I'm not ready to keg yet, but I also wasn't happy with using a bottling bucket and priming sugar for carbonation, so I took an intermediate step. Found a guy selling 11 pallets of kegs for $20 each and got two of them that had carbonation stones.

So I did a closed transfer from my Fermzilla to the keg, and set it up for forced carbonation at 30psi (10 for the stone, 18 from a chart based on beer style and temperature, and another 2 just because). However, it was still carbonating after several hours, and I just stopped because I was afraid of over carbonating the beer.

But the main part of this post was to talk about the lever-operated counter pressure bottlers showing up on Amazon. I'd had mine in my list for months, and when I went to buy it the price jumped 15%. That pretty much sucked, and it wasn't noticeable BEFORE it went in the cart. I've had this issue with stuff I've purchased from Amazon before. As it was, it was 50% of the price of a Boel device or clone.

https://imgur.com/a/uI3NpJ6

This device has 4 ports, and no instructions in english. Communications with the sellers didn't help, I had to figure it out. Basically, gas goes in the left upper port, beer in the right. The lower left port is for purging the bottle, the lower right port when cracked gets the beer flowing.

A few things this device needs:

1. a backlight so you can better see where the beer is in the neck. I'll probably 3d print a mount for some Amazon light.
2. a collection jar with a mount to the back to catch the foam. Probably will 3D print that as well.
3. a drip tray to mount it to - there's a lot of drippage
4. a means to clamp it down. If you have a big enough drip tray it might work without a clamp, but actuating the lever over-centers the device and tips it over.
5. a hose to go from the nipple under the seal to the bottom of your bottles.

Other improvements:

1. re-designing the linkage so that you can pull the lever from the front
2. more common line sizes - all of the lines are 5/16 ID, nearly 1/2" OD. Could not find adapters at Home Depot, our local hardware store, or even McMaster Carr, so I made some by putting 1/4" compression sleeves inside my 5/16 lines, stuffing those into the 1/2" lines and hose clamping them. Worked fine, no leaks.
3. instead of the compression connections at the machine for beer and gas, ball locks would have been much easier. And for some reason, they used a duotite fitting instead of a compression on the gas bleed line. if those compression adapters are 1/4 NPT on the machine side this will be an easy fix (but another $20)

Setup requires adjusting the upper clamp bolt (where the lever attaches at the top) to put enough spring pressure on the silicone seal when it sits on the bottle such that it won't lift at the pressure you are bottling at. This takes a bit of trial and error. I started at 20 PSI. Then you adjust the bottom clamp that the mechanism rests on when there's no bottle in it.

To use it you:

1. lift the mechanism with the lever and place a bottle under the seal, and release the lever.
2. Turn the handle to the left. Gas will enter the bottle
3. turn the bleed screw to vent the gas out of the bottle; then close the bleed screw.
4. turn the handle to the right. Beer might start flowing slowly, if not, crack the liquid knob on the right. It doesn't take much to really get it going. It is much faster than a bucket wand filler. Close the knob when the beer is just below where you want it, then return the handle to the center position.
5. vent the pressure and foam in the bottle using the bleed screw again.
6. wrap a towel around the top of the neck and lift the seal with the lever. Tilt the bottom of the bottle towards you and pull it out. Cap as usual.

It takes between 1.5-2 minutes per bottle, including the time it takes to remove several bottles from the fridge, filling, and capping.

So the biggest downside is that the fill level is inconsistent. Sometimes I got a lot of foam and had to push it out, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes when I'd remove the bottle I'd get a lot more foam, sometimes I didn't. As a result my bottles go from filled just at the bottom of the neck to within 1/4" of the top. I really don't have a handle on what the proper keg pressure and pressure to run the device ought to be.

Just getting back into the hobby and would like to know how you guys store your beer and how I should go about doing so. I have room to devote a mini fridge for my home brew but I don’t have room in my full size fridge to store any of it and obviously my mini fridge will not hold a full 5 gallon batch of bottles. I’ve stored it at room temperature before but will that ruin the beer if I don’t drink it fast enough? The temps in my house can easily reach 78f on the hottest days of summer even with the ac on.

I know that we all enjoy brewing, drinking, and sharing beer/cider/etc. but what is that one beer you you always have either on tap or bottles at all times ready for lunch, dinner, or guests? Mine is a Mexican lager I’ve started brewing a few months ago, (still tweaking it.) but I’ve found it’s the sweet spot between my macro mates, and my craft beer and home brewing mates. The simple/cheap grain bill helps with making a 50L keg. (13gal).

I started as a poor student who had $50 for a brew bucket, spoon, airlock, and a tin of Coopers Australian Lager. I was bragging to my buddies I made beer that's "good enough" for 50 cents a bottle. Over the years I got better equipment (and experience). The tone changed from trying to convince friends the beer is okay to receiving praises and jubilation. This is probably a familiar story with most people reading this.

