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lazerwolf posted:I do brew in the kitchen but unfortunately my kitchen sink faucet is weird and doesn't have the usual screw on aerator. So unless I brew at a friend's house and transport the bucket back to my place, it looks like I'm SOL on the immersion chiller at the moment Do you have a laundry room near the kitchen? You could install a garden hose wye fitting on the cold water hookup for the washing machine.
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Feb 9, 2012 20:19
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DrBouvenstein posted:On the topic of chillers, which I'm sure I'll buy soon, is there any advantage to copper over stainless steel? I understand copper has better thermal conductivity, but does it really matter that much for just a few gallons of water? And it seems to me that SS is easier to keep clean...copper gets green, pits, etc... if you don't care for it well. SS, all you would have to do is hose off the wort and call it a day! I haven't seen any definitive data comparing SS chillers to copper chillers, so it's all speculation how much of an advantage copper's TC gives, but you're probably right that whatever it is it's likely negligible. As long as you brew regularly, there's no need to worry about the copper, wort and starsan both keep copper nice and shiny. I think price/diameter/chiller length/build quality should take precedence when deciding which chiller to buy.
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Feb 9, 2012 20:45
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Just reaching out here, but does anyone know how to get a hold of Steve Wall from the Wisconsin Home Brewers Alliance? I was reading that they were getting some pushback from the tavern/bar industry on their bill to allow the transport of homebrew outside of the home and I wanted to see if I could help him out. It's the exact same issue we tackled in Oregon last year
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Feb 9, 2012 21:07
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Hey Jo3sh, I think it was you that responded to me a couple pages back about bottling in 40oz bottles? So, is this seriously possible? I usually buy Natty Ice 40's (for the alcohol content) and their screw on caps are like these little metal cups that screw right on. Now if I racked into those are you saying I wouldn't need to worry about crap getting in during the priming stage? I'd just be worried that the seal wouldn't be tight enough. Have any of you guys tried this? I'd go ahead and buy bomber size cap-able bottles but this would save me some cash if I can do it. Properly.
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Feb 9, 2012 21:23
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Noghri_ViR posted:Just reaching out here, but does anyone know how to get a hold of Steve Wall from the Wisconsin Home Brewers Alliance? I was reading that they were getting some pushback from the tavern/bar industry on their bill to allow the transport of homebrew outside of the home and I wanted to see if I could help him out. It's the exact same issue we tackled in Oregon last year This appears to be his Facebook, since he's friends with all the Wisco brewers and a member of the fbook WHA group.
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Feb 9, 2012 21:29
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chiz posted:Hey Jo3sh, I think it was you that responded to me a couple pages back about bottling in 40oz bottles? I don't think it was me, but I will take a swing anyway. I don't think the screwcap 40s are intended to be recappable. It would be interesting to try, but I don't think you will get a good seal more than maybe once. You could try in 1L soda bottles, as the plastic caps seem more durable to me than the aluminum type, and I think I have heard of people trying that. I know I have used 1Ls before to send beer by air in checked luggage and it went OK. I deliberately chose the bottles (Pepsi) that seemed to be made out of heavier plastic, though. Bombers are probably the absolute best bet at reasonable cost for reusable packaging though. Molson-Coors / Blue Moon did a cappable 750mL bottle for a special brew at Christmastime - maybe something like that is available somewhere, also. You know what - I think there's a crownable quart bottle I have seen at Costco. Corona Familiar. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennym52/2124355940/ Try looking for that, maybe? Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Feb 9, 2012 |
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Feb 9, 2012 21:41
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I think I've screwed myself, but I can't find that black end for my racking cane, so I can't get a good siphon flow going. is there anything I can do as a quick measure to fix this, or at least get a good siphon going? e: I guess I"m going to put the stopper and airlock back in and do it when I get back from vacation, or I can find the actual end fo rthe racking cane. Which brings me to this question. I lost about 2 cups of beer, can I refill it with water or just let it go? Gothmog1065 fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Feb 9, 2012 |
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Feb 9, 2012 22:13
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Gothmog1065 posted:I think I've screwed myself, but I can't find that black end for my racking cane, so I can't get a good siphon flow going. is there anything I can do as a quick measure to fix this, or at least get a good siphon going? I actually learned this totally legit  method just yesterday! 1) Dismantle a three-piece airlock 2) Stick the long skinny end into one end of your racking hose, stick the other end of the hose into the beer 3) Suck on the open end of the airlock until the beer is almost up to the end of the hose 4) Pinch it off right before the airlock, remove airlock, let siphon rip This lets you get a siphon going pretty easily without slobbering all over anything that will actually touch beer. Probably not the best way but I found it hilarious when I saw someone do it, and hey it worked. To your other question, either way is fine. If you add water, boil and cool it first so it doesn't infect poo poo. Or just accept that you will have like 1 less bottle.
