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Fluo posted:English IPAs! But typically not dry. Most of the english ipas I've had have been sweeter than your typical US ipa.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:56
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:My bottling plan right now a funnel and either pouring super carefully or using the spout at the bottom. I guess it's going to depend on how tall the sediment pile is going to be. I'd rather not use a suck siphon because germs make gross beer, but I have no idea where to start, really. I see all kinds of stuff at the store and online. Anyone have suggestions? Either of those will get beer into bottles, but there are two problems: 1) You won't be able to get the priming sugar mixed in well without disturbing the sediment 2) You'll get a bunch of oxidation. At very least you should get a bottling wand so that you can fill the bottles from the bottom up and minimize oxidation. You may be able to jam it right into the spigot (spray some sanitizer up in there), or use a couple inches of tubing to connect them. If you do that, you can use priming tablets in the bottles to produce carbonation. What I always did, though, was: 1) sanitize a second bucket, the autosiphon, the bottling wand, the tubing, the bottles and caps 2) boil the priming sugar for a few minutes in a pint or so of water 3) put the priming syrup in the bottom of the second bucket 4) use the autosiphon (no sucking required) and tubing to transfer the beer into the bottling bucket, making sure that it swirled to mix with the sugar 5) use the autosiphon, tubing, and bottling want to fill bottles
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Jun 2, 2014 05:03
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crazyfish posted:But typically not dry. Most of the english ipas I've had have been sweeter than your typical US ipa. So make a dry IPA with English hops.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:04
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I hope nobody has been trying to page me into this thread for the past year and a half or so. I'm starting to get back on the wagon since my last batch came out fine. I was battling a mysterious astringency that I never really figured out. Since I moved and started brewing again, it looks like it hasn't happened. It might have been really persistent critters from the old house getting into my batches, and somehow the gear didn't carry it over. I don't know. I've been experimenting with BrewTarget. It looks like it does the mash temperature math decently well for the decent stuff. What I'm trying to figure out is how it was estimating my FG to be ending too high for the beer I was making. It was doing this just from the grain bill. I was doing 6.5# unmalted wheat and 3.5% belgian 2-row. It was thinking the FG would be 1.013, which is above normal range. How is it inferring this? Is there a general principle I don't know?
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Jun 2, 2014 05:20
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crazyfish posted:But typically not dry. Most of the english ipas I've had have been sweeter than your typical US ipa. I've had it the other way around,  ! I guess travel/transport with the hops  , English IPAs* are bone dry (most the ones I had, most the American IPA styles over here just tend to be American or New World hops, sometimes the dryness is there aswell but not aswell with them [speaking locally])! I guess put it down to hop transport, as I've had some American beers which were meant to be hop bombs and they seemed quite bland, which I put down to the transport from US to UK then being on sold in UK and such. Where as with English IPAs I've had they were fresh off the cask at the pub.  quote:Flavor: Hop flavor is medium to high, with a moderate to assertive hop bitterness. The hop flavor should be similar to the aroma (floral, earthy, fruity, and/or slightly grassy). Malt flavor should be medium-low to medium-high, but should be noticeable, pleasant, and support the hop aspect. The malt should show an English character and be somewhat bready, biscuit-like, toasty, toffee-like and/or caramelly. Despite the substantial hop character typical of these beers, sufficient malt flavor, body and complexity to support the hops will provide the best balance. Very low levels of diacetyl are acceptable, and fruitiness from the fermentation or hops adds to the overall complexity. Finish is medium to dry, and bitterness may linger into the aftertaste but should not be harsh. If high sulfate water is used, a distinctively minerally, dry finish, some sulfur flavor, and a lingering bitterness are usually present. Some clean alcohol flavor can be noted in stronger versions. Oak is inappropriate in this style. To give you an idea, Burton On Trent water is 725 ppm sulfate. The closest outside UK is Dortmund, Germany which is 280 ppm, closest in US is LA, CA (east) which is 151 ppm [west is 75 ppm]. Like Burton Bridge Empire Ale, Meantime Indian Pale Ale, Brodies Hoxton Special IPA etc. But I guess like I said I put it down to transport time, as 2-3 months difference the dryness from the hop profile will be dulled and unless you buy from special breweries you won't always have the high sulfate content which alot of the original English IPAs had. *Proper English IPAs, aka not things like Greene King IPA which isn't an IPA etc. Fluo fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 05:50
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I made a Milk IPA after a discussion about undrinkable beers. Nothing fancy in the grain bill except 8 oz of lactose and I used 3 oz each of Pacific Jade and Citra (2 oz during the boil, 1 oz dry hopped) for a 2.5 gallon batch. The bottles finally carbed up and after cracking one open, all I can say is "not bad". Certainly not the horror show you expect when you hear "Milk IPA", even my very skeptical friend thought it was disturbingly good. It came out almost like a hearty filling IPA, but the bitterness is really smoothed over by the excessive amount of lactose. So a Milk IPA is a thing that exists now, fyi. Next batch will have to be something real and not some gimmicky joke brew.
