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Cointelprofessional posted:Any advice for cleaning up a keg that leaked out into your keggerator? I would just take everything out, then mop it and let it air dry. For your keg you probably just need a new set of o rings. Angry Grimace posted:Mitch Steele, IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale. Maybe this is just me hating that every other craft beer or homebrew I see is an IPA, but I really don't see the need for a whole book on IPAs. It's not exactly the broadest of styles, and even English vs American is mostly just a matter of hops. I'll summarize how to make an IPA: Shitload of hops, half at bittering and half for flavor or aroma. Skew it one way or the other for variance. OG to BU ratio of 1 or greater. If you want it dry throw in some table sugar and cut down on the crystal. If you want it malty more crystal and maybe some biscuit or victory. Use a bunch of two row for the base, throw in 10% munich if you're feeling saucy. Add some gypsum to your water. There ya go a surefire guide to making great IPAs.
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Dec 29, 2012 18:13
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Cointelprofessional posted:Any advice for cleaning up a keg that leaked out into your keggerator? I came back from Christmas with my folks to discover that my CO2 tank was empty and a fresh keg was all over the bottom. I have a collar on the top so it's going to be a pain in the rear end climbing in and out of that thing. Sounds like a good time to pick up a wet dry vac. Sorry about the double post, mobile makes double quoting more difficult
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Dec 29, 2012 18:14
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My liquid yeast has been sitting at room temp for about two weeks. The package is all puffy. Is it ruined?
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Dec 29, 2012 18:24
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Josh Wow posted:I would just take everything out, then mop it and let it air dry. For your keg you probably just need a new set of o rings. Yep, just pressurize the keg while it's empty, and spray Star-San all over the lid and seals. Watch for bubbles. Replace O-rings and/or poppets as needed. Since it pushed all your beer out, it's likely the out poppet or the O-rings on that post. Josh Wow posted:There ya go a surefire guide to making great IPAs. Truth. Someone asked for an IPA recipe in another forum, and I was starting to type up something very similar, but that's no usually what people want when they say 'recipe.' There are as many recipes as there are homebrewers, simply because there are so many preferences and tastes. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 18:59
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Yesterday was my first ever brew day. As far as I can tell everything went according to plan, however I have a question. After brewing a milk stout my kitchen had a teriyaki/soy smell to it. Is this normal? I don't mind the smell I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign of an error or mistake.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:02
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crazyfish posted:There's a premade bucket heater on amazon that's about 1000w and goes for 40 bucks that I've used to great success to allow for full boils on my stove. I'd search for you if I weren't on my phone, but search for "allied bucket heater" and you should be able to find it. I'm seeing this one http://www.amazon.com/MARSHALLTOWN-Premier-742G-Bucket-Heater/dp/B000BDB4UG/ You don't get any extra scorch or caramelization with this? It's also decently easy to clean well?
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Dec 29, 2012 19:07
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Jo3sh posted:Yep, just pressurize the keg while it's empty, and spray Star-San all over the lid and seals. Watch for bubbles. Replace O-rings and/or poppets as needed. Since it pushed all your beer out, it's likely the out poppet or the O-rings on that post. I usually just make up the grain bill at the store/playing around BeerSmith although I almost always use Vienna/2 row in Pale Ales/IPA. I think my last one was 9# of 2-row, 2# of Vienna, like 3/4# of Cara-vienne and some left-over corn sugar. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 19:14
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What's the best 8-15gal boil kettle in the world?
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Dec 29, 2012 19:16
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ChickenArise posted:I'm seeing this one http://www.amazon.com/MARSHALLTOWN-Premier-742G-Bucket-Heater/dp/B000BDB4UG/ It's been fine for me so far. I've made some quite light coloured beers with it in.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:21
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baquerd posted:What's the best 8-15gal boil kettle in the world? Depends on what's on sale. But really, do you care about having a thermometer welded in, ball valve, and sight glass? If so, just make a keggle on a Saturday afternoon. If not, see what's on sale on amazon- I've got a few 8 gallon winware pots that have served me well.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:29
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crazyfish posted:It's been fine for me so far. I've made some quite light coloured beers with it in. Excellent, thanks! If I'm doing an extract APA/IPA (the two light things I brew frequently) I'm only boiling 20ish minutes anyhow. I'm excited that this could further reduce an already short brew time. Now, to scare up $100 for a kettle.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:34
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zerox147o posted:Depends on what's on sale. I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker?
