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I admit I may have been doing something wrong, but I had bad results with those test strips. They said my tap water at room temp was something goofy like 5.0. I finally bought a cheap pH meter and it gave saner results in line with my city's water report.
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Sep 12, 2012 15:08
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That's fair. Doesn't have to be user error, I think they can get wrecked by heat when stored or you might've had a bad batch. A meter's even better. How much is "cheap"? Who makes a good one? e: \/\/\/ Herp derp. Thanks! Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 15:15
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Splizwarf posted:That's fair. Doesn't have to be user error, I think they can get wrecked by heat when stored or you might've had a bad batch. A meter's even better. How much is "cheap"? Who makes a good one? This actually just came up if you go back a few pages  Mine's from Milwaukee Instruments, it was like $20 on Amazon. Someone else linked one that was all of about $3, said it worked fine.
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Sep 12, 2012 15:47
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So, speaking of water. I am going to brew again this weekend (woo! I love my temp controlled fridge) and I've just been buying distilled water previously. To use my tap water I need to just be able to check (and slightly adjust) the pH? Do you guys do anything like...filtering it (like with a brita)?
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Sep 12, 2012 16:06
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All assembled, and looking beautiful! Now I just gotta get some kegs in there (beer was just there for the photo). Thanks for the advice (as always) HBT III! Linked for size: http://i.imgur.com/DlRkp.jpg ScaerCroe fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 16:11
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ScaerCroe posted:All assembled, and looking beautiful! Now I just gotta get some kegs in there (beer was just there for the photo). Thanks for the advice (as always) HBT III! I want this someday. That is beautiful, nice work.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:24
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ChiTownEddie posted:So, speaking of water. I am going to brew again this weekend (woo! I love my temp controlled fridge) and I've just been buying distilled water previously. To use my tap water I need to just be able to check (and slightly adjust) the pH? Do you guys do anything like...filtering it (like with a brita)? After I measure my strike and sparge water, I crush a Campden tab and split it between the two. This strips chlorine and chloramine, which your municipal supply is almost certainly treated with. I also add 5.2 to the strike water. Other than that, since my water tastes good, I just brew with it. I probably should pay more attention to pH and mineral composition, but I am fairly lazy.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:28
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ChiTownEddie posted:So, speaking of water. I am going to brew again this weekend (woo! I love my temp controlled fridge) and I've just been buying distilled water previously. To use my tap water I need to just be able to check (and slightly adjust) the pH? Do you guys do anything like...filtering it (like with a brita)? If you're brewing extract you don't need to do much unless your tap water tastes bad. You should run it through a Brita-type filter or hit it with a campden tablet to strip chlorine/chloramine like Jo3sh said. Water chemistry is a bigger deal if you're mashing, though 90% of the country can brew just fine without dicking around with it much. But with extract, the manufacturer has taken care of that for you.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:39
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To keep my fermentations cool(er) (60-70'ish in Texas) I bought a plastic tub like this at walmart ($6): http://www.walmart.com/ip/Homz-Kidz-10-Gal-Tub-Turquoise/19224752 I've learned that by putting the carboy in the tub, filling half way with water, and putting in frozen bottles of water I can cool quite efficiently for up to 24 hours with a towel on top. The water in the tub is cooling it down to 60 degrees EASY and maintaining quite well. I'm starting to think that if I wanted to cold ferment my next recipe I could buy something like this (~$7): http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-10-Gallon-Tote-Box-Set-of-9/10401036 put the carboy in the center, fill half way with water and put two frozen one gallon water bottles on each side of the carboy. If I'm cooling to 60 in the heat of Texas with one frozen gallon of water for 24 hours, surely I can go lower with more "ice" and space to put a source for the cooling. Right?
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Sep 12, 2012 19:18
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LaserWash posted:To keep my fermentations cool(er) (60-70'ish in Texas) I bought a plastic tub like this at walmart ($6): It's actually harder than you're thinking to keep the temps at any particular level doing that because those kind of things aren't insulated. It might start down to 60 but it will be 68 before you know it taking into account the ambient heat from fermentation.