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Jun 2, 2014 06:17
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:I've been experimenting with BrewTarget. It looks like it does the mash temperature math decently well for the decent stuff. What I'm trying to figure out is how it was estimating my FG to be ending too high for the beer I was making. It was doing this just from the grain bill. I was doing 6.5# unmalted wheat and 3.5% belgian 2-row. It was thinking the FG would be 1.013, which is above normal range. How is it inferring this? Is there a general principle I don't know? I don't use BrewTarget but I'd guess it has some pre-plugged-in values for yeast attenuation - for example in Beersmith once I know enough about a yeast I just change the attenuation range to what I'm actually getting, and I have to change most of them. Of course changes in grain bill and mash temp will affect attenuation also so at some point I might mess with those settings too. That stuff is all meant to be adjusted as everybody's systems are different and malt changes year to year and so on.
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Jun 2, 2014 06:21
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Discomancer posted:I made a Milk IPA after a discussion about undrinkable beers. Nothing fancy in the grain bill except 8 oz of lactose and I used 3 oz each of Pacific Jade and Citra (2 oz during the boil, 1 oz dry hopped) for a 2.5 gallon batch. Speaking of weird things, I've seen pale stouts about recently. What's the deal with that? I first thought it was trying to do some kind of "anti black IPA" type thing but just can't really work out like what they did, just didnt add roasted barley / any dark malt and just thrown some flaked barley or flaked oats in or something?  But then I googled it and found this article and this. Really weird!  Edit: Also Discomancer, how was the hop profile like, did it taste nice and hoppy? Because I'm wondering, if it really smoothed over the bitterness would that mean you would be able to add more hops? Fluo fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 06:24
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Is this too good to be true? I see most fridge/freezer thermostats at $55 and this one is only listed at $17 shipped: http://amzn.com/B008KVCPH2 Lots of positive reviews, a few negative for DOA and poor instructions, but I can test for DOA and I'll be fine wiring it. Seems to come with a probe, only works in Celsius, but that's all good.
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Jun 2, 2014 13:36
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BrianBoitano posted:Is this too good to be true? I see most fridge/freezer thermostats at $55 and this one is only listed at $17 shipped: It's $17 because you need to wire it and build the housing/etc yourself. It doesn't work out of the box.
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Jun 2, 2014 13:41
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 Trip Report on the Hydrogen peroxide + Baking soda paste for cleaning stovesBefore:  The Really bad burner I did a 2nd round on but the before and after is really amazing. I'm going to get a stronger brush (those wired grill brushes) After:  I don't know how this worked but god I'm impressed. My Wife might even let me brew on the stove again!
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Jun 2, 2014 14:58
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Anyone have a digital thermometer they'd like to recommend? My ProAccurate has crapped out on me and I am looking to try something better.
