|
Right right. As I said before, Angry Grimace's asked about whether dissolved solids in the wort would lower boil temperature. I know all about temperatures plateauing at a phase change, but I wasn't talking about measurements over time, I was pointing out that the boiling temp of water and wort relative to each other should be the same (in my case, both at 212*).
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2012 20:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 15, 2024 05:48 |
|
|
Docjowles posted:For any bargain hunters, Morebeer.com is doing a sale today similar to Black Friday, posting a whole bunch of items on sale one at a time til each sells out. Look in the Deal of the Day box on the front page to see the current item. Great, now I'm going to buy a bunch of poo poo I don't necessarily need but want. I'm going to be  that all day at work. Awesome find!
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2012 20:13
|
|
|
So I've looked into trying to recreate one of my favorite beers, which is a sour Flemish ale offered at a local brew-pub (Vermont Pub and Brewery.) And holy poo poo, it looks like trying to make a sour ale is a long, complicated, easily messed up process... 
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 02:20
|
|
|
Yea, sours seem pretty tough, I've just started designing my first few sour beers but have yet to brew them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 02:42
|
|
|
I don't think they are *tough*, exactly... they almost seem like the ultimate lazy man's brew. Ah, gently caress it, I don't want to bottle it yet, let it go another Definitely time consuming though. I don't have the patience, but then again, sour beers are not really my thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 03:29
|
|
|
I've been looking into brewing sours and there seem to be a ton of different techniques that you can use, but it can be simple too. I was planning on buying some kits for the first few batches to get a feel for the process before I start following others recipes or making my own. I was planning on brewing a few with a friend using various "bugs" and techniques. The different processes seem to be flexible in a lot of ways even if they're prone to mistakes in others. This guy has been a great resource as he's been brewing and experimenting in a lot of ways over the years. He usually has blogs about each one he does and the process, but here's his retrospective. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2009/11/brewing-sour-beer-at-home.html I plan on having up to 25 gallons aging by brewing in 5 gallon increments just because the process takes so long and commercial sours are so expensive. Cointelprofessional fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Mar 1, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 04:42
|
|
|
Oh man, the mad fermentationist is great, I've been working my way through that blog over the past couple weeks trying to learn enough. I suppose I was wrong in using the term tough, but no matter how much I read, it still seems like doing a sour is a total gamble.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:03
|
|
|
Think about getting the book Wild Brews, too. It's a phenomenal resource for understanding what goes into a sour beer and why it ends up the way it does.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:43
|
|
|
I was thinking about it more and more and I guess I don't need to use a secondary, it seems there's not much advantage to it. Question though, how am I to go about getting beer from a carboy to take hydrometer readings? I'm guessing a sanitized turkey baster or something?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:46
|
|
|
Midorka posted:I was thinking about it more and more and I guess I don't need to use a secondary, it seems there's not much advantage to it. Question though, how am I to go about getting beer from a carboy to take hydrometer readings? I'm guessing a sanitized turkey baster or something? People usually get a wine thief but a long enough baster could probably work too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:56
|
|
|
Midorka posted:I was thinking about it more and more and I guess I don't need to use a secondary, it seems there's not much advantage to it. Question though, how am I to go about getting beer from a carboy to take hydrometer readings? I'm guessing a sanitized turkey baster or something? A wine thief, usually. http://morebeer.com/view_product/18661//Sample_Taker_Thief_-_3_Piece A turkey baster works with buckets, but the ones I have aren't very long and wouldn't get much into the actual liquid in a primary carboy. Thieves can be too short if you're using a carboy, i.e. they only get down like a couple inches into the liquid, which may or may not be enough liquid to get a sample - my LHBS has one that is extra long, but it's far too expensive for essentially a giant plastic straw.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:57
|
|
|
Daedalus Esquire posted:Oh man, the mad fermentationist is great, I've been working my way through that blog over the past couple weeks trying to learn enough. I suppose I was wrong in using the term tough, but no matter how much I read, it still seems like doing a sour is a total gamble. I probably post things from Northern Brewer too often, but they recently did a sour beers episode on Brewing TV. It starts off with a tasting and then at about 10 min they go into various styles that they brewed along with a tasting. http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/episode/brewing-tv-episode-49-sour-beers/
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 05:57
|
|
|
A wine thief sounds like it works like a straw. I'll probably just use the rubber hose to do the same thing and double that as the transfer hose.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 06:41
|
|
|
Midorka posted:A wine thief sounds like it works like a straw. I'll probably just use the rubber hose to do the same thing and double that as the transfer hose. It does work like a straw. Vinyl tubing will work in a pinch but it's inconvenient enough to just use the 5 dollar wine thief.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 07:11
|
|
|
My Wine Thief is awesome. http://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-Wine-Thief/dp/B0064O93RC Ever since I got it, I've been way better about taking a hydrometer reading every time I wanted to take a sample to taste.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 07:28
|
|
|
Also, you can shake a wine thief up and down and have it magically fill itself up which is totally worth the few bucks it costs for a Mr. Wizard-level science lesson. That, and tubing can be annoying and drippy. You'll lose less beer with the thief.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 07:28
