re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

Anybody do a hard seltzer before? I fricked around with one and it’s fermenting now. The OG was 1.052 and it’s sitting at about 1.018 right now. It’s been a week fermenting. I used 1/2 lb of lactose in a 5 gallon batch. I’m using some champagne yeast. Anyone have any idea how low the FG will get?

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I have not but I plan to use brulosophy method of Costco vodka, water, flavoring and co2.

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Seems like cheating. It’s slow but still fermenting. If it sucks I’m out like $10

So I brewed my saison today. Finished in about 4.5 hours. I hit all my temp marks perfectly, yet my efficiency was way down. Typically I have a 83% efficiency, but today was 69% mash efficiency. It’s not that big of a deal because the beer will still be about 4.7% ABV. Only thing I can think is maybe the new guy at the homebrew shop didn’t mill the grains right, but I can’t say that was the definitive problem.

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I can't believe you don't have your own grain mill.

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Never had the need for one . Homebrew shop is right down the road. I have been thinking of getting one, though, so I can order some grains in bulk, that I can’t get there.

1.082 that's heavy huh?

And on the tilt. You need to make sure it is calibrated and don't use that value unless you know it's calibrated. They are great to follow the trend to see when fermentation is done. But they aren't precise.

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And on the tilt. You need to make sure it is calibrated and don't use that value unless you know it's calibrated. They are great to follow the trend to see when fermentation is done. But they aren't precise.

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I went calibrated before I put it in and it was at 1.000. I didn’t even need to calibrate it. 1.082 is the biggest I’ve done.

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It's nice having bulk grains and milling when I'm ready.

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For sure. <$1/lb of grain is very nice, too.

I need some kegging advice from you guys. I know some of y'all ferment in kegs, but I have a carboy that is ready to cold crash and carb. Before I kegged, I cold crashed the fermenter before transferring to bottling bucket. Now that I'm kegging is my best bet to transfer to the keg at fermentation temp leaving as much of the trub behind as possible before cold crashing and fining under pressure?

How long of a process is your cold crashing and fining? I've read on AHA forums that some people cold crash 2 days and fine with gelatin for a day under low pressure.

Do you force carb if you aren't in a rush? Palmer recommends force carbing (30 psi rocking the keg) but online forum posts suggest lower pressures over a longer period.

I ferment in kegs. When its done and ready to cold crash, I pump it with like 20 or so PSI, just to avoid the negative pressure with the drop in temp. I like to cold crash for 2 days, then transfer. Never used gelatin, so can't help you there... Pro-tip, if you have a keezer, I made one of my gas lines extra long so I can pressurize kegs without lifting them in and out of the keezer every time. Then I cut the other ones as short as possible.

Ideally, I would carb over the course of a month or so at serving pressure. However, I have never been patient enough to actually do that. There is nothing wrong with force carbing, you just have to make sure you don't over-carb, which I have done before. Its just a PITA having to depressurize the keg, wait for some CO2 to come out of solution, then keep checking it until you think its right... Normally I will go 25-30PSI for 2 days, then set it to serving pressure. It normally still needs a little more time, a couple days or so, but I have found this is the best way for me to avoid over carbing.