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I've also had insanely good success with Bell's, Founder's, and Lagunitas (slightly more  but still p easy) labels.
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Nov 25, 2013 20:22
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Victory's labels come off without even getting them wet 
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Nov 25, 2013 20:26
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Angry Grimace posted:Refractometer question: Mine said to calibrate with distilled water. Does it have a Brix scale too? The gravity scale is not going to be entirely accurate.
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Nov 25, 2013 20:45
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Howe Sound's label peel right off all in one piece, plus they sell their beer in 1L Grolsch-tops, so wooo!
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Nov 25, 2013 23:38
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Mine said to calibrate with distilled water. Does it have a Brix scale too? The gravity scale is not going to be entirely accurate. It has both. The thing that's odd is that I'm apparently not sure how it works. I got various readings between 1.089 and 1.095 from the same column of beer that my hydrometer was stuck at 1.098 the entire time with.  Drops of water that condensed on the top of the pan-lid read 1.000 (after I adjusted it) and my tap water alone reads 1.003.
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Nov 25, 2013 23:40
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Angry Grimace posted:It has both. The thing that's odd is that I'm apparently not sure how it works. I got various readings between 1.089 and 1.095 from the same column of beer that my hydrometer was stuck at 1.098 the entire time with. Is it possible that some sediment settled out while you were taking different samples? That could account for different readings. I know it took me a while to get comfortable reading the refractometer too. It only takes a few drops at most. When I'm taking samples with a thief I empty the sample into a glass for tasting and then touch the tip of the thief to the window and it's plenty. You want to make sure the whole glass window is covered though. There shouldn't be any bubbles at all. Sometimes tapping the window cover open a little can help get them out but not always. Sometimes I've found inverting it for a few seconds helps get a clearer line. It also helps to try varying the angle the window is oriented to the light source to be shallower to get a sharper line. One single point source (especially the sun) works better than a bunch of can lights in my kitchen ceiling. Cupping your hand around the eyepiece so no stray light gets in helps too. Sometimes there's just a lot of particles in the sample and it never gets a sharp line so you have to be consistent in estimating where the middle of the blurred transition falls. With mine I have a hard time seeing all the way down to the 0.1 brix and stick to the 0.2 marks on the scale most of the time.
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Nov 26, 2013 02:46
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meatcookie posted:Howe Sound's label peel right off all in one piece, plus they sell their beer in 1L Grolsch-tops, so wooo! These are loving rad bottles to use, also whatup fellow BC brewing goon. I also use 750ml swing-top prosecco bottles, although I don't bottle much anymore since getting into kegging
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Nov 26, 2013 05:55
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Oxyclean was definitely the thing that I was missing in my label removal. Everything(red hook, lagunitas, harvest, laughing dog, brooklyn, and some other things I can't remember off the top of my head) has been coming off with no effort, except for widmer(some scrubbing required) and the williamsburg alewerks(no amount of scraping, scrubbing, or soaking seems to be able to totally remove them). As far as super-easy flip top bottles go, we used to love the 500ml Fischer Amber bottles. Yeah, they had a logo on the glass, but they just had one little easily removed label on the top of the bottle, and the beer inside was awesome...too bad you can't get it around here anymore. If I could get my hands on a bottle or 6, then I would probably attempt to replicate it in the near future.
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Nov 26, 2013 16:52
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I've been thinking of doing a Founder's Porter clone and wondered if someone with more experience could double check my recipe. This will only be my 4th brew, first time no kit. This is for a 1 gallon batch. Any thoughts? This is adapted from the homebrewtalk threads of people doing different all-grain and partial mash versions of this. code:
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Nov 26, 2013 17:20
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First time using my thermowell on a brew and it was sort of odd. I set the thermostat to 66 and it chilled to 56 (which probably wasn't good for the yeast, I guess I should have delayed pitching it), and it hasn't risen back beyond 62 yet. Then again, the ambient in my house is like 64, so I guess I don't know what I expected. It's fermenting though.
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Nov 26, 2013 18:31
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Angry Grimace posted:First time using my thermowell on a brew and it was sort of odd. I set the thermostat to 66 and it chilled to 56 (which probably wasn't good for the yeast, I guess I should have delayed pitching it), and it hasn't risen back beyond 62 yet. Then again, the ambient in my house is like 64, so I guess I don't know what I expected. It's fermenting though. Starting cold isn't usually a horrible problem as long as you get the temps back up. Which yeast strain are you using?
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Nov 26, 2013 19:53
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hellfaucet posted:Starting cold isn't usually a horrible problem as long as you get the temps back up. Which yeast strain are you using? It's US05. I didn't start cold though. I pitched it at 69 because I wanted to go to bed and it got all the way down to 57 inside the beer.
