R
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I haven't been on MyBB for a while. Last post mid 2020.Tell him we miss him...
I may still have his whatsapp though.
Home Brewing
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I may still have his whatsapp though.
biometrics
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I enjoyed his pics.
R
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I'm certainly no sloth in that department either.
However I rarely let the ideal, stand in the way of sufficient.
R
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R
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His beer making tutorials? agreed.
GreGorGy
Well-Known Member
Sort of - they also have cider bags like that and I bought a couple and made one so far for my daughter. They (she and her friends) drank it so it must be ok. The back-sweetening on the cider is a little experimental though.
I use their unhopped cans/pouches. Have done so for years.I have no experience with cans.
...but on a related note: have you tried these as an alternative?
Craft Series Pouches Range
brewcraft.co.za
biometrics
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Same process as Coopers?
No, I do a partial mash and hop myself.
Started using Mangrove Jack when I couldn't get Cooper's unhopped cans.
R
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Erythritol is the non-nutritive sweetener used by many commercial outlets, doesn't have any of the bad side effects of the others and has no bad taste like e.g. stevia and won't retard bottle carbonation. Also some outlets add flavourings to bolster the apple flavour. e.g. https://flavournation.co.za/
This way you can prime bottles for carbonation as per normal, because neither the erythritol or flavourings will affect the yeast.
If you're using a keg instead, then you can back sweeten and flavour with apple juice (if you prefer), but you'll need to add e.g. campden tablets to sterilise (lkill the yeast) to avoid fermentation of the apple juice.
biometrics
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Ordered these
R
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Next small batch brews (20 litre)
- Easter style ale infused with fresh ginger, coriander and grains of paradise (5% ABV).
- Watermelon cider (considering they're now on the shelves) (8% ABV)
- Light caramel rum (for lemon/mint mojitos) -- undistllled (18% ABV)
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Sugar Wash PH Control
PH (Acidity vs Alkalinity) isn’t much of a concern for the all-grain beer brewing, but with sugar wash, it’s a different story. Sugar washes are inherently difficult to ferment for ABV's higher than 5% or 1.039 SG.
The problems stems from:
The PH buffers have the ability to stabilise PH within a range e.g. adding more citric acid (increase acidity) or bicarbonate of soda (increase alkalinity) with not change the PH -- which means whilst the yeast is active and producing alcohol the PH will maintain at the starting PH e.g. 5.0
Solutions to problem 2
To alleviate the time spent by the yeast to convert sucrose to fructose and glucose, we can invert our sugar wash ahead of time, before we pitch the yeast. Inverted sucrose has been split into fructose and glucose by adding an acid like citric acid and boiling the sugar wash.
Solutions to problem 3
To alleviate the delayed start problem we can provide the yeast with the food it needs to multiply -- adding yeast nutrient will provide the vitamins and other nutrients required for this. For higher ABV targets e.g. 14% to 20%, we can also start the yeast off with di-ammonium phosphate which provides the yeast with a nitrogen source; to avoid yeast stress we can constantly feed the yeast more of this during the fermentation.
Turbo Yeasts
Turbo yeasts are pre-formulated compounds which are a formulation of a wine / champagne yeast which tolerates high ABVs e.g. 18%; a yeast nutrients, di-ammonium phosphate for nitrogen and a PH buffer like crushed oyster shells or sodium citrate. Some also include finings agents like bentonite clay. Brewcraft's Turbo yeast is an example of this.
So why wouldn't you just use a pre-formulated Turbo Yeast packet. Biggest reason is price; buying all the ingredients and mixing this yourself will be substantially cheaper overall; saving from the second 20 litre batch onwards.
Example of PH problems and stability afforded by a PH buffer like sodium citrate versus crushed oyster shells versus dosing of bicarbonate of soda at set intervals and the monitoring of PH to determine when (e.g. day 1, 3, 5, ...)
You can see from the graph that PH buffers keep the PH within a range that keeps the yeast productive; ever so slightly acidity -- this ensure optimal yeast performance, and results in the ph buffer formulation finishing first long before the others. The oyster shell process is some what delayed in comparison; resulting it finishing days after the PH buffer.
What are the benefits of using yeast nutrients and DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) with beer brewing.
Side note:
The added advantage of creating a PH buffer like sodium citrate is that you can use it to formulate your own antacids like citro-soda and also use it to create the perfect cheese sauce; the sodium citrate prevents the oils splitting from the cheese when its cooked over the stove, producing the perfect nacho style cheese sauce.
Sodium Citrate recipe
Ingredients
PH (Acidity vs Alkalinity) isn’t much of a concern for the all-grain beer brewing, but with sugar wash, it’s a different story. Sugar washes are inherently difficult to ferment for ABV's higher than 5% or 1.039 SG.
The problems stems from:
- The fact that the sugar wash will change PH during the course of the fermentation to the point that fermentation ceases completely before all the sugars are consumed.
- Further more sugar wash fermentations can be problematic to start because sucrose (table sugar) is not the ideal food source for the yeast, and the yeast with first need to convert the sucrose to fructose and glucose, before it can consume it to produce alcohol and CO2.
- Yeasts without nutrients are typically very slow starters; which is why some fermentation can appear inactive for the first few days.
