I use plastic milk crates for storing bottles. One crate will hold 25 (long neck) bottles. You can turn the bottles upside down to dry and you can wash and sanitize the crate if you feel the need. Plus they stack as well. And I love the channel, lots of good suggestions and tips
Been brewing for 20 years, my best tip, use 1.5 metres of food grade tubing between your bottling wand and the fermenter. All your bottles can sit on the ground in containers and you just move the wand from bottle to bottle. There is no lifting of bottles to the fermenter while they fill. Tip 2 if you have empty bottles, brew and fill them. I drank a 10 year old ginger beer from a bottle and it still tasted fine. Tip 3 experiment. Tip 4 I find the best beers I brewed was when I was not drinking while brewing
Nice bud. Home brewing for 8, pro-brewer for 5, and still come back weekly to watch and learn from all sorts of people and videos. Appreciate the share👍
Been brewing for 15 years but watch stuff like this because you can always learn something new. Love the labels, will look at your yeast washing, HATE the ditch the bubbler. As much of a hassle as bubblers are, the number of bubbles allows you to gauge where you are in a fermentation. This can be important if you are adding to the wort part way through the fermentation ( it happens ). Worried about clogs? Use a blow off tube. Better than a bubbler of any kind any day of the week.
My last best discovery was for racking .. i used this auto siphons before but i hate to clean this plastic stuff .. so i bought just a stainless siphon pipe .. without the pump it is hard to get the beer flowing without using your mout which is dangerous because of bacteria.. so just put a bigger smaller tube on the end of the tube for your mouth when you suck to get it going .. before you drop the tube in the fermenter detach this shorter tube and you are save .. this really made my life easier
BOTTLES: For Years I've ALWAYS, first thoroughly washed and sanitized my bottles, and then stored the bottles, ready for use, each with about half an inch of sodium metabisulphite solution sitting in the bottom, and these special plastic clip-caps I have (pre-sanitised also) that clip over the bottle crown. When bottling, I'll select enough bottles to do the brew (+ two or three extra), unclip my special plastic crown caps from the crowns (and put those straight back into sanitizer solution), collect and retain all the storage sanitizer solution [sodium met.] from the bottom of the bottles (this should be still clean, an so reusable as storage sanitizer), pour about half a cup of sanitized (pre boiled) water into each bottle, swirl it a couple of times, dispose of the rinse, wipe the crown of the bottle round with sanitizer, then I put my measures of priming sugar into each bottle and plop an inverted (pre-sanitized) plastic cup (like a medicine cup / shot measure - I've got a swag of them) over the top of each bottle and line them all up, ready in waiting. After filling each bottle with brew, I sit a (pre-sanitized) crown seal on top, invert the 'shot cup' cover on top, and put it 'back in line'. When I'm done filling all the bottles, I just go along with the crown seal crimper removing the shot-cup protectors, and crimping the crown seals. Finally, of course, I give each bottle their good shaking before I set them to condition for a few weeks. Made my very first brew in 1969 (yes, the 'long road'way) when it was still illegal to brew beer, ... which turned out to be totally shithouse, and my dad (who enjoyed his beer) let me know it too, "It would be enough to kill a brown dog on mainstreet" he said. BUT, kept on at it, and not too long from there even dad would drink my beers. And you only get better at it (even though I'm still petty old-school, ie I stick with Sodium met. sanitizing, etc) BUT, the NUMBER ONE most important advice I could ever give to a newbie contemplating giving brewing a bit of a go is, SANITIZING, maintaining clean and sterile conditions, brewing environs, and brewing equipment, is essential. Just one spore or bacteria you cannot see with your eye can spoil a whole brew, and waste a lot of work and effort.👍
A hack I developed myself is this: instead of pinching the tube when you're filling bottles without a bottle wand just lift them and the tube up so the neck of the bottle is a bit above the level in the carboy. Liquids will not siphon higher then the level in the starting vessel. so you can have fine-tuned control over how much comes out and it's much more elegant than pinching the tube.
When bottling, I prepare a space on the counter above the dishwasher. Then open the dishwasher door and transfer to the bottles right there. Any mess gets cleaned with the next round of dishes.
Even better #10, blue painters tape and a sharpie. Slap some tape on everything and write what it is, date, etc. Stays on great and comes off without trouble.
"Buy two of everything". Can confirm. Had a hydrometer who's paper somehow got moved inside the glass to the point it was 50 or more points off literally reading lower than the lowest reading possible in tap water (where it should be ~1.000 provided it's not overly warm in my kitchen). Thankfully I had a spare when I realized it was broken.
My bottling wand failed too but luckily i was able to fix ... in the middle of bottling. Buy 4 bottling wands!! Sorry but Ill never give up my bubbler. Love watching the bubbles
For me, taking the extra time to make sure my bubbler airlock is clean is just part of my brew process, so I'm not going to be getting rid of it any time soon.
The wife and I got an apple liqueur for Christmas last year that was super cool, so we kept the bottle. Naturally, when I recently started brewing, I was like "oh hey small bottle that's also really nifty, let me get that label off. It must have had a similar adhesive to the one you were talking about because it peeled off super easy, and when I was washing and de-labeling my recycled bottles, I pulled that one out of the water and the adhesive was just gone. There was nothing to scrape or scrub off. I was honestly kind of amazed.