With a dreary outlook of our local homebrew shops, they need new blood to keep the hobby going. The incoming global recession and tariffs on beer cans translates to consumers looking to curb luxury spending (aka beer). Encouraging those consumers to try basic fermentation kits and/ or cheap brew in a bag recipes with household equipment is 1: A good way to get new comsumers into hobby. 2: Keep the market afloat through rough economic times. Spell it out how cheap this is per bottle, if they enjoy it they'll get sucked in deeper when they can afford it

Watching videos of Martin Keen using his $1000 fermenter, $1500 glycol chiller, on a $1000 brew vessel is cool and what I strive for but I'm not spending $3000+ day 1 on any new hobby. Not knocking you Martin, you do great content! But you can start feeling overwhelmed by the expensive options. If I wanted to get into sewing, a $3000 machine would be intimidating, I'll start with a needle and thread and see where that leads me. I'd love to absorb more 'back to basics' homebrew content, anyone remember Craigtube?

Admittedly, my bias is in the message. A buddy came back from an extended stay in Germany where beer is a fraction of the cost at home. Once back he realized he was shorter on cash because beer was comparatively expensive here, why not brew it himself and save some money.

We need more 'brewing for the everyperson' messages that encourage folks to lean into hobby and dive into the community. Content creators and retailers, tell everyone how great your products are, but don't forget to remind people it would work wonderfully with inexpensive options too.

'This much beer from the store retails $100, but with our system it'll cost you $20 a batch. Save even more by reusing your yeast and these cost saving measures on your next brew. After 'X' batches the system pays for itself' At least that's how I justified my first brew vessel.

Keep flaunting your rigs but remind folks of [most of our] humble beginnings.

TL;DR - Encourage inexpensive accessibility to brewing and spell it out for folks curious about the hobby. As prices soar people look for cheaper alternatives.

Thoughts on using this to crack grain for small batch? I’m brand new so not looking to invest in big equipment and no local sources.

https://a.co/d/iyH3cah

Hi Gang,

We have recently bought and end of garden building which will be used for my office and home brewery. Inside the space is a 2m x 1.5m room which will be for brewing and the storing of equipment.

I am currently designing the setup of windows, power, lighting, plumbing and more importantly ventilation.

My current plan is in the space will be a 1m wide by 500mm tilt and turn window and cooker hood, thay will shift the steam outta the room. By then I plan to have a 50l setup with a 2.4kw element. But im worried this is not enough and I should maybe plan for more.

Am I being daft or should I scale up my plan ?

This is the sort of low profile cooker hood i am looking at -》 https://www.diy.com/departments/cooke-lewis-clvhs60a-stainless-steel-inset-cooker-hood-w-60cm-grey/3663602429463_BQ.prd

All advice welcome

Friends,

My son and I with our wives went to Belgium specifically to drink beer. We both like Belgian Beers and wanted to try as many as we could. And that we did for two weeks.

We brew beers and have a great Westvleteren 12 Clone that we bottle condition. We would like to brew Westmalle Triple and La Chouffe Blonde. Can you recommend some great Clone Recipes for these two. We brew all grain and we plan to keg these in 10 gallon kegs

I was just trying to open a bottle of a recent batch of home brew, when I did it exploded on me. Losing almost the entire bottle, I went to a second bottle (from the same batch) and the same thing happened again, this time I was ready and opened it over the sink I didn’t lose as much this time plus I opened it a little slower. Could I have over carbonated the batch? I Used Brewers’ Best Carbonation Drops, it says 1 drop per 12 oz bottle which is what I used. I’m wondering if that may actually be too much in the end.

I want to avoid a repeat on the batch I’m about to bottle.

Sigh. First time back in years (darn kids). Had a... brew day....that let's say just gives me hope for the future.

Anyhoo. I bought ingredients for two batches. Did my first one today and it turns out my mash tun is fine for the mash but it and my boil kettle are too small for the sparge and boil.

Simple question: Can I add water into the fermenter to make up for the volume difference and just pretend nothing happened?

Thanks!

So I have a party coming up this summer and I am looking to get some homebrew in a keg. I don't have a kegging system, and won't have any till my next place. Does anyone know of, or have any suggestions, for type of keg I can bottle carb my beer in and serve a-la "real/cask ale?"

EDIT: I've found my solution!

I got an LG TV NanoCell (2022) that I’d like to utilise more, and maybe gain access to apps that are normally unavailable.

Is it worth it, is it not?

What are the advantages?

Hello, been brewing for over a year now, got a fair few brews under my belt.

Looking to do my first IPA after mainly working on Ales and Lagers.

What I’m after is a Hazy pale ale with soft tropical fruit aroma and taste, grapefruit and citrus with hints of lemon, orange and coconut. Easy drinking with pine, resin hop and hints of woody, spicy hop. Preferably less bitter, something easy drinking.

I would really appreciate any advice or ideas you guys have.

Thanks

NorCal's homebrew shop landscape had been absolutely decimated within the past year. Being what I considered to be one of the "OG" shops, for the first time in 50 years, Chico will be without a homebrew store. This was my local store, my first HBS experience until I moved out of the area. I loved how for the longest time they only carried whole cone hops, sourced directly from Sierra Nevada Brewing. When I last spoke with Dawn, she didn't have an exact closure date yet, but said "within the next couple of weeks."

