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Since this is my first go at all-grain I am expecting my efficiency to somewhat low, maybe in the mid to upper 60s. Also, I found out the LHBS does not keep Simcoe on hand so I am going to use Centennial instead. With that in mind, how does this look for a 5.25 gallon batch: 10.75 pounds Maris Otter 0.75 ounce Centennial 60 minutes 1 ounce Centennial 0 flameout I have a $75 gift card for Midwest Supplies. I am going to get my grain locally since I don't have a mill and the LHBS will crush my grain for me if I buy it there. What are some good ingredients to get with my gift card? I was thinking I would get a variety of hops and some flaked wheat since I want to make a Belgian Wit and flaked wheat is $4/pound at the LHBS. I think I am all set on equipment for the time being. I would like to have a reserve of common ingredients. I want to make a Scotch Ale, a Belgian Wit, and maybe a red ale after that.
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Jun 6, 2013 16:03
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| # ? May 14, 2024 20:17 |
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Just had a  moment and bought some stainless steel bottles and a stainless steel growler for camping and/or canoeing.I'll let you know what I think when I get them.
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Jun 6, 2013 17:06
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RagingBoner posted:Just had a http://www.dwbrewproducts.com/shop/product_info.php/gal-stainless-steel-carboy-p-78 Why did you post this site Dammit.
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Jun 6, 2013 17:12
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PBCrunch posted:I have a $75 gift card for Midwest Supplies. I am going to get my grain locally since I don't have a mill and the LHBS will crush my grain for me if I buy it there. What are some good ingredients to get with my gift card? I was thinking I would get a variety of hops and some flaked wheat since I want to make a Belgian Wit and flaked wheat is $4/pound at the LHBS. I think I am all set on equipment for the time being. I would like to have a reserve of common ingredients. I want to make a Scotch Ale, a Belgian Wit, and maybe a red ale after that. Whirlfloc tablets, Fermcap-S, various dry yeasts to keep in the freezer just in case?
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Jun 6, 2013 18:06
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How long can I dry hop a refrigerated keg before I have to worry about those dreaded "grassy" flavors?
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Jun 6, 2013 22:00
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Toebone posted:How long can I dry hop a refrigerated keg before I have to worry about those dreaded "grassy" flavors? My last IPA I just left the bag in there until the keg ran out, 3 months in it still tasted great.
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Jun 6, 2013 22:06
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Bad Munki posted:That's exactly what you're supposed to do (and what I've done) except you should put water in the empty pot so that air can only flow one way. Voila: typical blowoff setup. Daedalus Esquire posted:The problem with that is the alcohol refracts light differently from sugar water. I don't exactly know the science, but I believe as alcohol increase the accuracy of it goes down.
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Jun 6, 2013 23:17
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Basically the conversion from a refractometer reading to a FG requires that you know the OG, and is a more complicated calculation than the conversion from a refractometer reading to an OG. If there is a gravity scale printed directly on your refractometer then that gravity scale can only be used directly for the OG. The FG requires some correction.
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Jun 6, 2013 23:43
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It's great though, when you forget to measure OG and you can find it with a refractometer + FG. (Also useful for cloning commercial brews, tho I don't really mess around with that)
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Jun 7, 2013 00:50
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God drat it. The IPA I brewed about a month ago has this awful chemical flavor to it that I can't quite place. Tastes like soap and plastic and is basically undrinkable. The brewday was a clusterfuck from start to finish, beginning with my local shop randomly being closed and me having to drive a good ways to a shop I've never used for ingredients and ending with party guests showing up early while I was just starting the boil. Wouldn't be surprised if I did something completely retarded like rack onto a gallon of Star San in the carboy. I got busy playing host and honestly don't remember what I did. Hats off to anyone who can brew well with more than one other person around. As a minor plus, the carbonation, clarity and foam are all spot on which are issues I've been struggling with on my new keezer. Apparently that is all set, now I just need to work on the "garbage in, garbage out" issue 
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Jun 7, 2013 05:16
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I was under the impression that with a refractometer that I could find out the ABV without needing gravities. Is this assumption wrong?
