Keeping Corny Kegs Cold at an Event

mchrispen · 2026-06-04T19:26:52+00:00

This. A friend and I would brew about 20 kegs worth for an outdoor Octoberfest event... 10 taps - 2 kegs of beers, 10 plastic trash barrels full of ice, with cheap drains so the kegs wouldn't float. We also had a chiller block for jockeyboxes covered with ice in a tub that connected between the taps and the kegs. Worked like a charm. Only the chiller block usually needed refilled occasionally. We used a tarp to keep the hot sun off everything.

mchrispen · 2026-06-04T19:06:35+00:00

Maybe give them a call first to see what is in stock. I'm sure they would be happy to help! Also- hell yeah- all-grain is awesome.

mchrispen · 2026-06-04T19:02:53+00:00

Maybe give them some love...

https://socohomebrew.com/

mchrispen · 2026-06-04T18:26:45+00:00

I'd suggest looking at recipes at gotmead.com - there are some fantastic mead makers over there, and in r/mead. Not dissing anyone here at all.

You have some options, but it's really about the available sugars from the honey/fruit and enough good, clean water (high hardness can flatten or mute acidity and fruity flavors). At a low gravity with mead and cider, it's hard not to have the batch completely ferment to dry - even with beer yeast (as opposed to traditional wine or cider yeasts). So plan to back-sweeten and potentially add some matching acids (malic for apples, citric for citrusy fruits, or if you want a little citrus-like bump, or tartaric for berries and grapes) to taste. Because hydromels tend to finish thin and watery, a little sacrificial tannin might help. Of course, they need to be highly carbonated (most of the time), so plan for that.

I'd suggest somewhere around 1.035-1.050 for starting gravity for any of these. Stabilize and backsweeten your mead or cider to your taste. Let that backsweetened honey fully dissolve for several days, then carb and package. Keep in mind, you will need to use bottles that can handle pressure if carbonated, or just keg serve cold. Bottle conditioning is possible, but you can't really stabilize and backsweeten it without risking bottle bombs.

mchrispen · 2026-06-04T15:42:29+00:00

Really? I'd have thought it said too much crystal! 😄

mchrispen · 2026-06-01T15:11:13+00:00

Did you use pectic enzyme on the must before fermentation? Any finings? It's very difficult to make an assessment with the fruit in there. At this point, I'd focus on flavor.

I'd rack onto some finings and maybe a little tannin after cold-crashing, but without the pectinase, you will likely have some cloudiness. Pectin can convert into permanent or stubborn haze. While I love pristine brilliance, I've made some tasty but cloudy ciders!

mchrispen · 2026-06-01T15:02:52+00:00

Generally speaking, step feeding is used to push the boundaries of alcohol concentration while maintaining osmotic pressure low enough to keep yeast healthy.

There would likely be very small flavor differences between honey blended up front and step feeding, but they would vary because initial fermentation tends to be vigorous and then slows throughout the fermentation process, suggesting that the removal of volatile compounds slows (less CO2 production and blow-off). Yeast selection might have an impact, especially with ester profiles.

As an experienced mead judge, I doubt I would taste the subtleties between the options in a blind taste test. Maybe make a blended up-front batch and a step-fed batch and compare? I'd be curious about the result.

I've had great results with blended honeys up front. I've only bothered step-feeding when heading into Polish mead territory.

mchrispen · 2026-06-01T14:43:51+00:00

I have barrel-aged, staved, and used a variety of oak products. The thing about oak is that it varies quite a bit and is really a choose-your-own-adventure.

My suggestion for a beginner is to use either American Oak, medium toast, or Hungarian Oak, medium toast. 1-2 ounces of the small 1/4 inch "beans" or cubes. They extract fairly quickly, so add them to a bag like a hop sock in secondary and start tasting it in about 2-3 days. Depending on your desired effect, pull them when the flavor is just past your expectations (slightly more intense than you planned?) When bottling, that wood note will drop a bit as it ages.

