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16 Kegs of "Out of Date" Beer

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  • A buddy of mine use to be a beer distributor and he turned me on to a couple of kegs of Summit pale ale for some test runs. As others have stated in my experience it is a definitely an aquired taste which I or my friends did not care for. But even worse is trying to resterlize the still to a neutral condition. I highly recommend you don't run it in a packed reflux column or at least use stainless steel scrubbies you can through away. It took 4 runs of vinegar and steam to remove the oils left behind from the hops to get things tasting normal again. But that's just my opinion and experience, it's kind of one of those things you know no good can come from it but you do it any way. As for the anti foam you will be ok if the beer is flat if it has any carbonation she'll blow all over hell, at least that is what I experienced. Also don't think filtering though active charcoal will help as it doesn't you will either and up throwing it out of re-activating at a high temp in a oven which smells like sh!t! Good luck! MOCS

    The day you quit learning is the day you start dying!

    "I am an incurable gadgeteer, and I like enormously to set up a theory and then track down the consequences" Murray Leinster youtube.com/watch?v=08e9k-c91E8

  • I definitely would run beer in a pot still the first time... Then again I would run anything that was not crystal clear in a pot still the first time..

  • I am thinking of running it like my rum. A singe pass thru 4 plates.

  • I would not run beer trough plates unless you plan on disassembling them after.. if it is a pain to remove the plates, and you kettle has another port, just pipe it straight to the condenser and pot still it one time with the plates in place, but blocked off on the top.. That is how I do my 380L with 24 8" plates..

  • @CothermanDistilling said: I would not run beer trough plates unless you plan on disassembling them after.. if it is a pain to remove the plates, and you kettle has another port, just pipe it straight to the condenser and pot still it one time with the plates in place, but blocked off on the top.. That is how I do my 380L with 24 8" plates..

    Hey CD, Thanks for the info, it took me a few reads to get it but i understand now. Ok so convert to pot and run it once only!!

  • @manofconstantsorrow

    Cheers for the advice, definitely won't be running the packed section or carbon filtering.

    But my gawd this beer is foamy, just using a coupler with some beer line to depressurize and empty the keg. No gas, just what's in it. its just all foam. Got it sitting in a few 20L buckets and when the foam goes down I'm whisking it to degas it some more. It's taking for ever!!! I was hoping to run the first batch tomorrow but the beer might not be flat enough, maybe a dose of Punkins anti-foam will do the trick ....and maybe a slow heat up.

  • I splash my wash between 5 gallon buckets 5-6 times and then let it sit overnight. Makes a huge difference.

  • @FloridaCracker said: I splash my wash between 5 gallon buckets 5-6 times and then let it sit overnight. Makes a huge difference.

    Good idea!!

  • yeah, I empty to a drum or tote and let sit...

  • Another benefit of the splashing is that the more CO2 that is released, the more settling that you will get.

  • Settling of what? Kegged beer should be crystal clear.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Should be but we have all seen beer that wasn't quite clear. Most of the shit I drink has some murk to it.

  • Clearing a whiskey wash is overrated.

  • I don't clear my whiskey washes. Just neutrals

  • 16 kegs and what do ya get... another day older and deeper in debt :))

  • I owe my soul to the company store...

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited January 2016

    First batch done, running a second batch today. Got no idea what beer it is. It's in a CUB keg but all it said on the seal was AB beer. It's a dark amber and smells like a Bavarian beer, not hoppy its more malty. Running it really slow in pot mode. No problems with foam or puking, taking 100ml cuts. It started off at 46%, collecting down to 26%. Could go further but I'll run out of cut jars.

    I have another keg of Mildura Desert Premium which is a 4.5% golden all malt lager. I know the yield won't be much but I'm having fun doin it.

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  • Ok, did my cut separation on the 1st batch. 2nd batch still airing. Airing for two days has made a big difference to the smell and has mellowed out alot. Has a grainy malty flavour, should make a good whiskey. Out of 24 jars the first 7 seemed headsy, from jar 8 on when into hearts collection. Collected right down to jar 22 which is into tails but still smelt and tasted good. Jars 23 and 24 smelt like puke and went down the drain.

    The hearts abv is quite low at 33%. Will this be ok to age on oak still???

    Will separate 2nd batch tomorrow. It still needs more time.

  • will make awesome whiskey on oak... yes, 60% would be better strength to shoot for, but you got what you got... well, I put worse (i was inexperienced distiller) than that stuff in a toasted new wine barrel, and made awesome stuff... chips or dominoes may not have the same effect, but some charred oak will definitely will clean it up...

    personally, I would do more stripping runs to get 12-13gal of low wines, then run all the low wines in your still without diluting, and take that and put in a 20L barrel at 50-60%abv...

    then get a couple plates(just for low wines) and do another 5-gal barrel..

  • If you wanted to you could spike the next wash with strip (no need to just use hearts) and get the % up to where you want it for 60-65% hearts (18-22% for a pot still). It doesn't take a lot of strip to get the wash up there.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • As it turns out I still have around 25 - 30 liters of beer left, I'll have a go. Nothin to loose!!

  • edited January 2016

    Righto so I had 35L of beer left, I added the 5L of low wines as suggested, Thanks @punkin, and ran it thru 4 plates. Started at 95%, I collected 12 jars at 200ml before the smell of tails really kicked in, down to around 88 to 85%. It's still airing but smells and tastes a hell of a lot better. Will check cuts tomorrow, water down to 65% and throw on US oak. Looking good!!

  • Good stuff mate.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • how's it tasting @Heef71 ? I have beer from a mate to run (hopefully this weekend). I was going to try single pass on 4 plates, then on dominoes.

  • @yurgle Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Life has been in the way, haven't even put down a wash for 5 months now!!!! Geez.....what's wrong with me. Mate a single pass on 4 plates would work quite well, but I am a fan of stripping first then a spirit run. Either way will be fine. It's been 5 months now on US oak and my God has it changed!! Tastes awesome!!! Beer whiskey. I had a few glasses just to be sure....hehehe. I'm gonna leave it hidden away for as long as I can

  • Hah! There's your post, @Heef71...

    Well, we've stripped 6 kegs of old beer and now have 1 full keg of low wines...

    But wait, there is more kegs to strip...

  • Wondering...did you get to keep the kegs too? :D

  • @FullySilenced said: Wondering...did you get to keep the kegs too? :D

    I have the option, yes. I've gotten 1 for the boiler, 1 to hold the first batch of low wines and 4 others to go and collect the beer. The more I take, the less they have to pay to send back... It's a sports club that was mismanaged and they're attempting to trade out of their debt, but the beer has been sitting in the kegs for 18months now and can not be sold. So we extract the beer we want (none of the 3.5%ABV stuff) from the kegs into our, now modified kegs, which has the added dendritic of de-gassing the already semi flat beer! I noticed that that assists in reducing the puking... Haha

  • Half barrel kegs make nice fermenters. Just remove the spear and wash them up.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • @Kapea said: Half barrel kegs make nice fermenters. Just remove the spear and wash them up.

    You mean the 50+Litre SS kegs!?!?

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