AG#3 - Belgian Blonde Ale

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Sounds to be coming along nicely.

 

[ManseMasher]

I primed a Saison I did with candi sugar syrup. Bloody marvellous if I do say so myself. What with that and the yeast it was a lovely tipple.

 

[Leon103]

I was thinking of priming with candi sugar. Need to work out how much though. Will be kegging. 10l and bottling the rest.

 

[Leon103]

Sounds to be coming along nicely.

Tasted lovely and a lovely golden colour

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Love Belgian style beer.

 

[Leon103]

Not pleased. Just checked on the fv and found I have Pellicle just like my last brew http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58051

I haven't had any issues with the saison but I was disappointed to see it again. It must be either my fv, the heater or the thermometer. Or it could be the vmp I used? Time to get that brew fridge ready for my next brew

 

[Leon103]

Or my hydrometer

 

[Leon103]

Here it is

 

[TheRedDarren]

What heater do you use?

 

[Leon103]

My aquarium heater directly in the fv

 

[TheRedDarren]

Ah. How do you clean it?
Is it one with a knurled thermostat knob? And what about where the power lead goes into the body, it's it sealed outside or does the cable disappear into the main body leaving space around the cable then waterproofed internally?
I used to work in an aquatics store and have seen really crappy cheap heaters.

 

[Leon103]

I have removed it all so it's air tight. Here is a picture of the heater.

 

[Leon103]

I wash with hot water and then been soaking in vmp. And this time I spray star sun on it

 

[TheRedDarren]

For me that's got quite a few knurles on it. We tend to worry about microscopic scratches in our plastic, if they can harbour nasties surely the knurl marks can also? (Pure guess work by the way!)
I'm sure you go over it with a fine toothpick but there are a lot of nooks and crannies there. Compare that with scratches you can barely see in an fv. What do you think?

 

[TheRedDarren]

Soaking in a cleaner won't necessarily remove nasties as some can form a biofilm to protect themselves. That's why mechanical removal prior to sanitisation is so important.

 

[TheRedDarren]

What about up and under the knob?

(Sounds like an awful thing to ask..!)

 

[Leon103]

I take the knob off and clean, scrub everything. I do that after every use and before its next use. I have a couple of them but I believe it's the same one I used in my saison so perhaps it's not properly clean. Once my fridge is built I won't need them and have other fv's just annoying because I wanted to re use the yeast

 

[Leon103]

Checked this morning and the top of the fv was more or less clear. It's no longer heated by the heater but the room is s constant 19.8c so doesn't need anymore heat. It may have been hop oil and the remains of the krausen rather than Pellicle. Will have a closer look later.

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Looks ok from that pic. Well at least like what I've seen in my brews. So either it's normal or I've had many messed up brews too. But they tasted good. Bonus!

 

[Leon103]

It looks good and tastes good. Tempted to stick it out in the cold garage until I can bottle on the weekend