Hey guys,
Want to brew the Plinian Legacy kit, but not sure how to accommodate the 6 gallon recipe. I have the standard 6 gal and 5 gal carboys. If I fill up the 6, their won’t be any room for the krausen to form. Why did they make this kit for 6 gal? How are people brewing this kit? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
The reason the kit is 6 gallons into the fermentor is that there are so many dry hops and possibly as much trub which will result in significant (i.e. more than average) losses of beer when racking.
It will depend on how many times you rack it, how careful you are, etc…
As usual, I just ferment and dry hop right in the stainless boil kettle. I no longer use buckets or carboys.
If you decide to go that route, you can rack or strain into a bucket, clean and sanitize your BK and lid and then pour the wort back in. I use an 8 gallon BK (no problems with krausen) and fermented at 59F for the first week and 68F for the second week, then held at 68F for the following two weeks for dry hopping (all in the BK). F.G. of 1.011. Cold crashed and kegged. Gelatin in the keg. Couple days over 4 weeks total. Racking from the BK is a little tedious due to all the hops but really not that bad with a fine strainer paint bag (or 2).
If you desire to use a carboy or a bucket, you’ll need a 6.5 gallon with a blowoff assembly.
You could split between two 5-gal carboys and then combine for bottling/kegging.
I just brewed this one myself. Used a 6 gallon carboy with a blowoff hose for primary. You’ll be fine if you have a blow off tube, because this one fermented quickly and violently. Also, there was a considerable amount of trub in the bottom of my primary (and this was with the extract kit), so between primary and secondary I probably lost about a gallon of total volume. I haven’t added the dry hops yet, but I would expect to lose about another half gallon or so to additional trub from the hop solids. In the end, I would imagine that I’ll end up with about 4.5 gallons of beer, despite putting 6 gallons of liquid into the primary.
Wagner,
Did the Krausen shoot out of the blow off tube into the bucket? And you still got a good fermentation? Did you use a yeast starter? Def want to brew this one, as a guy on the East Coast, I can’t get this commercial brew.
[quote=“jeffsmietana”]Wagner,
Did the Krausen shoot out of the blow off tube into the bucket? And you still got a good fermentation? Did you use a yeast starter? Def want to brew this one, as a guy on the East Coast, I can’t get this commercial brew.
Yes, the Krauesen went completely up the blow off tube and into the bucket of Star San. Fermentation took off right away, and I’d say that the tube was full in about a day or so. I made a 1.5 L starter with the WY 1056, and also pitched an additional smack pack just for good measure. OG was 1.086, SG at the time of racking to secondary was 1.018. I tasted a sample when I racked, and all I have to say is DAMN! Really good stuff, and I haven’t even dry hopped it yet! 