I would strongly recommend using a blow-off tube during primary fermentation. Also, labels printed on a laser printer won't run when wet, and you can apply them to glass bottles by brushing the back of them with milk. They stay on just fine, and then come off no muss, no fuss in water.
Subscribed! Great videos, man! I'm glad I found your channel. I've been a homebrewer for years, but definitely need to learn more. I'm excited to rack through all your videos!
#10 I just use small coloured stickers. In my brew diary I assign a batch with a colour, then every bottle of that batch gets a little coloured circle. Then I put the batch info (style, abv) on my kitchen chalkboard with the assigned colour so whenever I have guests over they can see whatever I've got.
No disrespect to your tools but Fuck glass. I would rather use a bucket IMO because they have a handle built in and usually a spigot and if not you can put one in
For the labels here is the Hack I'm using : I print my labels at home and brush the rear with milk to make them stick to the bottles ! Works wunderfully and no problems to get them off :)
Why the heck didn’t I find you before? This is a great show and I surely could have used this information ages ago. Great stuff. Speaking for new home brewers, thanks for making it.
For hydrometer readings/sampling I've also used my auto-siphon to draw a sample. It holds more volume and because it has a one way valve at the bottom I can shake it up and down to draw a decent sized sample for a hydrometer reading or drinking. Additionally for the yeast washing I've also had luck making a 1.5 size starter and saving that extra .5 for the future and then not worrying about the headache of washing yeast because there's no trub. Great video by the way!
A word on sanitizer, StarSan is great however i would recommend an alternative for spray on sanitizer, 70% ETOH. This is widely used in pro brewing because it's cheap and works instantly. All you need is 190* spirit from your local liquor store like everclear or an off brand like Gem Clear. fill your Zep bottle up to the 25oz mark and fill the rest with water. 70% ETOH kills bacteria instantly and evaporates quickly making it rinse-less, give it a try.
Ethanol is considered an expensive sanitizer because it is used with very little dilution. I've heard more about peracetic acid-based sanitizers at a professional level, but due to shelf life issues this is not used on a small scale. If breweries use EtOH as sanitizer, it's not because it's cheap! They must have some other reason.
Great video. label tip: I use small round stickers, print the date and style on them, and attach to the bottle cap. Keeps the beer bottles clean and the label is removed when the bottle is opened.
I just print labels on the work laserprinted and "glue" them on with milk ... yes...milk!!! After drinking, put the bottle in hot water and the labels come off easy...
For ease of labeling, small circle labels on your caps is nice. No, it doesn't have as much room for information or a long beer name, but I think most people don't care that much about having that info on every bottle. If you wanna get really simple, just use colored dots. If you know you put the green dots on the 7% IPA you recently brewed, and the red dots are on the stout, you're good. You can even just have a little key if you need it.
Label HACK...I print my labels on the InkJet Printer, cut them out, and stick them on with milk...yes, milk! a small bowl of milk and a basting brush is all you need. BUT, make sure to use a thin layer of milk and work quickly. Milk can saturate the paper quickly and dilute and fade the inks. I then keep the bottles dry and only put 4-6 in the fridge at any time. The BEST PART??...after you pour the beer in a glass and then rinse the bottle, saturate the label with tap water, and after a few minutes, the milk dissolves and label slides right off!
The yeast reuse thing is what I've been doing. My first ever fermentation project was with some apples that were about to go bad and would NOT have been eaten before rotting. Turned out a very tasty apple drink, dry but flavorful, and using some of the yeast I have two going now with apples in it using the same colony. I will also take the remnant lees and whatnot after racking and mix it in with my chicken's feed. I will leave it out and stir occasionally to make sure as much alcohol evaporates as possible, though its never bothered them before thankfully.
Might be interested: Have a 5 gallon bucket of PBW or Sodium Percarbonate mixed up with water in the garage. It removes stuck on trub, small biological contaminates, and smells. Change the mix every other week or or sooner if it looks dirty. Use a white or clear food grade bucket to tell when it gets dirty. Food grade plastics won't break down. Tip 7 + Tip 1: After bottle rinsing, throw your bottles in the PBW bucket and let them sit for a few hour or overnight. Bottle brush when you get around to it. Triple rinse. Spray interior with StarSan. Cap with a small double fold of aluminum foil to stop dust from entering. You're ready for bottling day! Other uses: You can use it to clean up brew tools after the brew day. (Racking, Cleaning, Fining) It's great for soaking carboys after a ferment. I let it soak for a few days to break down the caked on trub. When you're not using it for brewing. You can soak clothes that may have an odor or stain. Cotton, polyester, and spandex are safe. NEVER use on wool, it breaks down the fibers. My wife still angry about her missing wool sweater. Using PBW or Sodium Percarbonate: Always triple rinse any material after soaking to avoid any carryover. Its safe for glass, stainless, silicone, and most plastics. Glass and stainless can sit in PBW for a long time. Weeks if you're really busy. However never leave plastic or silicone in it for more than a few hours (2-4). It's safe to dump down your drain. It can be a mild skin irritant so wear gloves if you are working with it for an extended time.