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Jun 2, 2014 15:50
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BrianBoitano posted:Is this too good to be true? I see most fridge/freezer thermostats at $55 and this one is only listed at $17 shipped: I have one of those. As Midorka pointed out, it's not complete for $17, but with some help from the Internet, I was able to assemble a working controller for about $35 and a couple hours of dinking around. Works great in my garage, but a guy in my club had one die pretty young. Somewhere out there, there's a web page that tells you how to load a custom ROM into the thing which enables Fahrenheit display and a bunch of other features. I have not done that because it works fine as is and I am OK with the readout in Celsius. Here it is: http://hackaday.com/2014/03/15/temperature-controller-gets-open-source-firmware-upgrade/ Or, if you just want to control a cooling circuit and need a display in F, you can use this without tinkering: http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Temperature-Controller-Thermocouple-Fahrenheit/dp/B00F05UI8O/ Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 16:16
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BrianBoitano posted:Is this too good to be true? I see most fridge/freezer thermostats at $55 and this one is only listed at $17 shipped:
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Jun 2, 2014 17:07
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Jo3sh posted:I have one of those. As Midorka pointed out, it's not complete for $17, but with some help from the Internet, I was able to assemble a working controller for about $35 and a couple hours of dinking around. Works great in my garage, but a guy in my club had one die pretty young. Awesome, y'all! I appreciate the input. Also, I'm not sure if I'm reading correctly, but I'm not sure the 2nd option has dual control (cooling and heating). If it does, I'll nab that one.
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Jun 2, 2014 17:28
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BrianBoitano posted:Awesome, y'all! I appreciate the input. I'm not quite clear on that either. For an extra $5, I'd just get the STC-1000 since I know it works.
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Jun 2, 2014 18:50
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BerkerkLurk posted:Anyone have a digital thermometer they'd like to recommend? My ProAccurate has crapped out on me and I am looking to try something better. Thermapen is the gold standard for handhelds, but it's not cheap. Thermoworks makes several other good units that have longer cables/probes, too. http://www.thermoworks.com/
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Jun 2, 2014 18:52
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It's funny how LD Carlson's yeast nutrient and calcium chloride look and sound identical when you're starting to get a buzz at the end of a brew day. It was time to add the nutrient so I grabbed the bottle next to the whirlfloc, shook it to hear if it was full of little beads, thought yep, that's yeast nutrient and threw a teaspoon into my Oktoberfest. So it looks like I'm going to have around 272ppm Cl- in this beer. I've never seen a water profile that high, is this going to come out tasting terrible?
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Jun 2, 2014 19:31
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internet celebrity posted:It's funny how LD Carlson's yeast nutrient and calcium chloride look and sound identical when you're starting to get a buzz at the end of a brew day. It was time to add the nutrient so I grabbed the bottle next to the whirlfloc, shook it to hear if it was full of little beads, thought yep, that's yeast nutrient and threw a teaspoon into my Oktoberfest. Nah, if anything, you might even get a crisper bitterness. 
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Jun 2, 2014 19:34
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internet celebrity posted:It's funny how LD Carlson's yeast nutrient and calcium chloride look and sound identical when you're starting to get a buzz at the end of a brew day. It was time to add the nutrient so I grabbed the bottle next to the whirlfloc, shook it to hear if it was full of little beads, thought yep, that's yeast nutrient and threw a teaspoon into my Oktoberfest.
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Jun 2, 2014 20:40
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BerkerkLurk posted:Anyone have a digital thermometer they'd like to recommend? My ProAccurate has crapped out on me and I am looking to try something better. These are the two I use. They're both great, and agree with each other fairly well. off-brand stick thermometer - accurate for me out of the box. Very precise, and a thin tip if you ever want to use it for measuring meat internal temps. Polder probe thermometer with alarm and timer - The last 4" or so of the probe is waterproof, so I leave it in wort pretty much the whole brew day. I use the alarm to make sure I'm not busy cleaning things when I'm getting within a few degrees of my targets. This includes boiling, as I set it to go off at 208 and then I can turn my attention to more important things.
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Jun 2, 2014 21:14
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Just racked over my 1g SMaSH Maris Otter/Mosaic and boy it smells amazing. I never realized how much 1oz of hops is though until I saw the hop cake after dry-hopping with 1oz. I forgot my caps for my growlers at work though so I'm going to have to hold off on bottling for now. I'll get around to it next week, which is okay since it'll let the yeast settle out so I can harvest it. From the fermenter the aroma is pungent though. I can't wait to drink it. For my next batches I will be using a liquid malt Maris Otter though. I'll save the all-grain for my 5g and 10g batches.
