HomeBrewing Process Video - First Time With The Catalyst Fermentation System

www.brew-dudes.com/catalyst-fe...
Mixing things up a little bit and trying a new format of video.
This week I brewed a Belgian Wit focusing on putting that wort into the Catalyst Fermentation System from Craft-A-Brew.
This video is a little longer than usual but I hope you enjoy the highlights of my step by step brewing process.
CHEERS and Brew ON!

[@Beerjunkieguy]

I always enjoy watching other people brew. Everyone has their way but many times there are great things to share so thanks for sharing.

[@BrewDudes]

Agreed. Thanks for watching and commenting. -Mike

[@joemundt641]

Good Stuff! Props to you for sweating it out! I always enjoy watching someone else's process. Hope to catch an update and tasting on this beer.

[@BrewDudes]

I can't wait to taste this beer either. That hot day is etched in my memory forever now. Don't pity me too much the finished basement had some air conditioning going on so I could seek some shelter from time to time. Drank a lot of water though. CHEERS. -Mike

[@theflannelfisherman8329]

Love the way you presented the grain bill at the beginning

[@BrewDudes]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if that was going to be hokey. And its tough to not get a bunch of annoying shadows in the shot. Oh well. Onwards and upwards! BREW ON! -Mike

[@jdmlong]

Brew days in the 90's are the best. I really would like to start using a pump; that looks pretty handy.

[@BrewDudes]

Aside from the extra cleaning and maintenance to the setup a pump introduces; I find it a valuable piece of equipment. I need to rebuild the stand so I can get the pump off the wooden rack and underneath the stand. Other than that I'd highly recommend trying one out. Cheers. -Mike

[@AdamMiller1491]

nice change in pace.

[@BrewDudes]

Trying to play with my editing skills and get more comfortable with integrating camera work and storytelling at the same time. Thanks for the comment. BREW ON! -Mike

[@TonyYates]

Great walk through of your process. Cheers!

[@BrewDudes]

Thanks Much. -Mike

[@kennygraley824]

Enjoyed the in depth brew day! That brew sounds delicious orange or not! Cheers

[@BrewDudes]

I still haven't gotten the orange peel in there yet.... Sadly this might just be a straight Belgian Wit. But that might give me an opportunity to repitch this yeast and brew the orange wit as a separate beer! -Mike

[@joshmcgrath1125]

Follow you guys religiously.. (Maybe more than religiously- I like beer, but I love brewing) always appreciate others setups. What in the world style burners are you using??

[@BrewDudes]

I use a 6 inch cast iron circular style burner. Similar to the famed "banjo" style burner, but its smaller. Thanks for the dedicated brewing and question. CHEERS! -Mike

[@MSKChess]

Sooo good!

[@BrewDudes]

Many Thanks! -Mike

[@krisbrann3501]

Do you ever try to recirculate the wort through the chiller at all before transferring to get the temp down a little further or even run the water line through an ice bath? Think that is going to be my next purchase. We have kept building our cooling and currently have 2 large imersion copper coils sitting in an ice bath that the water runs through and then passes through a 3rd coil that is built into the fermenter where the wort is. Still takes about 30 min to cool a 10 gal batch. Cools to about 80 pretty fast and then we wait forever for the final 10 or so degrees. I've had people say that the coil in the fermenter isn't big enough but before we had that we would submerge one of the other 2 coils in the beer and had no better luck. Cooling in the fermenter is more for piece of mind that nothing is going to fall into the wort. Fermenter also sits in a stand up freezer that is temp controlled.

[@BrewDudes]

I have recirculated the wort back to the kettle before diverting to the fermentor. It works but with the plate chiller I find that if I recirc I am using a lot more water to chill. I am trying to be more efficient with the water uses. I have never had a problem with chilling the best I can with the equipment, moving the beer to a fermentation temperature controlled fridge and pitching yeast the next day (as I did in this video). So I have sort of given up on trying to chill all the way to pitching temp. If I can get it to 80 or lower great. Multiple coils and using an ice bath should work better than you describe. I'd try running the water a little slower through the coil to maximize the heat exchange. And you need to recirc the water in the ice bath. It will create well insulated gradients of temp and the pre-chill coil loses efficiency fast in that scenario. So people use a pond water pump to keep that pre chill bath moving. Good Luck. -Mike

[@homebrewthepartialmashway5207]

nice brew day video very informative. CHEERS!

[@BrewDudes]

CHEERS! Love your user name BTW. -Mike

[@homebrewthepartialmashway5207]

Channel name

[@jenillethibault5712]

Great video! When you add your brewing salts to the first 4 gallons of water is that all you add throughout the entire brew day? I may have missed it in the video if so. Thanks

[@BrewDudes]

I add more to the kettle if I need more to hit the appropriate water profile. Sometimes what you need to get the proper mash pH is less than what you need to get a profile you are looking for. Cheers! -Mike

[@TheTrueCelt28]

Nice brew day!

[@BrewDudes]

Thank you!

[@MostlyMichiganBeerReview]

Fun video. Just need to up the volume on voice over. Cheers

[@BrewDudes]

Thanks for the input. I'll check that more closely next time. First time playing with voice over in FCPX. CHEERS -Mike