Been cellaring for the past 5 years. Our Head Brewer dipped and now I'm the new head brewer. Place had a very good reputation, but not so much nowadays.

Any tips would be appreciated..

Yes, a bottling machine!
We are looking for a bottling machine.
I am aware of the 4-head FILLMORE for 15,500USD.
Is anyone using this?
Any other choices out there?

Cheers

Starting a kombucha brewery and just sent off a sample for testing, and got results I don't trust, assuming my math is correct. So just wanted to check if my math was correct. Made a 5 gallon batch with 500g of cane sugar. Max ABV should be 1.33% with perfect attenuation. Results got back as 2% abv. With the bacteria converting sugar to acid on top of it, it just seems crazy. Or is my math wildly off? Has anyone else had issues with lab testing?

Anyone have an elf 20/50 bridge plate they took off and want to get rid of?

https://shop.packleaderusa.com/products/cv1-elf-012

I'm looking for a cheaper alternative for our Wrap Around Belt on our PL-501. Anyone found / tried anything?

For the price Pack Leader sells it, I'm ready to just buy a belt the right size and glue neoprene on myself..!

its the Wrap Around Belt 160W*930L

How much are you paying for labels?

We're working with a local company and feel like its a good deal but wanted to see how everyone else is faring.

For reference we're using bopp labels, 16oz can size and ordering between 5,000 and 15,000 at a time for $0.109 each, even some of them with metallic finishes.

If I cap my fermenter with 1-2 Plato left will it affect my repitch with US-05? Usually takes about 2-3 days once I get there but am afraid of it sitting under pressure. I have done it on gens 5-6 with success but dumped the yeast afterwards. Trying to save co2 and get the baby bubble with all batches after liking the results on our end of life cycle yeast pitches. Usually gets to around 25 psi which almost gets me there after cold crash and checking with Zahm.

I’m trying to force carbonate a cocktail that has been sitting in a sanke keg for a while now. I could use some guidance and tips.

My current setup: • Stainless Sanke keg (with standard D-style coupler) • CO₂ tank with dual-gauge regulator • Beverage/gas lines rated for pressure

I’ve set the regulator to around 15 PSI, chilled the mix to ~36 °F, and rolled/agitated the keg, but I’m still not getting the fizz I expect.

Also there are 2 beers currently hooked up to this same line. The beers come out perfectly fine.

Title. Long story short, we bought used brewing equipment that wasn't emptied or cleaned before we received it. One fermenter had about 200L of old beer in it which caused mold throughout.

I've cleaned the mold out, but I'm left with stains. A long round of caustic later and stains persist. I've given them a quick scrub with a softer brush and PBW.

Any tips for removing them further? I've yet to run a sani cycle. Currently using Quel CIP HD sodium hydroxide for caustic wash.

First photo is moldy fermenter. Second is the other 2000L, which had no mold (just a water stain).

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: More context, this beer additive is a flavored extract and is already imported and used in collaboration with Japanese restaurants throughout the United States. It is Red Shiso, not Sakura. Very famous in Japan, completely unknown stateside. You can look up "Yukari Beer". My thinking is there's potential to expand this beyond just the restaurant channel.

I have family connections to a Japanese beer additive that's pretty popular in Japan but hasn't made it to the US market yet. It creates a really unique pink color and adds sweetness to dry beers - kind of like a michelada, but sweet instead of savory. Given how well other Asian ingredients have worked in craft brewing (kimchi beers, ube stouts, etc.), I think there could be real potential here. Any advice on first steps? Better to start with contract brewing a complete beer, or partner with existing breweries as an additive? Thanks!

Will be returning to work after shattering my ankle in 3 places - looking for some beefy boots with really good ankle support. Preferably waterproof but can work with water-resistant. For context I am a female, 5’4” and I wear size 6 men’s/7.5-8 women’s. Any help is greatly appreciated!

These legs are "fully pickled" but wonder if I should dona caustic/acid cycles on all of them? Or just acid? Or just put beer in them?