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Sep 12, 2012 20:34
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Awww gently caress. Brewed this morning, my 10th batch ever, and only the second time I made my own recipe with just ingredients and no kit. And I was not giving it my full attention because I was surfing and listening to music with raps, and when my boil started I added the bittering hops, and forgot to add the malt. I realized this at 30 minutes when it was time for the Irish Moss. I added the IM, realized that I felt like I was forgetting something, then saw all my malt. I added the malt right then, 3.3 pounds of LME, and 2 pounds of DME. Boiled 20 more minutes, added aroma hops, boiled 5 more minutes, put it in the chiller. 1.041 OG. Did I royally gently caress up, or will it be fine.... or possibly... did I accidentally stumble upon the recipe for the greatest beer in the world? Time will tell. I'll be happy if I don't blow out the primary tonight because I didn't process the maltose enough, or some damned thing. What do y'all think?
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Sep 12, 2012 20:37
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ChiTownEddie posted:So, speaking of water. I am going to brew again this weekend (woo! I love my temp controlled fridge) and I've just been buying distilled water previously. To use my tap water I need to just be able to check (and slightly adjust) the pH? Do you guys do anything like...filtering it (like with a brita)? I have a well... so I use "pure" ground water with no chlorine and stuff... but I have a reverse osmosis system from Culligan, because I don't trust unfiltered water. ;-) My honest opinion is that it is the best water I ever tasted, and it makes outstanding beer. So I guess move somewhere where you have a well and install a RO filtration system?
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Sep 12, 2012 20:40
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Actually late extract additions are a good thing. The malt sugars don't carmelize as much if you add them late so you'll get better (lighter) color. You'll also get better hop utilization in low gravity wort so your IBUs will be slightly higher.
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Sep 12, 2012 20:42
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ChiTownEddie posted:So, speaking of water. I am going to brew again this weekend (woo! I love my temp controlled fridge) and I've just been buying distilled water previously. To use my tap water I need to just be able to check (and slightly adjust) the pH? Do you guys do anything like...filtering it (like with a brita)? If you're not brewing with extract, I'm not sure using 100% distilled water is a great idea, since it would be missing a lot of the elements that yeast need to be healthy. My water is fine for malty beers, but absolutely awful for hoppy beers (results in a really harsh, dull tasting hop flavor) so I use BrewSmith's built in mineral calculator to achieve mineral levels laid out in this article by the Mad Fermentationist, which is a great resource.
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Sep 12, 2012 20:43
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internet celebrity posted:Actually late extract additions are a good thing. The malt sugars don't carmelize as much if you add them late so you'll get better (lighter) color. You'll also get better hop utilization in low gravity wort so your IBUs will be slightly higher. That is very interesting. I always take notes when I brew, so if it turns out good I will know how to reproduce it. And if it sucks I will know what not to do next time...
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Sep 12, 2012 20:44
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internet celebrity posted:Actually late extract additions are a good thing. The malt sugars don't carmelize as much if you add them late so you'll get better (lighter) color. You'll also get better hop utilization in low gravity wort so your IBUs will be slightly higher. I'm not 100% sure on the higher hop utilization, honestly. My understanding (which is surely incomplete) is that some sugar is needed for the alpha acids to isomerize into iso-alpha acids, which are the actual bitter compounds that IBUs measure. I think GORDON will get a lot of aroma and maybe not so much bitterness. GORDON, you'll have to report back on your results. But yes, late extract additions are good for color - just not all of the extract. The best advice I have seen on the matter is to add some at the beginning of the boil (to make something like 1.050 in the volume you have in the boil), and the rest at maybe 20 minutes from the end. Whatever happens, I am pretty sure you did not fail at making beer, GORDON... although you may have missed your target to some degree. That's not always a bad thing - sometimes the misses are just as good as the direct hits.