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Jun 7, 2013 05:26
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Midorka posted:I was under the impression that with a refractometer that I could find out the ABV without needing gravities. Is this assumption wrong? I don't think you're wrong exactly but brix is measured and then converted to gravity units unless I totally misunderstand. And you have to know the original brix reading to get final gravity. http://www.northernbrewer.com/refractometer-calculator/
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Jun 7, 2013 05:51
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So to know the ABV I'm still going to need a hydrometer? Boy I feel silly about this. It's confusing, at least right now.
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Jun 7, 2013 06:04
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Looks like I overcarbed my first keg. Getting all foam out of the pours after a few days of nice pours. Should be an easy fix right? Shut off gas to the keg, depressurize, and just patiently let CO2 come out of solution? In other news, today I got a white IPA kit in the mail that I'm incredibly excited to brew.
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Jun 7, 2013 06:23
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I'm looking to brew a raspberry wheat for the summer but the recipe calls for "raspberry honey." I've looked around, and I can either get a massive 3lb tub when all I need are a few ounces, or import some from the States to Canada (which would cost way too much money). Even the honey specialist guy at my local market doesn't have any. Have you guys heard of this before? Can I substitute with another flavoured honey like lavender honey or another kind of berry honey? Or even just regular honey?
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Jun 7, 2013 10:58
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I thought I was a special snowflake getting blueberry vs clover vs wildflower honey at whole foods at one point, but i could only taste a minor difference in them. I cant imagine you would be really far off in flavor if you used any honey and used actual raspberries .. especially in such a small amount. Also just because bees make the honey exclusively from the one plant, its not really overflowing with that fruit's flavor. Are there actual rapsberries in the recipie ?
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Jun 7, 2013 11:55
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Roundboy posted:I thought I was a special snowflake getting blueberry vs clover vs wildflower honey at whole foods at one point, but i could only taste a minor difference in them. I cant imagine you would be really far off in flavor if you used any honey and used actual raspberries .. especially in such a small amount. Yeah, or at the very least purée (it's one of the two, don't remember off the top of my head right now). I didn't think it would make a huge difference, it was just such an oddly specific and obscure ingredient that I figured I'd double-check first. Thanks.
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Jun 7, 2013 12:02
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Regarding the honey, raspberry is very difficult to find and it will be dubious that's what it is anyway. Bees forage within a 3 mile radius of the hive, so for it to be truly a raspberry honey the hive has to be smack in the middle of 3 miles of virtually nothing but raspberry and then the beekeeper has to extract the honey as soon as the bloom ends so nectar from whatever blooms after the raspberry does not get mixed in and change the composition. Plants pollinated by migratory bee keepers for monoculture or honey from very early/late blooming plants where they are all that are flowering (like black locust) are pretty much the only ones that are reliably what they say they are.
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Jun 7, 2013 12:07
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illcendiary posted:Looks like I overcarbed my first keg. Getting all foam out of the pours after a few days of nice pours. Should be an easy fix right? Shut off gas to the keg, depressurize, and just patiently let CO2 come out of solution? I had this problem when I first got my keg setup, turns out the beverage tubes Midwest included with the kit were way too short for a reasonable pour and I had to turn serving pressure way down. What length / diameter is your tube?
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Jun 7, 2013 12:10
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Docjowles posted:Hats off to anyone who can brew well with more than one other person around. You should have put them to work! At least that's what I do when neighbors/family wander over in the middle of my I went to an Aviator Brewing tap takeover at a local bar last night and 2 of the kegs couldn't be tapped because they were shipped with dryhop bags in them, which clogged the line out and the guy from the brewery couldn't get them open to fix the problem  .They also had this IPA which had the most ridiculously sweet/fruity aroma I've ever smelled and wanted to replicate immediately ... but the rep didn't know what hops they used and I've had no luck finding them online. Messaged the brewery so hopefully they'll respond. It was like a hoppy fruit rollup. Aviator re: Horsepower IPA posted:Our double IPA is a fest of different hops. We use a large amount of grain to get the body of the beer to match the full hop taste!
