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Scythe posted:I've obviously seen hop substitution charts, but does anyone have any "if you like this hop you should try this one"-style recommendations? If you like Centennial (and fruity American hops in general) you should definitely try out Amarillo and Citra, they both taste and smell like sweet tropical fruit. Also, Palisade and and Ahtanum are criminally underutilized for hoppy American styles, just throwing that out there.
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Aug 30, 2012 02:27
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Jacobey000 posted:First, malt extract will provide just as much "malty body" as 2-row or a mix of 'base malt' Right, what I'm saying is that rather than using 12 lbs of malt extract I'm going to use less extract and substitute in sucrose by weight - which I've read lightens the beer without giving up fermentables. I'm just unsure of how much sucrose is too much. quote:Second, the Kettle seems okay for a boil pot, albeit overkill (why do you need to measure boiling water?). Well, I could use the temp gauge to measure the temp of the wort while it's chilling after a boil, but you're right I could just use my current thermometer. quote:The problem I could see for a mash tun is it doesn't have an open end on the valve so attaching a dip-tube or screen or bazooka tube is going to require you replace the 'pot end' of the attachments with something longer. Adventures in homebrewing have decent alternatives worth checking out. I wouldn't be using that pot for a mash tun, if I'm understanding you right (I may not be as I'm only just looking into putting together a mash tun and I'm not very clear on the process or equipment required for mashing). I had thought a bazooka screen could just screw into the inside of the pot-side of the valve. Regardless I do need a bigger pot than I currently have if I want to boil a full batch. Jo3sh posted:That's a 10PSI regulator, so there's no way it's 185KBTU - more like 55K. Which is not terrible for 5 gallons, it will just take a little longer to get things boiling. On the other hand, it could be hard to get a hot burner to throttle down cleanly. Hmm, as long as it'll work it's an improvement on my coil stove. The price seems good, comparing it to some burners available on homebrewing sites. E: Varying up my grammar so that isn't so boring to read. JawKnee fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 02:42
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JawKnee posted:Right, what I'm saying is that rather than using 12 lbs of malt extract I'm going to use less extract and substitute in sucrose by weight - which I've read lightens the beer without giving up fermentables. I'm just unsure of how much sucrose is too much. Up to about 20% sucrose is a good rule of thumb. If you go too heavy with it the wort will be very deficient in nutrients leading to a crappy fermentation, plus it'll just end up very thin, watery and bone-dry.
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Aug 30, 2012 02:48
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Super stoked because last night I ordered my starter kit from NB, a turkey fryer, extra plastic carboy and a bunch of other equipment. Thanks to all that have helped in that process. I'm sure I'll have questions when I start getting my stuff tomorrow. 
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Aug 30, 2012 04:21
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JawKnee posted:
Get a bigger kettle. 8 gallons sounds like enough for a 5 gallon all-grain, but for some big beers where you need to use more sparge water (and boil down the wort more), it isn't. I wouldn't get a pot smaller than 10 gallons.
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Aug 30, 2012 05:18
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Kegged my blackberry pale wheat ale tonight with juice from berries I picked this afternoon and pasteurized. Warm flat sample indicates I got close to what I wanted. Nice tart berry flavor, rose color. 
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Aug 30, 2012 06:47
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I just got bit by the homebrew bug after trying a coconut porter. I purchased a brew kit and recipe kit (porter) from the local homebrew store. I have a couple of questions though. I apologize if they've been answered in the previous 160 pages. I only read through the first 10 or so. 1. My recipe says to allow the bottles to carbonate for a week. Most of the videos I've watched say up to 30 days. Besides opening beer and trying it, how do I know how long to allow for carbonation. 2. I plan to bottle the first batch. However, I have a keg fridge and 1/2 keg. If I buy new seals, everything should be great, right? When I used to buy CO2 and beer kegs, my problem was the first few beers a day were all head and I wasted a lot of beer. If I choose to keg, is there any way around that?