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Dec 29, 2012 19:34
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baquerd posted:I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker? If money is no object, then go for it. Can't think of anything off the top of my head that is better than those. Pretty sure at like 50 pages back people were talking about their boilermakers being stamped with various kettles that others had gotten on sale on amazon and reported good things on. Still waiting to see how mc space I'm moving into this year before I jump from my dual 8 gallons to keggles. Oh to have money and room. 
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Dec 29, 2012 19:50
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I was reviewing my notes after various failures, and have determined that 2012 was a bad year for homebrewing for me. I got distracted moving my folks down to Austin and then a house move for myself at the end of this year. Any beer that was fermenting during those two periods were vulnerable to staying on their yeast cakes too long, or the airlock drying out and getting fruit flies into the fermenter. However, even in cases where I was on the ball, I have our favorite white grape astringency going on in most batches, except for a few. Having blamed most everything else, I'm back on a water chemistry hunt. There were two marginal beers that were done with half bottled water and half tap water. All the other beers done exclusively with tap water have had the astringency problem, except for a wit. The wit was done with roughly 70% wheat to 30% malt, and it was a very low gravity wit to begin with. So there I don't think I had enough husk to screw anything up. I also spice the crap out of my wits and a little white grape in it wouldn't come up as a problem. In the past, I'd use the tap water fine without a problem. I have a 15 gallon Rubbermaid Brute in which I'd load up some tap water, and then drop in a campden tablet to take out the chloramine. I don't suspect the chloramine since I don't have the band-aid thing going on. Regardless, that just doesn't seem to work anymore. My theory is that due to the persistent (2 years now) drought in Austin and surrounding areas, the water has been getting more and more hard. Does this sound about right? Are there any other Austin all-grain brewers that have suffered with the tap water in the past year? Just to check my process, my next batch is going to be just extract, using bottled water. Otherwise, I'll use the wort chiller like I might normally do, and I will use a starter, since at worst it cannot harm the process. I'll pipe the blowoff tube into a big jug of water so I can't forget about it, and I'll murder myself if I don't take the beer off the yeast a cake by a week after the gravity stops moving. The recipe will be very light extract with corn sugar and rice syrup solids, so if something screws up, I'll know it.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:01
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baquerd posted:I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker? That is pre-made? No. It's a nice kettle and has a sight-glass ready to go plus a snap in dip-tube. It's also 300 dollars for the smallest one.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:03
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lifts cats over head posted:Yesterday was my first ever brew day. As far as I can tell everything went according to plan, however I have a question. After brewing a milk stout my kitchen had a teriyaki/soy smell to it. Is this normal? I don't mind the smell I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign of an error or mistake.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:04
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I boiled and added malts before steeping grains (extract brewing). Am I boned, or can I cool it back under 170 and still steep?