PBW works on all paper labels. There are some fancy aluminum backed labels on some commercial wine bottles. It has some trouble with those. Just pre peel what you can or score the surface with a razor blade, PBW will work it loose.
What I will do for labels, is just use some good ol’ masking tape for the ones that I will drink in the near future. But I will have only one fancy bottle with a nice label for aging
Regarding #10 tip - I found a super EASY way to create labels for really CHEAP. I create my designs using Canva, it's free and they have pre-made beer labels you can utilize. I then print out 6 colored labels on one printer page paper. Cut those out. (this is where it gets interesting) I use a plate and pour just enough milk onto it to cover the surface. I then slid my label over the milk and slap it onto the bottle. The milk turns into this glue like paste and sticks perfectly to the bottle and comes off easily over some hot water to reuse that bottle. (Look up glue paste on TH-cam). I know label all my bottles for a few $$ spent on printer paper and it looks amazing and even professional!
#1- Think about what you are doing and list the equipment you need ( all grain vs extract ) You may not need all of the equipment you would get from a kit.( Look into the Fastfermenter it will save time and money.) #2- Never wash your yeast takes to much time .( make a yeast starter when you brew split it in to 3rds and you now have extra yeast already clean.) #3- Batch labels just write on your bottle caps.
I use Avery 5160 address sheets for my bottle labels. It's 30 to a sheet, so one sheet is good for a batch of wine, 2 sheets for a batch of beer. I have a template saved, so I can quickly do a search and replace to set up a new batch label. Like you said, can label the bottles in a few minutes, and comes off easily in a soak.
Oh and I should add, great video.. I've been brewing for a lot of years, but there was some very useful things for me in here.. I.e. store nutrients in jars. But a good mantra I heard elsewhere, and can be applied to hydrometers, air locks, hoses, etc. is 2 is 1, and 1 is none.
Ha, maybe! I just thought that it's always exciting to make something new... maybe "adventure" is strong, but not too far from what I feel when pitching yeast/etc. into something.
I'm a master chemist but a beginning Brewer and found your video very helpful is there a way to replicate exactly Kilkenny Irish cream ale and how do I get the information from the water to everything?
I'm a seasoned brewer but you can always learn some new tips.there were a few new ones I learnt thanks.if I can add two tips: if you want to label your beer so you know what it is I often find it useful to use different coloured bottle caps for certain styles and I right for example IPA on the top of the cap. 2 if you are going to bottle beer buy a stand caper it's totally worth the extra money!!I cant emphasis it enough you'll be glad you bought it
I once did a side-by-side beer experiment where the only variable was the yeasts in each batch. Used orange caps for one and yellow for the other - worked out great!
What i use for batch labels, Ball (the mason jar company) makes small labels for the jars. They dissolve in water, just fill out the info you want on it, w hen empty, wash it, and the label will dissolve away.
on top of washing yeast, I've found that you can make a sugar wash with yeast you like and when you need to start a fermentation of something, just pour a little of that sugar wash into your batch, then feed the wash with water and more sugar and it'll keep indefinitely, similar to how sour dough starters work
Use a glass pipette for sneaking a taste it will fit threw the grommet your bubbler goes in. Yes I said it Bubbler! Your wrong I'm right nuff said 😏 Keep brewing notes! Also those little round stickers put a number that corresponds to a ledger example blue dot #1 inventory ledger says is a simple mead 12% ABV made 4-6‐19 , botled 7-20-19 with orange blossom honey, orange peel and black tea. Now you never have to scrub off a label ever again.
I saw your yeast washing video. Can you make a video on how you bring it back to life considering adequate cell count for a specific batch size? Also info on the vials you got would be cool
Good video. I like your mason jar tip but they can be too big - I use small jars that things like baby food or bread yeast come in. Also use them (with small tape labels) for boiling additions like 60 min, 30 min, 15 min etc. I sometimes print labels on plain paper but attach them with milk which is easily soaked off.
Milk. A thin film of milk is the best adhesive, period. It doesnt smell, sticks anything (regular paper for example) to the bottle and washes off with water.
if you need to move just before racking, the critical aspect is to avoid rotation of the carboy. All movement disturbs the sediment, but it's rotation that's by far the worst.
I have been gardening the last couple years and looking for something to do with all the fruit... jams take too much fule and doesn't always work. Need to make a solar dehydrator.
#11 - If you've been brewing for awhile just go ahead and switch to kegging. You'll never go back. #12 - To bottle from your tap: turn off the gas, purge your keg, then increase the pressure to like 1/2 PSI. Bottle and enjoy!
batch labels: I love the spartan, "it tells you what you need to know and more importantly lets you re-use the bottle" benefits. I prefer: scotch tape. maybe it's not economical, but I've been having good luck with just a regular printer printing just a regular piece of paper, and I adhere it with a few pieces of scotch tape. not pretty, not going to win any contests, but I get to show off my semi-witty title and stolen clip art, and scotch tape peels off easily with minimal residue, if you drink quick enough.