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Aug 30, 2012 16:24
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BDawg posted:I just got bit by the homebrew bug after trying a coconut porter. I purchased a brew kit and recipe kit (porter) from the local homebrew store. I have a couple of questions though. I apologize if they've been answered in the previous 160 pages. I only read through the first 10 or so. 1. 30 days isn't going to hurt anyone, but generally speaking, carbonation will be more than done at this point. 1-2 weeks is more accurate, but there's no harm in opening up a bottle or two before then to see how it's coming along. 2. Unless you have corny kegs (far left) you aren't going to be able to keg your beer. There probably is a way to do it, but it's too much of a pain in the rear end to bother. Corny kegs have a top hatch as well as dedicated posts for gas and beer. With a commercial keg, it's going to be a pain in the balls getting the one connector off and on again.
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Aug 30, 2012 16:50
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1) It usually takes 2-3 weeks from my experience for beers to fully carbonated. Keeping the bottles in a warmer temperature and softly shaking the bottles to re-suspend the yeast once a week should also help carbonation. 2) It sounds like you are talking about a commercial 1/2 keg? If so, those won't work, you need a soda keg and the equipment for that. Stopping foam in home brewing is about getting your dispensing hose length right. You can figure out that length by knowing your C02 pressure, inner hose diameter, and fridge temperature. Use those numbers and the charts and equations on brewing webpages to figure out the length of hose you need. I have also heard that the way to quick carbonate your keg by shaking it produces more foam compared to just letting it sit and carbonate slower way.
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Aug 30, 2012 16:56
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BDawg posted:When I used to buy CO2 and beer kegs, my problem was the first few beers a day were all head and I wasted a lot of beer. If I choose to keg, is there any way around that? First, what RiggenBlaque said about Cornies vs. half-barrels. Second, yes, there is a way around it - balance your lines. Long story short, (1) the level of carbonation in the beer, (2) the pressure used to dispense it, (3) your serving temperature, and (4) the resistance your serving lines provide all have to be in balance to get a good pour with the right amount of foam. It can take some tweaking, but it can be done. If you are kegging homebrew and force-carbonating it, items 1, 2 and 3 will take care of themselves as long as you carbonate at serving temperature and pressure. This leaves tweaking your serving lines to the appropriate length, diameter, and material. In general, you are going to want about five or six feet of beer line for a standard setup, but some rigs need more.
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Aug 30, 2012 16:57
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I switched to a 14ft line and my foam problems went away. It's also extra handy for picnic/camping dispening to run the excess line coiled through an ice bath to have it nice and cold all day long even before the keg chills.
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Aug 30, 2012 17:40
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Thanks for the responses, guys. I believe it's a commercial slim quarter. Since I have the keg fridge already, I suppose that once I get a brew or two under my belt, buying a home keg wouldn't be out of the question. Maybe one day, I'll go get my $10 deposit back. I assume to keg beer you still need CO2? Do you still need to use priming sugar or does the CO2 tank provide the carbonation? I'm planning to make my first batch on Monday. I think I have everything I need except a wort pot. I'm going to a kitchen outlet this weekend to find a 4-5 gallon one.
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Aug 30, 2012 18:17
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BDawg posted:I assume to keg beer you still need CO2? Do you still need to use priming sugar or does the CO2 tank provide the carbonation? Yes, you still need CO2. No, you don't need to prime. I (and lots of other people here) just rack the beer into a keg and then put it in the serving fridge with the gas hooked up. It takes a couple of weeks, but the CO2 will dissolve into the beer and carbonate it until it reaches equilibrium. You can change how carbonated your beer is by changing the pressure or the temperature (although the change takes a while to reach a new equilibrium this way).
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Aug 30, 2012 18:24
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I guess a lot of beer people seem to be getting their shorts in a knot over this BW3 video 'making fun' of hombrewers. If you've not seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zM5P5iOKzI My takeaways: -I don't go to bdubs for beer anyway -A commercial about beer/sports bars without sexism! -It makes the homebrewer look like a crazy mad scientist, which is pretty cool So, I approve. Edit: The comments on Youtube are pretty amazing. Sirotan fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 18:40
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Sirotan posted:I guess a lot of beer people seem to be getting their shorts in a knot over this BW3 video 'making fun' of hombrewers. If you've not seen it: Not that I didn't find the humour in it, but it's just one more reason to not go there anyway. I make better wings and brew better beer at home.
