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After chatting with some helpful fellow brewers about the Garrison comp (thanks guys) and reading through Brulosophy's posts about it (ie: http://brulosophy.com/2018/05/10/7-meth ... wing-beer/) here's what I ended up going with to cold crash my NEIPA...

I had bought some mylar balloons at the dollarama, but I tasted the air/CO2 after filling a balloon and it tasted a little plastic-y. After cutting out the valve in the balloon, I tried washing the inside so that I could sanitize it, but then the balloon ripped. So I figured a 10 l food grade plastic bag duct-taped to soke tubing would do the trick, and no need to sanitize!

I immediately replaced the blow-off tube with the new CO2 tube. The Sodasteam works awesome for filling it with CO2 - just a couple of pumps and it is full. I then checked that the setup is airtight by squeezing the bag... no leaks!

So it's now crashing in the garage (covered, in a bin so it doesn't get sun--struck), and I am monitoring the temp to make sure it doesn't freeze. Been real lucky with the mild weather so far!

I also monitor the CO2 level in the bag (it does go down over time), so I just pull off the hose, cap it immediately and top the bag up with the Sodastream.

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My other suggestion would be to try limit as much head space in the bottles as you can to limit oxygen. These styles are extremely fickle to do on a homebrew scale as a lot of the processes that are used for packaging are additional opportunities for oxygen exposure.

ConanTroutman wrote:My other suggestion would be to try limit as much head space in the bottles as you can to limit oxygen. These styles are extremely fickle to do on a homebrew scale as a lot of the processes that are used for packaging are additional opportunities for oxygen exposure.

Thanks.. will keep that in mind for sure.

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My understanding is that plastic bags are typically a poor barrier for oxygen... which is why hops come packaged in foil. I think this is why the mylar balloon is used by the Brulosophy guys.

darciandjenn wrote:My understanding is that plastic bags are typically a poor barrier for oxygen... which is why hops come packaged in foil. I think this is why the mylar balloon is used by the Brulosophy guys.

Yeah I heard about that after the fact. Hopefully it's still worth the effort in this instance.

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ConanTroutman wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:26 pm

My other suggestion would be to try limit as much head space in the bottles as you can to limit oxygen. These styles are extremely fickle to do on a homebrew scale as a lot of the processes that are used for packaging are additional opportunities for oxygen exposure.

we filled our bottles all the way to the top for the Gahan comp...judges noticed and commented but the entry took 1st in it's cat...so it was worth it

jacinthebox wrote:

ConanTroutman wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:26 pm

My other suggestion would be to try limit as much head space in the bottles as you can to limit oxygen. These styles are extremely fickle to do on a homebrew scale as a lot of the processes that are used for packaging are additional opportunities for oxygen exposure.

we filled our bottles all the way to the top for the Gahan comp...judges noticed and commented but the entry took 1st in it's cat...so it was worth it

Yeah I remember your (delicoous) Decembeer was to the brim too. I filled mine to the top for the first time this comp.

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thanks...yeah I think it can only help with O2.

What I did with my neipa for the comp was bottle condition in PET and before I put the cap on I squeezed the bottle slightly so the beer was right at the top and then put the cap on. Used a little more sugar to account for filling the headspace of the bottle with co2 too.