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Angry Grimace posted:If you ever wondered what happens when you leave the picnic tap at the top of the freezer, and then close the lid on it, feast your eyes. Note: this keg was tapped yesterday: 
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Jun 2, 2013 05:32
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Bad Munki posted:It's still good, you can still drink it! I almost added "comedy option: pretend you're still 19 and funnel that poo poo" to my post
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Jun 2, 2013 05:37
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Bad Munki posted:It's still good, you can still drink it! I just used some towels and manually pumped the auto siphon for 15 min. It turned a 6 hour brew day into a 9 hour one and hoping the freezer isn't damaged. =\
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Jun 2, 2013 05:50
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3 batches bottled with my wife. 3.75 gallons of Magua's IPA that was brewed 3 weeks ago and dry hopped on Sunday, 4.75 gallons of a tripel that's been sitting in primary since March 10, and 5 gallons a honey wheat from 4 weeks ago that was my first all grain and required 2 pounds of DME to fix after I sparged way too drat fast. Everything looks and tasted great. Couple thoughts: 1) Gelatin and whirfloc are amazing for clarity, and are super easy to use. I didn't even stir in the gelatin; just nuked it in the microwave with 2 cups of water for a few minutes and pitched it on top. 2) Having used these plastic bottles for the first time I highly recommend them. Wait until they're on sale for $20 shipped and grab a box, you'll love em. Much lighter than glass, easy to carry, and capping is a breeze. I'll probably buy a bunch of these once they go on sale again, use them for my own stuff, and keep the bottles for stuff I give out to friends and family. 3) I cannot loving wait to get a freezer to put downstairs. It's a royal pain having to carry 5 gallon batches up and down stairs. Do you guys have any particular makes and models you like? I'm looking for something in the 7 cubic foot range, and this model looks great. 4) gently caress glass carboys. Bucket supremacy.
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Jun 2, 2013 14:16
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Does anyone else ever feel like they're too busy brewing [other stuff] and don't have enough time/space to brew what they actually want? For some reason my brewing schedule is mostly "okay after I get through the next x batches I can finally get to the thing I wish I had RIGHT NOW". I know it sounds crazy but ... it keeps repeating itself.
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Jun 2, 2013 18:24
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Those other things must be on your list because you wanted them, too. I dunno, I guess I tend to not plan more than one, maybe two, batches ahead. What I'm brewing right now is what I want to brew right now. If I did have a queue like that, I would almost certainly change my mind and brew my fascination of the moment rather than the next thing on the list. "Let's see... the list says hefeweizen is next, then porter, bitter, RIS... but gently caress it, I want an IPA, so let's brew that."
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Jun 2, 2013 18:28
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fullroundaction posted:Does anyone else ever feel like they're too busy brewing [other stuff] and don't have enough time/space to brew what they actually want? For some reason my brewing schedule is mostly "okay after I get through the next x batches I can finally get to the thing I wish I had RIGHT NOW". I feel that way. I brewed a pale ale and now I'm torn between a berliner, another pale ale to use my Heady Topper yeast, a saison, or an amber ale. I know whichever I choose I'll wish I'd done another.
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Jun 2, 2013 18:39
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Not beer, but I'm trying to make some mead. I recently racked it. It looks fairly clear and I don't see much, if any, yeast action. Is it about time to bottle it or should I let it sit for awhile longer? Additionally, should the place its fermenting in be dark, or does amount of light not matter?
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Jun 2, 2013 19:24
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Massasoit posted:Not beer, but I'm trying to make some mead. I recently racked it. It looks fairly clear and I don't see much, if any, yeast action. Is it about time to bottle it or should I let it sit for awhile longer? Additionally, should the place its fermenting in be dark, or does amount of light not matter? I just bottled a mead. It was cloudy for a few weeks, but then cleared up when it was finished. To know if it's finished for sure, though, check the gravity over the course of a few days. If it doesn't change, you should be good to go.
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Jun 2, 2013 20:43
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Quick question. I left a beer in primary (lagering) for 2.5 months for various reasons. Is it still good ok to drink? Will the yeast still be active if I go to bottle it?
