California Common | Anvil Cooling System

[@Bohern1]

Martin, I have been following through this journey of 99 beers. I look forward each week to see what is next and what new toy or process you share. Keep up the GREAT work, both you and Lauren are very entertaining.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Thank you so much!

[@pierreghesquiere1783]

If you wish to improve the cooling efficiency ; add some salt in your ice bucket. This will allow you to lower the liquid temperature lower than 0 C and therefore will cool better

[@HopsANDgnarly]

That thing makes the most wretched sound when you slide it into the lid! I used it when I made my Barleywine earlier this summer and my girlfriend couldn't stand the sound lol. I agree with the comments about refrigerating the water and pump setup - worked like a charm. Still don't think it'd cold crash though

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I know - my ears!! 👂

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Haha Kelly has cringed a couple of times when installed the cooling coil. 41° is the lowest I've ever achieved.

[@daibowen1]

Thank you for testing out a cooling system like this. For someone who lives in a 1 bed flat in Cardiff, Wales, a chest freezer fermenter is not an option. So to know there are other options out there to dial in my homebrew is great to see! Keep up the great work!

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Haha, thanks.

[@grahamhawes7089]

Alternative name for your channel: "Keen on Beer"

[@davidpotter6564]

I've used a similar setup for cooling for a while (using the SS Brewtech FTSs coils). It's a pain swapping frozen bottles over though which needed to be done every 12 hours, so I've upgraded now and started using an aquarium chiller to cool the water in the cooler. First batch is fermenting now with this setup and it's working well. The aquarium chiller can cool down to 3c so I'm hopeful I can get near cold crash temperatures when the time comes.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Nice. Aquarium chiller sounds like a pretty, ahem, cool alternative.

[@T_Mo271]

I've used that method quite a lot - rather than adding ice, I float "blue ice" blocks in the cooler, which I pre-freeze. Swap in a new set a couple of times a day, and put the thawed ones back in the freezer. Adding ice means you have to eventually bail out the melt water.

[@drakemasterson9874]

I do the same thing with good results.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

There was a lot of off-camera water bailing for sure.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

The coldest I can get the 7.5 gallon bucket to is 41°f that's with a glycol chiller running at 27°f and the pump was running all the time. 45 is about the "sweet spot" that the cooling system will hold. Great video and the beer sounds good! 🍻👍

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Wow surprised it doesn’t go lower than that, good to know.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge I think the coil is just not large enough. But they never advertise it as lager capable.

[@jansifae]

What I did on my last lager batch was I ran ground water through my plate chiller until the wort had equalized with my ground water (~85 degrees), then replaced the hose connection to the plate chiller with a pump drawing water from a cooler of ice water, and put the output hose back in to the cooler of ice water. I started with 44lbs of ice in the cooler, and there was still plenty of ice left when I got ~6 gallons of wort down to 50 degrees. It also cooled from 85 to 50 pretty quickly.

[@piazzonim]

I love Steam Beer, nice job! I am currently using a CoolBrewing Fermentation Bag (it can get down to 30° below ambient temperature - through use of frozen water jugs (1 gallon or 2 liter bottles). You can swap out the jug with another one in the freezer.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Nice! Wasn’t aware of these.

[@piazzonim]

The Homebrew Challenge www.cool-brewing.com/

[@hansj5846]

Interesting video. Brewing in the summer can be a pain. I switched to Kveik because my water is too hot in July and August. Downside is the best traditional lagers are then brewed in winter....

[@bensigl3766]

I've found a few ways to increase efficiency in the system: *use the shortest length of tubing possible. Any extra try to keep in the cooler; preferably tucked in the water. *wrap the short, exposed tubing with a rag or sumthing to insulate. *use ONLY enough water to safely run the pump. NO MORE. *start with some water and ice, but also ice packs. The square/rectangle ones that can theoretically be submerged. *extra insulation, like a blanket, that can also help insulate the fermenter lid can be very helpful. Especially if your ambient temp is in the 70s or higher. Once you reach your ferm temp, you should only need to swap out the ice packs once or *maybe* twice a day. The only weak point in my system is the cheap Styrofoam cooler I'm still using; a small igloo with holes drilled for the tubing would be better. I've thought about using salt in the water, but I dont like the idea of running it through the pump and the metal coil.

[@kellenfoster7893]

Where did this music come from its awesome. Along with the beer.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Thanks. All licensed from Artlist.io

[@chefclay]

Hey man live the channel, if you add salt to your ice it will lower the freezing point of water and allow it to run through the tube at a colder temp

[@1TheLord1]

Missed the post fermentation graph (vitals) on this one. Hopefully it comes back for the next videos. Keep it up ! :)

[@1TheLord1]

Oh, and as far as ground water / cooling post brew, have you ever considered to daisy chain a immersion chiller after your faucet and before your plate chiller that you put into a icy bath? That's the other way I've seen it done. You might want to go from 212 -> 120 or what not with just water and then use your ICE bath not to waste too much ice.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I’ve tried that in the past without much success. Found the water exiting the immersion chiller in ice was only fractionally cooler than the water going in. Maybe I should revisit.

