r/TheBrewery

I'm using a Stout brewing system where wort recirculates around the outside of the HLT to heat the mash.

I'm having trouble raising the mash temperature from 65°C to 75°C.
HLT temperature: 83°C
Wort returning to the mash tun: 78°C
After 90 minutes of recirculation, the mash only reached 72°C.

My questions:

Is it a problem to recirculate the mash for over an hour at these temperatures?
Is there a risk of increased tannin extraction or astringency?
For those using a similar HERMS system, what HLT temperature do you use, and how long does it typically take to raise the mash temperature by 10°C?

I'd appreciate hearing about your experience.

Hi everyone,

I'm curious how other breweries handle dry hopping.

What temperature do you dry hop at, how long do you leave the hops in, and what’s your usual process from adding hops to transferring the beer?

I'd love to hear your procedures. Thanks!

When you're having trouble getting your vorlauf to clear, check that your rakes are off.

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Lets say hypothetically you absolutely hate your home life and have no issues working 12+ hrs 6/7 days per week. Would this be a good job for someone looking to change careers? I read alot about a miserable work/life balance but if that didnt matter, how are things inside the facility? Is the labor physically demanding or back breaking?

Until now, I have mainly worked at breweries using unitanks, where fermentation and maturation were carried out in the same tank.

I will soon be working at a brewery where the fermenter (FV) and bright beer tank (BBT) are separate, so I would like to learn more about the typical process from the end of fermentation through packaging.

After fermentation is complete, how long do you usually keep the beer in the fermenter before transferring it to the BBT?

In particular, I would really appreciate it if you could explain your usual process for:

End of fermentation
→ Diacetyl rest
→ Yeast harvesting
→ Cold crash
→ Transfer to BBT
→ Carbonation
→ Packaging

I would like to understand the typical temperatures, time periods, and timing for moving from one step to the next.

Also, if you harvest yeast for reuse, at what point in the process do you normally harvest it?

I would also appreciate some details about carbonation and pressure management.

For example:

• If you use a spunding valve, at what point during fermentation do you start applying pressure, and what final pressure do you normally target?
• What pressure do you maintain during cold crashing?
• When transferring beer from the FV to the BBT, how do you normally set and manage the pressure in both tanks?
• If additional carbonation is required in the BBT, how do you normally use headspace CO₂ pressure and/or a carbonation stone?
• If you pressurize the headspace with CO₂, what pressure do you normally use, and how many pressurization/purge cycles do you usually perform?
• During packaging, what beer temperature and tank pressure do you normally maintain?

I would be very grateful if you could share your actual operating procedure and typical parameters.

Thank you very much.

I posted earlier about a used brewhouse my company purchased a few weeks ago. This is the first iteration from this company of a traditional German-style pub brewhouse 3.5BBL electric with some super low watt density heating elements.

When we purchased the system, we found the heating elements, and the threads that mount the heating elements to the bulkhead were corroded, and the terminals as well. Turns out these elements are copper.

I have been in contact with the OEM about replacements, and they insist that copper elements are fine. I always thought stainless was the norm.

My major concerns are:

1. Leeching/metallic flavor. Copper is going to require lots of cleaning and care to ensure no leeching into the beer.
2. Cleaning. I will have to use PBW to clean the copper, instead of caustic. Followed by a vinegar or citric acid cycle. More work.
3. Longevity. The reason we have to replace these elements is the amount of corrosion on them right now - I can't even get a continuity check on the terminals except for 1 element. I worry that the copper elements will wear quickly.

I have contacted Tempco to make some custom stainless elements, they have been very helpful, but the cost is about 4x the copper elements from China.

Any and all advice is always appreciated.

Hello fellow brewers. Anybody have any knowledge or experience with Wildpack and/or Arcbev? I’ve never heard of either personally, but some months back a rep from Wildpack reached out trying to sell us can ends, but I didn’t need them at the time. Now that I do, I reached out for a quote and the guy responded from an Arcbev email address. Seemed like a red flag to me, so I checked and Arcbev doesn’t even have a website. Another red flag. Wildpack does have a website that seems legit though. Not sure if these companies are related or what the deal is. Anyway, anybody know anything? Thanks!