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Jun 2, 2013 22:06
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Picked up 4 pin-lock 5 gallon kegs today from a guy selling them for 40 apiece, they need to be cleaned and 2 of them were holding pressure without any o-rings, but otherwise they're in good shape I think. I've been looking at 4-way co2 distributors, is there any reason I cannot just use this thing as it seems to do everything I need in a distributor? It's happenning! I'm so excited!
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Jun 2, 2013 22:23
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Scottw330 posted:Quick question. I left a beer in primary (lagering) for 2.5 months for various reasons. Is it still good ok to drink? Will the yeast still be active if I go to bottle it? Fine to drink and fine to bottle.
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Jun 2, 2013 22:46
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Docjowles posted:Fine to drink and fine to bottle. Yeah, I have a tripel that's been in primary for 3 months, and that was planned. Frankly I should have left it in there for longer but I figured I could let it bottle age for a few more Are there any particular styles that really don't age well?
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Jun 2, 2013 22:58
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Anything with lots of hop aroma or non-tincture fruit beers probably
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Jun 2, 2013 22:59
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JawKnee posted:I've been looking at 4-way co2 distributors, is there any reason I cannot just use this thing as it seems to do everything I need in a distributor? I can't tell, but if it's anything like the aquarium stuff I'm used to, the bore on that is going to be waaaaay smaller than a typical CO2 supply line. As in, you could take the hose you put on that distributor and feed it INSIDE your typical CO2 line. Also, that almost certainly doesn't have any check valves in it. Check valves are good when something goes wrong, they keep the wrongness contained to one keg. Even pouring a beer from one keg would result in the air from other kegs going backwards through the system. And even without any sort of air movement, you'd still have the whole air system open across all kegs, which might lead to some "interesting" crossovers.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:01
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JawKnee posted:Anything with lots of hop aroma or non-tincture fruit beers probably I just dry hopped an IPA. How long should I expect it to last?
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Jun 2, 2013 23:22
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Bad Munki posted:I can't tell, but if it's anything like the aquarium stuff I'm used to, the bore on that is going to be waaaaay smaller than a typical CO2 supply line. As in, you could take the hose you put on that distributor and feed it INSIDE your typical CO2 line. Also, that almost certainly doesn't have any check valves in it. Check valves are good when something goes wrong, they keep the wrongness contained to one keg. Even pouring a beer from one keg would result in the air from other kegs going backwards through the system. And even without any sort of air movement, you'd still have the whole air system open across all kegs, which might lead to some "interesting" crossovers. Good call on the width, I didn't notice that, which definitely means I can't use it. As for check valves, it did say this in the description: quote:1pcs Stainless Steel Aquarium Switches Regulator 1 To 4 way, high strength Anti-Rot,anti-high pressured, anti-acid and alkali, prevents from water flow return. Suitable for CO2 supplying system, O3 supplying system and air pump. I figured the bolded part meant check valves were in there.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:22
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I just dry hopped an IPA. How long should I expect it to last? That I can't say, I'm an IPA fiend so I finish my batches pretty quick, but from what I've read hop aroma gradually decreases over time, which is why IPA's are typically served fairly young.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:23
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JawKnee posted:That I can't say, I'm an IPA fiend so I finish my batches pretty quick, but from what I've read hop aroma gradually decreases over time, which is why IPA's are typically served fairly young. Do I have a month? Two? I was hoping to have some of this for a beach trip in August.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:29
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JawKnee posted:Good call on the width, I didn't notice that, which definitely means I can't use it. Oh, yeah, I missed that. However, it doesn't indicate if there's one check valve on the entire thing (at the supply in) or one per valve (at each supply out.) For that price, I'd guess the former, but you really want the latter.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:31
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Do I have a month? Two? I was hoping to have some of this for a beach trip in August. Brew a fresh batch for your trip if you want optimal flavour/aroma. Unless it's some mega boozy hop monster, you should be able to brew it in mid-late June, bottle it up in early-mid July, and it will still be tasting great for your beach trip in August.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:38
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Do I have a month? Two? I was hoping to have some of this for a beach trip in August. Mad Fermentationist always says that if you're drinking an IPA more than 6 weeks after you brewed it youre doing it wrong. And he's right. I've noticed mine dive bombing as soon as three months after brew day. Not that they usually last more than a couple weeks.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:42
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crazyfish posted:Brew a fresh batch for your trip if you want optimal flavour/aroma. Unless it's some mega boozy hop monster, you should be able to brew it in mid-late June, bottle it up in early-mid July, and it will still be tasting great for your beach trip in August. I'm drinking a super boozy hop monster right now that was bottled about 6 weeks ago and while it's still tasty, I sort of think the dry hopping was wasted because it was too hot/boozy tasting when it was young, but now it's lost the huge hoppy aroma punch.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:53
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fullroundaction posted:Mad Fermentationist always says that if you're drinking an IPA more than 6 weeks after you brewed it youre doing it wrong. And he's right. Wow, I had no idea. I brewed it three weeks ago, hopped it a week ago, and it's going to be two more weeks until the sucker can be consumed. Thanks for the info, I'll definitely make sure this gets consumed soon and then make another batch for August.