- Crushed Oyster shells (Calcium Carbonate)
- Sodium Citrate -- made from either citric acid & bicarbonate of soda (di-sodium citrate), or citric acid and sodium hydroxide / lye (tri-sodium citrate)
The PH buffers have the ability to stabilise PH within a range e.g. adding more citric acid (increase acidity) or bicarbonate of soda (increase alkalinity) with not change the PH -- which means whilst the yeast is active and producing alcohol the PH will maintain at the starting PH e.g. 5.0
Solutions to problem 2
To alleviate the time spent by the yeast to convert sucrose to fructose and glucose, we can invert our sugar wash ahead of time, before we pitch the yeast. Inverted sucrose has been split into fructose and glucose by adding an acid like citric acid and boiling the sugar wash.
Solutions to problem 3
To alleviate the delayed start problem we can provide the yeast with the food it needs to multiply -- adding yeast nutrient will provide the vitamins and other nutrients required for this. For higher ABV targets e.g. 14% to 20%, we can also start the yeast off with di-ammonium phosphate which provides the yeast with a nitrogen source; to avoid yeast stress we can constantly feed the yeast more of this during the fermentation.
Turbo Yeasts
Turbo yeasts are pre-formulated compounds which are a formulation of a wine / champagne yeast which tolerates high ABVs e.g. 18%; a yeast nutrients, di-ammonium phosphate for nitrogen and a PH buffer like crushed oyster shells or sodium citrate. Some also include finings agents like bentonite clay. Brewcraft's Turbo yeast is an example of this.
So why wouldn't you just use a pre-formulated Turbo Yeast packet. Biggest reason is price; buying all the ingredients and mixing this yourself will be substantially cheaper overall; saving from the second 20 litre batch onwards.
Example of PH problems and stability afforded by a PH buffer like sodium citrate versus crushed oyster shells versus dosing of bicarbonate of soda at set intervals and the monitoring of PH to determine when (e.g. day 1, 3, 5, ...)
You can see from the graph that PH buffers keep the PH within a range that keeps the yeast productive; ever so slightly acidity -- this ensure optimal yeast performance, and results in the ph buffer formulation finishing first long before the others. The oyster shell process is some what delayed in comparison; resulting it finishing days after the PH buffer.
What are the benefits of using yeast nutrients and DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) with beer brewing.
- Avoiding the 1 to 2 or more days delay before the fermentation starts including reducing the time to high krausen; the period when the yeast is most active converting sugars to alcohol and CO2. Basically you'll shorten your fermentation time.
- Secondly a yeast that is overly stressed for nutrients and nitrogen can end up producing off flavours.... be however careful as over feeding can also result in similar off flavour issues (from a too over active yeast).
Side note:
The added advantage of creating a PH buffer like sodium citrate is that you can use it to formulate your own antacids like citro-soda and also use it to create the perfect cheese sauce; the sodium citrate prevents the oils splitting from the cheese when its cooked over the stove, producing the perfect nacho style cheese sauce.
Sodium Citrate recipe
Ingredients
- 97g Bicarbonate of soda
- 74g Citric Acid
- 125g Water
- Mix ingredients together and stir over medium to high heat until all water has evaporated; watch out for a boil over; the chemical process will release a lot of CO2; once this has dissipated, raised the temperature and boil off the remaining water; keep stirring even after it has crystallised to keep it in a powder form. You should end up with +- 135g of sodium citrate (technically it's di-sodium citrate), and can be used as a PH buffer for antacids, for sugar wash fermentations and to create the perfect cheese sauce.
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R
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What goes into a 200l brew
This weekend I'll be attempting my 1st 200 litre batch; the ingredients are as follows (upsized from a 20 litre batch):
This weekend I'll be attempting my 1st 200 litre batch; the ingredients are as follows (upsized from a 20 litre batch):
- 37kg Pilsner malt
- 3.4kg Sugar
- 223g Hallertau Mandarina Bavaria Hops
- 115g SafAle HA-18
- ~200g Bentonite clay
I hope you have a powered milling machine - will take plenty of muscle power to do it by hand
Good luck!
R
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Recently bought one of these:I hope you have a powered milling machine - will take plenty of muscle power to do it by hand
Good luck!
Amazon.com: Monster Mill - 3 Roller Mill with Base and Hopper
Buy Monster Mill - 3 Roller Mill with Base and Hopper: Grain Mills - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
The 20 litre Kolsch recipe is solid, so upscaling it should be the same... nevertheless we're delaying making any more batches until we're comfortable with the kit and satisfied that the end result is what we were expecting.
Thanks.
SykomantiS
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I've been wondering about mills. I know a lot of people have good things to say about the monster mills, but I've also been eyeing this: http://www.mashmaster.com/p/4571858/millmaster-grain-mill.html
R
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R
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I'm no expert when it comes to mills.
My previous milling solutions have all been on the cheaper / slow side. So by comparison MM3 is a pleasure to work with. I added my own base (created from 18mm pine plywood); that is larger and hence easier to secure to a catch bucket. It will still need some refinement; easier to affix/remove from multiple buckets; milling 37kg is going fill a few buckets. The other aspect that needs improvement is feeding the hopper; currently doing it with a scoop, but I'd prefer less work using something like a chute in the long run.
The Mill Master appears to equivalent to the MM3, and with the hopper it's appears to be in the same price range, for example:
Monster Mill MM3 incl. Base & Hopper
www.beerplus.co.za
$272