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Nov 26, 2013 20:22
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Angry Grimace posted:It's US05. I didn't start cold though. I pitched it at 69 because I wanted to go to bed and it got all the way down to 57 inside the beer. You should be OK, let it warm back up to mid-60s and keep it there, they should finish out with a little bit of effort and some jostling of the carboy/bucket every 12-24 hours.
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Nov 26, 2013 20:40
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hellfaucet posted:You should be OK, let it warm back up to mid-60s and keep it there, they should finish out with a little bit of effort and some jostling of the carboy/bucket every 12-24 hours. Well, I'm sure its okay, I was just surprised how far below the target temp it went since the wort lost 13 degrees overnight.
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Nov 26, 2013 22:26
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I just got a really great moonshine hookup and I'm trying to figure out if I can incorporate this into homebrew somehow. It's super smooth and the corny sweetness comes through well. I've seen the moonshine malt liquor kit on Northern Brewer and to be honest it sounds disgusting. I'm thinking some kind of dark rye style beer might work well with it but I'm not sure. Any ideas?
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Nov 26, 2013 23:49
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Got an email from Brewtoad - 3.0 update on their site. They have a 'group' function and here is ours. YOUR WELCOME: http://www.brewtoad.com/groups/sa-homebrew
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Nov 27, 2013 17:35
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Predictably, 6 gallons of 1.093 wort in a 6 gallon container has resulted in an epic amount of blowoff and farting coming from my chest freezer.
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Nov 27, 2013 17:49
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Jacobey000 posted:Got an email from Brewtoad - 3.0 update on their site. It's even based in the area of champions, thanks
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Nov 27, 2013 17:52
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Question for thermowell users - if I've got the probe on my temp. controller inside the thermowell (e.g. inside the beer), does that mean I should set the differential for "1?" I had it set to 3 when it was controlling air temp in the freezer, but it seems like I can and should keep the tolerances tighter this way.
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Nov 27, 2013 17:54
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Angry Grimace posted:Question for thermowell users - if I've got the probe on my temp. controller inside the thermowell (e.g. inside the beer), does that mean I should set the differential for "1?" I had it set to 3 when it was controlling air temp in the freezer, but it seems like I can and should keep the tolerances tighter this way. Yes. Even less if you have the precision.
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Nov 27, 2013 18:15
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 Last Call for Homebrew Secret Santa!Yall will be getting matched up and receive notices tomorrow or friday.
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Nov 27, 2013 18:19
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Jacobey000 posted:Got an email from Brewtoad - 3.0 update on their site. I've joined but drat I need to add the newer recipes to my brewtoad account! Been abit slack adding the new recipes to it since I started using Beersmith2. 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Nov 27, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 18:44
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zedprime posted:Yes. Even less if you have the precision. It's a Johnson A419, I think setting the DIF to 1 is the lowest I can go. The liquid itself doesn't seem to actually shift particularly fast, so I don't really see the purpose in making the DIF "3" the way it was when I did air-control since the compressor isn't going to come on very often no matter what I do with the probe inside the beer. I just noticed that with a DIF of 3 it overshoots by a lot and sent the beer back to almost 60.
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Nov 27, 2013 19:19
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I'm drinking a bottle of Barbera I bottled just a tad under a year ago and drat this is tasting good. You might balk at spending $99+ on a wine kit because it's a lot of money to drop at once, but drat, this tastes like a $12-$15 bottle from a store and that $99 got me 2 and a half cases. I just wish I hadn't traded so many bottles to people for empties.
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Nov 28, 2013 19:30
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I'm getting to the point where I need a lot more bottles soon so going to have to do which I never wanted to do and buy empty bottles, I was just wondering is there really any difference between amber bottles and brown bottles UV light wise etc? Just they look pretty much the same but I'm able to buy more amber bottles in bigger amounts for cheaper but another site sell brown bottles and are atad more expensive for less. I know that green/clear bottles are bad but never really found out about amber (slight brown) vs brown (dark brown) bottles.
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Nov 29, 2013 01:13
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What's a good place to buy kegs online? My mom is looking for ideas for me for Christmas and I was thinking about asking for a couple of kegs for the kegerator I should be buying soon. She lives across the country so buying local isn't really an option.
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Nov 29, 2013 03:29
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Attention goons! Homebrew secret santas have been assigned, check your email and post or pm me if you didnt receive one!
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Nov 29, 2013 08:06
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Stoked about Secret Santa this year. My santee is going to get some sweet poo poo, expect the week of Xmas!
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Nov 29, 2013 16:20
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rockcity posted:What's a good place to buy kegs online? My mom is looking for ideas for me for Christmas and I was thinking about asking for a couple of kegs for the kegerator I should be buying soon. She lives across the country so buying local isn't really an option. If you're okay with used pin-locks, McEver Distributing has the best prices I've been able to find. They're in florida though, so shipping might end up making them more expensive than something more local to you.