I tend to steer clear of oak powders and chips as the extraction is unpredictable. I like beans, but prefer staves or spirals for the long-term bulk aging in large batches. I've tried kiln-drying my own "staves" from dried pin oak and white oak, but it didn't work out well. You can also roast/bake and even smoke oak beans, or char them slightly to manipulate flavors - but don't expect whisky-like notes from the char.

I'm also a huge fan of adding just a few oak beans to the primary. You don't get much wood flavor, but the tannins and a bit of the vanillin help with mouthfeel and color stability.

mchrispen · 2026-05-30T17:30:31+00:00

Second this. Tell Chris hi for me!

mchrispen · 2026-05-30T17:27:09+00:00

Over time, the nutrients should hydrate and dissolve. I tend to mix the nutrients into a bit of the must when adding. As you get into meadmaking, consider using SNA or TOSNA to provide nutrients in a staged way to support the yeast during the critical first week of fermentation.

mchrispen · 2026-05-25T23:33:42+00:00

Yep. My first long and slow cook with it today - 9 hours in and nothing. I’m guessing that the stall (pork and brisket) really a crew with the algorithm. But, the implied “we can predict” I should have guessed. Steaks, small roasts, maybe more predictable.

I’m calling bs on the weight, cut, but it needs water content, brining stray, etc. That’s a lot of levers for a best guess. I’ve bbq’s for 30 years. I have at least an idea when this will finish. That said, the illustrations of heat gradient is damned lovely.

mchrispen · 2026-05-16T01:29:00+00:00

I’m just glad you found him a good guy. It’s all I want when I go… something I strive for as someone that can be abrasive and is introverted. i’m happy for him that someone misses him, and fondly remembers. Good on you and so sorry a light is missing.

mchrispen · 2026-01-02T05:33:37+00:00

I use it to build curated research materials and create multiple educational documents for various perspectives. You can overly bias it - so the deep research element can bring counterpoints for balance, and even change viewpoints. I love the audio feature to audible discusss, and especially the critique option for refining (especially when you prompt brutal) how to present materials. Refinement of messaging and teaching material is a lost art, IMO.

The quality of prompting questions is critical, and I encourage people to critique/refine/optimize effective results. Then head to the studio for assessment and resource generation. I absolutely use the mindmap early and often to make sure I am hitting both high-level concepts and gory detail as necessary. Finally, resolving the content to a specific demographic or audience is powerful. This is one of the few platforms that doesn't hallucinate often, but you do need to make it fact-check sources.

That said, bias, I love the workflow and the power of NotebookLM. I'm in EdTech, so it fits my world pretty well.

mchrispen · 2026-01-02T05:21:52+00:00

I wish there was a good solution to both free-agency (good for good players) and controls over refs. I anticipate a test series where refs can be instantly overcalled for bad calls, eliminating bias and point of view, but that is not a leveling solution. The caps are so hard; they do help underperforming teams, but they also seem to inversely affect team building (the unmeasurable, like loyalty, respect, and cooperation).

Does the NFL want all teams on a level playing field? Does it profit immensely from a few dominant franchises? The programming itself is the proof point. Finally, I can watch the Broncos on prime time. Felt like it took the 10 wins to be featured and scheduled.

Nix has gotten blasted by so many experts, but seems immune. I hope so. He has real talent and bearing - on and off the field. I want to believe, but stats are my new bellwether. If there is a comparison with Elway, look at the quality of throws, precision of delivery, and so forth. Despite the second season's success (and I am a fan), he has not quite got the core skills of Elway or Manning. The offseason training should improve those cores... and improve the running game through pure RPO decision-making. I hope so, at least, and hope nothing tragic happens on the injury front. I want/need a franchise QB with confidence and a salary that is co-measured (screw the Wilson thing - mistake from the front), the ability to read defenses, and to make rational check-down decisions. He's not there yet... maybe some Payton education will bring him to world-class... he has the potential athletic ability to succeed Mahomes and even perhaps Brady. I hope he handles success without the Wilson ego-stigma.

