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Splizwarf posted:What does each of the terms refer to mechanically, rear- and front-sealing? I drink a good amount of alcohol but I can count the number of bars I've been in on two hands, so I'm not familiar with tap operation in general (other than " Super Rad posted:Basically, on the rear-sealing faucets, the source of the seal occurs after the spout which means that there will be a few drops of beer remaining in the faucet after it seals. Also, beer will work its way into metal plug causing it to stick. To add to that, bars care less because they are serving beer all day every day through the taps. Plus unless they're a shithole dive they'll run beer line cleaner through everything a minimum of once per week. Whereas if you as a homebrewer go on vacation for 2 weeks, you'll come back to taps that are glued in place and full of old gross beer.
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May 14, 2012 19:49
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Noted. Shouldn't be hard to set up a weekly line-cleaning, either. Thanks, guys.
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May 14, 2012 19:54
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It's been a while, brewing thread, but I'm back. My roommate and I just brewed our third batch yesterday. Our Hefeweizen should be ready to drink in ~1 week. Personally, I don't have high hopes for it. It was my roommate first brew (he helped a bit on mine a couple months before, but not much.) He went with a full extract kit for simplicity, but for reasons I don't understand, decided he needed to add a whole bunch of honey to it. He read something, somewhere, that said to add honey in two batches...first add half of it at the end of the boil, and then add the other half mixed in with half a gallon of water after ~2-3 days in the primary (and to omit that half gallon of water when you first make it.) So he did that...and we had a blow off within a day in the primary, after putting on a new water trap, we had another blow off the next day. And, as you can probably all predict, a couple more blow offs when he added the honey...which he didn't do properly. He didn't sanitize anything when he added the second batch of honey (which included a funnel, a measuring cup for the water, and a bowl he mixed it in.) The bottles are so far, so good at least...which makes sense, because the fermenting did slow down before bottling, and he didn't add any more sugar other than the priming sugar. So I'm really leery of what it's going to taste like...even if the blow-offs and un-sanitized equipment didn't affect it, I just feel it will be overly sweet. He also wants to know what the alcohol % will be...I'm not sure how to figure that. We forgot to take an OG reading when we made it, but since it was just an all-extract kit + 2 pounds of honey (does it matter it was added in two batches?), it should be possible to figure out what it would have been, right? The kit had an OG of 1.049, and from my reading, 1 pound of honey in a 5 gallon brew is 7 points...so with two gallons, in theory it would have been ~ 1.063? Another issue I wanted to get some feedback on was the batch I made yesterday. It was a partial-mash kit (the Surley Cynic from NB.) Everything went fine (at first I wondered why my OG reading was a bit high (1.057 instead of 1.053,) but then I realized I was an idiot and tool the reading after I pitched the yeast... The water trap was bubbling nicely when I left for work this morning, but when I came home, it had blown off, and I don't know why. Is it because I'm only using a 5 gallon carboy instead of a 6 gallon one? And lastly I wanted to get some info on brewing lager-style beers with ale yeast. I'm not yet ready to spend the money (nor do I have the space in my small condo) to get a fermenting fridge (or regular fridge with a temperature control thing,) and I saw that NB said that if you wanted to brew a lager but can't keep it cold, then to use one of a couple ales yeasts that will sort of be similar to a lager yeast. My question is how similar will the flavor be? Will it even be worth doing? With summer finally starting, it will be nice to have a crisp, refreshing lager on hot days, but I'd rather have a refreshing light ale than a piss-poor lager. Fake edit: I hope blow-off is the term I want here...the stopper and water trap were still attached in all three cases, but the beer/foam had crept up into the trap, and then out of the trap and onto the side of the carboy and on the floor...not a lot, just a couple ounces. DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 21:35 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 14, 2012 23:11
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You'll easily blow out crap if you are trying to ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon vessel. Even a lightweight ale is good for a half gallon of krausen. Some strains it ain't much of a thing to start blowing off in a 6.5 gallon bucket even at normal gravities because that strain is such a monster. It's pretty common to use a blowoff hose once you get over loving the bloop bloop of an airlock for primaries for that reason. You basically run a hose from the bung to a bowl or otherwise something full of sanitizer. If you have a bucket with a lid that doesn't have a bunghole well its time to drill one where that stupid useless grommet hole is currently. Do this even if you want to use airlocks. The almost lager ale strains still require a pretty brisk ~60F temperature to be almost lager.
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May 14, 2012 23:31
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DrBouvenstein posted:He read something, somewhere, that said to add honey in two batches...first add half of it at the end of the boil, and then add the other half mixed in with half a gallon of water after ~2-3 days in the primary (and to omit that half gallon of water when you first make it.) This actually isn't a terrible idea. The aromatics and flavors in honey are pretty volatile, and adding it late helps preserve them. If you boil it much you might as well have just added sugar.
