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Transferred a berliner weiss to a secondary for a long aging process. I can detect trace amounts of sour tartness, but I'll have to see how it's doing in a few months. Also, brewing a Jolly Pumpkin La Roja clone. I'll ferment it clean using WL550 and then pitch several bottles of dregs to funk it up. I'm also planning on doing a Dark Dawn clone for which I'll just pitch bottle dregs instead of using a clean yeast first.
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Jun 17, 2012 23:04
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Well, for lack of an O-ring (the one that seals the pump head), I was not able to brew today. New O-rings have been ordered and I am hoping I will be all set up for brewing next weekend instead. Needless to say, the air was fairly blue around the house and a couple of hardware stores earlier today while I tried to find the lost seal or a replacement for it.
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Jun 18, 2012 00:59
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Is it ok to leave a kit beer from extract in my primary for an extra week? It's only been in for two weeks now, and I don't have the bottle to bottle it immediately.
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Jun 18, 2012 01:16
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It's fine.
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Jun 18, 2012 01:20
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PokeJoe posted:It's fine. Awesome. On a possibly related note, anyone have any experience with these bottles? http://www.amazon.com/Coopers-PET-Bottles-15-Pk/dp/B00428AXYY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1339982591&sr=8-8&keywords=beer+bottle I don't think I have it in me to buy and drink 48 beers in a week.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:28
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tesilential posted:This. My problems with the white coating were when I filled the tub with oxyclean bath and soaked ~50 bottles overnight. If bottles are going to be sitting in the Oxy/PBW solution this long then you want to make sure that they are totally submerged (including no air bubbles inside) and that you rinse them afterwards with water as hot as you can stand. Though usually if a one-hour soak doesn't do the job then overnight won't do it either.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:37
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Just got home from 2 weeks away. Friend who was coming by to water plants and poo poo said "your beer stopped bubbling!". Poked my head down there and it looks like the beer I made in a rush the day before I left is infected and needs to be tossed, the blowoff tube was above the water so I guess poo poo got in. My Bier de Table kit had been going merrily along for a week before I left, and now that too got a ton darker, looks like it has a few clumps on top, and a little bit of white hugging the carboy glass. Would an infection take that long to present, or should I be asking questions about whether or not he touched anything/is my post transatlantic flight brain just imagining problems?
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Jun 18, 2012 02:47
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Post some pictures of it.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:51
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I think every time someone comes to this thread with an "infection" it tends to be a particularly buoyant yeast raft and some carbonation. Smell, taste, post pics.
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Jun 18, 2012 02:59
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Yeah the only reliable way for most of us to identify an infection is by taste or smell. I think it is pretty unlikely that a dry airlock or blowoff tube could actually be the source of an infection. If anything, badly-cleaned equipment is a lot more likely to be a problem.
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Jun 18, 2012 03:03
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withak posted:Yeah the only reliable way for most of us to identify an infection is by taste or smell. I think it is pretty unlikely that a dry airlock or blowoff tube could actually be the source of an infection. If anything, badly-cleaned equipment is a lot more likely to be a problem. I'm pretty OCD when it comes to keeping things cleaned on brew day. Will unpack the camera and post pics of each thing tomorrow, probably am just being a bit paranoid.
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Jun 18, 2012 03:13
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Jo3sh posted:I was just at my FLHBS to pick up some Victory malt (which, by the way, is loving delicious) and my wife tossed a couple of packets of Galaxy hops... Commercial brewery owner/brewer here. I use Galaxy all the time. I think that directly comparing it to Centennial is seriously shortchanging Galaxy's potential. If I only had a few ounces to use, I'd do an IPA with "C" hops for bittering and hop burst at the end with your Galaxy and maybe some Cascade. To me, it is seriously tropical when hop bursting and you should expect a drastically diffent flavor and aroma than any citrusy American hops. If you can get your hands on more, add about 10 IBUs worth at 30, 15 and 5 for super flavor. For what it's worth, we use a similar method in our Galaxy-based IPA, and people just go nuts over it. Our average rating on it is like a 4.5/5. Our IPAs tend to focus on interesting hop varieties rather than the same old citrus/pine crap, and this one in particular can yield some amazing results. I don't want to give away my exact recipes, but use a heavy hand with Vienna and 20L to balance and US-05 (don't aerate your wort when using dry yeast like a moron) and you'll have a kickass beer. Hope this helps you in some way. I hate seeing something as rare and awesome as Galaxy get wasted. We run a home brew store at the brewery so we sample a lot of people's beers, and most people just don't get much out of this hop.
