Category Archives: Featured Reviews

Hands on Review: Brewers Hardware The Dry Hopper!

This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert.  Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer.  Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.

Brewers Hardware Dry Hopper

Dry hops. Homebrewers debate their favorite dry hop, how to calculate their IBU contribution, and when is the best time to add dry hops. While many love them, the technical challenge of adding them “right” is a hefty one. Whether you’ve heard of hop creep, or tasted an oxidized IPA, you are interested in minimizing the introduction of oxygen to your beer when you add dry hops.

Dry Hopper Assembly

If you add oxygen to your beer at the tail end of fermentation, you can spur your yeast on to keep going. When they would otherwise be content to be finished, the addition of oxygen gets them going, converting more sugars. The result is a lower FG, and a highly attenuated beer. And if you introduce oxygen after the yeast have officially called it quits, instead of the yeast using it up in fermentation, the oxygen is available to make oxidation compounds in your beer. These oxidation compounds are the things you taste in stale beer, and I’ve personally battled with harsh hop bitterness in IPAs when I got sloppy with oxygen intake on a finished beer.

Bottom Valve and Mounting Flange

Another dry hopping challenge is how to add the hops to a beer you’re fermenting under pressure. If you’ve gone through the work to finish up fermentation with your beer under pressure, you don’t want to simply vent the pressure to add dry hops. And if you’ve ever watched pressurized beer in a fermentor drop to 0 pressure, you know the whole thing becomes a churned-up mess- totally undoing all the work of precipitating trub and yeast.

Related: Fermenting Under Pressure

Sight Glass Hop Chamber

Brewers Hardware came out with the Dry Hopper to specifically deal with these challenges. The Dry Hopper attaches to a Tri Clover flange on your lid. There are two sizes- one for a 1.5” TC port, and one for 3” TC port. Both designs contain the same 3 elements- a valve at the bottom that mates to the lid of your fermentor, a tube in the middle to hold the hops, and a fixture on top with a gas ball lock port and a PRV valve. The 3” TC version is larger and holds more dry hops (14 oz) than the 1.5” TC version (4 oz).

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Hands on Review: Kegland Hop Bong

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Hands on Review: Kegland Hop Bong!

Thank you to HBF Contributor Aaron Nord for this hands on review!  Aaron is an advanced award winning brewer, a long time reader and a serial tipster!

Kegland Hop Bong

Keeping oxygen out of a fermenter after the initial yeast pitch is a goal of most fermentations, with a few exceptions being oxygenating a high gravity batch mid-way through fermentation, barrel-aged ales, or spontaneously fermented ales in open foeders. For a homebrewer who wants to brew a beer outside of those exceptions noted, avoiding oxygen introduction after fermentation has begun is paramount to a quality finished beer, a goal which is sometimes a difficult to attain. Notably, adding dry hops, other flavor components (e.g. wood chips or coffee beans), or clarifying agents (e.g. gelatin fining or Biofine) presents a challenge for most homebrewers if they want to avoid oxygen exposure in the fermenting wort.

Limited Time Availability Info:

Back In Stock… These have gone in and out of stock at MoreBeer since we first introduced them. As of this posting, both versions of this are back in stock. Check product pages for current availability.

There are workarounds and ways for homebrewers to limit oxygen introduction, conceived upon by crafty brewers over the years. Dry hops for example, can be suspended in a muslin bag above the wort by placing a magnet inside the bag and its mating magnet on the outside of the fermenter. In this way, the hops will be in the fermenter at the beginning of fermentation and can be dropped according to the dry hop schedule by simply removing the outside magnet, all without opening the fermenter. Or, to add clarifying agents without cracking the fermenter lid, a brewer can utilize a plastic bottle with a carbonation cap. This method entails adding the liquid substance to a plastic soda bottle and pressurizing the bottle with CO2 via the carbonation cap, purging it, and repeating the process multiple times to ensure the gas inside the bottle is mostly composed of CO2. Then, by using a ball lock jumper, the pressurized bottle can be connected to a fermenter’s ball lock post, if equipped, and the liquid will enter the fermenter, so long as the pressure in the fermenter is less than that of the bottle.

Although these workarounds exist and cut the mustard for my purposes, I was excited when I found out that Kegland was set to release a product that appeared to be a simpler solution all around. In looking into it further I found that it was advertised to have additional uses, aside from the main feature of enabling hop, flavor, or fining additions to the fermenter while limiting oxygen ingress. This highly anticipated product is called the Hop Bong.

I have been a proud owner of a Kegland FermZilla All Rounder fermenter – Hands on Review – for over two years now and have nothing but good things to say about it. As a manufacturer, Kegland is a homebrewing gear innovator and a leader in the market. They are continuing to come up with novel equipment and tools that span their wide array of product offerings including many for their FermZilla fermenter line. I was excited to see what the Hop Bong could offer as an addition to my All Rounder fermenter.

Kegland Hop Bong Current Price & Availability:

via MoreBeer

via William’s Brewing

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Hands on Review: Nukatap Counter Pressure Bottle Filler!