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Sep 12, 2012 21:10
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Is there a minimum time to boil extract syrup or can I add some at the end of the boil?
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Sep 12, 2012 21:32
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You should probably boil for like 20 minutes so that it's pretty evenly diffused, but there is really no reason you can't just put extract and water in a carboy and add yeast. (Other then it making lovely beer, but it will work)
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Sep 12, 2012 21:33
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Thanks for all the water replies guys. I do extract + specialty grains or partial mashes depending on the recipe. But I did get a decent sized water filter so I can start doing that on my tap water. Luckily I only do 2-5gallon batches so it won't take too long I think I am going to try making a 2 gallon batch with what I have on hand (1# pilsen DME, 1# wheat DME, some crystal 20L) and only boil it for like 15-20mins. Steep while its heating up, 170 take out the 20L, add in DME, when it starts to boil start 15m timer and add hops. A quick brew!
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Sep 12, 2012 21:46
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Northern Brewer order update: Contacted them last Friday to make sure we'd be able to get the order delivered by this Friday if we ordered over the weekend ("would anything hold it up, is it worth springing for faster shipping" etc). The answer was "Nothing will probably hold it up, but the Megapot is made to order so check with us tomorrow after you order it to see what the status is there. It should ship Monday so don't worry about the shipping." I suggested just getting it sent to us as parts if there was a danger of it holding the order up, and he said not to worry about it yet about it unless the guys I talked to later told me it'd be an issue. Contacted them Saturday to do that verification, and the person I talk to says he doesn't know yet if it'll be a delay, but everything else is green, and he agrees to put a note on my order to call me ASAP if any reason for delay crops up. Says I should call Monday to make sure about the Megapot, and if there's any issue they'll contact me immediately, if not by phone then by email. Contacted them Monday. "Everything else is ready to go, we're waiting on the Megapot to get finished. You're business 3 days from us via UPS Ground so you'll still get it on Friday if we ship tomorrow, no worries." Couldn't contact them yesterday by phone or chat (although the chat kept cockteasing with "You are #3 in the queue, please wait" all the way down to #1 and then "Connecting" and then "Nobody is available please try later"), and no answer from the form emailer on their website. Contacted them today to find out what's going on because I still don't have a tracking number and my order shows as being upgraded to UPS Second Day Air (great, that means if it ships today it'll still get to me in time). What's the delay, is the Megapot hanging it up? I knew I shouldn't have ordered that thing! Then the person I got on the chat says: "Hey, your pot's been done for a while." "Cool, what's the delay, then?" "Well, one of the kits you ordered isn't ready, it's backordered and there's 150 people ahead of you."  e: punctuation ee: Everything worked out, my order arrived on time: Northern Brewer delivers in the clutch!  They are rad! Also probably pretty overworked with this White House Beers thing. Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Sep 15, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 22:01
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Speaking of small batches, what do y'all use to make smaller 1-2 gallon batches? Just your regular 5-gallon carboys and stuff? I want to do more experimentation with recipes but I don't drink very fast and it takes me about a month to get through a 5-gallon batch. I want to experiment faster than that.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:02
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GORDON posted:Speaking of small batches, what do y'all use to make smaller 1-2 gallon batches? Just your regular 5-gallon carboys and stuff? I want to do more experimentation with recipes but I don't drink very fast and it takes me about a month to get through a 5-gallon batch. I want to experiment faster than that. I actually bought a 3gallon better bottle for my 2gallon batches. Otherwise (3-5gal) I just use my 6gal carboy/bucket. The main reason I got the smaller one is for space reasons rather than any worry of having that much space in my existing bottles.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:07
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Splizwarf posted:"Well, one of the kits you ordered isn't ready, it's backordered and there's 150 people ahead of you." It's the drat White House one, isn't it?