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Jun 18, 2012 05:13
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Mud Shark posted:Commercial brewery owner/brewer here. I use Galaxy all the time. Cool, thanks for your input. I'm leaning toward something with a simple grain bill to stay out of the way of the hops and then use the Galaxy late, maybe in the whirlpool during chilling. I do have a friend with Cascade vines - maybe I will hit him up for some at harvest time.
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Jun 18, 2012 05:27
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zerox147o posted:I'm pretty OCD when it comes to keeping things cleaned on brew day. Will unpack the camera and post pics of each thing tomorrow, probably am just being a bit paranoid. As people have said, picture will help us a bit, but you really need to smell/taste. On the plus side homebrew can't* kill you so whatever is "growing" on it isn't poison. I had a mold on top of a porter that I scraped off and the beer ended up totally fine, it didn't even have the mold show back up in the bottles. *this is obviously baring alcohol poisoning, drunk driving accidents, and other such alcohol related deaths. Fortunately, as far as brewers know, no bacteria, mold, fungus, or yeast that can grow in beer can kill you or make you sick. Possibly diarrhea at the worst, but that can even happen from the known yeasts if you drink the sediment on the bottom of a bottle.
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Jun 18, 2012 05:31
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Exactly. Balance and simplicity are the keys to getting the most out of exotic and unique hops. Your beer doesn't need to be 90% Golden Promise with a White Labs Platinum strain to get where you are trying to go. We rarely dry hop with with these sort of varieties just because the hop burst potential is so high. We're brewing 15BBL of this IPA tomorrow and I just love how the whole brewery smells like grain and Mango when we make it. We've used Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace (two of the most difficult hops to use successfully IMO) with fantastic results as well. Anyone who has questions about these sorts of things - feel free to ask, and I'll answer with the best available information that I have based on our testing. If you venture off to make a beer with these strange varieties, just always remember that simple is almost always better if you want to get the most out of them. Use big flavor additions and try to avoid dry hopping. We find that US-05 at 65 or lower brings out the best in those types of beers that are hop forward for flavor's sake rather than just being hoppy. The key is always temperature control (putting your primary in a cool closet is NOT temp control), and for the love of God NEVER aerate anything with dry yeast. Most professional brewers will tell you the same thing even though it goes against conventional homebrew wisdom. The combination of those two things is almost always as good or better than liquid, but without the hassle of starters. Like I said, we do run a fully stocked home brew store at the taproom, and while I can't give away certain info, if you have a question about pricing (as in "Am I getting ripped off?" or "is this a good deal?") or general inquiries about certain items I'll be glad to answer. I don't currently have PMs but plan to upgrade soon, so for now I'll make sure I watch this thread.
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Jun 18, 2012 05:56
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Mud Shark posted:... US-05 (don't aerate your wort when using dry yeast like a moron) I've never heard this before. Why does one not want to aerate with dry yeast?
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Jun 18, 2012 14:26
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Yesterday I did my first all-grain brew session for father's day. I was really enjoying myself and relaxing, drinking some beers and margaritas. Everything was going really well. I hit my infusion temps nearly perfectly. I put the wort on to boil and added my hop additions at the right times. I drained the cooled wort into my fermentor and realized that my 6 gallons of wort I thought I had had boiled down to about 2.5 gallons instead of 5. poo poo. I added tap water to the fermentor to bring it up to 5 gallons, mixed it well, and took my gravity reading. 1.062 with an expected gravity of 1.060. I pitched my yeast, and I'm hoping for the best. Tap water isn't going to ruin anything is it? Also, for next time, should I just add top off water during the boil or should I start with 50% more water than I need?
