Little Things That Make Brewing Easier

[Ducatiboy stu]

Good to see you are back to your "short" posts Pistol... :lol:

 

[PistolPatch]

:icon_offtopic:

Yeah Stu - twas a long one and I'm trying to stop posting!

Truly sorry I won't see you in ten or eleven days at THE Swap!

Misbehave for me eh
Pat

 

[Screwtop]

Im going to build a hop clock. Like and alarm clock that you can preset times for your hops addition. Then I can sit back, have another and be reminded when to add hops.

No need, search AHB or Google "Brew Timer" cant remember where I downloaded it from.

 

[sqyre]

No need, search AHB or Google "Brew Timer" cant remember where I downloaded it from.

I Downloaded something similar.. with a huge digital style readout on the screen.. and you can open as many as like of them..
One for each addition if you like... its on my other PC.. next time i fire it up i will try to remember to post its name here..
I think i got it from www.download.com ....do a search for timers... it was called "cool timer" i think..

Sqyre...

 

[Screwtop]

Found it

Download it here

It was Nonicman's work.

 

[PistolPatch]

I'll try and make this post a bit shorter

Hop Sock as a Parts Cleaning Aid

If you are cleaning really small parts such as springs, O-rings and poppets, placing them in your hop-sock to soak in cleaners etc works a treat. For rinsing, just remove the sock and run under a tap. Saves losing those tiny things down the plug hole.

Cheers
Pat

Screwtop: Downloaded the timer but it says my evaluation period has exceeded 121 days. I'm on a new computer so maybe that link won't work anymore?

 

[crozdog]

Fermenter Taps with Quick Release Fittings: doogiechap found these fittings for us (donya Doogie!) They enable attaching via a quick-release, beer line to your fermenter tap. There are many advantages to this such as easy bottling, easy gravity readings etc.

PP / Doggie, can you tell me more about these fittings? where did you get em? cost? Picture? is there a previous post that has info on em?

Thanks
Crozdog

 

[SJW]

March Pump for sure. I would say that since I have gone the fully pumped/plumbed brewing is as easy as backwashing the pool. The hardest thing is running the grain through the mill. I must say looking back on the old days it was hard work but fun setting all the gear up in the shed to gravity feed the next tub. I will see if I can find any old photos.

Steve

 

[Doogiechap]

PP / Doggie, can you tell me more about these fittings? where did you get em? cost? Picture? is there a previous post that has info on em?

Thanks
Crozdog

G'day Crozdog,
It's not as glorious as it sounds .

3/4" - 1/4" BSP Adaptor that screws into the fermenter. Placcy ones are under a dollar

1/4" BSP male to female STAINLESS ball valve (I was using brass but don't like the idea of long term exposure to the wort/ beer)
around $20 for a SS one.

1/4" BSP to 5/16 Push Fit (John Guest connector). (I think I'm addicted to push fit connectors :lol: )
around $7

This then makes for a quick and easy connection to the filter for Pumpy's The 'no Messin Method' Fermenter To Keg, Fermenter to Filter to Keg

Cheers
Doug
PS Loose hop flowers from dry hopping will probably pose a problem with this setup but I dry hop in my kegs typically so no dramas for me.
Cheers
Doug

 

[crozdog]

thanks doggie

 

[leeboy]

For me its the hopback and counterflow chiller combo. It is great to be able to pitch a good quantity of yeast straight away rather than waiting till the next morning. It has also been great to run the hot wort through the hop back now only for the aroma hop benefits of locking them in without o2 exposure then chilling it, but antecdotally I've found that I'm getting much less crap in my fermenter than usually falls out within 24 hours. More yeast at the end to culture.

 

[Parks]

To clean my bottles I used a wheelie bin, 2-4L of liquid chlorine (from the pool drum) and just soaked them for a day or 2 (or 2 or 3 weeks when lazy...).

Emptied the bin, rinsed with near boiling water and Bob's your uncle - up to 120 tallie bottles from memory perfectly clean.

That's how I took all my labels and mould and other goodies off and out of my bottles too.

 

[danial]

Bottle washer I built, saves alot of time.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I think I might have had my easiest brewday ever yesterday. Issues around measuring, attaining target volumes, gravities and bitterness were removed. Brewing cleanup was much easier than usual.

My trick was to engage the services of another brewer. TB did all the brewing and the majority of the cleanup while I swanned around pretending to be a host. Not for everyone, but certainly one technique.

 

[pint of lager]

A bench that is dedicated to brewing on brew day with a tap next to it. The bench is washed down and wiped with sanitiser. This means somewhere to leave all the brewgear including two buckets.

One bucket contains a napisan solution for washing bits.

The other bucket has a 5 litre fill level marked on it. Fill to 5 litres, add 10ml of no rinse sanitiser and dump any cleaned gear in here on brewday. Also used for dumping sanitiser into fermenters, swish for 10 minutes and pour back into sanitiser bucket. At the end of brewday, sanitiser is chucked. Finding a cheap effective no rinse sanitiser is another little thing that makes brewday easier.

An elcheapo plastic bannister brush from a dustpan and brush set. The brush is perfect for cleaning brewgear in the partially filled napisan bucket.

Lying around on the table are a teaspoon with small narrow handle for popping out o'rings from fermenter lids, a toothbrush for cleaning threads, a test tube brush for bores on bungs, a syringe for measuring sanitiser and a refractometer.

 

[Screwtop]

A bench that is dedicated to brewing on brew day with a tap next to it. The bench is washed down and wiped with sanitiser. This means somewhere to leave all the brewgear including two buckets.

One bucket contains a napisan solution for washing bits.

The other bucket has a 5 litre fill level marked on it. Fill to 5 litres, add 10ml of no rinse sanitiser and dump any cleaned gear in here on brewday. Also used for dumping sanitiser into fermenters, swish for 10 minutes and pour back into sanitiser bucket. At the end of brewday, sanitiser is chucked. Finding a cheap effective no rinse sanitiser is another little thing that makes brewday easier.

An elcheapo plastic bannister brush from a dustpan and brush set. The brush is perfect for cleaning brewgear in the partially filled napisan bucket.

Lying around on the table are a teaspoon with small narrow handle for popping out o'rings from fermenter lids, a toothbrush for cleaning threads, a test tube brush for bores on bungs, a syringe for measuring sanitiser and a refractometer.

You left refractometer till ---- LAST!