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Nov 29, 2013 17:02
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rockcity posted:What's a good place to buy kegs online? My mom is looking for ideas for me for Christmas and I was thinking about asking for a couple of kegs for the kegerator I should be buying soon. She lives across the country so buying local isn't really an option. Kegconnection has a black friday deal going.
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Nov 29, 2013 17:53
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The hops deals on Nikobrew are pretty good right now. Just picked up 5 pounds of hops for the coming year for some good prices. I like these guys a lot for their Nitrogen flushed mylar bags. All of my hops previously have been extremely fresh once opened. Saaz, Styrian Golding, Galaxy, Centennial, and Chinook. Another few pounds of Citra coming from another site once they get stock. Looking forward to the spring already!
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Nov 29, 2013 19:53
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First brew day in far too long here at my place. Even though I got a late start and did not finish until after dark, it was a good brew day and I have some house Pale Ale in fermenters, to be ready for the family Christmas gathering.
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Nov 30, 2013 03:07
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Fluo posted:I'm getting to the point where I need a lot more bottles soon so going to have to do which I never wanted to do and buy empty bottles, I was just wondering is there really any difference between amber bottles and brown bottles UV light wise etc? Just they look pretty much the same but I'm able to buy more amber bottles in bigger amounts for cheaper but another site sell brown bottles and are atad more expensive for less. I know that green/clear bottles are bad but never really found out about amber (slight brown) vs brown (dark brown) bottles.
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Nov 30, 2013 04:46
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Tapped an IPA I did with experimental hops this afternoon; completely crazy flavor profile: mint, some grassiness/herbal, (purple) grape, floral notes. Quite bitter but without that whole 'licking a pine-tree' profile. Interested in seeing how it plays out once fully carbonated and chilled. My santee is getting a bottle of this fellow. Also: adding bourbon and oak to the 'over roasted' coffee porter. Homebrew club bros said it'd match well and I'm sure they are correct. Why you join a homebrew club. They know things, taste things that you didn't/hadn't notice/d.
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Nov 30, 2013 04:49
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zedprime posted:Darker the better technically but its all a big step up from clear or green and I can't really think of any bottles that were brown but slightly less so than others. But is it a problem getting your bottles just drinking beer that comes in them? Yeah thats what I thought just wanted to make sure but still think I will have to. Its a silly feeling when you found out a lot of bottles you gave to mates not being returned, I am just going to have to buy 30-50 bottles (since now I've been just buying known beers where the label comes off easy but I can't drink 50 500ml bottles of beer in a week lol.
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Nov 30, 2013 11:49
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Fluo posted:Yeah thats what I thought just wanted to make sure but still think I will have to. Its a silly feeling when you found out a lot of bottles you gave to mates not being returned, I am just going to have to buy 30-50 bottles (since now I've been just buying known beers where the label comes off easy but I can't drink 50 500ml bottles of beer in a week lol. Not with that attitude
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Nov 30, 2013 20:15
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my son bort posted:Not with that attitude Haha! So today I brewed a basic 4% (ish) British Bitter.  (The two on the right) Problem is, I don't know never had this before but its got this weirdness too it:  The other one is fine but this one just looks... well like that, first time I done a stirplate starter and put it in didn't really look at it before I added it but is that just the mass amounts of yeast my stirplate made compared to the shake method or has something gone wrong? (Photo taken 3minutes after pitching).
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Nov 30, 2013 20:22
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Fluo posted:Haha! I'm about to make my first ever trip to Whole Foods in search of emmer wheat, I want to make a wit using it. I've given up on finding it malted although I know a domestic maltster or two have turned some out in the past. If that fails then roggenbier is next on the list.
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Dec 1, 2013 00:48
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Myron Baloney posted:Just looks like cold break material to me.  I'm a idiot, the chiller I got has improved so much since I've been using a pump (magnetic) for the wort, been able to transfer the wort and it coming out at pitching temp in 10 minutes or so. Prior when I was just using gravity it always no matter how slow the wort was going / how fast the water went it would always be around 30c and last times I've used the pumps I never seen a coldbreak this big. All the small parts settled in around 5-6minutes but 5hours later the big clumps are still there, I guess a day or so it will settle out? It was also the first beer in awhile that I used whirlfloc tablets as the last handful I've done I did it unfined.Also man, if you were able to get emmer wheat that'd be really exciting to hear how it turned out! 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 02:14
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Fluo posted:
First time I used whirlfloc it shocked me, too. I thought something was amiss, but it's totally fine, it'll all settle out within a few days. Also thanks to whoever posted that Kegconnection deal, picked up a tap/regulator combo for a steal...now just to get the co2 bottle, then sweet, sweet kegerator action will be mine.
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Dec 1, 2013 19:05
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