Beer Brewing!
Hey everyone, ever since this plannedemic I have acquired a new skill, making my own beer, brewing it to be exact, however to date not had the best success but why not?
I used to brew in plastic which generally is considered a bad idea the commercial guys all do it in glass and or stainless steel, so off I went to my local brew shop and purchased a nice 6 gallon glass carbuoy.
In brewing, a carboy or demijohn is a glass or plastic vessel used in fermenting beverages such as wine, mead, cider, perry, and beer. Usually it is fitted with a rubber stopper and a fermentation lock to prevent bacteria and oxygen from entering during the fermentation process.
During the homebrewing process, a primary carboy is used for fermentation. Once primary fermentation is complete, the beer is either transferred to a secondary carboy for conditioning or it can be transferred directly to bottles for conditioning. (This process of transferring is usually called racking.)
Polypropylene carboys are also commonly used in laboratories to transfer purified water. They are typically filled at the top and have a spigot at the bottom for dispensing. More here as per wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboy
What is the interesting looking instrument just next to the glass Carboy? This is called a hydrometer...A hydrometer is an instrument used for measuring the relative density of liquids based on the concept of buoyancy. They are typically calibrated and graduated with one or more scales such as specific gravity.
A hydrometer usually consists of a sealed hollow glass tube with a wider bottom portion for buoyancy, a ballast such as lead or mercury for stability, and a narrow stem with graduations for measuring. The liquid to test is poured into a tall container, often a graduated cylinder, and the hydrometer is gently lowered into the liquid until it floats freely. The point at which the surface of the liquid touches the stem of the hydrometer correlates to relative density. Hydrometers can contain any number of scales along the stem corresponding to properties correlating to the density.
Hydrometers are calibrated for different uses, such as a lactometer for measuring the density (creaminess) of milk, a saccharometer for measuring the density of sugar in a liquid, or an alcoholometer for measuring higher levels of alcohol in spirits.
The hydrometer makes use of Archimedes' principle: a solid suspended in a fluid is buoyed by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the submerged part of the suspended solid. The lower the density of the fluid, the deeper a hydrometer of a given weight sinks; the stem is calibrated to give a numerical reading. More here as per wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer
A must in brewing is that little plastic thing on the top called an airlock.. I made the error months ago not using this when brewing pineapple beer, that was a mistake, BOOM and a huge mess. The airlock lets air out and no tainted nasty air in!
Lastly my wort cooler. Wort is unfermented beer. This is essential to cool the beer quickly as to prevent off tastes and to stick with the decades old recipes and procedures!
Beer brewing is great fun, by no means cheaper than buying it in a bottle store however, but all round fun and you get beer :)
Have an amazing Tuesday.
Love and light.
Be blessed
Cheer$;)