Recipe
2-Row Pale Malt - 4kg
Review
The Juice Bomb Hazy IPA in the glass |
The Juice Bomb Hazy IPA in the glass |
Pressure fermenting is a relatively new concept in the world of homebrewing. As the name suggests, it's a straight forward process that involves having your fermentation occur in a sealed vessel that is capable of holding pressure. These can be made of stainless steel, or in some cases, even specialised plastic.
There's a lot of hype around fermenting under pressure at the moment - and while the concept can seem quite daunting, it's actually very simple. The process of fermentation involves yeast consuming sugars in the wort - and the byproduct of this consumption is alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2). In a regular fermenter, the CO2 would escape via the airlock, but in a pressure fermenter this CO2 is trapped inside the vessel which builds pressure. The pressure is regulated by a spunding valve which will control the release of CO2 from the vessel to maintain a set pressure inside.
One of the first questions many home brewers would ask is "what are the benefits of pressure fermenting?" so I thought I'd break them down in this blog post along with some of the disadvantages as well;
When diving into the world of water chemistry, one thing that I've come across is a couple of different units of measurement for water alkalinity.
Alkalinity refers to the acid neutralizing capabilities of the water and is commonly measured in CaCO3 or HCO3.
My local water report through Sydney water gives an alkalinity reading in mg CaCO3/L. The problem I have is that the brewing app I use (Brewfather) measures water alkalinity in HCO3.
Thankfully the process for converting between the two is very straight forward;
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An example water report from Sydney Water showing water alkalinity |
To convert from CaCO3 to HCO3, simply multiply the CaCO3 value by 1.22
Using the example above, you can see we have a value of 47.9 mg CaCO3/L - so to convert this to HCO3 we multiply by 1.22. 47.9 x 1.22 = 58.438
To convert from HCO3 to CaCO3, divide the HCO3 value by 1.22.
Brewed By: Balter
Beer: Eazy Hazy
ABV: 4.0%
Malts: Pale, Wheat
Hops: Unknown
IBU: Unknown
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Balter Eazy Hazy 375ml can |
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Plenty of haze visible in the Eazy Hazy |
Spunding valves are a relatively simple but crucial bit of equipment when dealing with pressure fermentation. A spunding valve allows you to set a predefined level of pressure within your pressure fermenter which the valve will maintain by venting or releasing any pressure above this predefined level.
Kegland Blowtie Spunding Valve fitted to keg |
For example, if the spunding valve is set to 10psi, it will not vent any gas and allow the pressure to build to 10psi - after which it will begin venting any additional air/pressure that builds up so a steady 10psi is maintained throughout the fermentation.
The spunding valve I'll be using in this example is the KegLand integrated gauge blowtie spunding valve - if you have a different make/model that is fine - the underlying process will be the same regardless of what type of spunding valve you have.
Before we start - I've noticed on my particular spunding valve that the gauge is wildly inaccurate so I won't be using it for any reference - I'll be using the low pressure gauge on the CO2 regulator attached to my gas bottle.
Also notice on this particular spunding valve there's an arrow on the side indicating the direction gas should be flowing through the valve - make sure you have it installed the right way otherwise it won't function correctly.
Note the arrow circled in black showing the direction gas should flow through the spunding valve |
A big factor for many home brewers is the efficiency they're able to get from their equipment. Efficiency refers to how much sugar they're able to extract from the malts or grains in their recipe - and the more you can extract, the better (and stronger) your beer will be.
Many can become disheartened when falling short of expected gravity readings - I know I've felt like this at times, but have still made some great tasting beers with lower than expected efficiency - so if you're falling short a few gravity points don't despair. Here are a few tips and tricks I've come across and tried myself to help improve my efficiency - each one seems to have helped me get a little closer to my expected readings, and I hope they'll help you as well.
You can't "over-mash" or mash for too long. I've even done an overnight mash due to time constraints during the daytime - so don't feel the need to start your 60 minute timer as soon as your grains are in the BrewZilla, or get them out as soon as your timer is up. Brewing is art, and art takes time.
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Stirring the mash on the Brewzilla |
In my first couple of brews I was always in a hurry to get the grain stirred and the pump on to begin recirculating the wort. I saw a few Facebook group posts that advised waiting 10 minutes or so after stirring in your grain before recirculating. The idea being to let the grain bed 'settle'. My process now is to stir in the grain, let it settle for 10 minutes, then turn on the pump and start my 60 minute timer.