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May 14, 2012 23:35
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DrBouvenstein posted:
Actually, honey will make beer drier and more alcoholic since it's comprised entirely of simple, fermentable sugars. We could give him a rough guess of the abv% if we knew exactly what went into it, what the volume of beer is, and what the final gravity was.
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May 14, 2012 23:48
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Yea, unless you hit your beer with campden or something to kill the yeast, then add the honey it will all get gobbled up. The problem with that is there would be no yeast to carb or bottle condition, you'd have to do it with a kegging setup.
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May 15, 2012 01:32
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Just started watching through Brew Masters (the Dogfish Head documentary), and drat, I know enough to keep up with it. Also, if I wasn't homebrewing already, I would be tomorrow. That place is close enough for a daytrip to do the tour, too. 
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May 15, 2012 03:30
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Holy crap. I just tried my first homebrew based off a completely original recipe. A light 4% beer meant for summer drinking. Holy. Cow. Did I really make something this tasty? Yeah, ordering AT LEAST two more recipes tomorrow 
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May 15, 2012 04:23
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Well I made the mistake of handling some homebrew in the peak of fruit fly time here and got myself some nice brett in my carboys. One is something that's meant to be drunk right away. I have some 2L bottle kegging tap caps to quick carbonate them and I figure we'll just plow throw that beer soon and nobody will be any wiser. The second beer is a bock and I was hoping to bottle prime it. Any ideas on how I can stave off the funk for at least, say, six months? I'm wondering if maybe some sulfites or potassium sorbate might do something. But I figure if I'm yeast priming I might be out of luck. It seems like every year or so now something new and neat comes out so I'm wondering if maybe there's a new solution to the problem.
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May 15, 2012 05:12
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Well I made the mistake of handling some homebrew in the peak of fruit fly time here and got myself some nice brett in my carboys. One is something that's meant to be drunk right away. I have some 2L bottle kegging tap caps to quick carbonate them and I figure we'll just plow throw that beer soon and nobody will be any wiser. You could buy some laboratory-grade filter paper with a pore size small enough to exclude bacteria and run your beer through that. Then re-inoculate your batch with a little bit of new yeast. ...yeah, I dunno, it was all could come up with.
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May 15, 2012 05:40
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With flies you're more likely to get lacto and aceto infections. Not sure if campden works on them or not.
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May 15, 2012 06:26
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Brewing is afoot. I bottled my second batch ever on May Day using a bunch of hops from my own garden. Fuckin' vines put out probably six or seven pounds worth of cascade, so that's what I've been using lately. Bottled and currently conditioning: 4 pounds Alexander's Sun Country Wheat Extract 2 pounds dry wheat malt extract ~0.25 pounds honey ~1 oz whole cascade at 60m ~0.5 oz @ 30m ~0.5 oz @ 5m Munton's ale yeast It probably should have had more pale malt in the mix but it seems to have worked pretty well. Cracked a bottle tonight and it was pretty drat smooth. And here was tonight's experiment, just pitched the yeast a few minutes ago: 3.3 pounds liquid LME 3.3 pounds liquid amber malt ~1.25 pounds crystal malt - steeped 2.5 oz whole cascade at 60m 0.25 oz @ 30m 0.25 oz @ 10m 1 oz @ 2m Safbrew T-58 yeast 1 oz medium oak chips Aiming for an oaked IPA with a "peppery, estery" yeast strain. First time using grains, crystal malt smells absolutely delicious when steeping. OG is about 1.052-054. Hop amounts are kind of an estimate, I used most of a gallon-sized freezer bag and just eyeballed it. The wort tasted fantastic so hopefully the amounts were close enough. Dr. Cogwerks fucked around with this message at 08:18 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 08:15
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As far as perlicks vs standard rear sealing faucets. I've always heard the rear-sealing faucets actually produce less turbulence at the faucet, resulting in a better, more controllable pour. This makes sense, because the extra couple hundred dollars probably doesn't matter to a bar for something as important as its taps. Rear sealing isn't ideal for the homebrewer because you aren't likely pulling a pint from every one of your taps at least once a day, ideally more. The forward seal is better suited for intermittent use, whereas the rear seal is not.
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May 15, 2012 14:58
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digitalhifi posted:Rear sealing isn't ideal for the homebrewer because you aren't likely pulling a pint from every one of your taps at least once a day, ideally more. I don't think you understand the way I want to live my life.
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May 15, 2012 15:01
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digitalhifi posted:I've always heard the rear-sealing faucets actually produce less turbulence at the faucet, resulting in a better, more controllable pour. Interesting, the LHBS uses Perlicks and I've always felt I get a better pour from those but I guess seeing as they are experts with a high-end setup maybe they just have their lines balanced better than mine.
