My new(ish) conical fermenter

This summer has been insanely hot here in Austin, with tempatures reaching into the triple digits nealry every day. This kind of heat makes it difficult to brew so I haven't produced a batch since May. Cooling Wort quickly when the water coming out of the tap is nearly 80 degrees is not exactly easy. Hopefully it will cool down within a month and I can get back at it. In the mean time I've been doing alot of reading and formulating recipies. I've also been able to pick up a few pieces of equipment that I'm very excited about.

Roughly a month ago AHS aquired the inventory of a homebrew store that had gone out of business. The bulk of the items were used. Amongst them was an 8 gallon minibrew conical fermenter. It was in good shape and I was able to pick it up for an excellent price.

It cleaned up easily. I replaced the 1" ball valve with a plastic one and the half inch valve with a stainless steel one. I also added a dial thermometer and used EcoFoil to insulate it.

I can't wait to get some brew in it and watch the airlock bubble away.

Before

After

AHS conical fermenter giveaway!

Austin Homebrew Supply is giving away a Blichman 14.5 stainless steel conical fermenator. Every order placed online during the month of June and July will be entered into the drawing which will be held on August 5th. In-store customers will need to fill out an entry form to be entered into the drawing, you can also fill a form to enter without making a purchase here.

This thing retails for nearly $600! If only I were eligable... damn.

AHS Memorial day sale

Austin Homebrewing Supply is have a 10% off sale on the top 10 most popular recipes. Which includes the new kit Apocalypso, a hoppy golden ale featuring a Calypso hops (a new breed). This sale will be over on Tuesday, May 31st so jump on this one.


Cheers,
 - Jay

Update: Belgian Pale Ale

Primary fermentation of the Belgian Pale Ale appeared to be finished last Thursday. The airlock was inactive so I gave it one more day (for a total of seven). When I returned home from work on Friday I racked the brew to a 6.5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. 

 

 

I was nervous that with all of the little glitches I had on brew day that it may be undrinkable. Fortunately at the time of racking everything appeared to be great. The aroma, flavor, and color all were spot on. The attenuation wasn't as high as I would have liked to see. Specific gravity hadn't fallen as much as I had hoped (the sample that I measured was 1.021 @ 73 degrees). This leaves the ABV hovering right around 3%. 

 

 

 

Of course this has just as much to do with the original gravity as it does the current gravity. I had trouble maintaining a high enough temp while mashing which in turn didn't allow me to reach the target original gravity of 1.050. This is the weak link in the process right now but I have a few ideas to improve the situation next time around. Hopefully the gravity will drop further. I would like to reach an ABV of around 4.5%, if not it should prove to be a very drinkable session beer that I'll enjoy in this warm weather.

 

Cheers,
 - Jay


In Secondary:

• Belgian Pale Ale

Rusty Zymurgy just enjoyed a Jester King Black Metal Stout and wanted to share it with you, Cheers!