Bash-Shell.Net

I did everything the same as in my previous attempt, but with a slight change to the fermenter setup. Instead of 3-ish feet of 1/2" inner diameter tubing for the blow-off, I purchased 10 feet and routed it so that there was a just over 5 foot vertical climb, a loop, and then to the fermenter. I also put the end of the tube in vodka instead of sanitizer, although the vodka was so inexpensive and terrible that I'm not sure it would have been any better if it got sucked back into the beer. At least after a pint you might not care.

This seemed to work well. At one point some vodka did get sucked in, but not much. I think it only happened because I lifted the end of the tube out of the vodka, causing a strange shift in vacuum. I had poured the vodka from the bottle into a 1/2 gallon milk jug because that has a more stable base. After fermentation, I poured the vodka back into the bottle and it was pretty much full.

Now, onto the actual brewing and results. I measured my original gravity immediately this time. It was far lower than expected. It's possible my previous try was at the same point because it was low when I measured it the next day, but I chalked that up to having already pitched yeast (whoops!) and so that having actually managed to ferment some (I should have known, there was no krausen). My final gravity was also similarly far too high.

On the bright side, it doesn't taste terrible this time, so I'm going to go with it. My next beer or two will need to be recipes I have done multiple times in the past to be sure nothing is going weird with fermentation in the new setup.