Within the past year, we have lost The Brewmeister, O'Hara Brew House Supply, and soon Chico. This now leaves for many the closest physical HBS being Sierra Moonshine in Grass Valley.

It goes without saying that us in this community all understand how the market works and how this fantastic hobby of ours is declining. All I want to say is, if you still have HBS, cherish it, shop it, and let them know that you're thankful that they are still there.

I’m used to making wines and wanted to branch out to a cider. But my wife is gonna be pissed if I spend any more money on brewing equipment.

I started 1st april

1.5kg grapes 300 to 400 grams jaggery Few little boil water 1080 og 1 swall lemon juice 1118 yeast.

Was working well yeast piece were going up down. Bubbles were visible.

Now from last 1 day. Half of yeast settle at bottom Half of stuck at top. Only bubbles are at top around the edge in circle. Looks like bubbles freeze because they are not changing. Mixer color is same as 1st day.

Here's image https://imgur.com/a/y9JXAd7

In no other country (well maybe many other countries - I CBF to check) can I sit around on a Saturday night and pour myself a couple of frothies I’ve brewed myself avoiding all excise tax.

I can do this for 40 years and then suck on the public teat for medical treatment for directly related medical issues.

Fuck I love Australia.

Getting 5 4 line cool plates would be the best option but it would run around a thousand dollars. Just wondering if there might be other options

I've been homebrewing for 5 years or so, and this is the first time I'm experiencing this. I had 2 recent batches become very phenolic; tastes almost like band aid

Not 2 batches in a row, I had a couple good batches between them, but pretty close

These 2 batches had different recipes and different yeasts, one was a witbier made with 3944, another was sour with lallemand philly sour

I can't think of anything I've done wrong with these batches; The last batch, the sour, I'm pretty sure I've sampled a bit while bottling, and didn't feel any off flavors; But after a couple weeks of bottle conditioning, the band aid flavor is definitely there

The only thing I'm doing differently is the sanitizer; My local homebrew shop didn't have StarSan, and I bought BTF Iodophor instead; But it couldn't be residual iodine from the sanitizer? Google search couldn't find anything

Is there a known issue that causes phenolic band aid flavor?

Does anybody just throw a hydrometer in their clear fermenter? Once the krausen goes down it would probably be hard to read so I'm wondering. Was going to buy a Tilt but then I got to thinking...

Seeking the most recent approaches here as i just bought myself an oxebar to ferment in because i love the kegland disconnects and being able to see whats going on.

My issue is around dry hopping. When i ferment in a keg at least i can blow CO2 in at the same time, with this it's more difficult. Does anyone have a good hop bong type approach to dry hopping in one of these?

Im not very keen on hop bags for dry hops if i can avoid it

I got the 5lb kit from Brewer's Best for the American Amber and my OG was 1.051 6.5 days ago when I started. I just measured SG at 1.020 and transferred to the carboy via a siphon, taking care to not suck up any of the gunk at the bottom. Tasted a tiny bit at the bottom of the fermenter and it tasted like an uncarbonated amber ale so I feel like I'm on the right track.

The airlock stopped bubbling around 24 hours ago, and I still have ~.005 to go to reach a FG within the expected range. I'm assuming it will achieve that in the secondary over the next two weeks, but I just figured I'd reach out to those much smarter than I to determine if I'm on the right track.

I've also read about people using stuff to increase clarity before they bottle and I'm looking to get some opinions on it.

I just received my starter pack from Northern Brewery. I was testing if the fermentation container was actually airtight, and I'm not sure if it is.

As you can see in the video, when I turn it upwife down, a bit of water spills out. Is this okay for brewing? When letting water sit for a while I noticed it became cloudy inside.

It's my first brew, so appreciate any advice.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BNetCnxU68ZqHup59

My first time bottling with a bucket I just ran a hose from the spigot on my Fermonster down to my bottling bucket lid’s opening. This time, I ran a hose through the opening all the way to the bottom.

Either way I do it, an air gap gets trapped so I have the crack the lid or keep the hole unplugged.

Should I be doing something different?

... and feel like I've gone through like eight hydrometers in that time

Hello, its been a couple weeks since i bottled this batch. I sampled a bottle yesterday after chilling for a while (roughly a week) and all i got was a taste like rotting citrus fruit. Yeast is k97 german ale. I dont really have a reference for what all the different common off flavors are. I just know it tasted bad. The same thing happened to a batch i made with lutra yeast so im letting them both age longer.

Does this sound like an off flavor that will condition out with time? Both were fermented at room temperature between 68 and 70 F and i bottle condition. I use fresh yeast (usually the same i ferment with) to bottle condition so it might need more time to clean itself up? Thanks

Recipe ~2 gallons/9.5 liters 1500g pilsner 500g carapils 150g caramel/crystal 10 Mash 65c ~2 hours Pre boil gravity 1.040 12g cascade @60 min, 5g cascade @ 20min Original gravity 1.047