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Jun 18, 2012 14:48
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U.S. Barryl posted:Yesterday I did my first all-grain brew session for father's day. I was really enjoying myself and relaxing, drinking some beers and margaritas. Everything was going really well. I hit my infusion temps nearly perfectly. I put the wort on to boil and added my hop additions at the right times. I drained the cooled wort into my fermentor and realized that my 6 gallons of wort I thought I had had boiled down to about 2.5 gallons instead of 5. poo poo. Tap water should be fine. I use it all the time. If you are going to use the same rig next time I find it is good to measure how quickly it boils off water so you know when to start the 60 minute timer. For example, with 2 burners on my electric stove and a heat stick I boil off 1 gallon in 30 minutes once the wort hits 212F. It would be better to use more water in your sparge as it should help up your brewhouse efficiency that way more than just adding extra tap water to boil off or at the end. You just need to know how much runoff you can handle.
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Jun 18, 2012 14:53
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If you call the manufacturers, they'll tell you (as of maybe a year or two ago) that the nutrients they put in the yeast granules are more than enough to let the yeast grow without aeration. In that case, all you're really doing is giving your beer a higher chance to oxidize and/or produce off-flavors. In the commercial brewing community, it is generally agreed upon amongst users of dry yeast that the flavor profiles are MUCH better without aeration. Take S-04 for example - a lot of brewers have problems with that strain being an absolute butter bomb and stratifying in the tank. Cut out aeration and introduce good temperature control, and that problem basically gets eliminated. If memory serves, Chris White (of White Labs) discusses this in his book, titled "Yeast". It's a super high end read that goes beyond the information that even us commercial guys need to know, but worth taking a look at if you know someone who has a copy. He even goes on to say something to the effect of "I make my living on liquid yeast, but dry is just as good when used properly". We tend to only use liquid for VERY specific things, like certain Belgian styles and anything with bacteria/brett. So much of commercial brewing is designing your process around limiting air pickup and reducing the chance for infection. This helps out quite a lot, especially if you aerate with an aquarium pump or some kind of stone. For temperature control, pick up a chest freezer for $20 on Craigslist and get a temperature controller. When yeast ferments it can generate an unbelievable amount of heat that most homebrewers don't pay attention to. Typically this heat will be right over the yeast cake and cause that stratification where 1/3 of your beer is actually lovely, but eventually mixes in with the properly fermented beer that will hide some problems. People talk to us all the time about how to get rid of that "homebrew taste". That, in my opinion, is the key. I'm sure this info is a bit redundant, but I mention it because some dry strains ferment so quickly (had an IIPA that got to 11% in 2 days) that you have to keep the temps correct. Always remember that when reading about homebrewing on sites like HBT, there is a massive pretentious attitude about the "proper" way of doing things that it usually becomes a peen-waving contest where practicality and results get ignored in favor of theory and bloviating. Most of the tenured homebrewers remember a time when dry yeast was really poor and you had to aerate - this is not the case anymore. Just try things. If it's a good beer, then great job. If it isn't, switch something up and try again. Just take a minute and think about how people usually get started using liquid yeast - usually a person starts homebrewing out of box kits with dry and has mixed results due to being new. Then they hear about liquid around batch # 5-6, and they decide to use it. Now that person's beer tastes better. The question that I pose is: Was it really because of the yeast, or is it likely that this person, having now made several batches, is just a more competent brewer?
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Jun 18, 2012 15:23
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Dry yeast has like 10x (or more) viable cells than a packet of liquid yeast. That is why you don't have to aerate it. Edit: mud shark, I know dry yeast is cheap but if you are a commercial brewer brewing everyday (or almost) why not just pitch slurry for free like everyone else does? tesilential fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 18:53
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Regarding temperature control, I have my first batch in a chest freezer with Ranco dual-stage controller and I was wondering what settings people use to target a certain temperature. It's an extract w/specialty grains ESB and liquid yeast (yes I aerated, no starter though). I figured I wanted the freezer to be around 63 accounting for heat from the fermentation, so I set the controller with 65-2-62-2, so it starts cooling at 67, stops at 65 and starts heating at 60 and stops at 62. Does that sound about right? Fermentation has been going about a week and nearly stopped so I bumped both setpoints up 3 degrees. Any other tips for chest freezer temp control? I have the probe sitting on shelf about 1/3 the depth of the freezer. Should the probe go in a jar of water? Is it worth adding some jugs of water for more thermal mass?
