|
I made a California Common with Rye a month or so ago using WLP810. Aside from diacetyl from me not giving it a rest, it really emphasized the earthy notes in the beer. I should have used a starter.
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2012 21:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 23:58 |
|
|
crazyfish posted:I actually just used the Wyeast Kolsch strain to make a clone of New Glarus' Spotted Cow. I'll have to see how the higher ferment temps made it act; I'm probably going to bottle it tomorrow. I'd go with the California Lager strain. It works well at the temperatures you'll be fermenting at. It's not going to be industrial-lager clean tasting, but your beer will be very nice. The only downside to the yeast is that it tends to not attenuate quite as dry as the continental lager strains. It does work very fast though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 00:42
|
|
|
Is there a difference between using DME vs corn sugar for carbonating bottles? I know the yeast can consume both, but corn sugar is a more simple sugar than DME (dextrose vs maltose). After the stresses of fermentation could the yeast begin to prefer not to convert more complex sugars? DME should affect flavor profile less, but could it end up not being as fully converted as corn sugar and thus sweeten the final product more wile not providing adequate carbonation?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 04:29
|
|
|
You have to use more DME than corn sugar to get the same level of carbonation. A good online calculator should let you choose. Really, though, the amount you need is so small it makes no noticeable difference. I like corn sugar on the reare occasions I bottle just because it seems more consistent and quicker.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 04:47
|
|
|
I had time to start working on my brewstand this weekend and got a good chunk of the fabrication done. Considering that I had to teach myself to weld I think it turned out pretty well. Next up gas plumbing, burner mounts, adjustable feet, and pump mounts. Then it's time for paint and assembly. It's going to be a natural gas direct fire RIMS with BCS460 control. I made the control box a few months ago out of a plastic ammo box that holds the BCS, a router set up as a network bridge, some relays, a 24VAC transformer, etc. I'm automating all three banjo burners with standing pilot valves. The idea behind doing the BK is so I can run semi automated decoctions with a mash stirrer I've started designing. Hopefully I can just pull each decoction and walk away as it takes the pulled portion through each rest and boils while the main mash maintains the correct rest. I've been using the pump/heat exchanger/control box on a temporary basis with the bucket heater I use for 10 gallon stovetop boils and everything seems to work well so I think this is going to be a pretty sweet system. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 06:20
|
|
|
God drat, that looks sweet.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 15:40
|
|
|
Automated decoctions? That's pretty ambitious! I'm eager to see how it all works out in the end, building a RIMS style system has been in the back of my mind for a while now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 16:15
|
|
|
 Wow that already looks incredible. Do I dare ask what the network is for?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 16:21
|
|
|
j3rkstore posted:Just kegged my first lager, a triple decoction vienna il serpente turned me on to before he disappeared. Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I'm glad this turned out well for you. It's one of my favorite beers.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:14
|
|
|
You got that recipe handy, il serpente?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:19
|
|
|
il serpente cosmico posted:Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I'm glad this turned out well for you. It's one of my favorite beers. This is the one I got in my secret santa and it was loving delicious.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:20
|
|
|
Huge_Midget posted:You got that recipe handy, il serpente? Yeah, the recipe is super simple--the process is the complex part. As far the recipe goes, just use 100% Vienna Malt (go with a German maltster like Weyermann) and aim for 1.054 or so. Hop to 35IBUs or so (give or take 5 IBUs for personal preference), and use anywhere from 1 to 1.25 oz of hops each at 15 minutes and 1 minute for flavor and aroma. For hops, use Saaz, Tet, or Hallertau. I really like it with Hallertau, but Saaz and Tet mellow nicely as it lagers. The main thing is that it's triple decoction mashed. I think I have a decoction document sitting around if you're interested in exactly how I do this. There are many ways to do a decoction, and I've settled on a way that works well for me (largely compiled from Ajaarg's advice). As far as yeast goes, I like White Labs German Bock. It tastes great and it's a good attenuator. Alternatively, Wyeast Munich Lager works faster and also has a nice flavor profile. il serpente cosmico fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 10, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:50
|
|
|