Thank you to HBF Contributor Aaron Nord for this hands on review!  Aaron is an advanced award winning brewer, a long time reader and a serial tipster!

Nukatap Bottle Filler

As with many homebrewers, my experience with the hobby began with making a boxed kit on my stovetop with about 50 bottles of drinkable beer when all was said and done. It was enough to keep me coming back, advancing in skill and acquiring equipment as time went on. I realized quickly that bottling was my least favorite part and was looking forward to ditching the bottles and getting into kegging. This change was one that made a big impact as far as increasing enjoyment of the hobby for me – that and getting out of stovetop brewing and into an electric brewing setup.

Inevitably, I found myself in the situation where I still needed to fill a few bottles from time to time, mainly for competitions. Now that I was kegging all my beer, I wanted an option that wouldn’t interrupt that practice too much. At the time, the most prevalent options for homebrewers were complicated counterpressure systems or the Blichmann Beer Gun. I opted for the latter and used that for several years to successfully bottle my competition beers. It has its pros and cons (discussed more later), and I always kept my ear to the ground on other options.

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Hands on Review: iSpindel Digital WiFi Hydrometer!

ISPINDLE REVIEW

Thank you to HBF Contributor Aaron Nord for this hands on review!  Aaron is an advanced award winning brewer, a long time reader and a serial tipster!

iSpindel

Having the ability to precisely control fermentation temperatures was the change to my brewing setup I credit with one of the largest improvements in my finished beer quality. Being able to dial in specific temperatures for lagers, perform diacetyl rests for both ales and lagers, and cold crash a finished beer helped me to better control what was happening inside my fermenter. One of the data inputs that informed when to change the fermenter temperature was the gravity of the fermenting wort. At various times through the fermentation, I would test a sample to know where the wort was on its journey to become beer. Taking multiple samples was time consuming and it resulted in a loss, albeit a small loss, of the finished product due to the number of samples I was taking.

Enter the electronic, submersible hydrometer – a tool that can read out not only the gravity of a fermenting liquid, but also its temperature all from inside the fermenter, relieving the need to take numerous samples throughout the fermentation process. In addition, many of these devices could connect to an external source and log the data for the user to read in real-time. The brewer and technologist in me were both excited to see what one of these tools had to offer.

The iSpindel is one of a few offerings to homebrewers today in the category of an electronic, submersible hydrometer which also include the Tilt and Float products (I do have experience with the Tilt, which I will discuss later, but will focus on the iSpindel primarily in this review). All products rely on a sensor that can measure the angle of the device in order to calculate the gravity of the liquid. The iSpindel was born out of a desire to make a more cost-effective version of an electronic tilt measurement-based hydrometer, according to the creator, as the other offerings on the market are typically above the $100 mark.

I purchased my iSpindel on eBay from a seller in Canada for roughly half the price of the other devices available:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/wilbrod45

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Hands on Review: BN-Link Digital Two Stage Temp Controller – Fermentation & Kegerator

This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert.  Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer.  Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.

BN-LINK Controller

BN-LINK Is a relatively new company, with its parent company Century Product Inc being founded in early 2014. The specific brand BN-LINK was created in 2019. And throughout all of this time, they’ve focused on the home electronics market with switches and smart controllers of various types. For homebrewing, there are probably some creative things you could do with some of the smart outlets or timers, but the most direct homebrew-use tool is the temperature controller.

The two-stage outlet controller has two outlets, one for your heating element, one for your cooling element/pump. The power rating is up to 1875W, which is a higher rating than even most All-In-One brewing units. The functional temperature range of the controller is from -40F to 176F, so you might be able to use it for heating strike water or for mash control, but it definitely shines for fermentation control. It has adjustable resolution, so you can set your target temperature in either full degree increments or 0.1 degree increments. It comes with a temperature probe with a nearly 6-ft long cable (71 inches). The probe is waterproof, but the controller is not, so make sure you keep distance between your probe and the controller. The display shows you both the current temperature and the target temperature you have set.

Controller and Probe

With two outlets, you plug in both your heating and cooling device at the same time. You set your target temperature and then a Cooling Differential value, which just says how warm above your target temperature before it kicks on the cooling device. Likewise, there’s a Heating Differential value, and you decide how cold you’ll let the probe measure before kicking on the heating device. The controller also has a programmable alarm you can set to alert you if it gets too hot, or too cold. There’s an overload reset switch in case you accidentally send too much current through it- designed to trip the switch instead of burn out the circuit board. And the last bit of functionality is a compressor delay, which sets a minimum amount of time for the compressor to be off before it switches on again, to protect the compressor of your cooling device from switching on & off too frequently and damaging it.

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Hands on Review: Blichmann Engineering BrewVision Thermometer!

blichmann engineering brewvision review

This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert.  Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer.  Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.

Blichmann BrewVision Thermometer

There is a wide array of homebrew gear out there. Most anything you buy has options or comes in various designs. Specific to this review, there are tons of different thermometers. But one of Blichmann’s offerings sets itself apart by coupling some very useful software with its digital thermometer. The BrewVision has been on the market for 5-6 years, but just recently they lowered the price substantially, making it even lower than their analog dial-gauge thermometer.