|
|
|
wattershed posted:Also, you can shake a wine thief up and down and have it magically fill itself up which is totally worth the few bucks it costs for a Mr. Wizard-level science lesson. That, and tubing can be annoying and drippy. You'll lose less beer with the thief.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 08:01
|
|
|
Does low efficiency matter if you compensate for it with more grain? If not, given the low cost of grains, you would have to do a significant number of batches to amortize the cost of say, a new mash/lauter tun. Am I missing something? Especially if I'm a novice, why bother sparging (for example) if I can just spend $2 more on grains?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 08:28
|
|
|
theDoubleH posted:Does low efficiency matter if you compensate for it with more grain? If not, given the low cost of grains, you would have to do a significant number of batches to amortize the cost of say, a new mash/lauter tun. Am I missing something? Especially if I'm a novice, why bother sparging (for example) if I can just spend $2 more on grains? http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/9-all-grain-brewing/1407-skip-the-sparge Basically, you just add water to the first runnings which are beefed up with a huge grain bill to compensate for really low efficiency. I don't personally see the appeal of just going low-effort to be low-effort since I could probably just buy beer at the store for less than the price of the materials + effort. I'm not entirely sure how it makes the entire process *that* much less complicated than say, batch sparging, either. I suppose I'm new enough to homebrew that I'm not jaded yet by the amount of time it takes to go from grain to fermenter yet, though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 08:40
|
|
|
~70% efficiency seems to be what to strive for, or so I'm told.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 08:52
|
|
|
Angry Grimace posted:I suppose I'm new enough to homebrew that I'm not jaded yet by the amount of time it takes to go from grain to fermenter yet, though. My last brew took 5 hours from setup to in fermenter. Strike and two infusions. Batch sparge with two equal batches. The one before was TEN hours. Strike, one infusion, and two decoctions. Batch sparge with two equal batches. So yeah... no "oh hey I want to brew and it's 11pm" for me. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 09:19
|
|
|
beetlo posted:My last brew took 5 hours from setup to in fermenter. Strike and two infusions. Batch sparge with two equal batches. I will say that I was surprised by how much longer all-grain took, although I could really get it down by an hour or so by just having my poo poo together next time and not spending 1/2 an hour reading the instructions for the burner, etc. Midorka posted:~70% efficiency seems to be what to strive for, or so I'm told.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 09:42
|
|
|
Angry Grimace posted:If this actually works, then I am officially angry with myself for all the times I took like four samples to get enough for a hydro sample. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQgomUc54 - jump to the 2:00 mark. I seriously didn't know the "right" way to use it until about a week ago.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 09:50
|
|
|
wattershed posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQgomUc54 - jump to the 2:00 mark. I'm tempted to go take a pointless sample just to do this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 10:56
|
|
|
I've only made one sour beer before but it turned out really well and was easy. It was a Flanders red and I just used a recipe out of Wild Brews. I made an oak aged ale a month before I brewed the Flanders since I didn't want it to really have any oakey flavor but wanted the oak chips since I read the porousness of the wood helps with bacterial growth and I was planning to reuse the oak chips to make more sour beers in the future. I just used a premixed yeast/bacteria blend from Wyeast called the roselare blend, I believe it's still available seasonally. I did a two week primary in a bucket then transferred to a carboy for secondary and added the oak chips. Let it sit in the back of the closet covered up for a year, then bottled it with some fresh US-05. It turned out really amazing and cost like $30 for two cases. I never got around to doing more since I unexpectedly moved and am gonna move again in a few months and moving full carboys of beer sucks. Maybe I'll do one on the day I move into my new place since I'll be there for at least a year.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 11:45
|
|
|
Angry Grimace posted:If this actually works, then I am officially angry with myself for all the times I took like four samples to get enough for a hydro sample. I literally just sat staring at the screen with my mouth hung open for five minutes in amazement that I didn't know about this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 15:06
|
|
|
I'm very new to the hobby, but eager to share the stuff I make. I've got my second brew conditioning and a third in the fermenter. My question concerns sharing the stuff. while I have no problem giving someone a bottle and telling them to let it settle upright for a time, how do you guys deal with situations where you'd want to take a few bottles to drink with friends at their house? Would you decant the stuff into clean unsedimented bottles, or just be really careful on the journey over and make sure the bottles were super cold to start with to settle the yeast down? In the first case, I'd be worried about oxidation, though the stuff would be drunk on the night -so possibly that's unfounded. But would it not lose carbonation and stuff? Or do I just need to invite everyone to mine? :-)
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 15:58
|
|
|
When I was bottling, I just transported them carefully and made sure to leave a bit behind when pouring. Anything else is really going to do more harm than good, as you guessed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 16:05
|
|
|
I don't think sediment really resuspends that well as long as it's still cold. Just toss em in the fridge upright when you get there, the first one might have a few bits floating, but it's just yeast, it's actually good for you to get a little of it (B12, prevents hangovers) but all the bottles after should resettle quick.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 17:12
|
|
|
It might indeed be good for you but it does give you the most almighty beer shits too... And I'd hate it if post-party I get a lot of text messages going "what the gently caress was in that beer, man?"