There's a great brewing TV episode on decoction mashes: Decoction Day I don't have anywhere near the level of experience or equipment to try a double or triple decoction mash but this episode seems to lay it all out in a pretty easy to understand way.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:03
|
|
|
^^ Huh, that was really enjoyable and made the process seem so much more straight-forward than I expected. Does anyone have a tried and true all-grain Hefeweizen recipe they wouldn't mind sharing? Googling for Franziskaner clones has put me on a wild goose chase.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:13
|
|
|
I was wondering if transferring a saison to a secondary carboy only after a week of fermenting will mess it up? I want to reuse the 3711 yeast cake the next weekend for a black saison. I'm hoping as long as I suck up some extra yeast it should still completely ferment. Or, would it be better to make a large starter with the 3711 smack pack, and use 1/2 of the starter for each of the beers? Raveen fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Apr 10, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:14
|
|
|
Raveen posted:I was wondering if transferring a saison to a secondary carboy only after a week of fermenting will mess it up? I think that would be fine. After a week it's probably going to be almost done, 3711 is a hilarious yeast that would probably eat through the carboy, floor and crust of the earth given the chance. The saison I brewed with it a while back attenuated to like 1.005.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:39
|
|
|
Bruinator posted:Bad loving rear end Brewstand I can't pass up the  on this one. Holy poo poo. Nice job!Also, I may have to do decoction soon. That video made it looks hilariously straightforward.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:42
|
|
|
Docjowles posted:I think that would be fine. After a week it's probably going to be almost done, 3711 is a hilarious yeast that would probably eat through the carboy, floor and crust of the earth given the chance. The saison I brewed with it a while back attenuated to like 1.005. I did a saison last year and wanted it very dry. I didn't really believe the wild sounding rumors about Wy3711, so I mashed for 45 at 149 and 30 at 156 and also used a pound or so of sugar in the boil. Mine actually wound up at .998, but wasn't too thin or watery, actually it was one of my best beers. loving crazy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 23:03
|
|
|
I think I started off right, I read a few books, a couple issues of BYO, and the majority of this thread. I made my first batch (pale ale) today and in a week or so when I bottle I will start up a couple more. I figure that by doing 2.5 gal batches, my inevitable failure at one of them will be less of a loss to take. That and I can make 2 different beer at once. My kit was that Mr.Beer kit, I got it for Christmas so why not. It's a hopped LME so kind of boring, but I'm going to head down to the local homebrew store to see what sorts of trouble I can get into, and to get some stuff.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:38
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:You have to use more DME than corn sugar to get the same level of carbonation. A good online calculator should let you choose. Really, though, the amount you need is so small it makes no noticeable difference. I like corn sugar on the reare occasions I bottle just because it seems more consistent and quicker. Thanks for the advice on the calculator. Didn't know you needed to adjust the amounts from DME to corn sugar when priming.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:44
|
|
|
What are everyone's favourite brewing books? So far I've read through all of Brew Like A Monk and Designing Great Beers. I liked BLAM. While DGB was a very good reference, it was pretty dry. I've gotten into all-grain recently, and I think I'd like a book that has some stuff on mashing theory (how the different steps work, etc.) and books on how to formulate recipes. Any recommendations?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 01:05
|
|
|
crazyfish posted:What are everyone's favourite brewing books? So far I've read through all of Brew Like A Monk and Designing Great Beers. I liked BLAM. While DGB was a very good reference, it was pretty dry. I've gotten into all-grain recently, and I think I'd like a book that has some stuff on mashing theory (how the different steps work, etc.) and books on how to formulate recipes. Any recommendations? Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing is a really good book.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 01:45
|
|
|
Designing Great Beers (Daniels) and Brewing Classic Styles (Zainasheff/Palmer) are both good if you are targeting styles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
It's pretty basic, but I read The Complete Joy of Homebrewing about a year after I started the hobby and still got a ton out of it. I had read Palmer's How to Brew or whatever when I started and I can't support reading both of them enough. I've found radical brewing by Mosher awesome so far, and it's a great reference. The next book on my pipeline is Wild Brews (I think that's the name, it's sitting on my desk).
