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I really need to get my Beer Gun assembled and working. I have like three kegs filled with beer I don't necessarily want to keep drinking and it will take me forever to move them out by just pulling pints.
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Jul 17, 2012 19:42
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I have previously used Lemon and Orange zest in beers. Has anyone tried grapefruit, tangerine, or blood orange zest before?
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Jul 17, 2012 19:53
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ScaerCroe posted:I have previously used Lemon and Orange zest in beers. Has anyone tried grapefruit, tangerine, or blood orange zest before? Grapefruit should be handled with padded gloves. I had a Grapefruit IPA once. Once.
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Jul 17, 2012 19:57
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I recently made a (deliberately) very citrusy Belgian wit. It included the zest of 3 oranges and 1 grapefruit for five gallons added at flameout. Came out super light and refreshing, and I didn't feel like I was eating a mouthful of Simcoe hops or anything.
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Jul 17, 2012 20:04
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Anybody have experience with Irish Moss in your homebrews? My brewing buddy and I made a "Red Ale" (in truth, just combo-ing stuff that MIGHT lead to a red ale) and were tempted to put in Irish Moss since a lot of red ale recipes I've found call for it. We ultimately decided against it for now, but the next batch might get it added in. What exactly does it do to the brew?
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Jul 17, 2012 23:50
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Irish Moss is commonly used in homebrewing as a fining agent. That is, it helps particulates settle out of the beer, leading to clearer beer in your glass. It's not actually moss, but seaweed. You should not worry about having not used it this time, but I think most brewers use it or another fining agent in most of their beers (a few styles are truer to style when cloudy).
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Jul 18, 2012 00:07
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I'm thinking of brewing a weizen. How important is doing a protein rest? If it is extremely necessary what is the easiest method? (I use a cooler for my mash so I cannot do direct heat)
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Jul 18, 2012 01:54
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You'll probably get differing opinions on this, but I'd say it's useful, although not "extremely necessary." If you're going to go the traditional 70/30 wheat/pilsner you might want a pound (or two, yeesh) of rice hulls in there if you're not gonna do a protein rest, and do a nice hot mash-out as close to 170* as you can to make sure nothing gets stuck. The easiest way would be to do your protein rest at a pretty thick dilution, say .8-1qt/lb, at 133* for 15-20 minutes, then bump it up to 154* or whatever your preferred temp is for an hour. The higher temp and thick dilution will mean less water for the infusion.
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Jul 18, 2012 02:05
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Drinking the last of my "India Pilsner Ale". When it was fresh it lacked nose relative to the moderately-hopped flavor. 4 months in the fridge later, it's much more balanced in that the moderately-hopped flavor has faded. The pilsner malt flavor has mellowed too, it tastes like a solid pale now. Much clearer, too. Too bad there was pretty much exactly a pint left in the keg, I should really have finished it and brewed again log ago. If I could cellar, I'd stock up on kegs and let them condition. I am turning the keg today for a California common ale. Tasty!
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Jul 18, 2012 02:30
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Jo3sh posted:Irish Moss is commonly used in homebrewing as a fining agent. That is, it helps particulates settle out of the beer, leading to clearer beer in your glass. It's not actually moss, but seaweed. I often forget, but I usually use whirlfloc in the last 10 minutes. (Note for new brewing goons: Whirlfloc is literally the same substance as Irish Moss, but in a tablet format. You just throw the tablet in at the last 10-15 minutes). I've never heard anyone say either IM or Whirlfloc has a taste, and virtually every brewer I've met uses it almost every beer. I've found even when I forget beers with usually clear with time and cold storage. Although I just did a pale ale that had like 1/2 pound of wheat malt and that beer didn't totally clear at all. Not enough to be unappealing or anything, just this very slight haze. found that pale ales made with it don't get quite as briliant. I'm assuming its some kind of suspended protein or something. My understanding is that the wheat malt is there for head retention and body...would Carapils do the same thing? I've never actually used Carapils.
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Jul 18, 2012 04:11
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foodfight posted:I'm thinking of brewing a weizen. How important is doing a protein rest? If it is extremely necessary what is the easiest method? (I use a cooler for my mash so I cannot do direct heat) For a weizen it may actually be wiser to do a beta-glucan rest... or both! If you have less-modified pilsner malt available, that would also be great to use with a protein rest, it will help add body to the beer. Step mashing is very easy, it will just add a half hour to your brew day and maybe soak up a little bit more propane, also I think it's easy because I have beersmith to give me all the numbers. Some of the finest beers I've brewed had crazy mashing schedules. Then again most have been single infusion 
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Jul 18, 2012 05:30
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I forget who here had the awesome double decoction weizen recipe, but I brewed it once and it was aces. 70/30 wheat/pilsner ratio and all Tettnang hops; strike temp of 100F for beta glucan rest, water addition to get to a 128F protein rest, and decoctions for a sacch rest of 149F and mash-out of 168F. It seems to get asked for pretty frequently, and I'm not surprised because it turns out great. Bottled my first homebrew in something close to two years today, between operating on kegs for a while and being overseas for a year. I'll probably get my converted chest freezer and kegs back eventually, but for now it's cool to get back to my roots.