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May 15, 2012 15:56
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I'm about ready to buy something for fermentation temperature control but I'm having trouble deciding between an upright freezer or a chest freezer, and about manual vs auto defrost. Chest freezer pros: More energy efficient because the cold air doesn't spill out. Easier to take samples for gravity readings. Fits more buckets than upright, although I don't plan to do more than 2 at a time ever and they'd have to be at the same temp. Could be converted to a keezer for dispensing later on. Chest freezer cons: There don't seem to be any cheap auto defrost models. Lifting full buckets in and out is harder than an upright. Takes up more floor space than an upright (but I have plenty of room in the garage). Upright pros: Many auto defrost models. Easier to lift buckets in and out. Smaller footprint. Upright cons: More expensive than chest freezers. Some models may not have removable shelves. Harder to take samples. Less efficient because of the cold air spilling out when door is open. I'm leaning towards the 8.8 cu ft Kenmore chest freezer but I'm a little concerned about having to do the manual defrost. Has anyone seen that be a problem? I'm going to take two buckets with airlocks and make sure they fit next time I visit the store.
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May 15, 2012 18:55
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Defrost isn't necessary at our temps. There won't be ice if it's set to 60*ish. if condensation occurs, I just wipe with paper towels although I guess I could pull the drain plug and let it leak. The main issue is how comfortable you are lifting buckets out of a freezer. I have to remove them to take samples because the lids are too tight to remove unless I can squeeze the bucket with my legs to hold it down. It is nice to have the lid open for an hour with no temperature change though. digitalhifi posted:
I want to live in your fantasy world .Bars are cheap as hell and try to cut costs everywhere. I've only been to 1 bar that had properly balanced lines. That was a house of beer that served 50 taps of craft beer and nothing else. Most pour off half a cup of foam when they start pouring from a tap that's sat for a few minutes. Also the vast majority don't clean their lines at all, even when switching kegs. Bars are gross, but awesome. tesilential fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 15, 2012 |
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May 15, 2012 19:02
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Manual defrost is easy as gently caress with a Shop-Vac. Which you should own anyway if you're homebrewing, especially if you're using glass carboys.
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May 15, 2012 19:06
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Cpt.Wacky posted:I'm leaning towards the 8.8 cu ft Kenmore chest freezer but I'm a little concerned about having to do the manual defrost. Has anyone seen that be a problem? Why are you worried about defrosting? Unless you're freezing your beer there isn't going to be any ice in there.
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May 15, 2012 19:07
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Well, it will accumulate moisture every time you open it. I wonder how practical a little de-humidifier would be? gently caress mold. 
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May 15, 2012 19:08
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Splizwarf posted:Well, it will accumulate moisture every time you open it. I wonder how practical a little de-humidifier would be? I use this, and it is awesome.
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May 15, 2012 21:15
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A buddy was telling me his friends used something he called "gun foam" which apparently seemed to neutralize any concerns of condensation or mold. He said that if it got wet, or over time had absorbed enough moisture to seem to be less effective, that they would take it out of the freezer, put it in the oven for an hour, and it'd be good as new again. I asked him for more info and he hasn't gotten back to me on it, and googling hasn't resulted in anything which sounds like the product he's talking about, but I'd be intrigued if anyone here knew what the gently caress he's referring to. Short of that though, the product Imasalmon's referring to has gotten good reviews and seems to be a winner in the homebrew world.
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May 15, 2012 21:30
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Imasalmon posted:I use this, and it is awesome. That is incredible and cheap. Thank you!
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May 15, 2012 21:32
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tesilential posted:
Heh, I'm a dapper dandy who only goes to upscale beer bars.
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May 15, 2012 23:41
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We just built the basic copper immersion wort chiller, and are loving the reduction in cooling time, but fixing one problem seems to have created another. When we were chilling for four or five hours in a bathtub filled with ice, all the hops and crap (trub? still learning terms) would settle to the bottom of the kettle, making it very straightforward to rack into the primary without losing a ton of wort and/or transferring many of the solids to the fermenter. How do people get around this? Is there anything to the idea of swirling the wort to create the cone/vortex thing? Do you rack with the chiller still in there? Leave it for a couple hours after chilling before racking? We wound up leaving probably half a gallon of wort in our kettle that we couldn't collect without sucking up a ton of left-behind solids.
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May 16, 2012 03:23
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I just pour my cooled wort through a screen to catch all the larger solids.
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May 16, 2012 03:32
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Blistering Sunburn posted:We just built the basic copper immersion wort chiller, and are loving the reduction in cooling time, but fixing one problem seems to have created another. You can whirlpool the cold-break solids into a cone with a sanitized spatula or paddle, or you can put a screen or filter on your racking cane or autosiphon to minimize precipitate transference. If you have a bulkhead w/ ball valve and a dip tube, just get a boil screen.