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Aug 30, 2012 18:49
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I saw a bunch of people getting all pissy about that over on reddit. The ad is just a joke, I don't understand why people are taking it so personally.
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Aug 30, 2012 18:51
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Sirotan posted:I guess a lot of beer people seem to be getting their shorts in a knot over this BW3 video 'making fun' of hombrewers. If you've not seen it: That was great. I love the guy sniffing the star san foam to time the beer being done.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:25
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Paladine_PSoT posted:That was great. I love the guy sniffing the star san foam to time the beer being done. To be fair, I kinda resemble that guy. I don't think the commercial presents an accurate picture of homebrewers, but then I don't think homebrewers are their target audience. Whatever. The beer selection at the one BWW I have been in was pretty meh at best. They had 47 international flavors of industrial lager and a couple of hefeweizens, as I recall. People already aren't going there if their goal is branching out in their beer consumption. So, overall, it doesn't bother me.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:31
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Gonna make some bratwurst beer.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:33
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Jo3sh posted:I don't think the commercial presents an accurate picture of homebrewers, but then I don't think homebrewers are their target audience. Whatever. The beer selection at the one BWW I have been in was pretty meh at best. They had 47 international flavors of industrial lager and a couple of hefeweizens, as I recall. People already aren't going there if their goal is branching out in their beer consumption. I think all or almost all the Michigan BW3's are owned by the same guy/company and have Michigan beer on tap. Selection isn't great mind you but there's always at least one offering from Founders, Bells, and Dark Horse at the Ann Arbor location.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:34
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That's cool, I am sure you are right that they cater to the demand they get. On the other hand, I thought the beer selection and the wings at the Hooters near me were both pretty drat decent.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:37
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Hopping question: When hops are to be added at "Flameout", what does that mean? Are they just dunked in and taken out or do you generally let them rest in there until it comes to pitching temperature? Normally, I've been hopping my beers with a hop bag during the boil, then taking that out at flameout which results in a hop-free fermentation. I mainly do Wheats and other low IBU things so this hasn't been a problem, but I'm thinking I want to try something hoppier. Should the hops be free in the wort and settle out during fermentation? Also: Last year's homebrew secret santa was a big success, I think. I think I'll run another one this year, so start thinking about that when making/saving batches 
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Aug 30, 2012 20:49
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I keep them in there until pitching temperature, I don't think dunking them and taking them out would release the amount of IBUs you want. I use a hop bag that hangs over the top of my kettle. With 15 mins of the boil left, I take the bag and metal bars that hold it over the kettle off, put in my wart chiller so it gets decontaminated, and put my hop bag back in. Once it gets near pitching temperature, I sanitize my hands and squeeze the hop bag to get that extra wort out. Most of the hops should settle out, the biggest problem would be hops clogging your siphon tube or keg tube if your dry hop.
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Aug 30, 2012 21:39
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Jo3sh posted:First, what RiggenBlaque said about Cornies vs. half-barrels. I have 5 foot lines, and I've gotten universally better results moving to 10+, and I only serve at 10 psi, sometimes 8 or 9. Science seems to say it shouldn't work better but it does. 
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Aug 30, 2012 21:40
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Angry Grimace posted:I have 5 foot lines, and I've gotten universally better results moving to 10+, and I only serve at 10 psi, sometimes 8 or 9. Science seems to say it shouldn't work better but it does. I think "too long" has to be way better than too short - otherwise, no bar or restaurant could ever have their cold box more than 6 feet from the faucet.
