Covid-19 + Conical Pressure

On my Christmas holidays from December 24th to January 4th I was going to look in to starting a new brew but things didn't work out the way I had hoped.

The brew shop I was going to buy the brew from was closed over the Christmas holidays so I would have to wait until after the holidays or find another shop or look on line and I didn't want that as delivery over Christmas was a no go.

I didn't got to the Pub after work on the 24th for "Mad Friday" as normal so I wanted to go in the week and on new years eve, on the Wednesday 29th I went out in to town for some food and then had a walk to the pub for my first Christmas pub beer and it turned out to be a bad idea that ended up turning good.

As the Friday came along I didn't feel too good so stayed home and I felt yuck over the weekend so I missed the new year, I woke up on Tuesday 4th of January for work having not slept due to coughing and dripping in sweat all night, I rang the NHS and they said it sound like you have coronavirus so I ordered a test kit, I rang work and told them I may have coronavirus, to my surprise the test kit came through the door later that day.

A positive test it was, I did a test every day waiting for no red line on the T and couldn't go back to work until I had two negative tests.

After a couple of days I felt good again but cups of tea tasted funny, as I couldn't go out anywhere I decided to turn this in to a positive (pun intended) and went online to get my brew kit delivered, In lockdown while looking for a brewing bucket I remembered finding a conical brewing vessel but couldn't get any deliveries as there was not stocks so I had another look around.

A conical brewing vessel is a tank that is shaped like a cone, with a wider top and a narrower bottom. The conical shape allows the yeast to settle to the bottom of the tank, and this would make it easier to transfer the beer to another vessel without disturbing the yeast, while looking on line I found the Fermenter King Gen 3 a pressure fermenter that is designed for home brewers.

Having never heard or pressure fermenting I started reading up about it and storing home brew in kegs so it would last longer, I read that beer lasts longer because there is no oxygen in the keg. Oxygen is a major cause of beer spoilage, as it reacts with the beer to form compounds that give beer a stale taste. By keeping beer in a keg that is completely sealed off from the atmosphere, brewers can prevent oxygen from coming into contact with the beer and spoiling it, In addition, the carbon dioxide gas that is injected into the keg under pressure helps to keep the beer fresh. Carbon dioxide forms a layer on top of the beer that helps to protect it from oxidation. This is why beer that is stored in a keg typically lasts much longer.

Having read all this I decided this was the way I was going to brew from now on so I ordered the Fermenter King Gen 3 as it had a built-in plunger valve that makes it easy to transfer the beer to a keg without disturbing the yeast and a thermowell to allow a more accurate temperature readings.

I also ordered two reconditioned corny kegs and a BlowTie spunding valve to blow off excess CO2 and a Picnic tap to get the beer out

I also ordered various John Guest fittings and tubes, I was feeling good about what I had ordered if a little bit poorer.

I ended up going back to work on Monday 17th January, I had bought all this equipment and I still hadn't bought a new brew kit.

With all my new equipment I didn't want to rush in to brewing as I wanted to keep reading up on pressure brewing and I found a lot of people did their brewing in a old fridge so they can better control the temperature better, I was planning to brew under the stairs at the centre of the house and started looking at buying a old fridge.

One thing I did find a lot of people using was a thing called a Inkbird.

So I got the Inkbird Digital Wireless Thermostat, ITC-308-WiFi Temperature Controller Heating Cooling Remote Control, the temperature gauge would fit down the thermowell of the Fermenter King Gen 3 and I did have a heating belt to wrap around the Fermenter King Gen 3.

Over the next few weeks I reorganized the space under the stairs for my new brewing setup. I emptied it out I even got rid of some stuff that I didn't need. By the time I was finished, I had small but empty space that is almost perfect for my needs as there are a few shelves under the stairs so this gave me a place to store my brewing supplies, I was so excited to finally have a dedicated space for my brewing hobby. I couldn't wait to start making some "delicious" beer!

I didn't start my next brew until Thursday 2nd June.