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Feb 9, 2012 22:28
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My problem with the siphon is that I can get it going with the "fill everything with sanatized water" first, it starts to flow really good, then the beer starts to come out and when I move it to the pot (same height) suddenly air gets into the line and I lose the siphon.
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Feb 9, 2012 22:30
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You're stopping the flow with a sanitized thumb or a flow clamp, right? You shouldn't be getting air in the line unless you're moving it into the bottling bucket or keg while it's still flowing. Could you explain what you're doing with a bit more detail?
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Feb 9, 2012 22:40
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Garanimals4Seniors posted:You're stopping the flow with a sanitized thumb or a flow clamp, right? You shouldn't be getting air in the line unless you're moving it into the bottling bucket or keg while it's still flowing. Could you explain what you're doing with a bit more detail? loving it up, obviously. I used the "Trick" that docjowels used and that worked. For the stopper I was using a hose clamp that came with the kit. I'm not sure what prefilling the hose didn't do that just sucking on it did, but it started flowing. Next batch I'm getting a primer. Either way, this one is bottled, and I"m gong to assume I hosed something up, but we'll see in a few weeks.
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Feb 9, 2012 22:59
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Gothmog1065 posted:My problem with the siphon is that I can get it going with the "fill everything with sanatized water" first, it starts to flow really good, then the beer starts to come out and when I move it to the pot (same height) suddenly air gets into the line and I lose the siphon. I'm about to bottle right now and I've had this problem previously so I'm trying to avoid it this time. Two possible fixes I've read for this are: 1) Make sure the hose is a tight fit to the racking cane, sometimes your hoses is slightly too big so even though it seems like a tight fit, air can slowly sneak in. You can get a smaller diameter hose or use a clamp. I forgot to get a clamp so I'm trying a zip tie. 2) Sometimes there can be an air bubble stuck near the top, if you pinch the hose near where it connects you can get it to push the bubble out. I just tested it with water and it seemed to work.
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Feb 10, 2012 00:13
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Gothmog1065 posted:My problem with the siphon is that I can get it going with the "fill everything with sanatized water" first, it starts to flow really good, then the beer starts to come out and when I move it to the pot (same height) suddenly air gets into the line and I lose the siphon. Don't keep your stuff at the same height. It's much easier when the vessel you are racking to is down lower.
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Feb 10, 2012 00:30
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I get air into my siphon all the time when the hose isn't screwed on the the racking cane tightly enough  Usually only happens the first siphon after completely disassembling the racking equipment for cleaning, but I still get all worried when I see air mixing into my precious beer. Then I use fear of staling as an excuse to drink it all up quick.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:15
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Papizain Has a really good explanation of why and how siphoning works in one of the appendix of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I'd try to explain it but I'd just botch it without the pictures.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:17
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The siphon will stop when the liquid in bucket 1 is at the same height as the liquid in bucket 2. Keep the receptacle lower - the lower it is, the faster the siphon will go.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:35
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 This is what I'm working with faucet-wise. I'm not sure there is an add on I can buy or anything I can unscrew from the faucet
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Feb 10, 2012 01:47
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That little filter/aerator should unscrew, although if it's never been taken out, it could be a little stuck.