[@KevinPeffley]

While that Anvil cooling system may be smart for the brewer who can’t use a cooler chest, it’s oh so complicated and really a big hassle. Thank you for demonstrating it, but really no thanks, Anvil. By the way, I own both of Anvil’s stainless steel fermenters, and they are great. Pitching yeast is very simple with the wide access to the top and the handles make it easy to lift and place in my cooler chest. Also, they are really easy to clean. Cheers!

[@scandinavianserialki]

You could try using salt water and ice to get to cold crashing but chest freezer sounds a lot easier.

[@dogsdinner99]

Just shows the difference in temperatures. I am having to use my heat-belt in my downstairs cupboard to keep my bottles up to temperature (23C) for conditioning. That's summer in the UK for you 😁

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

🤣 I remember those “summers” well

[@A2an]

Looked very good, thanks for the video 👍

[@BaysidePetEnclosures]

I was just putting together a recipe for a California Common to brew this weekend, looks like I'll give it a crack 👍

[@Leo99929]

You can put your water tank in your keezer so you don't need to keep topping up the ice.

[@johnsikking4891]

But if you keep the water in the cooler, why not just put the fermenter in?

[@Leo99929]

You only need a small tank of water in there, and it can be any convenient shape and material to fit around what else is in there.

[@Leo99929]

Though I bet someone is going to point out that the freezer pulls heat from inside to outside, and effectively heats the room by as much as it cools the freezer, so you're really fighting against yourself unless the room has good ventilation or air conditioning.

[@ShortCircuitedBrewers]

Just a reservoir in a freezer has a horrible transfer rate into the liquid. I've done it abd it does not work well at all.

[@dden7670]

Could you not pump the water from inside of your kegerator or fermentation freezer instead of a cooler that you to keep topping up with ice? You could even get a dedicated super mini fridge.

[@buddlergrimes4518]

I think, Martin tried to test a way to control the temperature *without* using a dedicated freezer or any other device.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Right, wanted to see if I could do this without the chest freezer. But yeah that would have been easier.

[@stillbald5827]

I use a recirculating pump like that to cool all of my beers. $4 worth of ice brings them from 120 to 70 in 15 minutes. Wastes less water as well.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Getting from 85F to pitching temp is my biggest problem in the summer so yeah this could be a quick solution

[@malkocy]

I have several PET coke bottles filled with water in my freezer.. Once my wort comes to the ground water temperature, 30’C, I sanitize those bottles in the starsan, and drop them in my wort.. And give it a few stirs.. I need 4X500ml bottles for 10minutes, then change 4X500ml bottles for 10minutes.. It brings the wort to pitching temperature..

[@domenicomonteleone3055]

I have been trying to follow you on your homebrew beer journey as much as I can have you made any Canadian styles of beer and and is there any to make bee that is Canada 🇨🇦 beer styles

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I don’t think there are any beer styles specific to Canada in the BJCP guidelines that I’m following?

[@domenicomonteleone3055]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge not for the challenge but as beer that is made for Canada only that was whst I was saying nothing to do with the challenge you are doing and you do it very well thank you kindly for responding back to me in Canada

[@domenicomonteleone3055]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge have a nice night i will leave you alone know later

[@campfiretunes8598]

Wow.. a fermentation fridge just sounds way easier.

[@michaellane6514]

So the Anvil cooling system would work great if you had like a Yeti, or an Ozark cooler that is meant to keep ice

[@jansifae]

That might help a little, but I would guess most of the heat entering the system is via the fermenter, which is only insulated by the neoprene sleeve and has the yeast generating heat during high krausen.

[@davidbeiler6364]

this recipe looks awesome, i will try it once i have an actual glycol sytem, how often do you need to add ice?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

A lot in my case. Bring on a glycol chiller!

[@TheBriwi]

Looks like a nz draugth or Vienna lager.

[@jimbalz3017]

Is this what I've heard called "steam beer?"

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

It is indeed. Although that term is copyrighted I believe

[@DaveMcCann]

Curious how you cold crash without sucking your air lock and oxygen in?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I am sucking in air. When I ferment in some other vessels there are ways around this.

[@jeffreyaltneu9232]

What method do you use to carbonate once in keg?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Burst carbonate. 30psi for a couple days.

[@robertschonfelder2162]

Another great video and fascinating insight, thanks! Would you benefit from taking off the insulating jacket when cooling the wort and, do you use finings at all or rely on crash chilling?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

I didn’t use finings. Yeah didn’t think about removing the jacket initially to let the heat escape, good idea.