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Jun 3, 2013 01:39
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Not that it's necessarily relevant to the modern interpretation of the style, but isn't an IPA historically aged by necessity much longer than that? As in, they hopped it so heavily because it was getting shipped around the horn of Africa and was going to be spending who-knows-how-long in barrels in the hold of a ship, such that by the time it got where it was going, it would have mellowed out to be more "normal" and less all-up-in-yo-business hoppy. And then the style was "rediscovered" except they left the whole "ship it half way around the world on a slow-rear end boat" thing out of the equation this time around, and tah-dah, now you have TWENTY POUNDS OF HOPS IN EVERY BOTTLE LOL beer. At least, that's what I think I remember hearing at some point, and I don't actually know poo poo. Where's Ajaaargh when you need him?
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Jun 3, 2013 01:50
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Bad Munki posted:Not that it's necessarily relevant to the modern interpretation of the style, but isn't an IPA historically aged by necessity much longer than that? As in, they hopped it so heavily because it was getting shipped around the horn of Africa and was going to be spending who-knows-how-long in barrels in the hold of a ship, such that by the time it got where it was going, it would have mellowed out to be more "normal" and less all-up-in-yo-business hoppy. And then the style was "rediscovered" except they left the whole "ship it half way around the world on a slow-rear end boat" thing out of the equation this time around, and tah-dah, now you have TWENTY POUNDS OF HOPS IN EVERY BOTTLE LOL beer. Dispelling the other part of the story we all love to tell, you don't really get any more preservative quality out of hop acids above 30IBU as far as I've heard too.
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Jun 3, 2013 02:04
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Bad Munki posted:Not that it's necessarily relevant to the modern interpretation of the style, but isn't an IPA historically aged by necessity much longer than that? As in, they hopped it so heavily because it was getting shipped around the horn of Africa and was going to be spending who-knows-how-long in barrels in the hold of a ship, such that by the time it got where it was going, it would have mellowed out to be more "normal" and less all-up-in-yo-business hoppy. And then the style was "rediscovered" except they left the whole "ship it half way around the world on a slow-rear end boat" thing out of the equation this time around, and tah-dah, now you have TWENTY POUNDS OF HOPS IN EVERY BOTTLE LOL beer. The hopping was more so used to preserve and it worked well (stuff that didn't are stuff like sailor biscuits  ) thats one reason why they used Burton upon Trent water because it was a great hard water which has also had great amount of natural gypsum in the water (which meant they could add a lot more hops for the journey) [still is, the whole area is protected from chemical treatment].From what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong, most likely am) the modern way is a lot fresher and has more hop aroma, the old way lost a lot of the hoppiness over the 18 month journey. So there isn't really a "better way" just depends on your tastebuds. 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 02:10
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hellfaucet posted:I'm currently drinking this receipe: Thanks; sounds tasty. I'll brew something similar in a few weeks based on what the LHBS has available.
