Oztops

[pr1me]

Hey folks, went up to grumpys on the weekend and bought one of those oztops kits for turning juice into quick moonshine....

i left some pure apple and apple/grape mix with the yeasites for two days... and jesus does it make a nice brew in a short time, for extremely little elbow work too.

Apparently if i leave it for over 8 days to ferment, it can yield as much as 17% alcohol. might try that next.

for some quick and easy lolly water though guys, highly recommended for the lazy brewer, or lazy brewers wife ;-)

 

[crackers]

agree pr1me
i brought some on my trip to adelaide at goliaths
when i got home brought some juice
4 days later in the fridge, not to bad.
girlfriend likes it very much.
save me trying to brew a beer she likes only to say
nahh its not quite like i wanted? and me drinking it.

actually ive got only going at work for the guys to try on friday arvo.

cheer
crackers

 

[wedge]

i use the lids for my starters. A lot easier than releasing the pressure every few hours!

 

[deebee]

Just a thought, could you tap some brew out of your primary into a couple of bottles and let them ferment out with oztops? Would that give you carbonated bottled beer (just a little green) to sample while the rest of the brew was still in secondary?

...just a thought...

 

[wedge]

the carbonation would probably be pretty average and i would be suprised if it would carbonate all that faster

 

[sosman]

Oztops were the inspiration for "soztops"

The article is at Its just not beer.

 

[pr1me]

Oztops were the inspiration for "soztops"

The article is at Its just not beer.

sweet setup sosman, i might try this as I have a few spare airlocks and gromets, what size drill bit did you use to tap the hole?

 

[PostModern]

Oztops were the inspiration for "soztops"

That's exactly how I make all of my starters. Start with one litre water with 100g DME, ferment out, add a second litre then pitch 90% at high krausen. Keep the last 10%, add a litre and 100g DME, ferment out, top to 2 litres with cooled boiled water, swirl, then bottle in stubbies. One vial/smack pack turns into a brew and 6 stubbies for new starters.

 

[Kai]

I've found that oztops ferment hideously slow when you follow the directions on paper.

 

[pr1me]

havent had problems at this end, been using yeast No.1 and after 48 hours been getting about 4% lolly water. Been brewing the oztops in a dark pantry at about 25 - 29 C.

 

[sosman]

sweet setup sosman, i might try this as I have a few spare airlocks and gromets, what size drill bit did you use to tap the hole?

IIRC it was 8 mm. I just measured the groove diameter with a vernier and drilled whatever that was (maybe a smidgeon smaller).

 

[sosman]

That's exactly how I make all of my starters. Start with one litre water with 100g DME, ferment out, add a second litre then pitch 90% at high krausen. Keep the last 10%, add a litre and 100g DME, ferment out, top to 2 litres with cooled boiled water, swirl, then bottle in stubbies.

I have been making starters but my method has been a bit haphazard (even more so since I destroyed my indestructible conical flask).

One thing I had been doing was to settle the yeast and toss out most of the liquid to minimise off-flavours - which I had been told was likely due to things like warmer fermentation temps (I didn't put these in my fermentation fridge).

If I read you right you pitch the whole lot, spent wort and all. Perhaps I am being too paranoid about off-flavours in starters.