[@iliffavenuebrewhouse6496]

How about a discussion on dry yeast? Have you done that yet? A much easier solution for certain styles; especially American.

[@tuarine2121]

Did some sound equipment break?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Yeah bad sound for the tasting due to user error

[@slugger777]

How do you prevent air from getting into your fermenter when cold crashing? Through the airlock. Or do you block the airlock?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

With this fermenter I don’t do anything in that regard.

[@slugger777]

@@TheHomebrewChallenge so I have been playing around with cooling my beer in the fermenter before bottling but from 20C down to 15C I could see that the level in the air lock had equalized and that if I cool it any more air would actually be sucked into the fermenter. Is it just something that you live with then or does yours somehow not do this at all?

[@TheBMurph43]

What was the FG of this beer. Mine never drop down to close to 1.010 I usually get more like 1.016. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I am pitching to the correct pitching rate by making a starter. I love this style i would even say its my favorite.

[@mrow7598]

A few things: -Try aerating the wort before you pitch. Stir up the wort really well, slosh it back and forth to create bubbles or buy a O2 bottle and an aeration kit. The extra O2 at the start will promote good yeast production and faster fermentation. - Have you checked your starting gravity? Is that coming out correct? If not you might be mashing at too high of a temp and getting unfermentable sugars. -You're PH balance might also be off. Try ezwatercalculator.com/ for brewing but you'll need to know your current water chemistry. -Might also be just old yeast but if you're constantly getting the same results maybe not.

[@TheBMurph43]

@@mrow7598 I can admit I'm not aerating my wort as much as I should . I have a o2 tank and aeration wand. I'll give that a go. The starting gravity is where I have planned +/- a couple points I have my efficiencies pretty well down in my GF. One thing I can say is that I took the temp coming from my recirculation hose and it did read 2°F higher then my mash temp setting. I'm woundering if this might contribute to the creation of a slightly less fermentation wort. My yeast heath I do believe is good by making a new starter ever time. I over grow my yeast and save some for another brew down the line.

[@MrTatoPaz]

Try 2 or 3F less on grains. You may be generating too much not fermentable sugars and check pH of water, better lower than 6, it helps to convert starches

[@distractiontherapy]

Love the Anvil cooler, however, if you move the cooler box into your chest freezer it'll stay cool without the need for ice.🍺👍

[@damianhind7330]

So I plugged in your ingredients into Brewfather and cali common is nowhere to be found on the style guide. What's that all about, do you think?

[@dimash244]

Thanks!

[@austin2842]

Lauren's accent... Americanized Englishwoman or Anglicized american?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

The former 🇬🇧

[@IMakeBeer]

Martin, Great stuff as usual. I use Cooling Stix for keeping my fermentor at temp. Very similar to the Anvil setup. The pump that came with mine gives off heat when its being used and I found it hard to keep at temp unless I'm checking it constantly. I tried a small cooler like you used, but had to switch to a large cooler so I didn't have to make so many trips to the store for ice. Do you feel your pump gives off a bit too much heat or wasn't it a problem? I'm also doing 5 gallons, so more volume to cool......

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Hmm I didn’t notice any heat generated by the pump.

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

Time to 68F 20C? Not mentioned or did I miss that?

[@malkocy]

I wish to brew one California common, but wondering the taste.. Does it taste anything close to a Lager, or it would taste the same if you’d just use Safale S-05?

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

It’s a hybrid and definitely has some lager properties. Sure it would still be a good beer with dry ale yeast, but maybe not quite the same.

[@malkocy]

The Homebrew Challenge I should definitely try and taste one soon.. Thanks for inspiration..

[@XkannsenX]

4:41 great ASMR

[@MichaeloStarzioni]

Can't wait for Grodziskie episode ;)

[@Homebrew58]

Instead of ice cubes use 2 liter or other plastic bottles filled with water and frozen.

[@TheHomebrewChallenge]

Hmm making giant ice packs. Nice idea.

[@pilsplease7561]

recipe is wrong, they use Nugget for bittering northern brewer is only added as a late boil aroma hop. It is also only 2 row and crystal 40, it is also carbonated by adding fresh wort to it during conditioning and that carbonates it and then it is bottled. I know this as i have the actual brew logs from the brewery.

[@derekstalker1567]

And because you used only one hop it's a smash bear also

[@Vykk_Draygo]

Single hop, but not a single malt. So, no.

[@jaytomten3782]

How is this beer not oxidized?

[@michalzabek129]

Why would it be oxidized?

[@Waymeytc]

Where is the Victory Malt or Special Roast? I think it souldn't be missing in a Cali Common.

[@jpl3-g2b]

This looks hard as f*ck. Hahaha anyway im not a beer maker. I just wanted to know what is and how is like a steam beer