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Jun 3, 2013 02:27
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zedprime posted:Dispelling the other part of the story we all love to tell, you don't really get any more preservative quality out of hop acids above 30IBU as far as I've heard too. Huh, that's fair. Like I said, I don't know poo poo and had just heard something along those lines at some point. v  vFluo posted:From what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong, most likely am) the modern way is a lot fresher and has more hop aroma, the old way lost a lot of the hoppiness over the 18 month journey. So there isn't really a "better way" just depends on your tastebuds. Yeah, don't get me wrong, I definitely wasn't trying to argue that one way is better than another. I think they're all awful, I can't stand really hoppy beers no matter how one makes it happen. I just think history is interesting, even if it's a bit misguided and/or wrong in the retelling. 
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Jun 3, 2013 03:23
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One of the brewers here did an IPA based off of what he thought was a pretty close approximation of the stuff the BEIC shipped back in the 19th century. High sulfate water, 7.5%, aged for 4 months in cask at a high temp and high humidity (85/85 maybe?) to mimic being onboard a sailing ship going around Africa, served at well above cellar temp. I thought it was superb but it was absolutely nothing like modern American IPAs. The thing it sort of reminded me of was an old ale. bewbies fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 03:42
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Wow, I had no idea. I brewed it three weeks ago, hopped it a week ago, and it's going to be two more weeks until the sucker can be consumed. Thanks for the info, I'll definitely make sure this gets consumed soon and then make another batch for August. I didn't know how bad hop decay was until I got in an argument in the other beer thread and someone pointed out I was retarded. Then I drank a 120 minute that was only a year old and there was no hop presence at all. Pretty sure I read in a book somewhere flavor and aroma decreases by like 50% every six months or something but it's definitely faster than that. There are charts online if you go looking. Unrelated: bottled 2 batches tonight for an upcoming homebrew showcase at a local art gallery. My girlfriend's Columbus/Falconers IPA and my sweet berry wheat (forbidden fruit). Can't wait to get feedback! (they're being served alongside local commercial beers) Definitely going to consider getting into kegging after summer. This bottling poo poo is getting old, especially when you brew as much as we do ... which according to my spreadsheet is 38 batches in the last 12 months. 
fullroundaction fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 04:20
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Bad Munki posted:Yeah, don't get me wrong, I definitely wasn't trying to argue that one way is better than another. I think they're all awful, I can't stand really hoppy beers no matter how one makes it happen. I just think history is interesting, even if it's a bit misguided and/or wrong in the retelling. Its cool man! Generally at least in the UK, the term is used so liberally its weird. Proper IPAs are either super hoppy or more old aley, but companies like greenking brew a pale ale (around 3.8-4.4% mark) and just throws the I infront of it because IPA is famous and a some people buy anything with IPA on it, even if it isn't and its just a pale ale. bewbies posted:One of the brewers here did an IPA based off of what he thought was a pretty close approximation of the stuff the BEIC shipped back in the 19th century. High sulfate water, 7.5%, aged for 4 months in cask at a high temp and high humidity (85/85 maybe?) to mimic being onboard a sailing ship going around Africa, served at well above cellar temp. American IPAs I've had are quite different from British IPAs I find, apart from British tends to only be sold at pubs in casks they tend to have a bit more body but not so crisp/fresh tasting I find but I'm no expert on tasting and not tried every brewery's IPA.  It's hard to explain but the American IPAs I had have had a very much cleaner finish, the British IPAs had abit more of a lingering flavour*.*The ones I've tried. Saying that the microbrewery in Somerset called Moor Brewery is ran by an American named Justin who brewed in Germany aswell as in US and he does a kind of amazing American/British (but leaning on the American side) IPA [however its Imperial Pale Ale rather then Indian since its a triple IPA]. quote:Triple the gravity, triple the colour, and more than triple the hops. With nearly 700 kg of malt and 14 kg of hops this beer is big in every sense. In fact, it was so big and hoppy that it broke our pump! Deep copper in colour, over the top in aroma and flavour, but somehow still remaining (somewhat) balanced, this beer is not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking for a one-dimensional hop bomb look elsewhere.  I know this post was abit off top from homebrewing but he has done quite a lot of good in this area of UK as he took the pros of British beer but thrown away the cons, all his beers now are unfined and they are just as great if not better*. I was amazed at the amount of malt/hops he uses for this beer! :go: *As he got fed up of all the beer snobs in Britain who spend half the time looking at the beer and if its hazy  out about how it must be gone off or its not brewed right.quote:What is British brewing doing right/wrong? Right – What we’re doing better than anyone else in the world is cask conditioning. It’s not the right format for all beer styles – some are better suited to higher pressures and cooler temperatures. But when the right beer is conditioned well, it is the pinnacle of the brewers’ art. We also get the session beer, which has been lost to most other countries. The bigger beers may be “better” and “more interesting”, but they usually lack drinkability. http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2011/07/brewer-qa-justin-hawke-of-the-moor-brewery/ The IPA thing I think can be best summed up "drink young (if you prefer the freshest hop hit) or aged (if you are looking for more of the barley wine character)". Fluo fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 04:40
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I did some hunting and found this article on hop flavor decay. Very interesting stuff.