The BrewVision comes in two configurations based on the length of the temperature probe you need in your particular setup. It has a standard ½” NPT thread to screw into a female NPT fitting, paired with their weldless bulkhead fitting, or coupled with their TC mounting flange. The package contains the probe and the threaded installation collar, and a large sealed transmitter housing that contains 2x AAA batteries, the on/off button, and the Bluetooth transmitting hardware.

The power of the BrewVision lies in the software interface you install on your phone. It doesn’t require the latest smartphone (compatible with even the 2010 iPhone 4, or any Android phones) to run their software. You can run the software with whatever level of sophistication you want. At its simplest, your phone functions as the pressure readout gauge. There is no display on the body of the BrewVision itself, so it requires you to have your Bluetooth smartphone paired and running the Blichmann app. While this might seem like a hassle to some, the benefit is you no longer have to be right next to your thermometer to know the temperature, you just have to be in Bluetooth range. Stay in your comfy chair relaxing while your strike water heats, or dodge the winter weather during your mash while you sit inside with the heat on.

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Hands on Review: Kegland Hang Tab Keg Lids – works on ball lock & pin lock kegs

Kegland, based in Australia, produces a broad array of homebrewing gear. fermenters, electric brewing systems, loads of draft stuff (including DuoTight!) and lots more.

It’s obvious these folks are homebrewers at heart, because they’ve come up some really innovative stuff. The other thing they’ve generally done is hit really good price points. There is a balance between cost, features and quality and they seem to be hitting a lot of bullseyes.

This is a hands on look at their unique keg lid with integrated hang tag model KL02868.

Close of up of the lid. Reads… Caution Release Pressure to Remove Lid. Maximum Working Pressure 130 PSI.

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Hands on Review: Thermapen ONE Thermometer!

thermapen one hands on review

The Thermapen is a thermocouple thermometer produced by ETI, Ltd and sold by ThermoWorks. It’s used by restaurants, home cooks, homebrewers, grillers, bbq-ers and more.

My in depth hands on look at the latest iteration, the Thermapen ONE starts with a history of the Thermapen, has accuracy and response time tests and lots more.

Hands on Review: ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE!

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My Thermapen ONE Review is hosted on my BBQ site BBQ Finds – it covers use for homebrewing and more.

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Hands on Review: Kegland Ball Lock Kegs!

Kegland, based in Australia, produces a broad array of homebrewing gear. fermenters, electric brewing systems, loads of draft stuff (including DuoTight!) and lots more.

It’s obvious these folks are homebrewers at heart, because they’ve come up some really innovative stuff. The other thing they’ve generally done is hit really good price points. There is a balance between cost, features and quality and they seem to be hitting a lot of bullseyes.

This is an in depth hands on look at Kegland’s 5 gallon ball lock keg.

Hands on Review Kegland 5 Gallon Ball Lock Keg

A look at the boxThe other side of the box. This is one of the better looking keg boxes I’ve run across.

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Hands on Review: Blichmann Engineering BoilerMaker G2 Kettle Customization

This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert.  Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer.  Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.

Blichmann Engineering BoilerMaker G2 Customized Kettle

Blichmann has made brew kettles for a long time, but it is only recently they added the ability for you to custom configure the G2 BoilerMaker Kettle to your liking. Although customization can feel like it makes things more complicated than just getting a “standard kettle”, it can also be viewed as making things simpler because you don’t have to invent a complicated workaround because your kettle doesn’t have the features you want. And doing internet searches of all the options out there can leave your head swimming as you try to find exactly what you want. If you find yourself in this scenario, custom kettle configuration is a great thing.

The most obvious customization choice is the kettle size. Blichmann offers choices on the smaller side that some vendors don’t (as small as 7.5 gallons), and they go up on the big size beyond others (as big as 55 gallons). Once you decide on the size of your kettle, you need to decide what type of ports/fittings you want. They give you the option of both the age-old standard of 1/2″ NPT, or the latest preference of Tri-Clamp (or Tri-Clover if you prefer, or simply TC). The 1/2″ NPT is handled via weldless fittings with o-rings.

Blichmann BoilerMaker G2 Kettle

This is built around Blichmann’s G2 Kettle.  See our Hands on Review of the G2

Related: Hands on Review: Blichmann Engineering BoilerMaker G2 Mash Tun

Your customization order is done online through Blichmann’s website. You first pick which style of fittings you want on your kettle- TC or Threaded NPT. The minimum kettle requirement is a port for a drain valve. Everything else is optional. You can add a thermometer port, and you pick the location of it, as well as whether you want an analog or digital thermometer to be kitted for you. You can add the sight glass for volume markings or go without. You also have the option of adding any of these: AutoSparge, HERMS Coil, BoilCoil, Whirlpool port/valve, False Bottom, and HopBlocker. You can make it as complicated or as simple as you want it.

1-inch TC Sight Glass Added to Output

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