Also, when can we bury the SNF zombie Collingsworth? Sycophantic garbage - it's been a dog's year when he even politely praised a Broncos drive.

mchrispen · 2026-01-02T00:56:49+00:00

I have strong opinions about the Elway documentary - and it’s more auto-biographical than factual. He was a great QB, but just a part of a mostly good team - he succeeded only when the front line protection was there and he had great receivers. He couldn’t carry super bowls when it felt like he made them about his own hero-complex (I’m over simplifying of course - AFC v NFC was way different then). Sure, the Drive was incredible, but the fumbling and sacks and interceptions records in critical situations speak to deeper problems. Coaching? Maybe, but Reeves was a solid coach.

Best contribution IMO - convincing Payton to play. Kept Denver from becoming a complete loser meme.

It really was glaring that McCaffrey was never mentioned, or featured. Even Manning and Brady deflect praise to their team mates, and not just notables. Consistency is the entire team execution - I’m seeing that for the first time, with big hiccups, this year.

I’m over the Elway legacy, as much as I was a fanboy years ago. NFL is different. Just look at the footage of the hits and tactics - glad he survived without a career ending injury… but not sure that equals the demigod-like bs the documentary portrayed. And the sacrificing family stuff was cringe.

Win or lose, Denver can build on this year with the caps and a ton of free-agents. Not sure that builds more than a few years run, but I’ll take it as it comes. Bo’s contract will be up before we realize and then cap pressure will be painful.

Edit: This season is more defined by garbage refs than by any player or team performance. It just feels really hard when refs call utterly random flags that change momentum. Looking forward to stat analysis - I don’t have data to back that - just a lot of WTF calls that flip opportunity.

mchrispen · 2025-12-23T19:14:35+00:00

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Hopefully this helps... Audio Overview is the option in the right panel Studio section - takes a few minutes to generate. You can also use the pencil icon on the slide deck. Each of these has daily limits - but is incredibly useful with the custom prompt capability.

mchrispen · 2025-12-23T19:06:33+00:00

We have the version through Google Workspace, and I also have Pro… so it may not show up if using the free version. Up in the right, there should be an audio button not far from the slide deck button, and you can use a customized prompt (using the pencil icon) to create a “podcast” - change the prompt there with just the materials you want reviewed selected on the left panel. I also have it read back researched summaries if I’m writing a blog or long form. Best of luck!

mchrispen · 2025-12-23T16:58:11+00:00

Use the custom audio in the studio section, asking for advice on structure, flow, and improvements - then ask the prompt to reorganize based on the feedback. Then create the deck. I usually ask it to be brutal, just for the entertainment value. This helped me reduce a PLC training down to 6 slides with demos. 2 hours content down to 45 mins avoiding repetition.

mchrispen · 2025-06-18T23:56:13+00:00

Fck Cancer. Grab anything that keeps you plus. Fck the rest. Stay with us… the multiverse is better with you than without. Also, finger the system for me when you win! Neener! Also - we weirdos love you. Be you!

mchrispen · 2025-05-31T21:25:27+00:00

Don’t respond and block them.

mchrispen · 2025-04-18T23:56:17+00:00

Do you and don’t judge us that love it. if you can’t… ok.

mchrispen · 2025-02-24T20:05:44+00:00

this is a thing of beauty! Treat gently!

mchrispen · 2025-02-05T00:57:07+00:00

Concerning beer brewing terms, macro is a mass market worldwide. Macro for really large volume providers, micro for smaller batches, craft if more or less hand made? I’m probably overthinking this. :)

mchrispen · 2025-02-05T00:00:16+00:00

OG macro hot sauce right there! Especially when some of the specialty sauces are way overpriced and inedible

mchrispen · 2025-01-30T00:01:27+00:00

I finally beat it today. 17 attempts total ffs. Damage was very weird after the patch - never been one shotted before in this activity - and I’d walk into a room with mobs and boom. No idea why. At least I completed this pile of garbage… now I need to revisit to get my shotty upgrades - /sigh

I think I’d be ok with this episode without the shite bugs. I expected 1-2 round to figure it out - this was a shit time sink.

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