WooHoo- X-Mas bonus

[gunhaus]

Just got a truly unexpected X-mas bonus, and I am gonna splurge and buy me one of those R2D2 looking stainless fermentors with bells whistles, and do-dads that does everything but chew up the grain and pee out the beer!!!!!!

I gotta go drink all my kegs empty asap -it's gonna be a great holiday for brewing!!!!!

 

[AkTom]

Post a picture when you get it.

 

[applescrap]

Sweet!

 

[Jag75]

Nice , congrats on your bonus . Everytime I hear xmas bonus I think of chevy chase stressed out drinking eggnog waiting on his bonus to arrive lol.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

Good for you Congrats and enjoy your new toy

 

[passedpawn]

Just got a truly unexpected X-mas bonus

Something we self-employed will never hear. That, and paid vacations. Waaah.

Anyway, congrats, time for you to go shopping.

 

[mongoose33]

Whatever you think it's going to cost, set aside just as much for all the extras you'll need/want to buy.

Got a pump? CIP ball? Sight glass? Enough clamps? TC caps? Hoses and fittings? Have a way to chill? Heat if necessary?


Not trying to be a buzzkill--excited is what you should be. Just have both eyes open.

PS I have a Spike CF10.

 

[gunhaus]

Whatever you think it's going to cost, set aside just as much for all the extras you'll need/want to buy.

Got a pump? CIP ball? Sight glass? Enough clamps? TC caps? Hoses and fittings? Have a way to chill? Heat if necessary?


Not trying to be a buzzkill--excited is what you should be. Just have both eyes open.

PS I have a Spike CF10.

Thanks for the advice, and thanks all for the nice comments! I actually already have a couple of Stainless fermentors (An anvil and a SS brew bucket) set up/ converted to use 1.5 inch TC fittings, and a couple decades plus of accumulated doo-dads (LOTS of doo-dads!) But i really wanted to get a store bought - space ship lookin rig with lots of bells and whistles, ready to go and the CF series from Spike really looked cool - SO . . . . Purchase made, and goodies are one the way!!!!! Decided on the CF-5 and a few handy dandy add ons for temp control, pressure control/transfer etc. Too cool. Should be fun!

 

[gunhaus]

Something we self-employed will never hear. That, and paid vacations. Waaah.

Anyway, congrats, time for you to go shopping.

True that! After 33 years as a business owner I really never thought i would see one!. But I took an in-house contract job for a company building a brand new production facility, and the powers that be very kindly included me with their regular employees in this years company plan!!!!! VERY nice and really cool of them.

 

[mongoose33]

Thanks for the advice, and thanks all for the nice comments! I actually already have a couple of Stainless fermentors (An anvil and a SS brew bucket) set up/ converted to use 1.5 inch TC fittings, and a couple decades plus of accumulated doo-dads (LOTS of doo-dads!) But i really wanted to get a store bought - space ship lookin rig with lots of bells and whistles, ready to go and the CF series from Spike really looked cool - SO . . . . Purchase made, and goodies are one the way!!!!! Decided on the CF-5 and a few handy dandy add ons for temp control, pressure control/transfer etc. Too cool. Should be fun!

I think you have a handle on it. Just to whet your appetite, here's my space-ship lookin' rig:

 

[Jtk78]

I think you have a handle on it. Just to whet your appetite, here's my space-ship lookin' rig:

View attachment 600188

"I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous! I'm NOT jealous"

I'm really jealous. Nice space ship. Looks to be about 1.21 gigawatts.

Congrats on the bonus @gunhaus. Especially nice to be appreciated the way your client included you.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Christmas bonus? We get our annual bonus in March

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I'm waiting on my bonus, probably next week.

Hopefully I won't spend it all on tasty beers and brewing stuff.

Something for the lady so she keeps me around maybe.

 

[wepeeler]

Congrats on your new toy!

I'll be using my bonus to pay off what I've already purchased for brewing in the past 2 weeks. Three kegs, chest freezer, 15# co2 tank, dual regulator and SS Brewbucket

 

[gunhaus]

Yea man - Cool pic! Stories about new goodies! Fun stuff.

 

[applescrap]

Got me interested, so I looked it up. Here is a really good video review that I think someone who wants this should watch. Since it is really big, where you brew, clean, and ferment needs consideration. Also it seems there's a couple hundred dollars worth of accessories that you will need. Leg extensions, pressure valve, possibly a cooling system.




I want a zymatic, but no bonus coming for me. Im happier though!

 

[Beer-lord]

Something we self-employed will never hear. That, and paid vacations. Waaah.

Anyway, congrats, time for you to go shopping.

Man, is this my world! Well, I do take some vacation time but no where near what others get.

Congrats on the bonus but don't forget April 15th is ahead of you!

 

[WhoDatDad78]

Nice , congrats on your bonus . Everytime I hear xmas bonus I think of chevy chase stressed out drinking eggnog waiting on his bonus to arrive lol.

Holy S@$#! Where's the tylenol? Lol, one of the best rants in cinematic history.

 

[Sailingeric]

I don't even get a Jelly of the Month membership where I work.

 

[Jag75]

Holy S@$#! Where's the tylenol? Lol, one of the best rants in cinematic history.

Agreed !