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Jul 18, 2012 08:58
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That was il serpente cosmico, I've been meaning to make it for years since everyone raves about it. I'll probably wait until the fall and make a dunkelweizen since standing out in this heat for at least 7 hours sounds like a complete nightmareil serpente cosmico posted:Double Decoction Weizen PoopShipDestroyer fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 13:34
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My Dad and I brewed a Saison together (actually the kit one from the NB sale) I tried it last night while checking the gravity and its fine. A little boring though. Has anyone ever tried putting some kind of zest in a saison? I was thinking of tossing a bit of orange or maybe lemon zest in there. Not sure what the best bet would be for a basic saison. Also how much do you typically add for 5gal?
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Jul 18, 2012 15:25
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ChiTownEddie posted:My Dad and I brewed a Saison together (actually the kit one from the NB sale) I tried it last night while checking the gravity and its fine. A little boring though. Has anyone ever tried putting some kind of zest in a saison? I was thinking of tossing a bit of orange or maybe lemon zest in there. Not sure what the best bet would be for a basic saison. Also how much do you typically add for 5gal? Go light with it, maybe a teaspoon of each with 5 minutes left in the boil. I did a bit more than that for both lemon zest and orange zest for a saison and found it too overpowering for months after. I also used the very lemony Sorachi Ace hops, but having used SA hops since then and seeing how they manifest themselves I'm pretty sure it was the zest that gave my saison the predominant bitter profile it ended up with.
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Jul 18, 2012 15:41
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Ahhh so zest is something you add in the boil (never done any before), I wont get any flavor from tossing it in and letting it sit for a week or something?
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Jul 18, 2012 15:53
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ChiTownEddie posted:Ahhh so zest is something you add in the boil (never done any before), I wont get any flavor from tossing it in and letting it sit for a week or something? You could soak the zest in some vodka for like a week to extract the flavors, then strain out the solids. Measure some into a cup of finished beer til you like how it tastes, then scale that amount up to 5 gallons and add it to the fermenter.
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Jul 18, 2012 16:01
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Another common additive to Saisons is corriander/paradise seeds - 1-2 tsp will add a "peppery" flavor that goes will with the citrus zest.
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Jul 18, 2012 16:36
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wattershed posted:Go light with it, maybe a teaspoon of each with 5 minutes left in the boil. I did a bit more than that for both lemon zest and orange zest for a saison and found it too overpowering for months after. I also used the very lemony Sorachi Ace hops, but having used SA hops since then and seeing how they manifest themselves I'm pretty sure it was the zest that gave my saison the predominant bitter profile it ended up with. Did you use the dried zest or fresh? The dried zest tends to have a shitload of pith attached which probably contributed to the bitterness (I made the same mistake). When I made a witbier with fresh zest, it was super delicious.
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Jul 18, 2012 16:38
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crazyfish posted:Did you use the dried zest or fresh? The dried zest tends to have a shitload of pith attached which probably contributed to the bitterness (I made the same mistake). When I made a witbier with fresh zest, it was super delicious. The fruits were pulled from my trees about 20 minutes before I zested them. I think I just used too much, as I was very careful to keep the pith on the fruit. I enjoyed the hell out of that saison though, so perhaps I'll tinker with a tincture (such wordplay!) and see how things go the next time I make it. To that point, can anyone conceive of an enjoyable way to use avocado in beer? I can only eat so much guacamole or throw them into salads/on burgers.
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Jul 18, 2012 16:46
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clutchpuck posted:Drinking the last of my "India Pilsner Ale".  Looks so nice. I'll do a half-mash BIAB again.
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Jul 18, 2012 17:17
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Uh-oh. How reliable would you say that the gravity calculators of places like Hopville are? I seem to have ended at about 10 points short of my intended gravity (1.066 and not 1.075) but I'd like to think that it's due to just bad stirring as I'm doing a partial boil. Also had a bit of charring on the bottom of my brewpot and some incompletely dissolved extract as the volume was so low by the end of it. :/
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Jul 18, 2012 18:50
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Question: Did I gently caress up my beer? My most recent brew was a Weizenbier kit from Brewer's Best. It sat in the fermenter (at between 64 and 72 degrees) for a week, and vigorous fermentation (bubbles in the airlock, etc) had ended by the fourth day after brewing. The gravity held steady at 1.011 (the appropriate FG according to the instructions) for day 6 and 7, so I got excited and bottled it this Monday. What is the likelihood that all I've done is create a glass time-bomb?
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Jul 18, 2012 20:47
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Alright, SG readings on my latest batch is stable after 3 days at 1.010, time to dry-hop. I was originally thinking of using Cascade for this, but I've got 4 oz of Summit in my deep freeze, anyone used Summit for dry-hopping? Also what is an appropriate amount for a 23L batch?
