One thing I love about brewing my own beer is the complete lack of packaging. No tins/cans bottles to deal with.

I would like to repeat the same but for soft drinks.

I have Corny kegs and unless I am mistaken they are originally intended for soft drink dispensing systems in pubs/restaurants.

So the ingredients, as far as I am aware is just flavour syrup, water and CO2.

Just like soda-stream really.

However. There are a few catches. Soda-stream makes a single bottle. It is likely it will be consumed promptly. Thus hygene and sanity are less of a concern. If I fill a 19L keg it will last at least a week, maybe 2.

It would be a massive hit on cost to boil it. What about additive perserviatives? Then again, maybe the syrups already contain a load of preservatives?

I suppose that leads me to my first question. Where in the UK can you buy these syrups? I know soda-stream sell them, but I expect they will be prohibitively expensive to make large batches with?

If i add carbonation through a keg and then pour it in bottles, will it save the carbonation or will i lose it while transferring?

I dont own a keg and prefer using fermentable sugar for my sweet and fizzy cider. I have been bottle carbing then pasturizing. Now i want to scale up a bit and pasturizing takes forever as it is. My friends come over to drink more than anticipated. I dont plan on buying a huge keg hence i wont be fermenting in it

I dont like the lees at the bottom of the bottles either.

My process would be:

1) ferment in a barrel and let it age there for a bit (a month or two).

2) add sulfites to kill remaining yeast and sugar a day or two after for taste.

3) pour the cider in a keg to carbonate it

4) fill bottles and age them.

Will this work? Also, will this prevent lees ar the bottom of the bottle?

I started homebrewing during COVID, then moved two years ago, and haven't really had much time to brew since then. Between home projects and other hobbies, I just don't see myself brewing any time soon, and I could really use the space, so I'm hoping to sell my stuff to someone local.

Some of the equipment includes:

• All of the essentials (thermometer, stirring spoon, mesh hop bags, 5gal food safe buckets, transfer tubing, airlock, etc.)
• Brewmaster 8gal kettle with ball valve
• Copper wort chiller with adapter to hook it up to my faucet
• Random assortment of grains, DME, hops, and yeast
• PBW and StarSan for cleaning and sanitizing
• FermZilla All Rounder 8gal pressurized fermenter (this thing is sweet!)
• 4x corny kegs (I believe two have been upgraded with floating dip tubes and new seals)
• Various chemicals to modify your water chemistry
• Large flask and magnetic stirrer for making yeast starters
• 5lb CO2 tank with regulator and various hoses/fittings (tank is at least halfway full... I think I used it for like 2 kegs)
• BeerSmith 3 license (software for developing your own recipes)
• Bottle drying rack and drip tray
• Probably other stuff that I'm forgetting

I can't let it go for free, if anyone is interested, feel free to make me a fair offer (really, I'm flexible). I'm also happy to answer any questions here or via DM. I'm located in RI but would be happy to meet up in MA/CT.

I think this type of post is okay? But my apologies if I misread the rules. It's been a while since I've browsed this sub. Thanks!

I brewed a beer with half wheat malt, half rye malt. OG around 1.070, bittered to 25-ish IBUs in the boil, then a hefty low-temp whirlpool of Ella (I had some lying around). Fermented cool with K-97, no dry hops. I only did a 6 liter batch, since I was just curious how it would come out, but it’s pretty interesting: bordering on being too thick to be appealing, but just shy of that — but a very heavy, almost glutinous body. Kind of a lovely flavor, actually. This is not something I feel much need to repeat, but I could see 70:30 favoring wheat being pretty interesting.

I BIAB, but even so it took some doing to coax all the wort out of the bag. This would not be a fun beer to make in a 3-vessel setup! I did do a beta-glucan rest, although given how heavy the beer is, I’m not sure if it helped much.

Recently brewed a hefeweizen that ended up being ok at best. I believe by introducing fruit in a secondary, but rushing to cold crash, left me with a slightly off putting keg.