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
Question from a new guy. My wife bought me a 1 gallon brew kit from brooklyn brew shop, an everyday IPA. Anyways, I looked online at their instructions and followed them to a T, or so I thought. I've put it in the 1 gallon jug with a tube coming out of the top of it into a bowl of sanitizer. The instructions say to leave it like that for 2 or 3 days or until vigorous bubbling stops. It's been 2 days now and it sure as hell aint bubbling. On day 3, do I just continue with their instructions (it says to replace tube with the airlock and store in a dark cool place)? Could this be a sign of bad yeast? The expiration date said a year from now, so I figure it would still be good, but who knows. If the beer is hosed, I'd rather find out now than later and going a capper and some caps if my beer's just gonna turn to poo poo. Thanks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:22
|
|
|
Did it not bubble at all, or did it bubble and then stop? The first one might be an issue and you might need to get some fresh yeast. The second one is no issue at all and you can proceed as directed (although a few extra days to settle wouldn't hurt anything either).
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:25
|
|
|
I just got my 10 gallon cooler from Amazon, and I'm ready to make my mash tun for my first all-grain brew. Anyone have advice for a good false bottom + bulkhead combo? I'm a little bit unsure about what I should get, but I do know the inner diameter of the cooler is 12".
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:25
|
|
|
Thanks all for the comments, I'll be sure to update as it moves along. I've been planning and acquiring parts for most of the last year. It's frustrating to wait but I could afford far better components by stretching it out. There are lots of bargains to be had if you're careful. Il Serpente's double decoction hef instructions are really good and gave me the push to try it. I've since improved my process for my equipment but it still sucks standing around stirring a pot of boiling mash. I've experimented with pseudo decoctions using melanoidin malt and I don't think they measure up. The decoction stirrer is just going to be a gear motor installed on my old thick bottom 6 gallon kettle directly driving the stirrer at somewhere around 30rpm. The boil burner will handle heating. Since the decoction is going to be continually stirred I'm planning to mount a temperature sensor on the motor fixture so the BCS can control the boil burner and hopefully keep everything under control without scorching. Docjowles posted:
The BCS is a network device that only has a web interface, so my choices were to run cat 5 to my patio or go wireless. The lowest cost solution was to stuff an old router running Tomato into my control box and use it as a network bridge. I've been pretty impressed with the BCS so far. It has lots of features and is easy to program. It's also reasonably priced and takes very little extra hardware to run this kind of system. My control box is basically the BCS, the router, a $30 relay board from ebay, and a 24VAC transformer to drive the valves. The web UI is good if laggy due to the 1 second refresh rate. It's also expandable in case I decide to add some ball valves to the liquid side.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 02:52
|
|
|
Bruinator posted:The BCS is a network device that only has a web interface, so my choices were to run cat 5 to my patio or go wireless. The lowest cost solution was to stuff an old router running Tomato into my control box and use it as a network bridge. Ah ok, I didn't know what the BCS was but that's pretty interesting now that I've Googled it. crazyfish posted:What are everyone's favourite brewing books? So far I've read through all of Brew Like A Monk and Designing Great Beers. I liked BLAM. While DGB was a very good reference, it was pretty dry. I've gotten into all-grain recently, and I think I'd like a book that has some stuff on mashing theory (how the different steps work, etc.) and books on how to formulate recipes. Any recommendations? My TLDR answer is Brewing Classic Styles if you don't have it. It's just so awesome to, for any style, be able to say "I want to brew something like XYZ" and have a known-good base recipe to start from. Radical Brewing is very very good, too. There's some theory of mashing stuff in How To Brew, but I found it pretty impenetrable. Palmer teaches the basics well but the all-grain sections didn't do it for me. Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer gets into it a bit more. The book has a lot of good content, but there are two parts. There's the half with great tips and tricks and general brewing info that's very helpful. But he also spends a lot of time going off into the weeds about being some kind of loving zen master and developing yourself as a person and blah blah blah. It's probably worth reading but not a must-buy, you can get the useful content online and from podcasts for free with enough effort. Speaking of which, braukaiser.com is a great resource if you really want to dig into the science and the "why" of brewing. It can be pretty dry and dense cause the guy is an engineer but the information is outstanding.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 03:56