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Jul 18, 2012 21:02
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Xiuhteuctli posted:Question: Did I gently caress up my beer? It seems very unlikely you hosed up your beer. I usually wait two weeks before packaging, but I am lazy like that. You did things right by checking the gravity a couple of times, you were on the button as far as final gravity, and four days of active fermentation is about normal, so I think chances are excellent that you have good, drinkable beer there. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 21:40
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Xiuhteuctli posted:Question: Did I gently caress up my beer? Nope, sounds like if it carbonates properly you'll have some tasty beverage on your hands. You primed before bottling, right?
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Jul 18, 2012 21:54
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clutchpuck posted:Nope, sounds like if it carbonates properly you'll have some tasty beverage on your hands. You primed before bottling, right? Yeah. My first batch of beer (a 1-gallon kit) had a LOT of variation between bottles, and I think it was because I didn't boil the water that the priming sugar went into, unevenly distributing the sugar. That, and I had to have sucked up some of the trub (or is it yeast cake?) when I bottled. Some of the beer was phenomenal (if syrupy), others are ok (but dry), and others were so bad they had to be pitched. This time, I boiled the water and left some beer on the trub instead of trying to get it all and risk sucking up the muck. The worst part about brewing is waiting. It's like it's December all year. I have another question: when transferring the wort into the fermenter, I filtered the wort. Should I have not done that?
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Jul 18, 2012 22:23
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One way to ensure bottle consistency is to stir the primed beer before you start bottling it, being careful not to create any splashes if you can help it - use a big (sanitized) paddle and give it a good swirl. If you just pour in the boiled sugar water into the bottling bucket, it may not distribute evenly. Bottling inconsistency was a big catalyst for my move to kegging though. It's so much easier when it comes to packaging the brew too - I have to wash about 1/50th the vessels I used to. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 22:53
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Xiuhteuctli posted:I have another question: when transferring the wort into the fermenter, I filtered the wort. Should I have not done that? Through a splash screen or strainer of some sort? Yeah. Hopefully it was sanitized.
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Jul 18, 2012 23:32
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wattershed posted:Through a splash screen or strainer of some sort? Yeah. Hopefully it was sanitized. I do this all the time, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact I like doing it much better than trying magic siphoning techniques to avoid hop material.
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Jul 18, 2012 23:40
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wattershed posted:Through a splash screen or strainer of some sort? Yeah. Hopefully it was sanitized. Of course; sanitization is one of the more exciting parts of brewing! I am using Star-San...and I have to say, the amount of suds is* unnerving. Xiuhteuctli fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 23:52
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Don't fear the foam. e: It doesn't hurt the beer and the foam is just as effective at sanitizing as the liquid so getting bubbles all the gently caress over the place is a huge plus. Also yeast eats it so it's extra good stuff. e2: bear? What the gently caress I wasn't even drinking when I typed that. Galler fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 00:35
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Yes, definitely don't fear the foam. When I rack to keg, I try to see how big a foam snake I can make. Stolen from GIS:  These guys are doing it right.
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Jul 19, 2012 00:53
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Angry Grimace posted:I do this all the time, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact I like doing it much better than trying magic siphoning techniques to avoid hop material. I've grown to love using a hop bag during the boil, which keeps that poo poo out of the wort when transferring, plus pouring through a bowl-shaped strainer and stopping every so often to dump the trub from the strainer into the trash. Just doing that alone gets rid of most of the unwanted waste, and there's always time later to be careful when racking off to bottles/kegs.
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Jul 19, 2012 00:56
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clutchpuck posted:Yes, definitely don't fear the foam. When I rack to keg, I try to see how big a foam snake I can make. I call it the foamdick and hum Brew Oyster Cult's immortal hit, "Don't Fear the Foamdick" when I rack to kegs.
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Jul 19, 2012 01:02
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I've started thinking that I'd like to brew an Oktoberfest in the next couple of weeks, so it will be ready on time. Anyone have good recipes they'd like to share?
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Jul 19, 2012 02:08
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70% vienna 30% munich 1 20-25ish IBU of tettnanger and hallertauer with about half at 20-0 minute additions. Wyeast Munich Lager (make a starter) and ferment at 52*.
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Jul 19, 2012 02:38
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That's too simple! There's no way that will come out great!
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Jul 19, 2012 02:46
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I know you're joking but that keg kicked in like 5 days when I made it last October. I'm about to brew it up again in a couple of weeks, might have to do 10 gallons this time around.
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Jul 19, 2012 03:03
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I'd like to give it a shot myself. Have you tried using an ale yeast with it? I don't have lagering capability yet. I'm also attempting to fine tune this heferyezen:  Its based on an attempt to recreate a Rye Old Fashioned (rye whiskey, ginger ale) in beer form. Initial attempt was good but no spice at all and not much in the way of malt flavor. Efficiency was fairly low at ~58% due to BIAB so that's why the amounts are so high. The 10L and Honey were on hand so they had to be used up. It came out to about 4.4%. Here's what I'm thinking for my next attempt:  I'd use a saison yeast but I'm not a big fan of apricots and I want to get some of the vanilla esters from the 3068. Equipment has been upgraded to a coolertun because BIAB sucks without a keggle/burner. Is there anything that appears horribly awry? Hopville is being strange and won't let me use 0.5 tsp for Grains of Paradise. The ginger is to be grated in both additions. icehewk fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 04:51
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