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Aug 30, 2012 22:05
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Jo3sh posted:I think "too long" has to be way better than too short - otherwise, no bar or restaurant could ever have their cold box more than 6 feet from the faucet. The guy at one of the big Corny Keg distributors online was absolutely adamant on HBT that 5 foot lines were the best line length and that you should not get excessive foam at that length, but I always get half foam at that length and a very controllable level of foam with 10+ foot lines.
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Aug 30, 2012 22:26
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I run 6-8ft 3/16" lines, and I carb most things to about 10-12psi. I'm also using incredibly low resistance Tygon tubing. Pours are perfect. Clearly something odd goes on.
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Aug 30, 2012 23:43
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Raveen posted:I keep them in there until pitching temperature, I don't think dunking them and taking them out would release the amount of IBUs you want. Flameout additions don't contribute (very much) to IBUs, but you still want to keep the hops in there until pitching temperature. The goal is to get as much of the essential aromatic oils to leave the hops as possible without boiling them away with heat. Usually I actually get my wort chiller going before I add my flameout hops. Perhaps there's a minute infection risk there but hops are pretty anti-microbial on their own and I find that getting the wort 10-20 *F away from boiling allows the flameout addition to contribute even more aroma.
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Aug 31, 2012 00:30
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My buddy has a line that's about 6 inches, just long enough to go from the keg to the side of his fridge. It's like shooting a garden hose into your glass. I actually just bought tubing to take my lines from 4ft to 8ft. I had 4 belgians on tap this summer and would get way too much foam with the high carbonation.
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Aug 31, 2012 11:03
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My kit came with 2 containers. A plastic bucket with a spigot and a glass carboy. If my recipe only calls for single fermentation, is there any reason I couldn't do the fermentation in the plastic bucket, at bottling time put the priming sugar in and bottle from the same bucket? Or, am I better using the glass carboy that requires a funnel to fill?
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Aug 31, 2012 16:30
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BDawg posted:My kit came with 2 containers. A plastic bucket with a spigot and a glass carboy. If my recipe only calls for single fermentation, is there any reason I couldn't do the fermentation in the plastic bucket, at bottling time put the priming sugar in and bottle from the same bucket? Or, am I better using the glass carboy that requires a funnel to fill? Use the carboy. When you go to bottle you'll get massive amounts of yeast and other crud coming through the spigot if you ferment in there as well.
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Aug 31, 2012 16:33
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Can someone link rage-saq's recipe page? The newly formed AHA-approved homebrew club I belong to wants to brew a dark strong, can't think of a better goon's recipe to consult seeing all the praise his have garnered.
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Aug 31, 2012 17:32
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Super Rad posted:Can someone link rage-saq's recipe page? The newly formed AHA-approved homebrew club I belong to wants to brew a dark strong, can't think of a better goon's recipe to consult seeing all the praise his have garnered. http://www.thesaq.net/beer/recipes/
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Aug 31, 2012 17:36
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Thank you! I hit thesaq.net but there is no navigation there Hopefully the club likes the recipe, I'm seeing a few others tossed around in the discussion but none have the candi / high ABV of Saq's Pious recipe.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:02
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I just put an Iconoclast (derived from the Pious recipe) in the beer fridge for enjoyment tonight after work.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:39
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Is it still hard to find the dark Belgian candy syrup? I seem to remember there was a shortage for a while.
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Aug 31, 2012 18:41
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They always have some in stock at my LHBS (MoreBeer Riverside). They actually just started carrying flavored Candi sugars such as Chocolate and Spicy Thai!
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Aug 31, 2012 18:46
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Thanks saq for doing a beersmith of the Kate clone recipe. Now to figure out if my mash tun can actually hold 24 pounds of grain and 7 gallons of water...
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Aug 31, 2012 18:53
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BerkerkLurk posted:Is it still hard to find the dark Belgian candy syrup? I seem to remember there was a shortage for a while. I just got a quart from NB, but it was in a kit (Chocolate Milk Stout) so might pre-date a shortage.
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Aug 31, 2012 19:16
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drat, Ordered my kit on nb Tuesday. It's taken until now for them to pack it up. It will be shipped tonight. Is that normal?
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Aug 31, 2012 20:16
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