Some have recommended stirring a couple of times during the mash - I stop the pump after 20 and 40 minutes to stir the grain bed then turn the pump back on.
The fine mesh bottom screen has been known to cause issues with stuck mashes and stuck sparges as it further restricts the amount of water that can flow through once it reaches the bottom of the grain bed. Apparantly KegLand don't even include the fine mesh bottom screen with BrewZilla's so I'd recommend not using it.
Leave the glass lid on as much as you can during your mash to help retain the heat. The design of the BrewZilla being essentially a tall cylinder with heating elements at the bottom means there is a discrepancy in temperature between the base where the elements are and the top of the grain bed. Keeping the glass lid on helps keep the heat captured at the top and aims to reduce this temperature difference.
Similar to the point above with the glass lid - the neoprene jacket helps to insulate and maintain temperature within the Brewzilla.
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Brewzilla 3.1.1 35L with Neoprene Jacket |
Use a hand held kitchen thermometer to check the temperature of the wort coming out of the recirculation arm, or in the middle of the grain bed at the top. You'll find the temperature will be different to your target/current temperature set on the BrewZilla control panel - by as much as 5C. Adjust the temperature on the BrewZilla so you're closer to your target mash temperature at the top of the grain bed.
Use a thermometer to measure the temperature at the top of the grain bed |
This is something I didn't do with my first few brews. Most recipes will call for a mash out which involves ramping the temperature up from mashing temperature to around 75-80C. This helps to loosen the grain bed which in turn extracts more sugars and improves the flow of water when sparging.
You can also upgrade your BrewZilla with a boiler extension and increased malt pipe to allow more grain and water to be used in your BrewZilla. Check out our article providing more detail on these below;
BrewZilla - Boiler & Malt Pipe Extensions to Increase Capacity
Brewed By: Stockade Brew Co
Beer: Mr Fruju New England IPA (NEIPA)
ABV: 6.0%
Malts: Pale, Oats, Unmalted Wheat
Hops: Mosiac, Galaxy, Citra, Ella, Amarillo
IBU: 40
Mr Fruju by Stockade Brew Co |
Haziness is prevalent in the Mr Fruju NEIPA |
After making the change from bottling all of my homebrewed beer to kegging - I wanted a way to still be able to bottle my beer occasionally so I could easily share it with friends and family - or take a couple of bottles to parties etc. Counter pressure bottle fillers looked good but cost more than I was willing to pay - so I thought I'd give the KegLand Bottle Filler Beer Gun a try. Here are my findings after using it a couple of times.
The gun itself feels good - made mostly of metal/steel it feels sturdy and weighty in the hands. Also easier to keep clean and sanitise when all the parts that touch your beer are made of stainless steel.
It can be messy to setup though - I felt like I had beer and gas lines going everywhere when putting it together. I wanted to be able to use the feature of purging the bottles with CO2 gas from the gun prior to filling so needed to hook my gas bottle up to the gun. But I also needed the same gas bottle to be connected to the keg to maintain the pressure needed during dispensing via the gun. A push in T-piece fitting (KegLand Duotight) worked very well for this and made it quick and easy, but it can be a little overwhelming figuring out what goes where the first time.
To their credit though, KegLand do include two decent length hoses with the beer gun (but not the T-piece I previously mentioned) and some stepless clamps to secure them in place on the gun which is good. It would be great though to have standard gas and liquid disconnects included on the gun. This may or may not even be possible/feasible, but would make connecting/disconnect the gun a breeze as getting the included hoses slipped over the barbs of the gun was a bit tricky and took some time/effort.
Another point worth mentioning is the inclusion of a detailed instruction manual with the beer gun - I found this especially helpful in understanding exactly how the gun works and how best to use it. It's also available online so I found myself reading/studying it before purchasing - to see how it works and how it compares to other offerings available on the market.
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The KegLand Bottle Filler Beer Gun in action |
Due to some poor planning, my first attempt at filling bottles wasn't a huge success. The very first bottle I filled had a good inch or so of foam in it and I attribute this to two main reasons;
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My second attempt at filling - using chilled bottles. Little to no foaming |
Pressure fermenting can be tricky - especially when you're first starting out and grappling with some of the different concepts and potential problems along the way.