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Jun 2, 2014 21:23
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internet celebrity posted:It's funny how LD Carlson's yeast nutrient and calcium chloride look and sound identical when you're starting to get a buzz at the end of a brew day. It was time to add the nutrient so I grabbed the bottle next to the whirlfloc, shook it to hear if it was full of little beads, thought yep, that's yeast nutrient and threw a teaspoon into my Oktoberfest. Dortmund Germany is highest water profile I know with Chloride which is around 100pm , so it should be still drinkable. Dortmund Germany Calcium is 250ppmish (Burton On Trent 295ppm Calcium but only 25ppm chloride). One below Dortmund on the Chloride level is 99pm in LA (East). So 272ppm is quite high for the water but maybe try dry hopping it and or adding lactic acid (.18%-.52% in Gueuze) or lactose sugar as it might be too dry? Fluo fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 22:57
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Just for grins, here's the water report from my old home town (where my parents still live): http://www.cityofventura.net/files/file/public-works/water/130401FinalWaterQualityReport2013.pdf I used to live on the side of town near the groundwater wells, so my water was harder than the water on the other end nearer the lake. Sulfate, 568ppm Total dissolved solids, 1243ppm Calcium, 162ppm Chloride, 68ppm
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Jun 2, 2014 23:46
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I accidentally dry hopped my blonde ale with 1.5oz of Citra and 1oz of Centennial. I meant to drop them in my IPA...I hope it doesn't taste too bad.
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Jun 3, 2014 00:06
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I just got voted in as president of our homebrew club (thank you for your congratulations) and I'm trying to sort out a lot of messes and get us back on the righteous path. Anyway, what kinds of cool stuff do you guys do in your clubs other than get together and drink? We've got a few competitions scheduled and we do a few public brewing demonstrations per year ... just looking for things to fill in the gaps between big events.
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Jun 3, 2014 00:08
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My current club has informal competitions on alternate months. Top 2 or 3 places, depending on the number of entries, get credit at the sponsoring shop. We also try to have "away" meetings at a local brewery or brewpub a few times a year. We have non-meeting brewdays in the shop parking lot now and again as well, to promote the shop and the club and so we can inform the curious about the hobby.
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Jun 3, 2014 00:33
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Jo3sh posted:Just for grins, here's the water report from my old home town (where my parents still live): Good amount of Sulfate!!  Seriously!
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Jun 3, 2014 02:27
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Fluo posted:Speaking of weird things, I've seen pale stouts about recently. What's the deal with that? I first thought it was trying to do some kind of "anti black IPA" type thing but just can't really work out like what they did, just didnt add roasted barley / any dark malt and just thrown some flaked barley or flaked oats in or something? I do like using lactose in weird situations though, my go to amber recipe has 8 ounces in a 5 gallon batch.
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Jun 3, 2014 03:57
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Yeast question. I have a vial of this Funktown Pale blend that is supposed to be basically 50/50 Vermont Ale yeast and Brettanomyces of some sort. I have a Vienna / Mosaic SMaSH I want to brew with it. I'd like to at least get some pineappley character from the Brett side, ideally funky character as well. The vial is probably 40% viable at this point. My thought was that I should not make a starter and mash around ~150, giving the Brett plenty to eat and pick up the slack from the underpitched Vermont Ale yeast. Does that make sense, or am I going to end up with just poorly attenuated beer? I could make a starter too, but I know the percentages won't be ideal with that.
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Jun 3, 2014 04:28
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Glottis posted:Yeast question. I have a vial of this Funktown Pale blend that is supposed to be basically 50/50 Vermont Ale yeast and Brettanomyces of some sort. I have a Vienna / Mosaic SMaSH I want to brew with it. I'd like to at least get some pineappley character from the Brett side, ideally funky character as well. The vial is probably 40% viable at this point.
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Jun 3, 2014 04:38
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BrianBoitano posted:Is this too good to be true? I see most fridge/freezer thermostats at $55 and this one is only listed at $17 shipped: I bought one of these, it works great! I was able to wire it up pretty cheaply, with a short extention cord from monoprice and an electrical box and cover plate that I bought at the hardware store for less than $3. I also bought a little aquarium pump ($12) and some tubing, to make a cheap fermtation chiller: http://imgur.com/a/XcyQs
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Jun 3, 2014 13:31
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Jo3sh posted:My current club has informal competitions on alternate months. Top 2 or 3 places, depending on the number of entries, get credit at the sponsoring shop. Do you guys sit around and argue about what to do with dues and merch on Facebook all day? Because that's all I'm getting right now.
