Happy Festivus, Homebrewers

When I was bottling, it was buying commercial beers (usually in bombers) with labels that were affixed to the glass with a ridiculous amount of glue. I hated bottling my homebrew in labeled bottles and I spent way too much time scrubbing the damn bottles (looking at you, Straight to Ale). It's not rocket science, just put a dab onto the paper!

 

For once I have no grievances to air. It feels weird. But I do have lots good homebrew on tap for the first time in a couple of years so I will spend my Christmas enjoying some of them. I hope everybody here is able to spend a little time with family and friends enjoying together the wonderful simplicity of a well brewed beer. Cheers

 

No grievances for me. But one feat of strength. A local BA is building a keezer for 8 kegs (with room to spare) and I helped him lift it onto the frame (with casters) he had built to hold it. Heavy freezer with no hand-holds on one side, tight tolerances to lower it into, and wheels. What could go wrong? Actually, nothing did.

 

I'm with @rocdoc1 and @VikeMan , no complaints and no worries while enjoying family and a couple,,,,,well,,,, perhaps several homebrews.

All the best to all.

 

Grievances

Buckets – They don’t make them like they used to.

I have buckets from 30 years ago manufactured by IPL. They were perfect in my opinion.

- Lids attach/remove easily, and seal perfectly after 30 years without the use of gaskets.

- Solid moulded finger insert handles for lifting in addition to the traditional handle.

I cannot find a source for them. The manufacturer (IPL) still exists but they cannot sell single quantities and cannot tell me who carries them, if at all.

Ale Pale - Lid too hard to attach/remove and leaks like heck.

B&G - bucket is the best I have found.

Lid easy to attach/remove and uses a gasket for a good seal.

No finger inserts like the IPL bucket I mentioned above.

Most posts I’ve read on the lid leak subject say it is not an issue. I don’t like the idea of air being sucked in during a cold crash, and prefer to control the intake through the airlock or blow-off tube.


Auto Siphon racking cane.
Seemingly great invention but leaks and aerates the beer. Pitched it and reverted to my old siphon method; Fill tube with sanitizer, insert cane, drop elevation of output tube and let it siphon into a temporary vessel until beer reaches the output, then into the bottling bucket.

 

Auto-siphons grieve the bejeezus out me