Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

question (imy)
What is the bottle top on your air lock for?

+1

heka

The new drums are so much less hassle for $20

The bottle top is to stop the water in the air lock evaporating out - 2 months is a fair while for the water to stay in there.

Yikes... 2 months? Does that mean my brew will be in my fermenter a little longer than I expected?

Imy, I think you'll find that OBO has left his brew in the fermenter because he's been too busy to bottle it. It shouldn't hurt the brew, it will just make the yeast chew through some more of the sugars (if I've got that bit right)

7 -14 days is all it needs - Jaymie is correct, always busy, and have enough stockpiled to be able to just bottle once every 2 months.

The brew comes out clearer, it has more time to settle. No danger of exploding bottles, the brew is well and truley finished.

Dont rush to bottle it, if you can, leave it for a fortnight in the fermenter.

Got the still but want to make one later out of a hot water urn. Do the whole thing in one container then.
Yeast for spirits is as little as 12hrs.

If you have a fermenter don't bother with the top, put glad wrap over fixed with a big elastic band. Put a tiny hole in the middle of the glad wrap with a needle. The CO2 sits on the top and stops contamination.

I'm with sleepe on this,
I don't use the lid just Gladwrap, I use the rubber seal in the fermenter lid to hold the gladwrap in place.
I don't put a hole in the gladwrap, I just lift a side slightly to release the built up gas on about day 2, then forget about it till ready to bottle ( I have kegs) bottling is a pain all that cleaning washing drying sanitizing ( 30 bottle or 60 stubbies)
I also have the fermenter tilted away from the tap in the fermentation process so the majority of the sediment settles away from the tap.

Bottle your beer after a couple of weeks in the fermenter don't let it sit in the fermenter for over a month.
you can drink you beer after a couple of weeks in the bottle, ( will taste crap), minimum leave in bottle a month, 6 months much better, ( store in darl cool place)
a little Sediment in bottle is good

My brewing method.
add dry fermentables into a 7 litre pot ( all the dry stuff except for hops) add 2 litres boiling water bring back to boil. Boil for a further 5 mins stirring constantly.
Turn off heat add liquid ingredients stir add hops. then into fermentor filled with water, stir than add/float yeast on top. ( yeast will settle to the bottom eating the sugar on it's way down)

Boiling hops will add bitterness (and remove flavour and aroma), the longer the boil the more bitter it gets.
Packet hops usually come with a AA rating the higher the rating the more bitter the hops, hops do smell, women often feel nausia during beer making.

I often have little floaties in my beer, usually tiny bits of hops etc. they don't hurt adds to the flavour and experince of brewing your own beer.

Cheers
Ron

Thanks Ron.
It all seems to be working fine. Bummer about it tasting yuck after only a month in the bottle. Looks like I'll be brewing a couple of batches and stock piling of the next few months.

Hey, I got my sausage seasonlings in the mail today. I should have a sausage stuffer by Friday and then its sausagearama! I also got some bacon cure

I tried my pickled garlic. Needs another week. But was getting close.

Have you tried it? Or are you just saying what you think?

Works fine for me. 9 weeks was the longest.

If its cold it's usually ok, if it's warm your usually buggered.

I have left 1 in the fermenter for 4 weeks, being slack and not looking forward to bottling, that beer had a very strong yeast flavoured after taste (Vegimitish), "The Longwood Breakfast ale".

Hey VB,
Not ignoring you, Still trying to find the pics with the unit in action,
3 computers searched, 2 more to go!
(If I can't I'll just photograph it sitting in the corner)

I generally use charcoal to heat,
But have been known to revert back to a gas attachment to get some regularity at 3AM

Smoker bit started life as a car gas tank,
The fire box used to be a hydraulic oil reservoir.

The idea is to get hot smoke to do the cooking, not radiant heat from the fire.
Basically you're cooking in the chimmney!
I have baffles between the fire box and the smoke chamber.

Having said that,
Father inlaw has had really good success with the webber, half the ration of heatbeads, Indirect heat.
Twice to three times the "cook time" on a topside roast.
As the heat beads die, top them up a few at a time,
but make sure they are well alight before putting them in or it tastes like turps!
wrap a bit of smoke wood in some heavy foil poke some holes in it and place it on the beads, (then do it again, and again)

It's not "Quite" as good as a smoker, but it will give you some Idea.
Put a meat thermometer in, (Not in fat or against bone) remove the meat at a bit over 80 deg Celsius.
Trick is to take as long as you can to get there! (5-6 Hours)
Yes it will spend a lot of time at temps known to have shut down McDonald's stores,
But you will be cooking it through to temps over 70 deg, so it will be safe by the time it gets to the table.

MMm Scrummy!

Yay! I got the burner from F&F and OMG its awesome... perfect for the job!
Guess what I'll be doing on the weekend if the rain holds off????