One of the questions I found I was asking myself during my first pressure fermentation was whether or not I had a leak in my Fermzilla pressure fermenter, or if the gas is being absorbed back into the beer which is causing a reduction in pressure in the fermenter.
Leaks aren't so bad during the actual fermentation - you will need to have a spunding valve attached to your fermenter to help regulate the pressure in the fermenter, so a small leak elsewhere won't actually be noticed until after the fermentation has completed and pressure is no longer being built inside the fermenter by the yeast.
This is what happened to me after my first pressure fermentation - the spunding valve did it's job, and showed the 10psi of pressure it was set to, and any excess was vented out via the spund valve as it should. My problems began after fermentation had completed, and I saw a reduction in pressure to 0 psi overnight. I'd reconnect my gas - re-pressurise the fermenter and leave it again. I couldn't hear any gas leaks, nor could I see any bubbles forming/popping after spraying the entire lid several times with a soapy solution. Sure enough, the next day the pressure would have dropped to 0 psi again.
I continued this process during a cold crash as well and had the same results - and I think I now have the answer to this question based on this experience.
If the pressure is dropping to 0 psi - it's a leak. Plain and simple.
If the pressure is dropping, but not to 0 psi, then it's more than likely being absorbed into the beer.
Once I discovered the source of my problem (a carbonation cap that needed to be tightened), the Fermzilla would hold pressure and maybe drop a few psi overnight due to co2 being absorbed into the beer.
I wanted to share my experience as I could not find a definitive answer to this problem when I was facing it and found it very overwhelming (and frustrating) trying to understand it.
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A pressure gauge reading 0 can be tricky to troubleshoot |
What has you experience been with gas leaks and/or gas being absorbed into your beer? Did you find it confusing the first time as well? Leave a comment below to let me know.
The Kegland FermZilla is a great bit of kit that can be used for pressure fermenting. When fermenting under pressure though, it's important that the vessel does not have any leaks. Thankfully, the All Rounder model is quite simplistic in it's design, so there's really only a few places that leaks can come from. Is your FermZilla leaking or not holding pressure? Use this guide to work through the process of identifying and fixing any problematic leaks.
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Fermzilla with plastic carbonation caps attached |
Plastic: If you are using plastic carbonation caps, it is important that you do these up tight. The Kegland plastic carbonation caps don't have any seals within them, so they should be done up very tight to ensure they seal correctly. Some food grade lubricant on the thread can also help prevent any leaks from occurring. There is a hex head on the top of the cap that you can fit a spanner too to help put that extra bit of torque into tightening them.
Also, if you've been removing the lid by prying it open using a spanner on the underside of one of the carbonation caps like our guide suggests, it's worth pressing down hard on the carbonation cap to ensure it is sealed correctly. We've noticed ours leak occassionally after using this method to open the lid.
Stainless: The stainless carbonation caps from Kegland are different to the plastic ones as they have a rubber seal within them. Be careful not to overtighten them as this can cause the seal to warp and lead to leaks occurring. Some food grade lubricant on the thread can also help prevent any leaks from occurring.
Spray some soap solution around the carbonation cap area and watch for small air bubbles forming/popping to help identify any leaks in this area.
Check and ensure the pressure release valve is seated correctly. Spray some soap solution on and around it and watch for small air bubbles forming and popping to easily identify if there are leaks coming from the PRV.
If you've previously had an aggressive fermentation with alot of krausen - check that no krausen or hop particles have gotten stuck in the PRV (you will need to take the lid off and look at the under-side of the PRV to check this, though).
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FermZilla lid showing pressure release valve (PRV) location |
This is the only other area that gas could be leaking from in the FermZilla. As previously mentioned, one of the great things about the design of the All Rounder (compared to the Conical) is it's simplicity meaning there's a very small number of places that can cause air leaks.
First of all, make sure your stainless handles are not done up too tight. If they are too tight this can cause the opening of the FermZilla to become warped, so the lid doesn't sit in tightly and air will leak out the sides.
