Vessi Test Brew II - Kolsch

Brewie continues to be a 77 lb paper weight in my basement, but I am holding out hope that it will one day work.  My friends from Hungary are reportedly scheduling my unit to be picked up and sent back to Taiwan to be fixed.  I am rather disappointed that the entire machine has to be sent back for a software issue.  It baffles me why Brewie didn't think to create a startup or install disc that can simply install the software.  That concept has been around since the dawn of the computer era, but I digress.

I completely refreshed my 3-tap kegerator with new seals for the leaky Perlick taps and all new beer lines. The rebuilt Perlicks are perfect again and do not leak.

I was eager to test out the transfer mechanism that is built into the Vessi.  Vessi has a transfer port that can be directly connected to your kegs so that you can transfer your beer under pressure.  If you purge the keg with CO2 before initiating transfer, no oxygen can come in contact with your beer during transfer. This is a pretty cool feature and worked flawlessly for me.

With the Vessi on rollers, I was able to wheel it over to my slop sink and cleanup went smoother than I expected.  The sediment removal system (SRS) removes all of the yeast and sediment after fermentation so there really wasn't much left in the Vessi to clean out.  I cleaned and sanitized everything and Vessi was ready for its next brew day.  One thing I did notice however is that my Bev-Air kegerator gets the beer a lot colder than the Vessi.  I set Vessi at 35 degrees but serving temp is definitely higher.  The serving temp is still acceptable in my opinion though.

I decided to brew a simple Kolsch for my next Vessi test brew.  Out of season I know, but I will enjoy it as fall comes around and it should remind me of summer again.

Vessi Test Brew II - Kolsch

6# Pilsen malt syrup

20 min boil
1oz Perle at 20 mins  
1oz Tettnanger at 20 mins

2.5 gallon boil, topped up to 5 gal going into fermenter

Target OG-1042
OG-1045
FG-TBD

ABV: TBD

US-05 yeast fermented at 64 degrees
Carbon filtered tap water, no adjustments