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Sep 12, 2012 22:07
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Daedalus Esquire posted:You should probably boil for like 20 minutes so that it's pretty evenly diffused, but there is really no reason you can't just put extract and water in a carboy and add yeast. Except for the part where you also add a buttload of table sugar, that's exactly how the old dump-and-stir kits work. Prehopped extract, sugar, warm water, yeast.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:17
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:It's the drat White House one, isn't it? The porter, yeah. I got in touch with them by phone again now that I'm off work, and apparently after the chat I was upgraded to 1-day shipping and "it's definitely going out tomorrow". I'll let you know how the Hail Mary pays off tomorrow afternoon.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:29
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Jo3sh posted:I'm not 100% sure on the higher hop utilization, honestly. My understanding (which is surely incomplete) is that some sugar is needed for the alpha acids to isomerize into iso-alpha acids, which are the actual bitter compounds that IBUs measure. I think GORDON will get a lot of aroma and maybe not so much bitterness. GORDON, you'll have to report back on your results.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:37
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Angry Grimace posted:It's actually harder than you're thinking to keep the temps at any particular level doing that because those kind of things aren't insulated. It might start down to 60 but it will be 68 before you know it taking into account the ambient heat from fermentation. I guess the other thing that I would add is that I put the tub in the bathtub. It appears to hold the temperature quite well, I was quite surprised by this myself. We keep the house at 69-71 on a normal day. I was stuck between 60-62 on the fermometer for a solid 24 hours.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:42
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LaserWash posted:I guess the other thing that I would add is that I put the tub in the bathtub. It appears to hold the temperature quite well, I was quite surprised by this myself. We keep the house at 69-71 on a normal day. I was stuck between 60-62 on the fermometer for a solid 24 hours. Well 60 is a bit of an odd temp. anyways unless you're doing Hefeweizen, Kolsch or Cali Common. You usually want around 67-70 for most ales.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:19
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Splizwarf posted:The porter, yeah. I got in touch with them by phone again now that I'm off work, and apparently after the chat I was upgraded to 1-day shipping and "it's definitely going out tomorrow". I'll let you know how the Hail Mary pays off tomorrow afternoon. If not let me know. On Friday I'm planning on swinging by Columbia to pick up my starter kit  so I can get anything else we'll need.I have $200 to spend. What should I buy?
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Sep 12, 2012 23:25
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Does anyone know where to get a kit of samples with flavor compounds in beer? I'm sampling my stout and having a hard time nailing its faults. It's a good brew with a decent head, but I'm wondering if it's a bit too fruity due to high fermentation temperatures or if it's just the 1.020 FG. Also, it tastes like a green beer, which is logical since it's been conditioned on bottles for 10 days.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:30
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BlueGrot posted:Does anyone know where to get a kit of samples with flavor compounds in beer? I'm sampling my stout and having a hard time nailing its faults. It's a good brew with a decent head, but I'm wondering if it's a bit too fruity due to high fermentation temperatures or if it's just the 1.020 FG. Also, it tastes like a green beer, which is logical since it's been conditioned on bottles for 10 days. I haven't ever seen a single serving size spiking kit. You usually do these at BJCP events or local homebrew club meetings.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:34
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I remember a brewing shop carrying a wine version and a beer version.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:46
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:If not let me know. On Friday I'm planning on swinging by Columbia to pick up my starter kit Well, like I said, you might be better off buying your starting kit after you see what you like or don't like about the stuff I've got, but off the top of my head for extract brewing: 5 gallon stock pot fermenter (bucket/carboy/Better Bottle) airlock (I prefer the 3-piece as opposed to the S-shaped one) drilled rubber stopper in the correct size if you bought a carboy or a better bottle to ferment in a long-handled non-wooden spoon sanitizing bucket sanitizer racking cane (if you don't get an autosiphon) bottling cane (if you don't buy a bottling bucket) capper (get a metal one! The plastic ones are squirrely crap!) caps bottles a way to cool the wort (a lot of ice and a cooler big enough to hold your stock pot will work) an extract beer kit you like with a fermentation temperature that you can confidently maintain Optional but recommended: bottling bucket hydrometer beer thief gravity-testing beaker (what's the real name for this?) autosiphon racking cane fermometer wort chiller (you can build this for stupid cheap) Somebody point it out if I missed something. If my stuff doesn't arrive in time, I'm just pushing the whole shebang back a weekend, but I have reasonable hopes here. I did get a UPS "Shipping ticket has been made" notification a couple minutes ago, maybe they fast-tracked it, or the guy who told me about backordered kits was out of a loop.  To fill the rest of you guys in, Beer4TheBeerGod's interested in homebrewing partly because of the White House stuff, so he's coming over for my next Brew Day this Sunday and we're brewing the two White House beers and a couple others (some cream ale experiments). I have a good keezer setup for fermenting finally, so they're going to ferment here, he's coming over to bottle when it's time, and we're splitting the cases of the White House brews 50/50. I figure it's a cool way to get someone started. Part of the order I've been talking about is a banjo burner (the 210k BTU one) and a 10-gallon Megapot, between those and the keezer I feel like I'm finally crossing the line into Big Boy Homebrewing. 