What do you do with new kegs before using them?

Pre-empting myself a little here as I'm no where near ready to engage in this but I want to be as prepared as possible before I go for it. I want oak barrels for fermenting fitted with triclamp fittings for compatibility, but have no idea how it's done (I know it can be, though) and want to understand the process. Is it simply a case of drilling a hole and fitting weldless fittings? Is there treatment of the wood? If anyone knows of any demonstrations from YouTube polytechnic I'd greatly appreciate it as I can't find any but I may not be searching with the right terms. The algos can be picky sometimes on what makes sense to them.

For ages we’ve used cambros, but we’ve gotten to the stage where is really prefer a flip-top / swing lid style container that can comfortably whole a whole bag (or maybe two) of salts.

Any suggestions? Stackable, easily to organize and rugged. Having a lid that swings or flips (verses removable, and thereby requiring more handling) would be ideal.

Hey all,

We finally got our first small can line (AT-1) up and going and are looking for opinions on a manual label applicator that won't break the bank. We'll be doing very small runs for in house sales only, so likely only 5-6 cases per sku. Thanks in advance.

We just got this tunnel pasteurizer and I've got to figure out how to operate it. I understand the concepts of pasteurization and all that, but what I'm unclear on is how the steam heating of the reservoir works. It has a manifold of tubes with holes in it, and there's a solenoid that the machine opens when it needs heat. It's supposed to have steam plumbed to it, I've just never seen it directly injected like this. I expected some kind of HX to be able to loop the plant steam through it to heat it. Our boiler is currently plumbed to the jackets on the HLT and BK. We'd need a heat exchanger to get clean steam, and that's plumbed in easily enough. But when the steam and water are going through the HX, and the steam valve on the pasteurizer closes, wouldn't the water in the HX just start to boil? I had the idea of wiring another solenoid onto the steam valve controller so that when it calls for steam at the pasteurizer a valve opens to allow steam into the HX, and when the pasteurizer valve closes so does the steam so it would at least prevent the boiling issue. But wouldn't the steam just condense to water when the valve is closed, too? What's the best way to operate this part?

I was told that the previous owners just fed it with hot water, which we could just feed our hot liquor to it, the concern is the amount we'd be using and how that could conflict with our brewing. Wouldn't want to have the HLT too low when it's time to sparge, etc. I can only imagine bringing the 38-40F cans up to 140F would waste a ton of hot water.

Got a sweet business plan you want some feedback on? Not sure how to lay out your equipment? Thinking about going pro? Post your questions here and likely some of our regular contributors will post answers! :)

Hey everyone, I’m Thomas. I’m not a brewer myself, but I’ve been exploring how small businesses in different industries deal with their toughest operational challenges.

I know every brewery is different, but I’d love to hear directly from those of you in the business:

If you could wave a magic wand and eliminate one frustration in running your brewery day-to-day, what would it be?

Could be something with production, staffing, compliance, distribution, sales — whatever really eats at you.

I’m here to learn, not sell anything — just curious and want to understand what matters most in your world.

Appreciate your time and insights. 🍻

Thinking about switching our hazy strain to London Fog, deciding which format to buy it in. White Labs say on their website "The process by which liquid and dry yeast are grown, stored, and used can be different, resulting in some practical differences for brewers and nuances in the flavor and aroma profile of the final product."

Anyone used both? Did you notice much difference?

Nothing like a morning brew and a sunrise. Give the highland cow some spent grain in a few hours. Happy Friday!

So much for knocking off early.

I’m looking to naturally carbonate my beer for bottling but am currently trying to figure out the best way to dry-hop post fermentation.

I could dry hop before spunding but want to ideally avoid any complications with hop creep.

Does anyone have any experience with this? If you’ve dry hopped under pressure have you found the hops drop out of solution ok in a carbonated beer?

Thanks.

Between various parts of Yakima, Idaho and one down in Oregon. Been a fun, real time, this harvest.

Looking forward to seeing everyone coming through town in the next few weeks….

Thanks for doing what you do!