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Jun 18, 2012 19:33
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I want to try my hand at making a lager for my next brew. I have a decent-sized "mini-fridge" that I don't use for anything right now, so I'm fairly certain I can modify that so it can fit a 3-gallon carboy (I'm going to take a good look at it tonight and take measurements to be sure before I start to spend money.) What's the easiest/cheapest way to get good temp. control? I see temp controllers selling for around $60, and that seems outrageous to me. I mean...it's essentially a switch attached to a thermocouple, how can that cost more than $20?!
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Jun 18, 2012 21:07
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Any other tips for chest freezer temp control? I have the probe sitting on shelf about 1/3 the depth of the freezer. Should the probe go in a jar of water? Is it worth adding some jugs of water for more thermal mass? I've had better luck taping the probe directly to my carboy and then wrapping the whole thing in some towels or an old sleeping bag. That way you're much closer to measuring the fermentation temp as opposed to ambient temp and you don't have to guess how much to fudge your settings.
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Jun 18, 2012 21:23
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The hose guard on my KAB6 finally broke off. I called up Bayou Classic today and I guess my expectations of customer service centers is way off. I was expecting a a lot of difficulties with an Indian callcenter like I usually get, but instead I got a guy with a thick southern accent who told me he'd have to go back and "look through the factory." It took approximately four minutes to get them to send me a new one. He said he'd never seen that problem before, but I find that strange since the part is kind of flimsily welded on to the part that attaches to the burner. I suppose my back-up option would have been to either re-weld it back on or use some hi-temp epoxy or something.
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Jun 18, 2012 21:42
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YASD posted:Awesome. On a possibly related note, anyone have any experience with these bottles? I have 30 of them that came with my kit. They're perfectly adequate if you plan on consuming not long after bottling, but I wouldnt use them for long-term storage. I finished the last of that batch off not too long ago, which would have been ~2 months after bottling. Brought a bunch up to the cottage and noticed that a few of the beers had a strange plastic-y taste. Ended up dumping those ones. I bought 48 grolsch bottles in time for my second batch so I havent reused them yet. I might use them again if I dont have enough bottles for a batch, and drink them first. But I'd recommend hitting your local kijiji ads for swing-tops. 48 of the 473ml bottles will do a 5 gal batch. edit: Also, thanks for the advice everyone. I have "Brewing Classic Styles" coming in the mail for me. Really looking forward to giving it a shot. Les Oeufs fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 22:04
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After having using a freezer, that I found on craigs list, for a year, it may be time to put it on the curb. The motor still runs, but it no longer gets below 60 degrees. I thought that it might be the temperature probe, but after unplugging that and connecting the freezer directly into the wall, it still won't get colder than 60. Has anyone else had a problem like this before? Should I start looking for another one or is there something I can do about it?
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Jun 18, 2012 22:07
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withak posted:If bottles are going to be sitting in the Oxy/PBW solution this long then you want to make sure that they are totally submerged (including no air bubbles inside) and that you rinse them afterwards with water as hot as you can stand. Though usually if a one-hour soak doesn't do the job then overnight won't do it either. They were completely submerged. My water is so hard that unless you do a hot water rinse, dishes will dry with a white coat. Nowadays I leave bottling to the amateurs (jk) and keg everything. I do fill growlers for gatherings and bottles for gifts, but in both cases I just bottle from the tap without sanitizing anything. They're good for a few weeks in the fridge this way.
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Jun 18, 2012 22:10
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Cointelprofessional posted:After having using a freezer, that I found on craigs list, for a year, it may be time to put it on the curb. The motor still runs, but it no longer gets below 60 degrees. I thought that it might be the temperature probe, but after unplugging that and connecting the freezer directly into the wall, it still won't get colder than 60. How long has it been since you plugged it directly into the wall? I've scared myself a couple times thinking a fridge was on the fritz when it just needed more time.
