New equipment - Fermenters and Fridge

[brew]

Very cool - yes most def I would be interested in going in with you and john on those cleaners!

[fakr]

Thought I'd share my very first conical trub dump.  
Next dump will be in a sanitized growler to repitch in the next batch.

[attachment=0:2iicg9t3]trub.JPG[/attachment:2iicg9t3]

[fakr]

Well, I had the unfortunate opportunity to pressure test one of my brewhemoths way up past 80PSI.....with 20GAL of fermenting beer in it.

Long story short, there was a major clog in a poppetgas fitting, that caused pressure to build in the fermenter...I presume from day 1 of fermentation.
for 5 days, the blowoff pressure was a constant 5-6psi, and no hiss...
Thinking fermentation hadn't started yet, I removed the gas fitting from the top of the fermenter and it nearly blew out of my hand.

I replaced the fitting and gas line feeding the blow off keg, and listened for over 10 minutes as high pressure CO2 exited the pressure release regulator.

This definitely explains the "whipped cream" like beer samples and trub dumps I took.

I'm fairly certain that all yeast in the fermenter is dead, and I will confirm this evening.  From there, going to have to repitch and cross my fingers.

Regardless, someone is drinking the 20 GAL of brew in that fermenter!

lessons learned.

[chrismccull]

Is there a port on the tank to add a pressure gauge?

[fakr]

Not exactly no, but I could add one with a sanitary Tee.

I'm going to modify things a bit for the next batch of beer.  Specifically, I'm going to remove the poppet from the gas fitting at the top of the fermenter, as that is where the gum up occurred.

I also don't think this would have happened if I had have made 15GAL.  20GAL is a bit too close to the top for spunding with all the fittings I'm using.  I suppose I could ferment with a blow off tube for the first 3-4 days, then hook up to a keg to finish off...

lots of ideas....

[fakr]

Well, the 80+ PSI pressure in the fermenter killed off most of the yeast.  Fermentation stalled at 1.026.

I released the remaining pressure and repitched....and dry hopped.  

Unfortunately the beer has been left with a slight "fruity" or "homebrew" taste to it...I'm assuming because of the big lag in fermentation.

Very disappointed but a huge learning experience with the new hardware.  The beer will still be drinkable, just not fresh and crisp like I usually make.

So, moving foward, I'll either make 15GAL spunded batches, or use a blow off tube until the krausen has eased up, then attach the spunding valve to finish fermentation and carbonate.

[Richard]

Wow... yeah, you probably lysed the yeast pretty hard doing that.

You might be able to re-start and remove some of the yeasty taste & green flavours by pitching some krausen.

[fakr]

I think I might have saved it somewhat.  I repitched with a hydrated slurry and dry hopped at the same time.  It took off and fell 20 points in less than two days.  Either the yeast has taken care of the fruity aroma or the dry hops are really masking it...

And on top of all that, I let the fermenter pressurize before cold crashing and what do ya know...my F#$*ing ferm chamber freezer died....

Not sure what else could go wrong with this maiden run, but I think enough has gone wrong already.

realized the freezer was dead when I got home from work and the chamber was still at 16C...2 hours later, I have another identical sized freezer sitting in my garage waiting to be swapped in...

I can drive around town with only 1 winshied wiper for 2 weeks, but I'll be damned if I go a half day without a beer freezer!  

[Richard]

Priorities.  

[fakr]

New freezer is in place and working well.  Made roughly 18gal of john's Good Day to Die IPA yesterday with my Dad and it all went smooth this time around.  

I decided this time around to use a blow off tube, mosty because of the aggressive fermentation I expect from this batch...and I'm still a little sour from my previous spunding experience.

I have a few points to share regarding wort aeration and yeast pitching that I've observed with repeated batches of beer.  For some this might seem common knowledge and practice, but for others it might be that little bit of motivation to change their procedures a bit.

1.  Aeration of Wort:  I've brewed many batches of beer with and without aerating the wort before pitching yeast.  Hands down, every time I aerated the wort, fermentation took off within 12-18 hours.  I've observed fermentation lags of up to 36 hours when not aerating.  

2.  Yeast pitching Dry vs Hydrated:  For the longest time I've just sprinkled dry yeast on top of the wort and have observed that it would take a considerable amount of time for the wort foam to collapse allowing the dry yeast to hydrate in the wort.
Recently, with the addition of a yeast stir plate, I've  been pre hydrating the dry yeast in wateryeast nutrient for about an hour or so prior to pitching.  The stir plate agitates and aerated the yeast slurry to the point that thick foam forms on the surface and climbs half way up the flask, like whipped milk.   When pitching, the slurry instantly finds itself mixing with the wort.


With the combination of wort aeration and a yeast slurry, fermentation in this last batch took off like a rocket.  8-10 hours after pitching and the blow off tube is bubbling away quite vigorously in the bucket.  This is, hands down, the fastest fermentation start I've observed in my brewery.

Needless to say, aerating wort and hydrating yeast is now common practice in the brewery.

[chrismccull]

Do you use an oxygen bottle to aerate?

[fakr]

Yes I do.  I buy them in the welding section of Canadian Tire.  not overly expensive at around $10 each.  I've aerated roughly 8 batches of beer with this bottle, and there's still oxygen in it.  I have a backup bottle in case this one runs out.

[Chris Craig]

I highly recommend the O2 setup as well.  Worked wonders for reducing lag time for me.

[fakr]

took a video of the brewhemoth fermenting away and posted it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUeUOOHuWw

[brew]

Hey fakr - so there are 5 ports on the fermenter? I guess the top one is 4"? What are the others, all 1.5"?