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Jun 7, 2013 14:46
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Midorka posted:So to know the ABV I'm still going to need a hydrometer? Boy I feel silly about this. It's confusing, at least right now. No, but you need to make sure to get an OG reading using the refractometer. The refractometer can only tell you the ABV if you know what the OG was. If you don't know the OG then you need a hydrometer. withak fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 15:10
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northernbrewer is running a deal now, buy a wheat beer kit, and a 5 gal kettle... you get a free starter kit. if i didnt have most of it already it seems like a great price to get all you need to get started and carry forward http://www.northernbrewer.com/fathers-day-2013-start-kit-promo/?icn=NBHomepage&ici=FATHERSDAY2013_Slide
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Jun 7, 2013 15:43
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Roundboy posted:northernbrewer is running a deal now, buy a wheat beer kit, and a 5 gal kettle... you get a free starter kit. I really wish Northernbrewer would send outside the US soon, the yeast and stuff I wouldn't need as I can get it in UK etc and most likely not be suited for long travel. But there is some awesome stuff there which is a nightmare to find, equipment / add on wise. Hell even the tap handles! 
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Jun 7, 2013 15:58
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my holy grail is finding cappable 750ml bottles. I can get some great craft beers locally and reuse the bottles, but a proper source for these would be awesome.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:03
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Roundboy posted:my holy grail is finding cappable 750ml bottles. I can get some great craft beers locally and reuse the bottles, but a proper source for these would be awesome. 1L swing caps work well.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:04
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baquerd posted:1L swing caps work well. right but im thinking longer term storage.. unless i am really misreading how long stuff can sit in a pop top bottle
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Jun 7, 2013 16:06
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Roundboy posted:my holy grail is finding cappable 750ml bottles. I can get some great craft beers locally and reuse the bottles, but a proper source for these would be awesome. I got a ton of these from the local recycling center. Most champagne bottles can be capped with 29mm caps and a special adapter for the red capper. Check with places that have mimosa brunches or weddings for empty bottles.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:28
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bewbies posted:My last IPA I just left the bag in there until the keg ran out, 3 months in it still tasted great. Couple questions on this if you don't mind. 1) Pellets in a muslin bag okay? I think whole hops are probably better but I don't have any currently and want to avoid running to the LHBS. 2) Is it alright to just leave the keg in the kegerator after dropping the hops in? I read somewhere the hops dropped into a serving vessel do their thing better at higher temps for a few days. I was shooting for an APA but ended up with way too little hop presence and am trying to rectify that situation.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:18
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Roundboy posted:my holy grail is finding cappable 750ml bottles. I can get some great craft beers locally and reuse the bottles, but a proper source for these would be awesome. Drink more beers that come in 22s  This isn't wine buddy.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:31
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Docjowles posted:God drat it. The IPA I brewed about a month ago has this awful chemical flavor to it that I can't quite place. Tastes like soap and plastic and is basically undrinkable. The brewday was a clusterfuck from start to finish, beginning with my local shop randomly being closed and me having to drive a good ways to a shop I've never used for ingredients and ending with party guests showing up early while I was just starting the boil. Wouldn't be surprised if I did something completely retarded like rack onto a gallon of Star San in the carboy. I got busy playing host and honestly don't remember what I did. My second batch came out like that but I never had another batch taste like that.  I'm praying my current batch won't be a wash; I couldn't get the wort below ~80 no matter what I did because the groundwater was in the high 70s, so I just got frustrated and pitched instead of putting it in the loving cooler to chill for a couple hours. I'm really frustrated with my cooling method right now. It just sucks.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:40