Your #10 on labeling - I just write a number on the bottle cap, and then I maintain a list on my smart phone in EverNote, which contains the details about the beer in the bottle, the date it was bottled, the ABV, etc... Every time I bottle a new batch, I put the next incremented number on it. No need for labels. Also add an * when the last bottle of that batch has been consumed.
My last three batches of mead have been sour tasting and or vinegary I throughly clean the bucket and spray on star San after any ideas on how to fix it? Been trying a honey peach mead with one try being a three week ferment and then the other two weee one week ferments
Thank you for the video, I am a newer home brewer and trying to soak up as much advice as possible, so your video was a solid for that. I am hoping that you can assist with the description or link to the tubes that you store your yeast in, that is a smart way to store them and I'd like to buy some for my first attempt at washing my yeast next week. Thanks in advance.
Never trusted the silicon bungs, umm, maybe I should give them a go. Essp for bulk aging A great hack for you, if you have an old electric drill, that is losing torque, dedicate it as a bottle brush. Takes 5 seconds to scrub out a bottle, rather than mins.
You should always buy two at a time - break one as soon as you get home so the beer gods will be satisfied and allow you to keep the second one forever...
If you still want the fancy home made labels but want to avoid scratching them off the bottles when you've drank it, print the labels on regular paper and stick them on with sour milk...yes, sour milk! And no, it won't stink and it will wash off immediately with regular water.
Regarding reusing yeast, any real point reusing wine yeast, like a champagne yeast? They're cheap enough that I can buy more if need be, $1 per pack or less, but in the long run it might be nice to be able to reuse them
Im currently using masking tape for batch lables. I cut an inch long piece and write down the essential info and it comes off the bottle pretty easily and costs next to nothing
On no 7. I would add a little cotton wool dipped in ethanol. This will eveporatevin your bag and avoid any fungal growth. BtW, works with shoes as well.
came looking for information on cleaning and sanitizing as important as cleaning and sanitizer are, I have yet to find a satisfactory video on how exactly to clean the equipment. i feel like it has to be a bigger topic than 'put pbw in warm water and soak'. lots of vids on sanitizing. next to nothing on cleaning. and most of what's out there is focused on beer and requires heating and chilling equipment, which doesn't help me get into making mead. help.
At 1:16 you mentioned concern about Star San gassing out. What exactly is the concern? From what I've read, homebrewers don't typically worry about Star San interacting with atmosphere, unlike iodophor.
Oh my gosh! I am just trying to learn and it is so hard to follow the actual steps. I am going to keep studying. I did buy a nutrichef brewing set .. but there is no youtube in how to start :-(
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Comment unrelated: Nintendo Switch friend code is SW-6830-7817-4789 :-)
I use plastic milk crates for storing bottles. One crate will hold 25 (long neck) bottles. You can turn the bottles upside down to dry and you can wash and sanitize the crate if you feel the need. Plus they stack as well. And I love the channel, lots of good suggestions and tips
Been brewing for 20 years, my best tip, use 1.5 metres of food grade tubing between your bottling wand and the fermenter. All your bottles can sit on the ground in containers and you just move the wand from bottle to bottle. There is no lifting of bottles to the fermenter while they fill. Tip 2 if you have empty bottles, brew and fill them. I drank a 10 year old ginger beer from a bottle and it still tasted fine. Tip 3 experiment. Tip 4 I find the best beers I brewed was when I was not drinking while brewing
I agree with every one, except the last!
8
7
my man
Mmmm..bad luck not to have a beer while brewing..the Beer Gods do not approve..
Nice bud. Home brewing for 8, pro-brewer for 5, and still come back weekly to watch and learn from all sorts of people and videos. Appreciate the share👍
Been brewing for 15 years but watch stuff like this because you can always learn something new. Love the labels, will look at your yeast washing, HATE the ditch the bubbler. As much of a hassle as bubblers are, the number of bubbles allows you to gauge where you are in a fermentation. This can be important if you are adding to the wort part way through the fermentation ( it happens ). Worried about clogs? Use a blow off tube. Better than a bubbler of any kind any day of the week.
My last best discovery was for racking .. i used this auto siphons before but i hate to clean this plastic stuff .. so i bought just a stainless siphon pipe .. without the pump it is hard to get the beer flowing without using your mout which is dangerous because of bacteria.. so just put a bigger smaller tube on the end of the tube for your mouth when you suck to get it going .. before you drop the tube in the fermenter detach this shorter tube and you are save .. this really made my life easier
BOTTLES: For Years I've ALWAYS, first thoroughly washed and sanitized my bottles, and then stored the bottles, ready for use, each with about half an inch of sodium metabisulphite solution sitting in the bottom, and these special plastic clip-caps I have (pre-sanitised also) that clip over the bottle crown. When bottling, I'll select enough bottles to do the brew (+ two or three extra), unclip my special plastic crown caps from the crowns (and put those straight back into sanitizer solution), collect and retain all the storage sanitizer solution [sodium met.] from the bottom of the bottles (this should be still clean, an so reusable as storage sanitizer), pour about half a cup of sanitized (pre boiled) water into each bottle, swirl it a couple of times, dispose of the rinse, wipe the crown of the bottle round with sanitizer, then I put my measures of priming sugar into each bottle and plop an inverted (pre-sanitized) plastic cup (like a medicine cup / shot measure - I've got a swag of them) over the top of each bottle and line them all up, ready in waiting. After filling each bottle with brew, I sit a (pre-sanitized) crown seal on top, invert the 'shot cup' cover on top, and put it 'back in line'. When I'm done filling all the bottles, I just go along with the crown seal crimper removing the shot-cup protectors, and crimping the crown seals.