|
|
|
crazyfish posted:What are everyone's favourite brewing books? So far I've read through all of Brew Like A Monk and Designing Great Beers. I liked BLAM. While DGB was a very good reference, it was pretty dry. I've gotten into all-grain recently, and I think I'd like a book that has some stuff on mashing theory (how the different steps work, etc.) and books on how to formulate recipes. Any recommendations? The second you said mashing theory I immediately thought of Noonan's New Brewing Lager book. To a complete lay person like myself I think it makes the science of mashing (though the water chemistry section is making my eyes glaze just thinking about it) actually pretty compelling.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 04:21
|
|
|
Zakath posted:I just got my 10 gallon cooler from Amazon, and I'm ready to make my mash tun for my first all-grain brew. Anyone have advice for a good false bottom + bulkhead combo? I'm a little bit unsure about what I should get, but I do know the inner diameter of the cooler is 12". Depends how you plan to sparge. If you are doing batch, anything that can filter grain will work. I have a screen of mesh I cut out from a metal collander /strainer. People hook up bazooka tubes with the insert taken out to the inner fitting with some success but I've heard of issues doing this on a cylinder. For the valve, get whatever is the biggest diameter that will fit, a matching female whatever for the inside, and a gasket. Depending what you decide for internals, you may be more worried about exactly what sort of fitting you use inside.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 13:29
|
|
|
Okay, home brewers, I have a favor to ask. Can anyone recommend a really interesting and novel gift for someone who brews beer and mead at home? He probably has all the most basic stuff. I'd like to spend less than fifty dollars. One thought I had was putting together a couple of interesting herb or spice blends for making metheglin or herbed/spiced beer. I grow my own rosemary, lemon thyme, peppermint, Kentucky Colonel mint, sage, Greek oregano, and English lavender. Would any of those be desirable? I also have access to tons of exotic herbs and spices at local ethnic grocery stores. I have made dried citrus peels and such myself too. That was just my first idea, though. If there's something really awesome I should buy him, please recommend it! I have until mid-May to figure this out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 23:55
|
|
|
RazorBunny posted:Okay, home brewers, I have a favor to ask. Can anyone recommend a really interesting and novel gift for someone who brews beer and mead at home? He probably has all the most basic stuff. I'd like to spend less than fifty dollars. Viking Drinking Horns  (not endorsing the site, it's just the first one that came up)
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 00:36
|
|
|
I've seen those at the ren faire, they're cool  That definitely goes on the possibilities list.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 01:19
|
|
|
I have a quick question about possible contamination. About three weeks into the secondary, several small lumps, roughly the size and appearance of single cat litter chunks, appeared floating at the top of the beer. Does anyone know if this is some kind of mold, and if there is any fix?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 01:29
|
|
|
Those are more than likely just clumps of yeast cells unless they are blue or something.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 01:50
|
|
|
RazorBunny posted:I have until mid-May to figure this out. So hard to say without knowing what he wants/needs/lusts after when he goes to the brew shop. I actually kind of like the fancy herbs idea, assuming that spiced beers and meads are something he's interested in doing. Personally, I am kind of a sucker for high-quality or interesting glassware. Maybe go with him to the brew shop next time and try to see what he picks up and then puts back?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 01:58
|
|
|
Nah, they're yeast colored. Thank you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 02:06
|
|
|
I don't get to see him all that often, but I can probably talk to his fiancée and get some inside info.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 02:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 23:58 |
|
|
Anchovies Foster posted:I have a quick question about possible contamination. About three weeks into the secondary, several small lumps, roughly the size and appearance of single cat litter chunks, appeared floating at the top of the beer. Does anyone know if this is some kind of mold, and if there is any fix? I saw those right before a pellicle began to form on my beer (which I was glad to see), so keep an eye out for that just in case. If you're not shooting for something with brett b., you might be on your way to some undesirable flavors.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2012 05:33
|
|