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Jun 18, 2012 22:14
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Super Rad posted:How long has it been since you plugged it directly into the wall? I've scared myself a couple times thinking a fridge was on the fritz when it just needed more time. I waited a few hours and it remained at 60. The motor continues to run though. Also, does anyone have any experience with Lambics? I have one that's currently going through primary and in a week I'd like to transfer it into a secondary with some raspberries. Would I be ok to pitch a new lambic in the primary bucket? I know others have had great sour results when pitching onto months-year old cakes because the sacc yeast have died and all that's left are the bugs. Cointelprofessional fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 23:31
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Cointelprofessional posted:I waited a few hours and it remained at 60. The motor continues to run though. I think its strictly possible to recharge fridges but I'm not sure if its cost efficient since it has generally leaked for a reason and you will just end up sunburning some penguins.
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Jun 19, 2012 00:47
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tesilential posted:mud shark, We buy in 500g bricks for around 40 bucks each. It's one of those procedural changes that eliminates the chance for infection. Every time your yeast touches something is a chance for infection. Even if it is just slightly tainted to the point where the difference is minimal, if you are making super clean beer it can become obvious quickly. So the question becomes: is it worth saving the 40 bucks (which is minimal when talking about exotic hop beers) to roll the dice on losing the rest of your ingredients? We have incredibly high quality control standards, and would rather dump a batch that is slightly out of tolerance than release something that is "weaker" than it should be. If you approach homebrewing in the same way, your beer will immediately improve rather than doing what most homebrewers do and chalking it up to snowflake batch variation. In short: don't mess with success. If fresh dry yeast works as well as tempered 2nd+ gen yeast, spend the $3 and re-pitch. The less you second guess these things, the better off you are. Using this method of thinking has allowed us to almost completely bypass pilot batching. Additionally, it eliminates the chance of trub from a previous batch effecting the flavor (astringency, phenols and fusels) of a new beer, since keeping trub out of the fermenter is a common problem amongst homebrewers. Building the ability to whirlpool into your AG rig makes this much easier to deal with. The Brew-Magic (our pilot brewery) method is close, but they put the whirlpool on the wrong vessel.
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Jun 19, 2012 03:50
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DrBouvenstein posted:I want to try my hand at making a lager for my next brew. Something to try on the cheap - get an Igloo "Ice Cube" cooler at Walmart. Use a hole saw to cut a carboy neck sized hole in the top. Insulate around the hole with Great Stuff. Fill with water after inserting the carboy and add ice until you reach desired temp. If you do this properly, you will only need to check it once a day. Had good success with this when first making lagers. There are more elegant ways, but it works. EDIT: the basic Johnson Controls analog controller costs us around $40, so $60 isn't outrageous unless you are handy with electric. If so, PLEASE double check your work and be safe. I've heard quite a few horror stories that could have been avoided for $60. Mud Shark fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 04:09
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OH GOD WHAT DO I DO GOONS HELP ME!!!! Ok so I went through a couple of brews with the Mr. Beer kit, realized that stuff tasted like garbage and then went for the real stuff and bought a 5 gallon starter kit at a local place. After reading up on REAL brewing, I bought an IPA kit not unlike the one that Northern Brewer has on their site. Opened it up to find out it's actually an Imperial IPA kit. I actually brewed it perfectly, got it to the OG of 1.082, and threw it in the 6.5gal fermentation bucket with that 3-piece airlock. It was bubbling like a champ. Then it kept bubbling, and finally the foam (krausen?) is now coming through the airlock and out the top of the airlock and oh god there is partially fermented beer all over the top of my fermentation bucket. My question is, what do I do? Do I remove the airlock and clean it and put it back? Let the violent fermentation bombing continue and then clean it? Do nothing at all? On the plus side, it smells loving delicious.
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Jun 19, 2012 19:59
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speed hump posted:OH GOD WHAT DO I DO GOONS HELP ME!!!! This is what a blowoff tube is for. Start with a tube, switch to an airlock after it calms down a bit.