Finally, of course, I give each bottle their good shaking before I set them to condition for a few weeks.
Made my very first brew in 1969 (yes, the 'long road'way) when it was still illegal to brew beer, ... which turned out to be totally shithouse, and my dad (who enjoyed his beer) let me know it too, "It would be enough to kill a brown dog on mainstreet" he said. BUT, kept on at it, and not too long from there even dad would drink my beers. And you only get better at it (even though I'm still petty old-school, ie I stick with Sodium met. sanitizing, etc)
BUT, the NUMBER ONE most important advice I could ever give to a newbie contemplating giving brewing a bit of a go is, SANITIZING, maintaining clean and sterile conditions, brewing environs, and brewing equipment, is essential. Just one spore or bacteria you cannot see with your eye can spoil a whole brew, and waste a lot of work and effort.👍
A hack I developed myself is this: instead of pinching the tube when you're filling bottles without a bottle wand just lift them and the tube up so the neck of the bottle is a bit above the level in the carboy. Liquids will not siphon higher then the level in the starting vessel. so you can have fine-tuned control over how much comes out and it's much more elegant than pinching the tube.
When bottling, I prepare a space on the counter above the dishwasher. Then open the dishwasher door and transfer to the bottles right there. Any mess gets cleaned with the next round of dishes.
I’ve been brewing for 30 years with great success, but I learned new things here. Thanks!
That’s such a great compliment! Thank you!
Even better #10, blue painters tape and a sharpie. Slap some tape on everything and write what it is, date, etc. Stays on great and comes off without trouble.
"Buy two of everything". Can confirm. Had a hydrometer who's paper somehow got moved inside the glass to the point it was 50 or more points off literally reading lower than the lowest reading possible in tap water (where it should be ~1.000 provided it's not overly warm in my kitchen). Thankfully I had a spare when I realized it was broken.
That bottling wand trick - I love you!!!!
Thank you so much I really appreciate that you took the time to share your knowledge with all the beginners and I am sure seasoned brewers
My bottling wand failed too but luckily i was able to fix ... in the middle of bottling. Buy 4 bottling wands!! Sorry but Ill never give up my bubbler. Love watching the bubbles
For me, taking the extra time to make sure my bubbler airlock is clean is just part of my brew process, so I'm not going to be getting rid of it any time soon.
I am so glad I discovered this channel. Very informative and sensical. Thank you.
The wife and I got an apple liqueur for Christmas last year that was super cool, so we kept the bottle. Naturally, when I recently started brewing, I was like "oh hey small bottle that's also really nifty, let me get that label off.
It must have had a similar adhesive to the one you were talking about because it peeled off super easy, and when I was washing and de-labeling my recycled bottles, I pulled that one out of the water and the adhesive was just gone. There was nothing to scrape or scrub off. I was honestly kind of amazed.
Very helpful! Just getting into brewing and loving it.
I would strongly recommend using a blow-off tube during primary fermentation. Also, labels printed on a laser printer won't run when wet, and you can apply them to glass bottles by brushing the back of them with milk. They stay on just fine, and then come off no muss, no fuss in water.
Great video, learned for sure. Thanks.
Love this sort of content. Just getting back into making mead!
Subscribed! Great videos, man! I'm glad I found your channel. I've been a homebrewer for years, but definitely need to learn more. I'm excited to rack through all your videos!
#10
I just use small coloured stickers.
In my brew diary I assign a batch with a colour, then every bottle of that batch gets a little coloured circle. Then I put the batch info (style, abv) on my kitchen chalkboard with the assigned colour so whenever I have guests over they can see whatever I've got.
Glass carboys easily fit into plastic milk crates - voila! handles for your carboy!
they work great for already bottled beer also.
No disrespect to your tools but Fuck glass. I would rather use a bucket IMO because they have a handle built in and usually a spigot and if not you can put one in
For the labels here is the Hack I'm using : I print my labels at home and brush the rear with milk to make them stick to the bottles !
Works wunderfully and no problems to get them off :)
I use a kids glue stick to attach paper labels. Works great and washes right off when wet
Mason jar labels work wonderfully well. They hold until dipped in water, then the label and adhesive dissolve when the bottle is washed
Thank you for posting this. big help to a newbie :)
You're a good teacher, you give understandable information that's easy to follow. Good tips for the beginner. Thanks, I subscribed.
Why the heck didn’t I find you before? This is a great show and I surely could have used this information ages ago. Great stuff. Speaking for new home brewers, thanks for making it.