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Jun 3, 2014 17:48
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fullroundaction posted:Do you guys sit around and argue about what to do with dues and merch on Facebook all day? Because that's all I'm getting right now. Not really. Dues get us a T-shirt and a logo tasting glass each year, plus go to the competition prizes. We haven't really done anything yet that would require outlay by the club. For example, when I was with the Maltose Falcons, they would have special events like bus tours and camping trips; those were mostly paid for by separate, per-user fees. I'm sure the club would front some money and then get paid back, but it was over and above annual dues. At the moment, we are very relaxed. We're only a year old, and we haven't had the onset of any arguers. Sometimes, in other groups, I have seen too much equality, where everybody thinks his opinion is worth at least as much as that of every other member. It's fine to take input, IMO, but you certainly can't please everyone. The board has to make the decisions at some point, realizing that someone is going to be unhappy. You can't let yourself be swayed by the loudmouths at the expense of the people who just go with the flow. You have to decide what's actually best for the club, no matter what he vocal minority thinks. They can run for President next year if they like their ideas best.
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Jun 3, 2014 18:13
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For those of you who got the email last night from Midwest about their new temperature controller - that's basically another variant on what's been on the market for years now, no? I can't figure out why this is remarkable in any way. Par for the course from Midwest recently, I guess.
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Jun 3, 2014 18:14
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Discomancer posted:The brett will finish up whatever the Vermont doesn't eat, so you don't need to worry about under-attenuation, that might lead to a slightly higher Brett:Vermont ratio in the taste than you were looking for but it should bring out a little more funkiness and still be in line with what you were looking for. OK cool, I think I'll give it a shot. I'm guessing it's going to take longer than my usual 8-day fermentation schedule, hopefully I find the patience to wait.
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Jun 3, 2014 19:10
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internet celebrity posted:So it looks like I'm going to have around 272ppm Cl- in this beer. I've never seen a water profile that high, is this going to come out tasting terrible?
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Jun 3, 2014 20:17
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wattershed posted:For those of you who got the email last night from Midwest about their new temperature controller - that's basically another variant on what's been on the market for years now, no? I can't figure out why this is remarkable in any way. Par for the course from Midwest recently, I guess. For a dual-stage (heating and cooling) controller that's usable out of box, it's a good price. You'd be looking at like $100 or more for another dual-stage digital controller. If you only need cooling, you can get a Johnson Controls single-stage one for cheaper, and if you don't mind wiring it up yourself you can build an STC-1000 box for like $35.
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Jun 3, 2014 21:43
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more falafel please posted:For a dual-stage (heating and cooling) controller that's usable out of box, it's a good price. You'd be looking at like $100 or more for another dual-stage digital controller. If you only need cooling, you can get a Johnson Controls single-stage one for cheaper, and if you don't mind wiring it up yourself you can build an STC-1000 box for like $35. I just priced out all the stuff I used to wire mine on amazon and it works out to $25.45 plus tax. I know some of it can be had for cheaper if you have a lowes near you. This is assuming you have a pair of wire cutters and some way of making a rectangular hole in a blank plastic wall plate. Blank Wallplate $1.91 (cheaper at lowes ~$.90) Switch/Outlet box "new work" $.79 Wire Nuts for 18ga, pack of 6 $3.37 (cheaper at lowes, 25 pack for ~$2.50) 1 ft Extension Cord $2.78 (buy two if you need both heating and cooling without having to rewire) STC-1000 $16.60 Cut the extension cord(s) into three pieces so you have something to plug in, something to plug into, and you use the wires out of the middle to wire everything together.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:15
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Jo3sh posted:Sometimes, in other groups, I have seen too much equality, where everybody thinks his opinion is worth at least as much as that of every other member. It's fine to take input, IMO, but you certainly can't please everyone. The board has to make the decisions at some point, realizing that someone is going to be unhappy. You can't let yourself be swayed by the loudmouths at the expense of the people who just go with the flow. You have to decide what's actually best for the club, no matter what he vocal minority thinks. They can run for President next year if they like their ideas best. This is some serious wisdom. I'm working to get a guest speaker from a semi-local brewery to come do a small lecture and Q&A, and our local craft beer superstore is sponsoring a "clone brew" competition, so we've at least got a couple interesting months coming up. If we can figure out what colors the stickers are going to be.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:45
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