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My local minor league baseball ball park is owned (or run by, not sure) a craft beer nerd and he decided to start growing hops in their garden area. They were harvested this year and sent them down the road to our local brewery and they've been made into a special pale ale for the park made from hops grown at the park. Pretty cool stuff! Only reason I'm bringing it up is because I've been asked to go and represent a local bar and website I write blogs for every once in a while, all because I'm spergy about homebrew and try to network as much as possible in the community. TLDR: I got free swag, tickets to a ballgame, get to do interviews, and get to drink free beer all night because of homebrewing. Angry Grimace posted:I'm praying my current batch won't be a wash; I couldn't get the wort below ~80 no matter what I did because the groundwater was in the high 70s, so I just got frustrated and pitched instead of putting it in the loving cooler to chill for a couple hours. I'm really frustrated with my cooling method right now. It just sucks. Same issue. I've been cooling down to around 80 and then using a swamp cooler to get down into the high 60s.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:49
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i have no chiller, and I just dump whatever ice my freezer made in a sink filled up with cold water. then i put the coverd pot of wort right in it, and give it a good stir to get the wort moving. then i keep rocking it with the cover on to keep the wort moing. Chills from 212 to 100 in a couple min, then down to 80ish in a few min after that. right around the time the ice almost all melts away. i toss it in a carboy and shake by hand to get O2 infused, and by that point the temp on the side reads between 75-80, then i pitch. i havent had any trouble with the yeast doing it that way, but im not using anything that needs a cold ferment.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:52
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fullroundaction posted:My local minor league baseball ball park is owned (or run by, not sure) a craft beer nerd and he decided to start growing hops in their garden area. They were harvested this year and sent them down the road to our local brewery and they've been made into a special pale ale for the park made from hops grown at the park. Pretty cool stuff! Unfortunately, my credit cards are maxed out (yes, partially due to ), but I'd really like to get a second pump for running ice water from my spare cooler through the chiller as well as recirculating with a whirlpool.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:53
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Roundboy posted:Chills from 212 to 100 in a couple min, then down to 80ish in a few min after that. right around the time the ice almost all melts away. Are you doing 1 gallon batches or something?
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Jun 7, 2013 17:57
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fullroundaction posted:Are you doing 1 gallon batches or something? no this is partial boil of 2ish gallons and another 2 added of cold water. Im just maximizing contact between hot and cold.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:59
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Roundboy posted:no this is partial boil of 2ish gallons and another 2 added of cold water. Im just maximizing contact between hot and cold. Ahhhhh okay. I was going to say, I must have the worst ice on the planet. I've tried cooling a 5gal pot of hot wort in a bathtub full of ice and it still took an hour.
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Jun 7, 2013 18:00
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fullroundaction posted:Ahhhhh okay. I was going to say, I must have the worst ice on the planet. I've tried cooling a 5gal pot of hot wort in a bathtub full of ice and it still took an hour. right, but you have to still get liquid moving from outside in (or inside out) to let the hot part touch the cold part  Dont just immerse in ice water and leave it
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Jun 7, 2013 18:03
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In other news: http://beerstreetjournal.com/make-your-own-craft-beer-with-just-a-few-squeezes/
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Jun 7, 2013 18:42
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fullroundaction posted:In other news: http://beerstreetjournal.com/make-your-own-craft-beer-with-just-a-few-squeezes/ What the heck? It doesn't tell you on the site what exactly it is, which is suspicious, however, it does mention that "OnTap Beer is free of calories, carbs, gluten, and alcohol and it changes the beer's flavor without adding more sugars or calories." which I guess implies it's maybe just hop extract?
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Jun 7, 2013 18:45
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RiggenBlaque posted:What the heck? It doesn't tell you on the site what exactly it is, which is suspicious, however, it does mention that "OnTap Beer is free of calories, carbs, gluten, and alcohol and it changes the beer's flavor without adding more sugars or calories." which I guess implies it's maybe just hop extract? To be fair that might make a lot of domestics actually drinkable
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Jun 7, 2013 18:57
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