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May 16, 2012 03:34
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Due to an unfortunate, failed experiment, I now have to clean out some scorch from my mash tun. I can see already that this is going to leave it in such a state that it will need to be repassivated to avoid rust. I don't have any nitric acid around. A while ago, someone mentioned muriatic acid as a cleaner; any word on passivation of stainless with it?
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May 16, 2012 04:58
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Looks like it's possible possible but citric acid can also do it and may work better. But I also found this and apparently it should oxidize in atmosphere to be good enough for brewing.
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May 16, 2012 05:44
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I'm kinda worried about my IPA at the moment, it's a day into fermentation and bubbling quite happily but the bucket is hovering around 73 degrees. The room itself is at 65F. I'm fine with fruity esters but I hope this doesn't start producing lovely fusel alcohols and such. edit: manufacturer's PDF suggests an ideal range of 59-75F so I'll try not to worry about it too much, opening some windows to cool it down a bit more in here overnight. Dr. Cogwerks fucked around with this message at 07:48 on May 16, 2012 |
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May 16, 2012 07:38
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Dr. Cogwerks posted:I'm kinda worried about my IPA at the moment, it's a day into fermentation and bubbling quite happily but the bucket is hovering around 73 degrees. The room itself is at 65F. I'm fine with fruity esters but I hope this doesn't start producing lovely fusel alcohols and such. Most ale yeasts should be fine in that range. If it has a range that large, it's a pretty hearty yeast and you should be fine. Being in FL a lot of my fermenting is done around 74 degrees and I haven't had any problems.
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May 16, 2012 18:36
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I'd get the temp down. Over 70 with non Belgian strains gets ugly Fast. VVV you should be OK then. Although I like to ferment on the cool side for a Belgian IPA. tesilential fucked around with this message at 21:51 on May 16, 2012 |
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May 16, 2012 18:41
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It is a Belgian strain.
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May 16, 2012 21:04
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Anybody ever really use the San Francisco Lager yeast? I'm thinking about doing some stupidly dry hopped lager (a'la Bruery's Humulus Lager) and using that yeast at about 55 to ferment, but I'm wondering- should still bother with a starter or pitching on a yeast cake or whatever, or can I just toss in a whole vial (for 3 gallons) and be fine? Also my saison came out drat good now that it's fully carbonated and everything, really happy with it. Only problem, a stupidly minor one, is the head collapses kinda fast. Grist was mostly belgian pils with some german munich (something like 85/15, and if anybody cares the rest of the recipe was just candi syrup and a bunch of amarillo) so I'm thinking a protein rest might've helped fix that, right? I mean it's not a huge deal and it sticks around a bit, but it seems like I remember all the saisons I've drank having a bit of a denser more long lasting head. Still, fuckin delicious, I'm sure it won't be long before I brew another, it's been a hit. For anybody doing a saison any time soon, I gotta say WLP566 is a pretty kickass saison yeast, I like it better than the 568 blend but I haven't tried 565 yet. Got sort of a bubblegummy flavor from that blend when I fermented in the 70s (comparable to Le Freak by green flash if anybody's had it), this one had a nice sort of fruitiness going on with a decent peppery finish. Fermented fast, not a huge krausen, thorough attenuation (I hit a little over 80%), totally gonna get used again in another beer.
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May 17, 2012 08:54
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A single vial of SF lager should be enough for a 3gal batch, especially if the OG will be < 1.060 Also, to boost the head on your saison you should probably add some wheat both malted and unmalted (~10% of the grist). A protein rest would probably result in an even thinner head.
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May 17, 2012 15:59
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Anyone know of a clone recipe for Southampton's Biere de Mars?
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May 17, 2012 16:12
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Gave my second batch a taste test (My actual firt batch wasn't dechorinated). It's a pretty great feeling opening a bottle you made and not having it taste and smell like rear end. It could use a few more days to carb and condition, but other than that its got a big blast of hops at the end (which I personally like) and a pretty dry finish. The only issue I have is that it's pretty coudy and the head is pretty weak and doesnt stick around bery long (which I don't care about, it tates/smells good).
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May 17, 2012 16:35
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I have a single roller mill that has been very fussy to use. I had originally removed the metal bar going across the base of the hopper when I was trying to mill some homemade malted corn; the gap was too small. Now I find I jam up the mill if I throw a reasonable amount of grain in the hopper at once. It all just rushes down into the rollers and gets stuck. I can appreciate why that bar was originally there. I can't seem to find where I put the thing anymore, so I'm trying to figure out what I could do with it. I found that a bolt from Home Depot was too small. Any ideas how I could get this working again?
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May 17, 2012 20:59
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US-05, WLP001 and Wy1056 are all the same strain, right? Most recipes I've made so far call for either 001 or 1056, and I've pretty much routinely resorted to subbing US05 for the ease of use.
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May 17, 2012 23:14
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