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Sep 13, 2012 00:01
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I would argue that you should get a 6 or 7 gallon pot up front. It gives you the flexibility to move into all grain without much up front expense (over a 5 gallon pot). Remember, you can't boil 5 gallons of wort in a 5 gallon pot. I would also skip the beer thief, and instead use the auto siphon to gather beer for testing. The larger pot can also be used if you decide not to get into the hobby. Crawfish boils, fried turkey for thanksgiving, extremely large batches of soup that you can freeze and use in the winter. I could go on. Point is, if you don't already have a pot to boil in, you might as well go for the biggest one that you can.
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Sep 13, 2012 00:27
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I have a turkey fryer already, so the 6-7 gallon pot isn't a problem aside from the fact that the burner is poo poo and I'll probably be replacing it.
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Sep 13, 2012 00:29
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Imasalmon posted:I would argue that you should get a 6 or 7 gallon pot up front. Good point. I was thinking of it from the perspective that its a lot harder to boil anything bigger than a 5-gallon pot on an electric stove (I should've asked if he had gas) and 5 gallons is enough for extract brewing because you don't boil the entire wort volume at once usually. Doing all-grain, I've been making do with splitting my wort into two 5 gallon pots, splitting my additions between them, and calling it a day.
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Sep 13, 2012 00:37
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I was curious about my water so I got it tested by Ward Laboratories. It was $36 shipped both ways and was super easy. Ordered the kit, got it a couple days later, filled it with water, sent it back using the labels that came with it, and got an email with the results a few days later. Probably could have gotten all the info I needed from the city but whatever. Turns out my water contains approximately all of the Bicarbonate in existence (461 ppm) so I'm glad I've been too busy to brew this Kolsch. Looks like it will be much easier to build up distilled water to where I need it for light beers than to try and make my water work.
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Sep 13, 2012 02:14
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Anyone have experience with a beer gun? I hate bottling from the keg and my carbonation is never right. Imasalmon posted:Crawfish boils, Be careful with this, I did a low country boil in my stockpot and couldn't get the smell out at home. Luckily it's stainless so I took it to work and hit it with some caustic and it was fine.
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Sep 13, 2012 12:33
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I've got package tracking info and it's en route, so it looks like we're going to have Christmas after all. 
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Sep 13, 2012 13:27
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Josh Wow posted:Anyone have experience with a beer gun? I hate bottling from the keg and my carbonation is never right. I have a beer gun and love it. I've dispensed into 22s and growlers without issue, and carbonation is great. When bottling I usually put about 8-10psi into the keg and vent the excess. As long as the keg is cold I don't have any foaming issues. If you get one, buy a few extra of the rubber stoppers on the bottom of the gun. It really sucks to lose one mid-batch and have beer spewing all over the place while you frantically try to bottle the rest.
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Sep 13, 2012 14:35
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