Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
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- lupulus
- Apprentice Brewer
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
@techbrau - Congratulations - very, very interesting. I missed it when it was posted.
Can you confirm that after the transfer process your 3 gallon keg is full to the absolute top; then you disconnect them and just get a little bit of beer out of the 3 gallon keg, sufficient so that you spunding valve sees only CO2 gas (not beer).
My question is how much beer do you get out of the 3 gallon keg to make this work. 100mL? more?
Or do you have another trick to set the volume just perfect for the spunding valve without wasting any beer
Can you confirm that after the transfer process your 3 gallon keg is full to the absolute top; then you disconnect them and just get a little bit of beer out of the 3 gallon keg, sufficient so that you spunding valve sees only CO2 gas (not beer).
My question is how much beer do you get out of the 3 gallon keg to make this work. 100mL? more?
Or do you have another trick to set the volume just perfect for the spunding valve without wasting any beer
Ich trinke Bier nur an Tagen die mit G enden , und Mittwochs
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- German Brewing
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
The latter. Once the liquid level in the receiving keg reaches the gas post level (you'll see beer enter the gas line) I remove the gas jumper and slowly burp the keg via the PRV until beer starts to come out the PRV. The keg is now completely full, and you can attach the spunding valve without worrying about beer leaking out of it.
This is a bit of a moot point for me nowadays, because now I'm pressurizing at the very end of my primary fermentation to carbonate it before I rack. I rack with only 0.3 extract remaining nowadays, which is there just for oxygen scavenging purposes. It's so little extract that I just don't bother using a spunding valve anymore during lagering. I'm able to get far less yeast into the lagering keg this way, which I'm finding gives me clear beer in just a couple weeks, and greatly increases the longevity of the malt flavor. (I have a feeling that very low levels of autolysis release radicals which can destroy the fresh malt flavor, even if there isn't enough to cause the usual off flavors associated with autolysis)
This is a bit of a moot point for me nowadays, because now I'm pressurizing at the very end of my primary fermentation to carbonate it before I rack. I rack with only 0.3 extract remaining nowadays, which is there just for oxygen scavenging purposes. It's so little extract that I just don't bother using a spunding valve anymore during lagering. I'm able to get far less yeast into the lagering keg this way, which I'm finding gives me clear beer in just a couple weeks, and greatly increases the longevity of the malt flavor. (I have a feeling that very low levels of autolysis release radicals which can destroy the fresh malt flavor, even if there isn't enough to cause the usual off flavors associated with autolysis)
If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten.
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
I am considering adapting this system to be a one vessel BIAB. I've heard some success from others on the site, but haven't seen a dedicated topic. Is there a strong opinion against such an approach?
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
The major issue with BIAB I've seen here is the possibility for introducing oxygen via agitation of pulling the grain out. The splashing, dripping, etc. Consensus seems to be BIAB is totally fine as long as you are going to another vessel for boil, but single vessel can be difficult.
- Brody
- Assistant Brewer
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
Eh, I think single vessel is fine. I'm very gentle and use a very fine bag to keep any crud out. Course bag and squeezing the fuck out of it may be different.
After buying a meter and not noticing much of an O2 pickup when removing the bag (assuming the meters can be trusted) and doing a side by side (Both BIAB, one with SMB the other without) and noticing a massive color and flavor difference. I feel comfortable remaining in a single vessel BIAB, at least until I own a place/have more space.
After buying a meter and not noticing much of an O2 pickup when removing the bag (assuming the meters can be trusted) and doing a side by side (Both BIAB, one with SMB the other without) and noticing a massive color and flavor difference. I feel comfortable remaining in a single vessel BIAB, at least until I own a place/have more space.
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
Considering I'm shooting for a 3 gallon setup, I don't think that I'll have too much trouble keeping splashing to a minimum. I don't have an O2 meter, but I can report on my experience once it's up and running. I appreciate the input
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
Can you describe your process a bit more Brody? Would be great to have more info here on single vessel BIAB.
- Brody
- Assistant Brewer
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
It's pretty straightforward Single Vessel BIAB in a 10gallon boilermaker on propane.
I just bought a really fine bag (even double bagged it) and dough in/lauter as gentle as is possible with the setup. I mean, I'm sure it's not ideal and some O2 is getting in but the SMB seems to do the job of preventing damage.
I just bought a really fine bag (even double bagged it) and dough in/lauter as gentle as is possible with the setup. I mean, I'm sure it's not ideal and some O2 is getting in but the SMB seems to do the job of preventing damage.
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
I don't want to flood Techbrau's thread with this, I'll start something about single vessel in another thread. Appreciate the response!
- lupulus
- Apprentice Brewer
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Re: Techbrau's low oxygen brewing system
There is no splashing at all with BIAB when done right.
If you can control a slow pulling of the back (about 90-120 seconds), most of the liquid drains below or at the wort line so the pickup there should be minimal.
If you are really anal, you can discard the rest. If not, get a big SS colander on top of a big SS concave bowl and you can recover about a liter of wort for a 5g batch. Yes, this has more contact with oxygen than the rest of the wort but we can assume the SMB or AA would have protected this small amount of wort.
If you are not using BIAB but transferring a full volume to another kettle, even if you are doing everything perfect, you are still moving liquid around so unless you are doing all this under O2-free conditions, you are getting wort exposed to oxygen as well.
My point is just be as careful as possible and with either method you should be at about the same O2 exposure.
If you can control a slow pulling of the back (about 90-120 seconds), most of the liquid drains below or at the wort line so the pickup there should be minimal.
If you are really anal, you can discard the rest. If not, get a big SS colander on top of a big SS concave bowl and you can recover about a liter of wort for a 5g batch. Yes, this has more contact with oxygen than the rest of the wort but we can assume the SMB or AA would have protected this small amount of wort.
If you are not using BIAB but transferring a full volume to another kettle, even if you are doing everything perfect, you are still moving liquid around so unless you are doing all this under O2-free conditions, you are getting wort exposed to oxygen as well.
My point is just be as careful as possible and with either method you should be at about the same O2 exposure.
Ich trinke Bier nur an Tagen die mit G enden , und Mittwochs
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