Just got done brewing my beer but I wish I would have watched this video prior. I'll use it on the next one. Great video!
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.
Your channel just popped up on my feed. Great vid! I liked and subscribed. New to the hobby. Great ideas.
Cool videos! I never thought or rescuing yeast or making something with a slurry, but I’ll definitely check out more of your videos.
For hydrometer readings/sampling I've also used my auto-siphon to draw a sample. It holds more volume and because it has a one way valve at the bottom I can shake it up and down to draw a decent sized sample for a hydrometer reading or drinking. Additionally for the yeast washing I've also had luck making a 1.5 size starter and saving that extra .5 for the future and then not worrying about the headache of washing yeast because there's no trub. Great video by the way!
Great tip!
Thank you so much for this video. You have some great points I never would have thought about. Definitely going to check out the silicone airlock vid
Love these airlocks. I think I finally have enough for every carboy!
Awesome Video, thank you.
A word on sanitizer, StarSan is great however i would recommend an alternative for spray on sanitizer, 70% ETOH. This is widely used in pro brewing because it's cheap and works instantly. All you need is 190* spirit from your local liquor store like everclear or an off brand like Gem Clear. fill your Zep bottle up to the 25oz mark and fill the rest with water. 70% ETOH kills bacteria instantly and evaporates quickly making it rinse-less, give it a try.
Ethanol is considered an expensive sanitizer because it is used with very little dilution. I've heard more about peracetic acid-based sanitizers at a professional level, but due to shelf life issues this is not used on a small scale. If breweries use EtOH as sanitizer, it's not because it's cheap! They must have some other reason.
Just use peracetic acid
cant even buy ethanol here without jumping through hoops
Great video. label tip: I use small round stickers, print the date and style on them, and attach to the bottle cap. Keeps the beer bottles clean and the label is removed when the bottle is opened.
I just print labels on the work laserprinted and "glue" them on with milk ... yes...milk!!! After drinking, put the bottle in hot water and the labels come off easy...
Great information. Thanks!
Love you channel! Keep it up! ♥️
Great advice, great video! Thanks a ton mate.
My pleasure!
Some great tips!! 🙌🏻
You are so right ‘ patients is a virtue!
For ease of labeling, small circle labels on your caps is nice. No, it doesn't have as much room for information or a long beer name, but I think most people don't care that much about having that info on every bottle. If you wanna get really simple, just use colored dots. If you know you put the green dots on the 7% IPA you recently brewed, and the red dots are on the stout, you're good. You can even just have a little key if you need it.
i started "labelling" my brews simply by getting a bunch of differant caps and using differant colors for every batch
I really enjoyed the video good stuff!
Great advise. I’ve been brewing for a few months and my 4th, 5th, & ,6th are almost ready to wrack
Label HACK...I print my labels on the InkJet Printer, cut them out, and stick them on with milk...yes, milk! a small bowl of milk and a basting brush is all you need. BUT, make sure to use a thin layer of milk and work quickly. Milk can saturate the paper quickly and dilute and fade the inks. I then keep the bottles dry and only put 4-6 in the fridge at any time. The BEST PART??...after you pour the beer in a glass and then rinse the bottle, saturate the label with tap water, and after a few minutes, the milk dissolves and label slides right off!
Good stuff man. Thanks. Two bottling wands, check.
Great video... thanks!
The yeast reuse thing is what I've been doing. My first ever fermentation project was with some apples that were about to go bad and would NOT have been eaten before rotting. Turned out a very tasty apple drink, dry but flavorful, and using some of the yeast I have two going now with apples in it using the same colony.
I will also take the remnant lees and whatnot after racking and mix it in with my chicken's feed. I will leave it out and stir occasionally to make sure as much alcohol evaporates as possible, though its never bothered them before thankfully.
Might be interested:
Have a 5 gallon bucket of PBW or Sodium Percarbonate mixed up with water in the garage. It removes stuck on trub, small biological contaminates, and smells.
Change the mix every other week or or sooner if it looks dirty. Use a white or clear food grade bucket to tell when it gets dirty. Food grade plastics won't break down.
Tip 7 + Tip 1:
After bottle rinsing, throw your bottles in the PBW bucket and let them sit for a few hour or overnight.
Bottle brush when you get around to it. Triple rinse. Spray interior with StarSan. Cap with a small double fold of aluminum foil to stop dust from entering. You're ready for bottling day!
Other uses:
You can use it to clean up brew tools after the brew day. (Racking, Cleaning, Fining)
It's great for soaking carboys after a ferment. I let it soak for a few days to break down the caked on trub.
When you're not using it for brewing. You can soak clothes that may have an odor or stain.
Cotton, polyester, and spandex are safe. NEVER use on wool, it breaks down the fibers. My wife still angry about her missing wool sweater.
Using PBW or Sodium Percarbonate:
Always triple rinse any material after soaking to avoid any carryover.
Its safe for glass, stainless, silicone, and most plastics. Glass and stainless can sit in PBW for a long time. Weeks if you're really busy. However never leave plastic or silicone in it for more than a few hours (2-4). It's safe to dump down your drain. It can be a mild skin irritant so wear gloves if you are working with it for an extended time.