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Jun 19, 2012 20:00
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Mr. Glass posted:This is what a blowoff tube is for. Start with a tube, switch to an airlock after it calms down a bit. Thanks, that's what I figured I'd have to do. What I've been reading about blowoff tubes is that I should use a large diameter tube with a carboy, but would it be ok to just use a smaller diameter (probably ~3/8") without any problems? e: nevermind, found a good hose to use, sanitized it and popped it in quickly. Seems to be working perfectly for now but I'll keep an eye on it. eager beaver fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 20:47
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speed hump posted:Thanks, that's what I figured I'd have to do. What I've been reading about blowoff tubes is that I should use a large diameter tube with a carboy, but would it be ok to just use a smaller diameter (probably ~3/8") without any problems? A smaller tube can get clogged easier, but there isn't a lot you can do if you just have a bucket with a drilled hold for an airlock. One thing you can easily do is, assuming you're using a three piece airlock, just take the pieces off and just attach the blowoff tubing to the airlock itself, like this: 
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Jun 19, 2012 20:55
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I recently read most of Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer. I'm not sure I much like Gordon Strong or his writing style, though. The book certainly has some interesting/helpful stuff in it, but there's a lot of weird poo poo going on too. He spends like 30 pages talking about water chemistry, then tells you that you shouldn't worry about it, and then gives you only recipes starting with reverse osmosis water that call for the addition of calcium chloride straight to it. It's weird because I'm not sure if he's saying this is an essential step or not since the two positions are contradictory. (not that I'm going to do this ever). He also has such a different approach from say, Jamil Zainasheff that its kind of jarring if you read "Brewing Classic Styles" (although BCS is more of a recipe book). The recipes he does give out are all very complicated - I guess I just don't typically brew APAs with 6 grains, a pound of table sugar, first wort hops and 7 sub 20 minute hop additions. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Jun 20, 2012 |
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Jun 20, 2012 09:02
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Holy crud, my APA went from 1.058 to 1.010. That's 82% and change apparent attenuation. Never expected that much. Now I've got rather punchy 6.4% beer to dry hop and bottle. That's cool though, I can live with that. However, for the future, how could I, as an extract brewer, boost the FG without altering the base of the beer drastically? Palmer recommends maltodextrin powder or more caramel malts. I am already at 13% British Crystal on this. I guess what I could do is change it up to a darker crystal malt? Has anyone else had US-05 yeast just gobble up every drat thing in their beer? I thought S04 was the vicious one.
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Jun 20, 2012 14:17
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Tomorrow, I'm about to do my first all-grain, in addition to a first real run on a bunch of new equipment (keggles, mash tun, burner). My test runs (just boiling water and transferring around from container to container a few times) have gone well, but last week I noticed that my wort chiller will not work very well at all in my keggle. The bends I have on it are not quite right and in addition to not submerging very far into the keggle, it would also place some leaky hose junctions INSIDE the keggle, which I do not want. This was not a problem earlier since when I was using it in my trusty little brewpot, the leaky junctions were safely outside the pot and would just drip into my sink. Ideally I would be able to just wait and straighten out the whole chiller situation, but I have an incredibly busy next month or so and tomorrow is about the only good brewing day I will have for a while. So, I'm trying to think of alternatives here. I am thinking of possibly just filling the warm wort into my (HOLY CRAP, SANITIZED LIKE CRAZY) carboy, putting it into my fridge, and pitching the next day once it's cooled down. I would just attempt bend the chiller a bit better, but unfortunately the part that's causing the most trouble already has a pretty nice kink in it and I'm not sure I want to aggravate it. Is the fridge method a bad idea? Anything to consider if I go ahead and try this?
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Jun 20, 2012 14:45
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Kaiho posted:However, for the future, how could I, as an extract brewer, boost the FG without altering the base of the beer drastically? Yeah, maltodextrin is alright if you want the easy fix. You could also add maybe 5% Carapils. Carafoam is also pretty much the same thing, but a lot of people say it adds some extra sweetness so if that's all you can get at your LHBS be ready for that. Another way to do it is to steep your grains a bit higher. If you have Palmer's book, do a quick read of the AG chapters and you might even be able to fine tune your steep temperature if it's on the low side. Just remember above 160 and you're starting to get into the tannin danger zone. If you're already steeping at 160 or above, you could be denaturing all of the enzymes and not getting hardly anything out of the grain. Another common problem is using too small of a grain bag which will leave you with a dry or doughy core in the middle of the grain. This would effect your extraction from the grain. US-05 won't necessarily crash your FG. I've had it as low as 1.009 and as high as 1.025 in mid-SG beers. Just depends on your dextrin content. Keep an eye on your fermentation temps and don't aerate when using dry.
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Jun 20, 2012 14:48
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