anyone know if is there a difference between "food grade" co2 and the stuff the local welding supply carries? just curious, is the taste different?
Whenever I buy CO2 at the local airgas dist. it says food grade CO2 on my invoice. I think most welding gas is atleast some % of argon in with the CO2. My MIG tanks are 100% argon and 80-20 argon/co2. So when I buy straight CO2 it does say food grade - now I do not know if you go to a paintball store and have your tank filled there if it is food grade or not.
The local Airgas guy told me that all cylinders are filled at the same time, in the same place, from the same source. However, the medical or food grade cylinders have a bunch of paperwork, so their source can be traced if needed.
that's odd because they have different types listed on their website. anyway, that's where I bought this last bottle and it does say food grade. we'll see how it goes.
i exchange my tanks at a local welding supply place. if you get MIG gas it is mixed but if you ask for CO2 it is just staight CO2. same story as above, it all comes out of the same tank.
Anyone use or not use a conical fermentor for any particular reason? I have seen some fairly cheap tanks out there but am thinking about holding off until I go to larger batches, 20 gal+, I can buy a fair few buckets for the price of anything smaller. Also, anyone harvesting yeast? How long have you been able to keep it between batches and does it seem to have a life span, looses potencey after so many batches? .
We've been using a More Beer 14 gal. conical for a couple of years now. We love it! You can pressurize it and fill your kegs through the out post. If you force the Starsan out with CO2 and then fill thought the out post you never oxygenate the beer. They make plastic ones but my partner refused to heat up the cleaning water and it ended up making funky beer. He wouldn't heed my advice and ended up suggesting stainless, which I wanted to begin with. I stopped debating at that point and love the fermenter. It will take up to 5 psi of pressure for keg filling. In my opnion this is the best one on the market today: http://morebeer.com/view_product/10773/103721/14_Gallon_Conical_Fermenter
Conicals are nice, but I'm quite content with my carboys and they're definitely cheaper to control temp on. Plus some of the beers that need to sit for a while can be easily shuffled off into a corner and I've still got a few carboys I can ferment in. I don't really see myself switching over, just not quite enough bang for the buck for my current batch size and frequency.
I had one and just didn't use it. I prefer pulling yeast off the top of fermenting beer than off the bottom of a conical. They're cool, but don't get one for the cool factor. If you actually think you'll use the bottom dump maybe its worth the investment. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
Interesting take on conicals. Yeast:I have harvested from primary with great success. I've reused up to about ten generations and could not not notice any difference, but guys who oughta know say I shouldn't. I've not used this technique but it looks like a good way to run. I'd like to make some slants too....seems pretty straightforward and growing yeast is actually pretty damn easy.
Our reasoning for a conical was the time savings of not having to transfer off the trub after the primary fermentation. With cleaning another car boy, sanatizing everything, transfering and then cleaning everything again we just didn't have time to do all of that. I should say my partner didn't have the time, he's got too many other endeavors! With the conical we just open the dump valve slowly and drop the trub out from under the beer. We could save the yeast but we just don't brew enough to warrant it. It's that time thing again! I noticed the price on the More Beer unit has gone up too! Ouch!
so I need a new thermostat for my kegerator and have decided on the Love TS2 temperature controller: I can wire it up as a total on/off easy enough, but then I lose the light. anyone wire it up to interrupt the thermostat such that it only works the compressor? or maybe I just wire the light directly to a plug instead for sake of making it easy? Thanks!
hmm... hadn't thought of that as my keezer doesn't have a light. interesting point. might have to wire the light directly. thinking about doing a 1bbl upgrade on my brewery..... looking at stainless steel drums. Thoughts?
I did some reading and it seems that the operation you are seeing is pretty much how that thing is designed to run. You might be able to isolate the light circuit and run a separate electric feed to that on its own, or bypass the full on/off circuit for only the light circuit, which shouldn't be too hard, if you can open the fridge backside enough to see where the light & switch pull off of the main feed. Just add wiring that would circumvent the temp relay that splices straight into the light circuit. Standard "Unplugged / proper safety / if you electrocute yourself I'm not liable / this post if for entertainment purposes only" disclaimer.
thanks man, it's an old frigidaire, I think I posted a pic a few pages back. I rewired most of it, so I do know where the light run is located, and have easy access to it (underneath). I think it goes through some sort of relay however. That's likely the way to do it easiest.
I don't know your electrical expertise, so if you are well versed, take no offense... Does that light circuit step down through the relay? Probably not, that being the age it is.. If not, you shouldn't have too many problems. Good Luck! I'd probably turn it on the first couple times on a good fused surge strip (my standard practice when I monkey with something on household current, its easier to reset that then truck out to the garage) rather than plugged straight to the wall. Horray Beer!
thanks again, please feel free to offend. I am not an electrician, but do have experience with simple wiring. I doubt it is stepped down, as the relay is just a small square plastic box, maybe 2"x2" by 1" deep. I can post a pic if helpful, but I think a bypass should work since the light is switched by the door button and therefore needs a constant hot. here's a few pics, starter relay?
Sounds like you have it nailed, hot bypassing the Love controller straight in to the light circuit. That circuit probably pulls straight off of a always hot side of the relay anyways. Maybe consider adding a fuse to that lead, since (I can't tell from here) the relay might have that in it. Or always run the thing from a fused surge strip, which will also protect the Love controller. Might be a good plan anyway, that aged wiring will make it easy to short since its been moved from its old resting places, cheap insurance and safety first with old electric things, IMHO.
thanks. that's a "before" pic of the wiring, which has all since been replaced. there were so many shorts that it was shocking my wife on the door handle when I brought it home. my buddy and I couldn't figure it out, until we noticed she was not wearing shoes. in the 2nd pic, you see two runs of wiring going away from the relay to the front of the frig. one is to the thermostat, and one to the light. I'd rather not mess with a 60 yr old relay, so I figure the light remains the easy way to move around the controller, and the main power cord through the controller, then set the thermostat to its coldest setting so always on.
as always, adv is a bad influence: just bought the keg, 5lb CO2, regulator, etc. haven't cleaned the keg yet, but i know it will be a hell of a lot quicker to clean one keg than to wash and sanitize 50 bottles. hope to be drinking from the keg by the end of the week. milk stout is ready to move to the keg, only did a primary this time (lazy). i moved the bucket into racking location so it can settle overnight. anyone want to describe their method for carbonating? do you shake or not? how much pressure?