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Feb 10, 2012 01:58
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I tapped my Weizenbock yesterday night, and unforunately it seems I have a little bit of off-flavor in it. I'm having a little bit of a problem nailing down what the cause might be. I'm thinking (hoping) that it's Acetaldehyde, and the beer just needs to condition longer. It's not quite 3 weeks old at this point, so maybe I got to hasty. Here's the recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/1092699/weizenbock-recipes/weizenbock I'm hit my target mash temp of 150 pretty much right on, and didn't oversparge or use water that was too hot. I didn't check the PH of the mash, though. This was also the first time I did a full boil. I stir the wort pretty vigorously while cooling it with an immersion chiller, cooling it outside. I've had this flavor in some of my other beers, but I'm having a hard time trying to describe it. Where did I go wrong?
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Feb 10, 2012 02:20
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Zakath posted:I tapped my Weizenbock yesterday night, and unforunately it seems I have a little bit of off-flavor in it. I'm having a little bit of a problem nailing down what the cause might be. I'm thinking (hoping) that it's Acetaldehyde, and the beer just needs to condition longer. It's not quite 3 weeks old at this point, so maybe I got to hasty. Weihenstephaner says this about Vitus (their Weizenbock): "long and cold storage in our monastery cellars makes this single-bock a really special beer..." I have no idea how long or how cold, but I plan on putting mine in secondary for a month at around 50. (I'm on day 5 of primary now, so this is gonna be a while). I plan on tasting a hydrometer sample before secondary to see if there is a noticeable difference. Brewing science!  My recipe (2.5 gallon): 3 lbs 6.0 oz Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) 1 lbs 3.0 oz Munich II (Weyermann) 10.0 oz Vienna Malt (Weyermann) 7.6 oz Table Sugar (Vitus has ridiculous attenuation.) .5 oz Hallertau (17 IBU) Wyeast 3068 OG: 1.068 FG: 1.009 (See what I mean about the attenuation?) 7.7% ABV Vitus is much lighter than a typical Weizenbock (outside of the style range).
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Feb 10, 2012 02:46
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beetlo posted:Weihenstephaner says this about Vitus (their Weizenbock): "long and cold storage in our monastery cellars makes this single-bock a really special beer..."
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Feb 10, 2012 03:02
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chiz posted:Hey Jo3sh, I think it was you that responded to me a couple pages back about bottling in 40oz bottles? That was me that recommended it. Honestly I do think it would work although I've never tried it. Most 40s have a plastic ring inside the metal cap that leads me to believe you could reseal it. If you want to be safe just do a few 40s and see how it turns out.
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Feb 10, 2012 03:07
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cryme posted:Don't keep your stuff at the same height. It's much easier when the vessel you are racking to is down lower. I meant the cup I was using to catch the water was the same height as the pot used to catch the beer. I think the tube wasn't tight enough on the racking cane, but I'm honestly not sure. It's not the first time I've siphoned something, but the siphon just would not take. Either way, it's done now.
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Feb 10, 2012 03:35
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Zakath posted:The yeast got this down from 1.080 to 1.020 in about 7 or 8 days, so I foolishly thought it would be ready to drink soon. I've got it under pressure in my keg sitting at about 40 right now, I guess I should leave it alone for at least a month. Yeah lagers generally need at least a month of cold storage (that is what lagering is) to begin to hit their stride. For higher gravity brews, it can take 6 months or longer. It's just the nature of lagers; the yeast produce the best flavors at cold temps but those same temps also cause them to work really slow. I brewed a pilsner last fall and the drat thing took forever. Every time I tasted it it was just "meh"... then suddenly at 2 months of lagering it took a 90 degree turn toward "totally awesome". Be patient, it'll be worth it 
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Feb 10, 2012 04:30
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Weizenbock is an ale, but the point stands about high gravity.
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Feb 10, 2012 04:39
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Thanks a lot for the cereal competition ideas, I've pitched the Irish Red+lactose+fruit and the hefe with fruit loops in the secondary. We'll see what happens.