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Dec 29, 2012 20:20
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baquerd posted:I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker? I am a huge fan of the Sabco Brew-Magic, and it's kettles.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:28
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aricoarena posted:I boiled and added malts before steeping grains (extract brewing). Am I boned, or can I cool it back under 170 and still steep? Sure. The issue, however, is whether or not that is sanitary since grain has a ton of wild yeast/lactobacillis on it. You could always just steep them in another pot of water, remove the steeping grains and then bring that steeped water to a boil to kill nasties; then add the steeped water to your main boil prior to topping up.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:35
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Angry Grimace posted:Sure. The issue, however, is whether or not that is sanitary since grain has a ton of wild yeast/lactobacillis on it. You could always just steep them in another pot of water, remove the steeping grains and then bring that steeped water to a boil to kill nasties; then add the steeped water to your main boil prior to topping up. I only got up to a boil and then added the malts. I still need to boil with the hops for 60min so I think that should take care of it. I hope.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:52
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Angry Grimace posted:Sure. The issue, however, is whether or not that is sanitary since grain has a ton of wild yeast/lactobacillis on it. You could always just steep them in another pot of water, remove the steeping grains and then bring that steeped water to a boil to kill nasties; then add the steeped water to your main boil prior to topping up. Seconded. In general whenever you are adding something you forgot to a batch, adding it via boiled + cooled water is a good idea. Just finished my brew day of kegging a Lite Lager and Cream Ale, setting the second runnings of my IIPA onto the Lite Lager's yeast (no idea whats going to come from that, its like 4 gallons and a toss up because my keggerator is running low), and brewed a second batch of Cream Ale. Next up will be making another APA as my keg is dry and that was probably my favorite beer from the last year. Going to make it with only Simcoe this time though so I can get a better idea of what exactly that adds as I've never used it alone and I know what my APA tastes like per normal practice. Also am all out of my Czech Pils and Belgian Table, going to probably put those as the next 2 up as both were in high demand from friends and I've got gift certificates to spend.
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Dec 29, 2012 20:53
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aricoarena posted:I only got up to a boil and then added the malts. I still need to boil with the hops for 60min so I think that should take care of it. I hope. I would do what I suggested in he last post and add it to the "main" boil.
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Dec 29, 2012 21:33
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baquerd posted:I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker? If you have mad coin to drop of brewing poo poo then why not got all out on a brew sculpture and some conical fermenters?
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Dec 30, 2012 00:40
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Galler posted:If you have mad coin to drop of brewing poo poo then why not got all out on a brew sculpture and some conical fermenters? I wouldn't say no to that heated/cooled conical if 2000 dollar was nothing to me.
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Dec 30, 2012 02:05
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I ended up shoving a thick book under one end of the keezer and using a syphon for the liquid It took lots of pumping because it wasn't an elevated surface, but I got 2.5 gallons out before I had to start sopping the rest up with paper towels. I'm not positive, but I think one of the posts became slightly unscrewed. The leak came from a keg that I had been using for about a month with no problems. I'm guessing I nudged the post while fiddling with the insides because I don't have any other idea of how a working keg would suddenly spill its guts. All of the O-Rings seem fine as well. I was lucky that a local store had 20# tanks of CO2 available as I'm not sure I would have had anything for new years.
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Dec 30, 2012 07:21
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baquerd posted:I just won a million dollars in the lottery and I want a kettle blinged out. Is there anything better than Blichmann's BoilerMaker? If true, and it were me - I'd get the tower of power, stand and all, with 3x 15 gallon kettles. Also, if true, let's hang out and let me borrow your shiny new brewstand. A glycol system with conicals would be pretty neat too. fake edit: I looked up the brew magic system and holy hell - it's so gloriously over the top it's nearly comedic. Jacobey000 fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Dec 30, 2012 |
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Dec 30, 2012 13:10
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BrewMagic calls to me too, but one of the Morebeer BrewSculptures will all the options would be a contender for my affections. And yes, the heated/cooled conical(s) as well.
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Dec 30, 2012 17:46
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Jacobey000 posted:If true, and it were me - I'd get the tower of power, stand and all, with 3x 15 gallon kettles. Also, if true, let's hang out and let me borrow your shiny new brewstand. A glycol system with conicals would be pretty neat too. Get those and the heated/cooled conicals and you're pretty much automated brewing, I'd imagine. Just sit around watching TV while imperial stout rolls out of your garage. // Another book review: Stan Hieronymous, For the Love of Hops. Much less focused on IPA and a hell of a lot more interesting/useful than Steele's book. It's also extremely current, i.e. it came out like two weeks ago and has a bunch of stuff on Mosaic hops and such (Mosaic was only grown commercially starting in 2012). Its pretty exhaustive however, and if you don't care for  you probably will get a little lost. A lot of the book does focus on farming. Not so much useful on the homebrew level, but interesting on level of the hop farming and brewing industry.
Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Dec 30, 2012 |
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Dec 30, 2012 18:56
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I think he wrote brew like a monk, which is a pretty great read too.
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Dec 30, 2012 22:47
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Daedalus Esquire posted:I think he wrote brew like a monk, which is a pretty great read too. Yes, same guy.
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Dec 31, 2012 00:02
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I made an 800ml starter with my two smack packs of the yeast I got that was packaged in April. I plan on making a bigger starter after this one. Question though, my friend was the one to normally make the starters and I wasn't around for them. Should I expect to see any activity? I've been shaking it for 30 seconds every 30 minutes to give it oxygen but haven't seen any bubbles/yeast activity.
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Dec 31, 2012 02:43
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It's often hard to see activity in starters. Try leaving it alone for a couple hours and see if you see tiny bubbles chaining up to the surface. This is easier to see in an Erlenmeyer flask, since the walls slope in and bubble-chains run up the slope.
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Dec 31, 2012 03:00
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Jo3sh posted:It's often hard to see activity in starters. Try leaving it alone for a couple hours and see if you see tiny bubbles chaining up to the surface. This is easier to see in an Erlenmeyer flask, since the walls slope in and bubble-chains run up the slope. I'm using an Erlenmeyer, I'm weary of leaving it sit too long as I've heard that shaking it it better for production, but I don't know how true that is. With it sitting right now, for the past 45 minutes, there's a yeast layer, an opaque pumpkin orange layer, and darker orange ring on top. I'm just worried this yeast is too old to get started properly.
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Dec 31, 2012 03:07
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Finally made a wort chiller! Stupid Home Depot didn't have the right solder fittings and the plumbing store was closed today, so I used compression fittings instead. It's ugly as sin, but it doesn't leak and it should do the job correctly. Cost breakdown: 3/8" OD x 20' soft copper tubing $25.86 3/8 x 1/2 coup $5.84 3/8 x 1/2 conn $6.38 1/2 x 3/4 hose fitting $7.32 1/2 x 3/4 male fitting $3.96 Grand total 49.36 For comparison, Northern Brewer has one with fittings for $79.00 or with vinyl tubing for $69.00 Could have saved some money if I would have searched around for solder fittings, or gone with vinyl tubing straight off the copper. I shaped it by hand because it was cold out and I didn't want to dig around in my garage or work truck for my tube bender, I think it took me about 10 mins, including time I spent reshaping kinks. I tried to leak test it, but it was dark and both of my hoses were frozen, so I will have to give it a go tomorrow, hoping to use it on Tuesday for my first brew of the New Year! I really can't see any reason to buy one, although More Beer has had them for $40 and change in the past with free shipping, so it might be worth picking that up and adding fittings to it later. tl;dr Make your own drat wort chiller!
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Dec 31, 2012 03:21
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Bells sells a 25' immersion chiller for $50. Seems like a really good deal to me.
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Dec 31, 2012 03:27
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Bottle aging- store the bottles upright or on their sides? Does it matter? I have in the past week seen staunch supporters for both sides.
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Dec 31, 2012 03:32
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Shouldn't matter at all unless you are using corks.
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Dec 31, 2012 04:04
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Storing bottles on their sides leaves more surface area exposed to oxygen. I don't really know if you'd ever realistically notice a difference but it's something to consider.
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Dec 31, 2012 04:07
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U.S. Barryl posted:Shouldn't matter at all unless you are using corks. Forgot to mention, I am using corks.
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Dec 31, 2012 04:07
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I've heard that the yeast will consume any oxygen left in the bottle so I'd imagine that surface area would be nothing to worry about. If you're using corks I would store the bottles on their sides to keep the corks moist. But, I'm no beer genius.
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Dec 31, 2012 04:11
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