Solid tip. I understand PBW does a number on stubborn labels too?
PBW works on all paper labels. There are some fancy aluminum backed labels on some commercial wine bottles. It has some trouble with those. Just pre peel what you can or score the surface with a razor blade, PBW will work it loose.
Great ideas.
Thanks for this.
star San in a spray bottle is definitely a game changer
Number ten was the most helpful.
What I will do for labels, is just use some good ol’ masking tape for the ones that I will drink in the near future. But I will have only one fancy bottle with a nice label for aging
Regarding #10 tip - I found a super EASY way to create labels for really CHEAP. I create my designs using Canva, it's free and they have pre-made beer labels you can utilize. I then print out 6 colored labels on one printer page paper. Cut those out. (this is where it gets interesting) I use a plate and pour just enough milk onto it to cover the surface. I then slid my label over the milk and slap it onto the bottle. The milk turns into this glue like paste and sticks perfectly to the bottle and comes off easily over some hot water to reuse that bottle. (Look up glue paste on TH-cam). I know label all my bottles for a few $$ spent on printer paper and it looks amazing and even professional!
#1- Think about what you are doing and list the equipment you need ( all grain vs extract )
You may not need all of the equipment you would get from a kit.( Look into the Fastfermenter it
will save time and money.)
#2- Never wash your yeast takes to much time .( make a yeast starter when you brew split it in to 3rds and you now have extra yeast already clean.)
#3- Batch labels just write on your bottle caps.
I use Avery 5160 address sheets for my bottle labels. It's 30 to a sheet, so one sheet is good for a batch of wine, 2 sheets for a batch of beer. I have a template saved, so I can quickly do a search and replace to set up a new batch label. Like you said, can label the bottles in a few minutes, and comes off easily in a soak.
Oh and I should add, great video.. I've been brewing for a lot of years, but there was some very useful things for me in here.. I.e. store nutrients in jars. But a good mantra I heard elsewhere, and can be applied to hydrometers, air locks, hoses, etc. is 2 is 1, and 1 is none.
@@FermentationAdventures sounds like survival podcast. Or maybe that's the military.
Ha, maybe! I just thought that it's always exciting to make something new... maybe "adventure" is strong, but not too far from what I feel when pitching yeast/etc. into something.
Good advice
I'm a master chemist but a beginning Brewer and found your video very helpful is there a way to replicate exactly Kilkenny Irish cream ale and how do I get the information from the water to everything?
RE: #1 - THANK YOU SIR! A gamechanger.
I'm a seasoned brewer but you can always learn some new tips.there were a few new ones I learnt thanks.if I can add two tips: if you want to label your beer so you know what it is I often find it useful to use different coloured bottle caps for certain styles and I right for example IPA on the top of the cap. 2 if you are going to bottle beer buy a stand caper it's totally worth the extra money!!I cant emphasis it enough you'll be glad you bought it
I once did a side-by-side beer experiment where the only variable was the yeasts in each batch. Used orange caps for one and yellow for the other - worked out great!
What i use for batch labels, Ball (the mason jar company) makes small labels for the jars. They dissolve in water, just fill out the info you want on it, w hen empty, wash it, and the label will dissolve away.
on top of washing yeast, I've found that you can make a sugar wash with yeast you like and when you need to start a fermentation of something, just pour a little of that sugar wash into your batch, then feed the wash with water and more sugar and it'll keep indefinitely, similar to how sour dough starters work
Use a glass pipette for sneaking a taste it will fit threw the grommet your bubbler goes in. Yes I said it Bubbler! Your wrong I'm right nuff said 😏
Keep brewing notes! Also those little round stickers put a number that corresponds to a ledger example blue dot #1 inventory ledger says is a simple mead 12% ABV made 4-6‐19 , botled 7-20-19 with orange blossom honey, orange peel and black tea.
Now you never have to scrub off a label ever again.
I saw your yeast washing video. Can you make a video on how you bring it back to life considering adequate cell count for a specific batch size? Also info on the vials you got would be cool
Good video. I like your mason jar tip but they can be too big - I use small jars that things like baby food or bread yeast come in. Also use them (with small tape labels) for boiling additions like 60 min, 30 min, 15 min etc. I sometimes print labels on plain paper but attach them with milk which is easily soaked off.
Milk. A thin film of milk is the best adhesive, period. It doesnt smell, sticks anything (regular paper for example) to the bottle and washes off with water.
if you need to move just before racking, the critical aspect is to avoid rotation of the carboy. All movement disturbs the sediment, but it's rotation that's by far the worst.
I have been gardening the last couple years and looking for something to do with all the fruit... jams take too much fule and doesn't always work. Need to make a solar dehydrator.
#11 - If you've been brewing for awhile just go ahead and switch to kegging. You'll never go back.
#12 - To bottle from your tap: turn off the gas, purge your keg, then increase the pressure to like 1/2 PSI. Bottle and enjoy!
how much time yeast lasts in theses vials? and you have the link for them? need to be glass vials with tight top seal?
