fault

And what this about us northern blokes drinking too much !

Hic Hic

:chug: :chug: :chug:

 

[big d]

yeah
cheeky southerners.if work didnt get in the way then i may drink too much.

for all you brewers wondering about the thermometers they are from a mate
i guess in my favour jaz is that i work a 12 hour roster four on four off so i have enough time up my sleeve to do what i want. :chug: :chug:

cheers
big one

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Well done on the first AG brew!

Saw the piccy of the outlet of the kettle just over the top of the fermenter. I have something similar. Just a caution, the aeration you get from the wort falling into the fermenter won't be enough aeration for brews over 1050 but is fine for brews under 1050.

Man I can't wait for next month when I can start brewing again: then again if weather stays cool like it has been will bloody well brew this weekend! Just got in another 5K of the whole Goldings, hmmmm


Jovial Monk

 

[crackers]

well done BIg D,
mighty fine job.

:chug: :chug: :chug:

crackers

 

[Batz]

JM
I do the same as big d , that is the AG wort is racked out of my boiler to my fermenter.
I does seem to airate well but after your comment I am wondering , my last brew done 30th , is very slow with airlock activity.
I was not worried about this , it started off well but slowed after a day or two , hope it's not from lack of oxygen.
How would you airate it in future ? Tip from one fermenter to another a few times
?

Oh I am using London yeast 1028

Cheers Batz

 

[GMK]

Aerate by tipping from one fermenter to another or...

I bought a 2 speed aquarium aerator pump - 14.00 - with an aerator stone - 2.00 and some vinyl tube.

As fish are not very tolerate to contaminants there should be none.
Tested it first on rain water - could not taste any difference.

Anyway, i just drop the stone in the primary after sterilising in boiling water and turn on and leave for 3-4 hours. Use a tea towel to cover the primary while this is on.
Air bubbles up thru the wort mixing and keeping everything oxygenated and then i seal up the fermenter.
When i get the AG Happening - will be working out a way to mount the aerating stone in-line from the Counter Flow Wort Chiller.

Will show you when you are down...

 

[JasonY]

Sounds too fancy too me :huh: I just shake the living ***** out of it twice a day until that bubbler starts bubbling!

 

[Hoops]

GMK

have you checked out this inline aerator?

CFWC inline aerator

I also use an aquariam air pump with a plastic aeration "stone", just steralize the stone & hose. I am trying to get hold of some inline heppa filters aswell.

Hoops

 

[big d]

its a great looking piece of brew ware.on my hit list of things to buy

jm when the wort went into the fermenter there was heaps of aeration so i let it go.its bubbling along real well at the moment.
i was going to stir the living ***** out of it as suggested on past postings but it looked well aerated.
any way all seems to be going well for the first one so far.
smells the grouse the taste is still a bit early to tell i reckon.
cheers
big d

 

[GMK]

GMK

have you checked out this inline aerator?

CFWC inline aerator

I also use an aquariam air pump with a plastic aeration "stone", just steralize the stone & hose. I am trying to get hold of some inline heppa filters aswell.

Hoops

Hoops

yep i checked taht out....hopefully i can emulate something like that...

Should really do it with a SS .5Micron Aerating stone...

 

[Jovial_Monk]

yeah bigD wasn't critisising, just warning for the high grav brews to come

JM

 

[big d]

too easy jm.the more input i get off guys like yourself with the ags under the belt the easier the learning curve will be for me.
so anything high gravity will have to be aerated very well.does stirring the bejesus with vigorous zeal add enough aeration?
as the link pic back a few postings shows the counterflow chiller aerator in one unit.thats what i will get in the months ahead.

cheers
big d

 

[Hoops]

Big D
I'm looking at one of them too.
How about a Stainless Steel CFWC ?
Prochem in Brisbane said it cost around $5-6 per metre for 3/8 annealed tube (316 seamless)
That sounds like an alright price to me so I am thinking of making a fully SS CFWC with inline aerator.
(Don't know how long the tube would need to be though.)

Hoops

 

[big d]

would look excellant hoops but remember copper is a better heat conductor than stainless steel and is also easier to work with than s/s tube.

cheers
big d

 

[GMK]

Buy the Convoluted Copper Counter Flow Wort Chiller from St Pats or More Beer.

 

[Justin]

GMK, are you the Australian distributor for convoluted copper tubing. You sound like a salesman

Just playing with you.

Cheers, JD

 

[Hoops]

Good point Big D.
The only thing that worries me about copper is that it may react with cleaning/steralizing chemicals.
How does one clean, and more importantly steralize a CFWC?

I plan to get my whole AG setup going in about 4months (I'm going away for work) so your thread is giving me a lot of ideas, and motivation.
Thanks Big D.

Hoops

 

[Snow]

Big D, re aerating, with my high grav brews, I stir the bejesus out of it with a spoon until there's lots of froth (usually takes about a minute), then I run the wort from the primary fermenter through the tap into the secondary, over a drop of about a metre. I then run it back into the primary. Using this method, and a 2L starter, I got my tripel to ferment from 1.083 down to 1.016. Definitely the go.

- Snow.

 

[PostModern]

My "blender-on-a-stick" thing has a whisk attachment. I was thinking of running the whisk in the top of a hi OG batch and stirring occassionally. I used to manually whisk with an egg whisk for about 5 mins. Gets pretty tiring after a while... Electric whisk plus a couple of drops from fermenter to fermenter sounds like the go.

 

[crackers]

Just a thought
how about putting your stirring paddle into a drill.


cheers
crackers