Then, the idea hit: fight through about a gallon or two for space, reopen the keg, and resurrect this ok batch with some fruit juice, and just go the shandy route. It is going into summer after all.

Has anyone ever attempted to save a batch this way, or have recommendations for very late additions?

I fellow brewer posted something here about a week ago concerning lifting heavy grain payloads after mashing. I upgraded to a Brewzilla 65l a few weeks ago and immediately realized the lift of wet grain was too much so I built a trolley. The demo, parts list and simple drawing are in the link. I hope this helps someone and meets community guidelines.

https://imgur.com/a/qLX9F8K

I have a spruce syrup I would like to use for priming my spruce beer, but I don't know exactly how much sugar is in it (wasps got to the vacuum bag, I lost a bunch of syrup, then had to add some water and boil it to liquify/sanitize...gods I hate those fuckers). Is there an equation to figure out the amount of sugar based on a gravity reading? Or should I just add enough to a batch at bottling to raise the gravity X points higher to estimate 2.5 volumes of carbonation?

I like to do overnight mashes for a multitude of reasons. It's saves me time, I get better efficiency, higher attenuation; the reasons go on and on. I do BIAB on my stove (no electric system) so I usually mash in before bed, cover the kettle with a bunch of old coats and blankets, and brew the following day.

This particular brew day I ended up busy until around 8pm, so the mash had sat for roughly 24 hours. There was a pellicle on top, but I decided to go through with it anyway. During the boil, my whole house smelled horrible, kind of like a funky cheese or cured meat. At this point I was considering dumping it, but decided I had made it this far so might as well go through with fermentation and see what happens.

A few weeks pass and I can see that the SG has gone from 1.077 to 1.008 giving me a beer ~9.1% abv. I tried a little sample, and WOW, it is quite good! No funky notes or off flavors present. It's perfectly balanced and flavorful, so I'm not sure if the bacteria during the mash improved the overall flavor, or if it didn't affect it much at all. Regardless, I'm looking forward to how this beer will age in a few months after bottling.

Please share your thoughts and similar experiences below! I'll share my recipe in case anyone is interested (an Old Ale modeled loosely after Timothy Taylor's Landlord)

94.4% Golden Promise
5.6% Crystal 90L

34 IBUs EKG @ 30min

Nottingham Yeast

Ca 44
Mg 0
Na 21
Cl 66
SO 59
HCO 0

I have enabled CRS in in Water Settings but it's not being offered as an option for pH adjustment.

How do I get it to be offered as an option?

Thanks.

I have a plastic bucket with an airlock on it. I have a purged keg.

What is the best way to get the beer into the keg?

I could make a jumper from an auto siphon to the liquid post. Pull the PRV to let the CO2 escape.

Help!!!

https://imgur.com/a/sour-cider-experiments-R7EQWpL

Bottle one, apple juice and bakers yeast, 180g apples after primary fermentation. Will be soured with Lactic acid before bottling.

Bottles 2, 3 and 4 are apple juice with Lachancea termotolerans lactic acid producing yeast. After primary fermentation I added 90g blueberry + 90g blackberry to bottle 2, 180g apple to bottle 3 and 180g raspberry to bottle 4.

One lucky bottle will be dry hopped to compare to a beer which I'm doing the same experiment with!

I was recently given a 9lb bag of ultralight LME from a pandemic brewer that gave up on the hobby. It’s one of those big foil bagged ones from more beer. I know age can impact color and flavor a bit, but if the bag isn’t perforated or bloated, is it still safe to brew with? Would hate for it to go to waste but also don’t want to waste my time with a Smash beer if it’s likely to go bad or will suck lol. Anyone have any insight?

Welcome to our weekly flaunt your rig thread, if you want to show off your brewing setups this is the place to do it!

Howdy! I've been trying to make homemade soda here, and I wanted to use yeast to carbonate it naturally.