Does the no rinse last in the bottle for long? I heard it decomposes into harmless minerals for the yeast after a while.
batch labels: I love the spartan, "it tells you what you need to know and more importantly lets you re-use the bottle" benefits. I prefer: scotch tape. maybe it's not economical, but I've been having good luck with just a regular printer printing just a regular piece of paper, and I adhere it with a few pieces of scotch tape. not pretty, not going to win any contests, but I get to show off my semi-witty title and stolen clip art, and scotch tape peels off easily with minimal residue, if you drink quick enough.
Painters tape and a sharpie, even easier
Your #10 on labeling - I just write a number on the bottle cap, and then I maintain a list on my smart phone in EverNote, which contains the details about the beer in the bottle, the date it was bottled, the ABV, etc... Every time I bottle a new batch, I put the next incremented number on it. No need for labels. Also add an * when the last bottle of that batch has been consumed.
Love this system! Smart.
My last three batches of mead have been sour tasting and or vinegary I throughly clean the bucket and spray on star San after any ideas on how to fix it? Been trying a honey peach mead with one try being a three week ferment and then the other two weee one week ferments
Thank you for the video, I am a newer home brewer and trying to soak up as much advice as possible, so your video was a solid for that. I am hoping that you can assist with the description or link to the tubes that you store your yeast in, that is a smart way to store them and I'd like to buy some for my first attempt at washing my yeast next week. Thanks in advance.
I use these, with a little plumbers tape to ensure a tight seal: amzn.to/3cTKQXc
@@DointheMost Thank you again for another great tip, I just put in the order.
Do you have a template for the labels that you can share?
Does those silicon bungs fit well, without trying to come out of, 5 gallon carboys?
My current bungs don't want to seat well.
Hah that one about the first batch label hit me hard! Feels like i'd like to report this video because i'm in it without my consent :D
White duct tape works well for a label. Hot water takes them off well. Pluss you get a lot for a few bucks.
Never trusted the silicon bungs, umm, maybe I should give them a go. Essp for bulk aging
A great hack for you, if you have an old electric drill, that is losing torque, dedicate it as a bottle brush. Takes 5 seconds to scrub out a bottle, rather than mins.
Star-zan my new hero
I'd highly recommend buying 2 or more Hydrometers... they break very easily.
Great tip!
Yep. Just broke my one... Buying two now!
or buy a refractometer once
I agree with you. I learned that lesson the hard way :(
You should always buy two at a time - break one as soon as you get home so the beer gods will be satisfied and allow you to keep the second one forever...
WOW, thanks for the tips, I'm so new to brewing, my fermenter still smells like the shop.....(Ok, I have not used that one yet :-)
I just write my notes (ingredients, time, etc) right on the bottle with sharpie and erase with rubbing alcohol. Glass or plastic.
If you still want the fancy home made labels but want to avoid scratching them off the bottles when you've drank it, print the labels on regular paper and stick them on with sour milk...yes, sour milk! And no, it won't stink and it will wash off immediately with regular water.
Regarding reusing yeast, any real point reusing wine yeast, like a champagne yeast? They're cheap enough that I can buy more if need be, $1 per pack or less, but in the long run it might be nice to be able to reuse them
Glue with milk will also help with labels
I just started homebrewing. The airlock on mine clogged and exploded off. I'm using the bubbler for now, but till look into the silicone airlocks.
Im currently using masking tape for batch lables. I cut an inch long piece and write down the essential info and it comes off the bottle pretty easily and costs next to nothing
Sometimes simplicity is the best option!
Been doing this for years, works great.
Can i storage hops on a mason jar?
On no 7. I would add a little cotton wool dipped in ethanol. This will eveporatevin your bag and avoid any fungal growth. BtW, works with shoes as well.
Great tip!
came looking for information on cleaning and sanitizing
as important as cleaning and sanitizer are, I have yet to find a satisfactory video on how exactly to clean the equipment. i feel like it has to be a bigger topic than 'put pbw in warm water and soak'. lots of vids on sanitizing. next to nothing on cleaning. and most of what's out there is focused on beer and requires heating and chilling equipment, which doesn't help me get into making mead. help.
At 1:16 you mentioned concern about Star San gassing out. What exactly is the concern? From what I've read, homebrewers don't typically worry about Star San interacting with atmosphere, unlike iodophor.
The manufacturer says it better than me: “a solution of Star San will remain effective for up to three to four weeks in a sealed container.”
Oh my gosh! I am just trying to learn and it is so hard to follow the actual steps. I am going to keep studying. I did buy a nutrichef brewing set .. but there is no youtube in how to start :-(
For labels I us masking tape (I'm a painter and decorator)
I like using a dry erase marker on clear bottles. No sticky label mess. But be careful not to smudge it lol
Or use sharpie, rubbing alcohol to erase. No smudging.
For fresh fruit, it is enough to use pectoenzyme, which breaks the cell membranes of the fruit and allows you to extract all the taste from them.
- glass carboy and surrounding air are poor heat conductors, so cool wort as much as possible before putting it in fermenter