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Of course just got my bonus check (and payday) the day before we head to VT to make the rounds for a long weekend. Easy come, easy go I suppose.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Congrats on the bonus! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out on how this goes for you and how you use it. I just picked me up an SSBrewTech 7 gal Unitank and have to come up with a plan for that. I'm building a list of "need to haves" and "nice to haves" for mine so I can plan accordingly. I haven't put it together yet, just starting cleaning everything, but here's my "spaceship" lol.

 

[Zuljin]

Something we self-employed will never hear. That, and paid vacations. Waaah.

Anyway, congrats, time for you to go shopping.

But you're self employed. All the money is yours and you can take off whenever you want because you're the boss.

 

[Zuljin]

I spent part of mine on a fish finder.

 

[passedpawn]

But you're self employed. All the money is yours and you can take off whenever you want because you're the boss.

Ah, thanks, didn't consider that It's true, what you're thinking. But I almost never take those days off because the loss of $$ is so direct and visible. (however, I am brewing tomorrow, so there's that)

 

[govner1]

Not to rain on your parade & certainly congratulations on the bonus, but don’t forget to figure in the tax consequences of the bonus. They generally are taxed at a higher rate than ordinary income.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Not to rain on your parade & certainly congratulations on the bonus, but don’t forget to figure in the tax consequences of the bonus. They generally are taxed at a higher rate than ordinary income.

Yep, my company does bi-annual bonuses and they're taxed at like 40%. Greedy uncle Sam

 

[mongoose33]

Yep, my company does bi-annual bonuses and they're taxed at like 40%. Greedy uncle Sam

Is that withholding or actual tax when you file your tax return?

 

[Zealous61]

I think you have a handle on it. Just to whet your appetite, here's my space-ship lookin' rig:

View attachment 600188

Looks like your blow off valve is open on keg. Do you just spund-purge it while the fermentation is really cranking? How long do you purge a keg for? I suppose you would have pretty constant positive pressure at least during them most active fermentation. Looking for answers, these are not rhetorical questions. Thanks.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Is that withholding or actual tax when you file your tax return?

That's withholding i believe. My net is 40% less than gross on bonuses.

 

[mongoose33]

Looks like your blow off valve is open on keg. Do you just spund-purge it while the fermentation is really cranking? How long do you purge a keg for? I suppose you would have pretty constant positive pressure at least during them most active fermentation. Looking for answers, these are not rhetorical questions. Thanks.

Yeah, the PRV is open...otherwise there'd be no flow of CO2 from the fermenter into the keg.

In this particular instance I daisy-chained the transfer tubing (and QDs) so the CO2 would purge that, too. I no longer do that--I typically will flush the tubing w/ beer before I connect it to the keg, which does the same thing. I use one of these to open up the end of one of the QDs:



I'm also aware that initially, there probably is oxygen in the fermenter, esp if it's a 5-gallon batch, so I'll let the fermenter just burp to the atmosphere for the first few hours of active fermentation, to allow both residual oxygen to exit the fermenter headspace, and allow the yeast to consume whatever it can.

What makes that work better is that I always purge a keg with bottled CO2, which BTW is not pure. So the keg has 99.8 percent CO2 in it in the first place. So I'm squeezing out the last of whatever O2 is in the CO2 stream that originally purged the keg.

I've since tended to move away from purging a keg this way....I just rack into a CO2-purged keg usually. I can't detect any oxidation doing it this way, though one thing I've discovered is that not everyone detects oxidation, nor to the same degree.

 

[Zealous61]

Yeah, the PRV is open...otherwise there'd be no flow of CO2 from the fermenter into the keg.

In this particular instance I daisy-chained the transfer tubing (and QDs) so the CO2 would purge that, too. I no longer do that--I typically will flush the tubing w/ beer before I connect it to the keg, which does the same thing. I use one of these to open up the end of one of the QDs:

View attachment 602341

I'm also aware that initially, there probably is oxygen in the fermenter, esp if it's a 5-gallon batch, so I'll let the fermenter just burp to the atmosphere for the first few hours of active fermentation, to allow both residual oxygen to exit the fermenter headspace, and allow the yeast to consume whatever it can.

What makes that work better is that I always purge a keg with bottled CO2, which BTW is not pure. So the keg has 99.8 percent CO2 in it in the first place. So I'm squeezing out the last of whatever O2 is in the CO2 stream that originally purged the keg.

I've since tended to move away from purging a keg this way....I just rack into a CO2-purged keg usually. I can't detect any oxidation doing it this way, though one thing I've discovered is that not everyone detects oxidation, nor to the same degree.

Thanks for reply. I just fill keg with sanitizer and purge that out with CO2. I mentioned the blow off as was pondering whether it would be better to let the keg equlaize with the fermenter head space pressure then purge and repeat. I don't know what the answer is or whether it matters. I think that going to extremes on the cold side is just going to make your beer last a little longer before the taste degrades. I brew mostly NEIPA style beers and can definitely note a taste change as the days tick by. After 3 weeks is very obviously not as good. I am going back and forth with how much effort to put into LODO and appreciate your reply. I have gone full LODO on the hot side and maybe, maybe can tell a smidge of difference. Probably more worthwhile for the delicate lagers than the hop heavy beers.

I think if I am keeping a beer over 3 weeks then I am not drinking fast enough or shraing enough. One of the real advantages we have over commercial breweries is the ability to always serve very fresh beer.