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Fermzilla lid showing stainless steel handle assembly |
Before doing any further troubleshooting with the lid assembly, be sure to release any pressure within the Fermzilla by pulling the pressure release valve - if you remove the lid collar whilst there's still pressure inside the lid assembly will likely fly off with great force and potentially cause injury.
After releasing pressure, unscrew the lid collar then remove the lid. Check the following things on the lid;
Once you've done this, you can let the pressure build up naturally (if fermentation is still going) or you can attach a gas line from your CO2 bottle and pressurise.
A common question I found I was asking myself when looking for leaks is "is it a leak, or is the gas being absorbed into the beer?".
The answer to this is pretty simple - if you're seeing a slight reduction in pressure over a long period - eg. 24-48 hours then this would likely be absorption or variations in ambient temperature affecting the pressure. If you're seeing the pressure drop to 0 then you have a leak.
The first and only leak I've experienced with my FermZilla was by not having one of the plastic carbonation caps done up tightly enough.
Check out some our other FermZilla related posts below;
FermZilla - Hints, Tips and Tricks
A CO2 regulator is a critical part of any kegging system. As the name suggests, the regulator is responsible for regulating or controlling the flow of gas from your gas cylinder into your keg. The pressure inside the the CO2 cylinder is much higher than what is required to pressurise kegs, or dispense beer from them, so the regulator helps us set and control the pressure.
Here's a step by step guide to get your CO2 pressure regulator connected to your bottle and adjusted correctly.
Review the image below to familiarise yourself with the different parts of the regulator before beginning.
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Diagram showing the key components of a CO2 gas regulator |
When using a kegging system at home, it's important that beer lines are kept clean to ensure no infections or off flavours develop within the lines themselves. One of the problems many home brewers face when cleaning lines is they need to waste alot of gas - filling a 19L keg with cleaning solution then pressuring it to force the cleaning solution through the beer lines is inefficient - requiring alot of water and gas to do so.
In this post I'll outline the process I use - which requires a couple of (cheap) extra parts, but makes it much quicker and more efficient to get your beer lines cleaned.
What you'll need;
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Easy beer line cleaning solution - fully assembled |
One of the greatest fears of many home brewers utilising CO2 tanks and kegs for carbonating and dispensing their beer, is that of a leak in their gas lines. Even the tiniest of leaks can empty a full CO2 bottle overnight which is an unnecessary inconvenience, and expense.
A great tool you can use to track down a CO2 leak is a trigger spray bottle filled with water and a couple of squirts of dish washing liquid. Spraying this solution onto hoses/connections etc will cause bubbles to show/form/pop wherever there's a gas leak.
Here are a process you can use to isolate and track down any leaks you may have in your CO2 gas lines.
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An example of bubbles after a gas disconnect being sprayed. Bubbles are OK - moving/popping bubbles are not |
I love my Brewzilla - and after several brews, and viewing plenty of YouTube videos and facebook group posts, I thought I'd compile some info on some of the common accessories for the Brewzilla, and a few hints and tips to help with your brew day.
The purpose of the neoprene jacket for the Brewzilla is pretty obvious. It helps to insulate the brewzilla boiler to make it more efficient. This means, faster to heat up water, and easier to maintain a constant temperature when mashing
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35L Brewzilla with neoprene jacket |
Tip: Remove the neoprene jacket when cooling your wort - you don't need the extra insulation to keep the heat in when you're trying to cool.
The hop spider is a separate fine mesh cylinder that you use to contain your hops when adding them to your boiling wort. This one is very much subject to personal preference - some will argue that by having the hops 'free' in the wort, they get better utilisation from them - however, this does come at the expense of extra hop material in the trub which forms at the bottom. This can lead to problems with clogging the pump as the inlet for the pump is located on the base of the Brewzilla unit.
I've always used the hop spider so I can't compare it to not using it, but I can say that I've had great results and no lack of hop flavour/aroma in my brews![]() |
Brewzilla with hop spider attached with clip |
Tip 1: Using the bracket on the hop sider over the edge of the Brewzilla has it sitting pretty close to the water level when starting a boil at full capacity (30L). Try using a bull dog style clip to attach the top of the hop spider to the top edge of the Brewzilla unit (see image above)
Tip 2: When waiting for your BrewZilla to come up to a boil after your mash, turn on the pump and run the recirculation hose into the hop spider. This will help filter out any stray grains that escaped the malt pipe.