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 17:33
|
|
|
Josh Wow posted:I've only made one sour beer before but it turned out really well and was easy. It was a Flanders red and I just used a recipe out of Wild Brews. I made an oak aged ale a month before I brewed the Flanders since I didn't want it to really have any oakey flavor but wanted the oak chips since I read the porousness of the wood helps with bacterial growth and I was planning to reuse the oak chips to make more sour beers in the future. This sounds kind of rad, I just moved two days ago and have a year long lease. Might have to think about doing a sour......
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 17:49
|
|
|
Spergio Leone posted:It might indeed be good for you but it does give you the most almighty beer shits too... And I'd hate it if post-party I get a lot of text messages going "what the gently caress was in that beer, man?" This is one of the areas where kegging shines. It's easy to transfer beer off the sediment into a fresh keg for a road trip. If you don't need a full keg, growlers are easy to fill and carry along in a cooler. EDIT: Plus it's cool as hell to be able to say, "Sure, I'll bring a keg of homebrew to the party." Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 1, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 17:51
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:This is one of the areas where kegging shines. It's easy to transfer beer off the sediment into a fresh keg for a road trip. If you don't need a full keg, growlers are easy to fill and carry along in a cooler. Do you up the pressure on the gas the night before you fill growlers? I filled one once and brought it to a club meeting and it seemed pretty flat. Of course the beer foamed up quite a bit while I was pouring it from the tap into the growler. How do you dispense and gas at a party? Do you have a 20oz party set up like Kegconnection is selling?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 19:58
|
|
|
Put your growler in the freezer for a while before you fill it. Cold gear is key to not knocking the gas out of your beer.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 19:59
|
|
|
Besides that, I drop my keg down to like 5PSI before filling a growler to reduce foaming. It also helps to get a small stopper that fits around your racking cane or whatever and over the top of the growler. Pressing down on that as you fill and "burping" pressure when the flow stops creates a ghetto-rear end counterpressure filler and basically eliminates foam.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 20:09
|
|
|
Prefect Six posted:How do you dispense and gas at a party? Do you have a 20oz party set up like Kegconnection is selling? I actually use one of the CO2 injectors that uses the 12g CO2 cartridges. It's a bit expensive for frequent use, so I am thinking about upgrading to one of the 20 ounce bottles, but I haven't got around to it yet. I bought a bunch of food-grade carts a while ago, so I will think about upgrading more seriously when I get low on them. This is what I mean, except mine is an older model: http://morebeer.com/view_product/18301//CO2_Injector_Ball_Lock The new model uses 16g carts, which are way more expensive. I was able to get the 12g type in reasonable quantity for about $0.40 each, IIRC, but the 16g type are more like a buck apiece.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 20:26
|
|
|
The only real problem with those is that there's no regulator, so your beer is generally over- or under-powered. Getting a good serving pressure can be a hassle, especially if some guy walks up and decides to dose the keg because the beer isn't coming out like a fire hose.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 20:40
|
|
|
Also, if you pull the trigger while it is not hooked up to the keg, the plastic body of the thing gets the full 800 PSI and can crack. It's not the best solution, but it is portable and works well enough for my needs. I use it a couple times a year, including the annual guys' trip to Vegas and it does ok for that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 20:51
|
|
|
Party Pig came today! 10 days until bottling/pigging day for Oktoberfest! This should make things much easier. Since I do 2.5 gallon batches, almost the whole thing will go in the pig. I figure a sixer of bottles (to give people as samples) and the rest in the pig. Good stopgap until I can actually afford a proper kegging setup. Also, to solve my priming sugar temperature dilemma I'm just going to let the beer come up to 60 a couple days before bottling and use that temperature. And sprinkle in a small amount of US-05 to ensure carbonation. Carbing at room temp.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 21:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 15, 2024 05:48 |
|
|
If you want sours, just do Berliner Weisse or other related styles (Gose, Broyhan, etc.). Pitch the lacto first, wait 24 hours, then pitch the yeast. Boom. Nice, easy tart beer that is done in the same amount of time as a normal beer. You miss out on the brett but during the summer months where you want a quencher, why not just go for the lacto?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 22:49
|
|
