fg,finings and hop bags...

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Clint

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Hello all
My Festival Endeavour has finally reached the recommended fg of 1009,it's been dry hopped with the 75g of galena supplied but I used my trusty filter sock and some spoons instead of chucking them all in. It's fairly clear in the test tube and tastes good,so depending on stability of fg,it'll be bottled on Wednesday as I'm nights tonight and tomorrow. ..
Now, I am considering a couple of options...I usually just remove the hop sock on bottling day just prior to siphoning into my bottling bucket ..should I remove it a day or two before to allow further settling?
The other thing...finings...are they all worthwhile addition? Can they remove excess yeast to the point of hampering carbonation?

Cheers

Clint
 
I find that if the hops are in a bag, yeast that has settled on the bag gets disturbed as you draw off beer, and that part clouds the beer that you have strived to get clear. So as you suggest the solution may well be to remove the bag one or two days before you package the beer to allow that yeast to settle out.
I have changed my dry hopping technique to take care of this problem. I use one of the nylon mesh socks that come with the Festival kits and fit it over the end of my siphon tube. I find them very effective at preventing hop bits going forward, and you get the benefit of the hops being free in the brew rather than being constrained in a bag.
I don't use finings. However I have recently changed my technique to allow the beer to remain in the FV for longer to help kit clarify, with the last two days in the cold (no brew fridge but a cold garage at this time of the year). I have found that 'clear' beer from the FV will still carbonate, you just have to leave it longer.
 
I suspend my hop bags in the fv now and that way abitnof the absorbed beer drops back in to the bucket as it's emptying so I get a little less loss. I've not noticed any cloudiness from doing this but I guess as it's suspended it doesn't get any trub on it.
 
I used to use a bit of muslin tied over the end of the syphon tube but I now use one of these ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M74BJW3/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have drilled out the inlet so that the syphon tube goes down to within 2mm of the bottom. This results in an almost total removal of the beer from the FV.

The filter keeps most of the debris out of the bottling bucket but it can slow down the syphon as the mesh gets clogged up. When this gets too bad I just lift the syphon to let the beer in the tube run backwards (to back-flush the filter), give it a few minutes to settle and then re-start the syphoning.

I'm very pleased with the result. :thumb:
 
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I used to use a bit of muslin tied over the end of the syphon tube but I now use one of these ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M74BJW3/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Wot you say seemed to imply that the inlet hole has a shoulder to stop the tube being pushed through, but you have drilled through and now you can push the tube fully through. Is this correct?
However I do like the look of it, cheap too if you only need one, possibly worth a try.
That said I also like the sediment trap that comes with my siphon tube, because the height of trap works well in keeping trub etc out of the siphoning liquid. I push the tube right down to the bottom of the FV at the start of siphoning, and use it to get the final drops out at the end without drawing in lots of yeast etc as I'm sure most of us do.
I suppose you could fix something to the bottom of the filter which then keeps the bottom of the filter inlet at the same height as the sediment trap height. What do you think?
 
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The shoulder was too narrow to fit my syphon tube so I had to drill it out by about 1.0mm to get a nice tight fit.

Also, If you just fit the tube to the connection at the top of the filter you lose suction when the level reaches the top of the filter instead of the bottom; and you lose about 3cm of beer!

The small "lip" at the bottom of the filter holds back the trub in a similar manner to the "U" shaped trap on the bottom of the syphon tube.

I haven't tried it, but the bottom of the filter can be detached so it may be possible to replace it with the "U" shaped trap after the tube has been passed through the neck of the filter.

I'll check it out and see it it's possible but so far I've not found it to be necessary. :thumb:
 
The small "lip" at the bottom of the filter holds back the trub in a similar manner to the "U" shaped trap on the bottom of the syphon tube.

I haven't tried it, but the bottom of the filter can be detached so it may be possible to replace it with the "U" shaped trap after the tube has been passed through the neck of the filter.

I'll check it out and see it it's possible but so far I've not found it to be necessary. :thumb:
My earlier suggestion was to extend the height of the filter 'lip' by fixing something under the base of the filter, so that extended lip height = suction trap height. But you probably sussed that anyway :lol:
 
Having done the Endeavour kit and really enjoyed the results. did you add the Burton salts? Was discussed a bit on my brew thread as to using or not

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64469

I tipped the hops straight in and then when siphoning used the hop sock with a champagne cork wire cage inside to stop the muslin being sucked into the tube. works a treat. only issue is like Dutto says you get a slow down now and again but a gentle life and move about soon clears this up.
 
Personally i have found the commercial hop bags a waste of money they dont fully give up there aroma and flavor , Pelleted are much better. i just strain my brew through fine muslin when putting it into the bottling bucket .
 
.........

I'll check it out and see it it's possible but so far I've not found it to be necessary. :thumb:

Just back in the house ... :thumb:

... and forgot to check - sorry! :doh: :doh:

I must stop seeing if my beer is "ready to drink" by actually drinking it! :whistle: :whistle:

Will try again tomorrow but I will be putting up more shelves so don't hold your breath! :lol: :lol:
 
I finally got around to trying out the modification to the filter today.

The first photograph is with the filter fitted to the end of the syphon tube and the second one is with the bottom plate removed, the tube pushed through the bottom of the filter and the "U" bit reattached.

With the addition of the lip on the filter, the "U" lifts the point at which suction will be lost so high that the FV would need tilting to save losing a lot of beer! :thumb:

Filter.jpg


Filter+.jpg
 
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