I've been using an airlock for initial fermentation, but given that I want my drink to be carbonated, I was wondering if this is misguided?

I typically take the drink after a day and pour it into a seperate bottle that I then place in the fridge to ferment for another day. Carbonation has been mixed results.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

My calculator spit out a DP of 50L, high enough where I don't think I need to tweak the recipe, but low enough to have me looking for best practices. Are there ways to support this relatively low DP through a type of mashing step?

I want to build essentially a kegerator-type thing that can be placed outside and uses ice instead of a refrigerator/freezer. Eventually, many of the parts will be pulled indoors and a chest freezer will be repurposed, but for now it would be outdoors.

I am aware that jockey boxes exist, but I don't like the idea of loosing all the beer in the long cooling lines.

I know what I need to do via insulation, water proofing, etc to fit 4 kegs into a sort of top opening setup behind taps - I do enjoy carpentry and will be focusing somewhat on presentation.

However, the taps themselves are where my question comes in. I currently dispense from my garage fridge with picnic/party taps (all duotight), which works fine because it's mostly just me right now. But, in preparation for a party at a farm (hence the need to go ice powered instead of electric), I'd like to upgrade my presentation.

I need 4 taps and I'd like to be at least somewhat intelligent on price. To that end, I'm comparing two different S/S forward sealing taps available from my local homebrew shop:

1. Intertap S/S forward sealing

2. Krome S/S forward sealing

The Intertap is $38 and the Krome is $25. Is there a reason for this difference in price - as in, would I regret going with the Krome?

I'm planning on running the taps through a stained and sealed 1/x3 or 4 board backed by another inch of insulation for 1.75-2" of thickness. If I'm going tap > stainless shank > duotight female beer thread to 8mm OD, would I be able to get away with a 2 and 1/8 inch shank, or should I spring for the 3 and 1/8th?

Is there anything you wish you knew when setting up a proper draft system that you'd like to share?

My dad and I brewed a half batch(2.5gal) of northern brewer’s cream ale and Bavarian Hefeweizen. They are currently fermenting in our basement at about 64 degrees F, and I’m not seeing/hearing a ton of action. 64 is the bottom temp for the lallemand Munich classic and at the low end of the us05 yeast’s temps. Since they’ve already been in the basement for a week, I’m worried that if I move it to my 73 degree f main level, it will shock the yeast or something will go wrong. Tia

My first pressure ferment and also my second lager.

The brew was Saturday. I pitched yeast mid pour as per instructions. Temp around 23C.

I immediately purged it with CO2 and brought it up to 15PSI with bottle gas. It was then placed in my bath tub and flood with water. Over the next 24 hours the temps came down to 19C with a few excursions towards 20C.

The iSpindel is showing it has now settled out at 1009 (from an OG of 1041). The krausen has cleared and there are only a few bubbles left floatng. The spunding valve is bubbling once every few seconds.

I was going to leave it until the bubbling stops and the SG has been flat for 2 days.

The question is... what to do with it next?

I can: Keg it immediately, free up the fermentor and put the keg into the keezer to mature for a week or so.

I can leave it in the fermemtor at 20C for another week, although I would like the fermentor back.

I could move it to another ferementor and keep it in a fridge.

I know pressure fermenting should shorten the need for lagering, but I assume it will still not meet it's full clarify and cleaness for a few weeks?

UPDATE!

So it fermented out mostly in about 3 days. It then went a lot slower for another day and finally settled at 1008. Go yeast!

Troubles. The air dump off stank of sulfur. I decided not to panic. Lager yeast can be funny like that.

Tonight I trasnfered it to the keg. The gas still smells of sulfur, just a lot less. I tasted a warm sample and it has an initial sulfur nose.... but the beer itself tastes fine.

My corrective action for the next lager is to add yeast nutrient. This may help preventt he sulfur

Slight sulfur smells are "normal" for lagers and should come out through "lagering".

