Andrew, Very good post it will be very usfull.I will use it for a good reference. I have no way of chilling my kegs right now. I work out of 2 liter pop bottles or drink it at room temp. A cooler for the kegs is high on the list right now. My wife is supportive after tasting the GREAT beers at the home concerts. She really liked Al's WIT and Steve's Saision and dry mead. I am now worried that I might have to take a turn at being the driver.

Andrew Ruggles <arruggles@yahoo.com> wrote:

Jim,


--- Jim Imbertson wrote:

> Do the entreies need to be dropped off by 8/12/05? Or is just the
> online part due by Friday?

Don't know -- probably need to be dropped off.

> I have some cornies of beer but haven't tried my bottle filler yet, I
> would need to do some experimenting to get the carbonation right, in
> going from a warm keg to a bottle and then chilling.

IMHO, warm keg bottling = bad idea (presuming the presence of CO2 in
solution is desired).

The 2-Wheel and Sputnik Master Brewers stopped by last night to fire up
the ol' CPBF (counter pressure bottle filler). It's a lot of work for
just a little bit of product.

Here are my tips for effective CPBFing:

1. Have a brew-buddy present. With all the hoses, kegs, bottles, and
sanitizer all over the place, another set of hands helps out
tremendously.

2. Chill the beer to just above freezing. You can't talk about the "P"
in CPBFing without talking about T (whether Celsius or Fahrenheit). The
closer the beer is to 0C or 32F, the more likely the CO2 will stay in
solution. The warmer the beer, the opposite is true. (Related tip: get
temp and CO2 in the keg adjusted _a week_ ahead of bottling.)

3. Use a dilute Iodophor solution for final sanitizing rinse. We just
kept a bucket on the nasty, dirty basement floor and put the bottles in
the bucket (which was clean on the inside). Dump out the solution, and
insert the CPBF.

4. Have a backup tank of CO2. For whatever reason, I left my CO2 on
when I left it last, and the tank was empty. It was probably close to
being empty, but not a good thing(tm). I keep a little 4# tank for
parties and backup. Very nice to have that after doing all the work
cleaning and sanitizing.

5. Don't move your kegs. Moving them can stir up sediment. Put enough
hose length to CPBF without moving your kegs.

6. CPBF operation:
a. All valves closed. Insert into clean, sterile bottle.
b. Turn CO2 on full. Even though I keep my kegs around 12-15psi,
CPBFing seems to work better around 6psi. Again, this is where T comes
in to play. If you have your regulator set to _lower_ than the keg CO2,
the keg's CO2 will fill the bottle.
c. Open bleed valve to release an Oxygen that was in the bottle.
d. Close bleed valve. Hold CPBF in tight to the bottle as the bottle
will now pressurize. The CO2 in line to the keg, the keg, and the
bottle should now all be in equilibrium (as far as pressure is
concerned).
e. Close CO2 valve to bottle.
f. Open the liquid in to bottle on full. There may be a little
movement of beer, and there may be a push back on the beer in the line,
depending on how equal your equilibrium is.
g. Ever slow slightly, crack the bleed valve. Beer will begin to flow
into the bottle. Keep it very slow until it reaches the bottom of the
filler. You can open the bleed valve more, and get a faster fill rate,
though it will foam more. If you have your beer as close to freezing as
possible, foaming will be a minimal, acceptable level. Warm beer will
foam all over and you may never get a full bottle. Having the bottles
wet from the dilute sanitizer also reduces foaming.
h. When fill has reached near the top of the bottle, close the liquid
in valve.
i. Close bleed valve. (Some people reverse h. and i. Both should
occur within 1 second of the other, so I'm not sure it really matters)
j. While keeping the seal on the CPBF, grab a cap out of the
sanitizer. (This is where a brew-buddy comes in handy)
k. Remove the CPBF. It should foam slightly (this is a good
thing(tm)), and place the crown cap on top of the bottle and crimp it
down in a capper as quickly as possible (easier to do with 2 people as
one person should be holding the CPBF at this time. Alt: put next
bottle to be filled next to just filled bottle before removing he CPBF,
giving a place for it to go.
l. Rinse off bottle and store in a cool, dark place. Be sure to mark
caps either with a removable office sticker (I like the 1/2" round
Avery labels) or a black permanent marker.

> Also a style Q does the add of 1 1/2 cup of honey change the style of
> a American pale ale (6A)?

Yes, and for the better IMHO. Probably not appropriate, though it may
be difficult to tell as the hops in an APA will tend to overpower any
nuance contribution by the honey. I'd still submit it in the APA
category.

Andrew



> alboyce@bigfoot.com wrote:
>
> Only FOUR MORE DAYS to get your entries registered for the Minnesota
> State Fair Homebrew Competition! Entries may be dropped off at
> either Midwest Homebrewing or Northern Brewer, and may be shipped to
> Midwest Homebrewing. Winners will have their beers and awards
> displayed in the Creative Activities building throughout the run of
> the MN State Fair!
>
> So far, MhBA has 24 entries, SPHBC has 16 - no other MN clubs thus
> far.
>
> Go to: http://www.mnbrewers.com/events/mnfair/
>
> VOLUNTEER AND JUDGE REGISTRATION is also due by this Friday. We
> still need LOTS more judges, stewards and volunteers! A reminder if
> you are a BJCP judge - you need to judge at least once every two
> years to keep your certification current. Judging will take place
> entirely on Saturday, August 20, from 10am to 6pm.
>
> Go to: http://www.mnbrewers.com/events/mnfair/
>
> - Al
>
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