Run the recirculation hose through the hop spider to filter out any grains before boiling |
Whirlpooling is the process of creating a whirlpool/vortex in your wort during the cooling process (after the boil). The idea is it will settle all the trub in a nice cone at the base of your boiler making for an easier cleanup.
I've used the whirlpool arm on all my brews and can't say I've noticed this working particularly well. This could also be more problematic with the Brewzilla as the inlet for the pump is located towards the centre of the base, so covering it with a cone of trub could increase the chance of trub being sucked into the pump and causing a blockage.
The other use for the whirlpool arm attachment is to keep the wort moving/circulating during the cooling process. This is the main reason I use the whirlpool arm attachment.
Tip: Make sure you point the whirlpool arm attachment so the wort flows in the opposite direction to that which the water is flowing through the immersion chiller!
Tip2: Attach a small piece of silicon tube/hose to the end of the whirlpool arm to help guide the wort flowing out of it around the outside of the Brewzilla unit
Silicone tube attached to end of whirlpool arm (closeup) |
Silicone tube attached to end of whirlpool arm |
The immersion chiller is a standard inclusion when purchasing the Brewzilla - which is great. It's made of aluminium, which is decent, but not the most efficient in terms of heat exchanging properties (copper is better, but more expensive), but there are a couple of tips I have for using the included chiller.
Tip 1: Even with compression fittings to attach standard garden hose fittings, I found the connections would leak slightly. I always put old rags/shirts over the connections to capture any drips and contain any spray to prevent anything getting into the cooling wort.
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Immersion chiller in action - note the old shirts over the connections to help with drips/leaks |
Tip 2: Try jiggling the immersion chiller up and down in the wort whilst water is running through it to cool. This can help speed up the cooling process
Many Brewzilla users have reported issues with the camlock fittings (used to hold attachments onto the pump outlet such as the whirlpool arm attachment or standard recirculation arm attachment) coming loose. I noticed this as well with my Brewzilla - when pumping wort through the recirculation arm, the slightest bump on the arm would often be enough to dislodge it and lead to wort suddenly leaking out everywhere - far from ideal.
Tip: Use a zip tie (or two smaller zip ties connected together as I have) to create a loop that is then placed over the camlock arms to prevent them from opening
Zip-ties in a loop over camlock fittings to prevent them from opening unexpectedly (secured) |
Zip-ties in a loop over camlock fittings to prevent them from opening unexpectedly (unsecured) |
You can also upgrade your BrewZilla with a boiler extension and increased malt pipe to allow more grain and water to be used in your BrewZilla. Check out our article providing more detail on these below;
BrewZilla - Boiler & Malt Pipe Extensions to Increase Capacity
One of the biggest benefits of fermenting in a closed/pressurised vessel such as the Fermzilla is the ability to eliminate the introduction of oxygen into the fermented beer - during fermentation and during packaging/transferring.
It is well known that oxygen is the arch nemesis of beer - and is responsible for creating off flavours likened to wet cardboard or sherry like tastes in the event of your beer being exposed to oxygen. It's certainly something I've experienced in my previously bottled beers after more than a couple of weeks in storage.
Now that I've moved from bottling to kegging my beers, I wanted to document the process used to transfer the fermented beer from the fermenter to the keg using a closed transfer method which eliminates exposure to air/oxygen.
Brewfather is my choice of application for brewing. The application is free (you can upgrade to a paid version to get access to additional features), but for me the free version is sufficient. I find it useful for inputting recipes into - and as an added bonus it already has a built in Brewzilla equipment profile which seems very accurate based on the few brews I've done with it. After entering a recipe it will give you information on how much mash water you'll need, how much sparge water you'll need, and can even do water adjustments if you enter a water profile based on the water you use for brewing.
You can of course customise the profile if necessary to dial it in based on your required numbers and efficiency ratings.
To set/change the equipment profile, follow the steps below;
BrewZilla Brew Day - Step by Step Instructions
BrewZilla Accessories, Hints & Tips
How to Improve Mash Efficiency with your BrewZilla
How to fix a stuck mash/sparge in a BrewZilla
BrewZilla - Getting Started Guide & FAQ
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Aussie Pale Ale in the glass |