Hooked Home Brewer

[Beachless Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beachless]

I pay under R200 for a refill, which lasts around 3 months.

Where do you fill your co2? I'm assuming its a 2kg?

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Novamarine in Paarden Island, quite out of the way, but nothing closer

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[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Novamarine in Paarden Island, quite out of the way, but nothing closer

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Not much closer, but you could also try TransFire in Montague Gardens. they're also a little cheaper. I paid something like R125 for a 5KG the other day and the refill before that was R85

Their website still shows Beaconvale as the location, but they recently moved to MG

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Aye, thanks for the tip I'll certainly give them a go. Do they fill whilst you wait?

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Aye, thanks for the tip I'll certainly give them a go. Do they fill whilst you wait?

yes they do

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Sold, it a pita to drive up and down in that traffic. I'll definitely be going there from now on

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[camsaway Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close camsaway]

Please report back on price, and confirmation of while you wait service time - this will change me from 2 trips to NovaMarine as well.

[BushWanderer Member Find all posts View Profile Close BushWanderer]

Hello All,

By way of update, today is 1 day short of two weeks since my APA went into the fermenter. Other than swopping to a blow-off hose then back to an airlock (once the initially craziness died down) I've not touched it. - The brew has been sitting at a steady 18 - 20 degrees throughout (my electricity bill is going to be huge because I've been running an oil heater in the room to maintain that temperature).

I took a reading today and I'm at the target FG (1.010). Tomorrow I will be cold crashing and the day after that, whilst still in the fridge, I will be adding some gelatin to help clear it.

Questions:

1. Given that I am at FG, is there any benefit in waiting until tomorrow (i.e. the full two weeks) to start cold crashing?
2. My cold crash fridge only goes as low as 3 degrees; is that sufficient?

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Cold crash should go as cold as possible. However, there's little benefit in waiting one extra day. I'd do it ASAP, even if just to save on power.

Also, buy yourself an STC-1000 controller and a single-bed electric blanket, or reptile heater. It's a bit daft to heat up an entire room just to keep a fermenter warm. You can also put the fermenter in a cooler box and add a few bottles of hot water around it to keep the temp up. Play around with it to find the right number of bottles and when to swap them to keep the temp up. I've done this quite successfully in the past.

[BushWanderer Member Find all posts View Profile Close BushWanderer]

buy yourself an STC-1000 controller and a single-bed electric blanket, or reptile heater.

The reptile mat has been ordered and should be here in time for the next batch. - Thanks for the hot bottle suggestion. The long term plan (money permitting) is to get a deep freezer and an STC-1000 so that I can start making larger (my favourite style of beer).

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

I would actually suggest more than one upright fridge, second hand is fine, if you want to attempt lagers. Keep in mind lagering a beer takes weeks to months, so if you want to set your chamber to 2°C for 3 months that's fine, but just remember you can't ferment something at, say, 18°C in it during that time. Having more than one chamber fixes this problem. I'm actually considering trading out my tall upright fridge for two small ones for this exact reason. My fridge now can take two fermenters, which is great, but it sucks for the above reason.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Im also in the market for a 2nd hand upright, since my keg fridge went cap-put on day 1 of lockdown

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Me 3. I'm going to upgrade my home fridge to get the current one as my second upright fridge. One for fermentation at 18 or so and one at 2c for lagering. Just chilling out my ales and storing my hops in the freezer below

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[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Please report back on price, and confirmation of while you wait service time - this will change me from 2 trips to NovaMarine as well.

R120 fill whilst you wait. Cash only. Its an hours drive one way for me...felt like the sign for paternoster was coming up. Too far, ill stick with Fas or novamarine

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[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

R120 fill whilst you wait. Cash only. Its an hours drive one way for me...felt like the sign for paternoster was coming up. Too far, ill stick with Fas or novamarine

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But isn't nova further as Paarden Eiland lays "behind" Montague Gardens? ... + they don't always let you wait?