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Jun 3, 2013 05:05
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A friend of a friend has intended to get into brewing for a while, but never made the jump. He'd been saving wine bottles. Then he had to move to a new place, and room is tight. He asked around if anyone needed bottles. So, uh, long story short, I now have something like 400 used wine bottles. Pic forthcoming. Is there a use for screw cap bottles that I'm not thinking of? Maybe 10-15% of this collection is screw caps. I'd like to come up with something more useful than just recycling them. I've been reluctant to use anything but corks after dealing with a bottle bomb batch that would've been much more of a problem without corks. Short term we stored them upright, and the only bottle we lost blew up because the cork didn't pop. Also, is there a good way to remove wine labels in large bulk? The ones I've tried to remove thus far have been on par with the worst of beer bottles, and required a lot of elbow grease. I'd love something that requires less effort. I'm OK with anything that can be done in a bathtub and that involves things my pipes can take.
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Jun 3, 2013 06:10
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Soak in Oxyclean with warm water. I am pretty sure you need a corker to re-cork the wine bottles though and I can't imagine that the wine screw tops are designed with beer at all in mind, carbonation and oxygenation mostly. I think you'd be better off trading them to a wine maker.
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Jun 3, 2013 06:52
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I brewed up a sessionable cucumber blonde ale for my summer beer this year, and discovered, to my dismay, that the pressure relief valve on the corny keg I used is leaky. Sucks to lose a nearly full bottle of co2. Oh well, a quick trip to get it refilled, and I can report that this cucumber blonde is delicious. A perfect beer for the upcoming 110 degree days of summer.
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Jun 3, 2013 07:52
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Oh, and after that disaster, I brewed up another beer. Which had another minor disaster in that I couldn't chill the drat thing any lower than 85. It just wasn't happening with this June groundwater. I do have an unused March pump, however, so I'm going to have to just go buy the drat fittings and start running ice water out of the spare HLT that I don't use too much straight into the cooling coils. I've pitched US-05 pretty high before and been alright, so I think the beer will be salvagable, though. Not that un-infected beer is ever really unsalvagable.
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Jun 3, 2013 08:29
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Midorka posted:Soak in Oxyclean with warm water. I am pretty sure you need a corker to re-cork the wine bottles though and I can't imagine that the wine screw tops are designed with beer at all in mind, carbonation and oxygenation mostly. I think you'd be better off trading them to a wine maker. I should've clarified: we make plenty of wine-like stuff, the bulk of the bottles are quite useful and we have a corker and so on. But the screw caps don't seem as amenable to corking. Is it even safe to do that? I'd be worried about the neck. Even if I could get a cork in, the aesthetics of a corked screw cap bottle would be...off.
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Jun 3, 2013 09:18
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A while back someone posted an article about a brewery that has some kind of machine to compress their mash to extract all the liquid in it. Anyone remember which brewery it was or have a link to the article?
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Jun 3, 2013 13:37
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eviltastic posted:I should've clarified: we make plenty of wine-like stuff, the bulk of the bottles are quite useful and we have a corker and so on. But the screw caps don't seem as amenable to corking. Is it even safe to do that? I'd be worried about the neck. Even if I could get a cork in, the aesthetics of a corked screw cap bottle would be...off. Gotcha. I'd just stick with the non-screw caps. 400 bottles of wine sounds like a lot anyway.
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Jun 3, 2013 14:55
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