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Feb 10, 2012 04:57
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beetlo posted:Weizenbock is an ale, but the point stands about high gravity. Sorry, must have tuned out after I saw "bock" 
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Feb 10, 2012 16:06
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My last batch of apfelwein has a strong sulfur (maybe kind of yeasty) smell. I used Montrachet yeast that wasn't expired but had been sitting on a shelf at room temperature for around 13 months. I want to make another batch and have another non-expired Montrachet yeast, but it's also at room temperature. Should I just buy a new packet of yeast from the LHBS? I'm guessing the answer is yes, but figured I'd check.
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Feb 10, 2012 19:22
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Montrachet just does that. It will go away after a while.
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Feb 10, 2012 19:26
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Montrachet takes some aging. It generally seems to be at least 4 months before it really smooths out. I try to not even look at my applewine for a good ~8 months before I rack it to a keg or bottle it. A little overboard on time, but it really is better with a lot of age. I wouldn't really worry about the older yeast too much. Pick up a new packet if it's convenient, but I wouldn't bother personally.
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Feb 10, 2012 22:31
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Now that I've got my all-grain equipment coming, I need to figure out what to make first. Any suggestions on what I should try to brew first - I'm assuming I should make something relatively simple until I get the process down? Maybe some kind of hoppy pale ale maybe? I've got some Amarillo and Cascade pellets in the freezer if that helps.
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Feb 10, 2012 23:45
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Angry Grimace posted:Now that I've got my all-grain equipment coming, I need to figure out what to make first. Any suggestions on what I should try to brew first - I'm assuming I should make something relatively simple until I get the process down? My first all grain was a 3 Floyds Gumballhead clone. 2 row, wheat, and Amarillo all the way.
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Feb 10, 2012 23:54
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I am planning my second batch of beer before I even try the first haha. But does anyone have a good refreshing pale ale recipe they wouldn't mind sharing for me to try? Not all-grain please.
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Feb 11, 2012 00:12
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Okay, I had the beer bottled, and it looks like there is some more settling that is going as I bottled asap. Is this okay? It's really not that much, is it going to affect it?
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Feb 11, 2012 01:02
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Gothmog1065 posted:Okay, I had the beer bottled, and it looks like there is some more settling that is going as I bottled asap. Is this okay? It's really not that much, is it going to affect it? That's probably just yeast. It's fine.
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Feb 11, 2012 01:15
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Angry Grimace posted:Now that I've got my all-grain equipment coming, I need to figure out what to make first. Any suggestions on what I should try to brew first - I'm assuming I should make something relatively simple until I get the process down? Yeah if you have those hops on hand, any kind of hoppy American style ale would be perfect. Although really anything that's moderate gravity and doesn't have shitloads of wheat or unmalted adjuncts will be equally easy. Just keep it simple, you are radically changing your process so let yourself focus on that rather than recipe. Your first few batches are all about figuring out your average efficiency, volumes, boil off rate, poo poo like that. Docjowles fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Feb 11, 2012 |
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Feb 11, 2012 01:35
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Hypnolobster posted:Montrachet takes some aging. It generally seems to be at least 4 months before it really smooths out. I try to not even look at my applewine for a good ~8 months before I rack it to a keg or bottle it. A little overboard on time, but it really is better with a lot of age. I had to go to the brew store anyway so I figured I'd try some Lalvin EC-1118. I read that Montrachet produces more sulfur when it's stressed, but I hadn't done anything differently than my first batch of apfelwein (which tasted good even at 1 month old). In the meantime I'll let the current batch age and see what happens.
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Feb 11, 2012 01:35
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Angry Grimace posted:Now that I've got my all-grain equipment coming, I need to figure out what to make first. Any suggestions on what I should try to brew first - I'm assuming I should make something relatively simple until I get the process down? I did a mighty arrow clone with those hops recently. I brewed it over the summer and loved it.
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Feb 11, 2012 01:53
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Man. I threw an extra oz of citra dry hops in my extra IPA on a whim and good god this beer smells like super sweet mango juice after 10 days. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
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Feb 11, 2012 02:08
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drat it! Northern Brewery sent me a thermometer in my kit instead of a hydrometer! I was going to brew tomorrow, now I have to decide to wait until they can send me the hydrometer, or saw "gently caress it" and go to the local brew store and buy one...
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Feb 11, 2012 16:25
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