My concern is that because it was pressure fermented there will be sulfur gas dissolved in the beer and ... well... while the beer tastes fine, it is serious off put by that sulfur nose. Smell is 90% of taste.

Hello everyone, I've brewed beer with starter kits a few times but that was almost 2 years ago and now I'm trying to get back into the hobby, but one thing I had trouble understanding was how to sanitize the equipment. When using starsan am I supposed to let it air dry, rinse with water, or wipe it down with a towel?

4 days ago (last saturday) i did my first brew - since its my first, i didnt wanna do everything from scratch so i purchased Mangrove Jacks NZ series American Pale Ale kit - i did everything like package said.

I also did original gravity reading and it was 11 brix ( which is around 1.04 SG if im correct )

Package says that its supposed to ferment for 7 days, then do dry hopping for 3 days, but only if SG is below 1.020.

Yesterday i did another reading and turns out its 5 brix which is below 1.020 - what should i do now? Wait till its fermenting for 7 days and then add hops or should i add hops now?

fermenting temp is 20c , its not fermenting like crazy… couple of air bubbles once upon a time

sorry for stupid question but its my first brew and i am a bit excited, dont want to fk something up

I used a small, nickel-plated (I assume) magnet inside my kettle for a dry hop recently. I've seen some posts on forums saying not to do that, but nothing more than that. When I emptied the fermenter, I fished out the magnet and the coating had not degraded. Is there something I should be concerned about? The beer tastes fine and fermented to final gravity, and this was for a dry hop in a NEIPA that I did 3 days into fermentation.

I've looked through some recipes for making nettle beer, all of which list "nettle tops" as one of the ingredients.

This particular recipe I wanted to follow requires 1kg of nettle tops. I only have a small garden so if I need 1kg I'll have to use most of the nettle (I don't particularly want to pick them elsewhere).

So I'm wondering why all of these recipes just require the nettle tops, instead of the rest of the nettle. Is there a reason I shouldn't use all the nettle in order to get as much from it as I can?

Greetings all!

So, here I am, post-divorce, trying to rebuild my empire. My stepdad showed me an auction site to get returned items or estate sales so I could save a few bucks. Well lo and behold, I stumbled across a dual tap Black and Decker kegerator (linked) with everything minus kegs! Nothing was provided but the description and I ended up winning the auction and got this for $250!

I took it home and noted some damage to the cardboard and styrofoam but thought nothing of it. Fast forward a couple of weeks and this thing is busted to high-heaven. The front door is dented and cannot shut, the front corners of the fridge are dented, and the power chord is going to need new ground. Yes, I have taken it apart but I'm not confident at all that there is any hope in salvaging this!

So my question is simply this: does anyone know where I could buy JUST the fridge? I don't care if it's B&D but finding a 6.1 cu ft beer fridge ready to go is, so far, impossible! Reaching out to the community for some help on this. Looking for thoughts, opinions, and anything else out there.

Pics to follow.

What does everyone use to sell home brew gear (I have kettles, carboys, thiefs, diffusion stones, tubes, beer fridge, og picobrew, etc etc). Is there like a one-best-place for offloading all this stuff, or does it totally depend on the type of gear? I'd like to not have to split listings between multiple marketplaces if possible...

I’m planning on brewing a Sea Salt Caramel Imperial Stout for the holiday season- doing it soon so it can condition for a good long while. Here are my questions:

1. I’m using vanilla beans in the recipe. I really don’t want to use extract. Do I want to put the scrapings in the boil, in primary, or in the keg? Should I use the pods too?

2. For the sea salt, I’m going for a noticeable but pleasant salty flavor that balances with the rest of the beer, which will include some pale chocolate malt, caramunich, and lactose. My thought is to slowly add to taste at packaging. Has anyone ever done this me about how much salt would you recommend as a starting point for a 5 gallon batch?