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Thufir posted:I just inventoried my homebrews in the basement: 159 12-oz bottles and 23 growlers from 12 different batches. I guess I need to drink more beer Oh yeah?  That's six crates of 12 oz bottles, six of champagne bottles, four cases of Belgian bottles, and six of 22oz bombers. They're all delabled and cleaned. I keg most of the time, but I like to bottle my sour beers.
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Jun 22, 2014 17:58
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Whoops. I grabbed sweet orange peel apparently instead of bitter, how will that change the flavor in a light saison?
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Jun 22, 2014 18:03
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I finally bought an autosiphon. I'm about 10 days to bottling, and I'm trying to find a way around the currently enormous amount of sediment. (I have a single bucket setup, you see.) I had the idea to siphon the beer into the canning pot (and maybe an extra soup pot) I boiled the brew in the first place. Could I then just dump the sugar solution right in, and bottle it straight from the pots? Do I have to stir the sugar to get it mixed up right?
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Jun 22, 2014 19:39
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pugnax posted:Had a friend try a smoked Hefeweizen - ended up 'going bananas' and being way too weird to drink. Haha yeah same. It the bananas blended well good into the smoke so it tasted like smoked bananas and it was kind of like.... who smokes bananas?
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Jun 22, 2014 20:14
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I finally bought an autosiphon. I'm about 10 days to bottling, and I'm trying to find a way around the currently enormous amount of sediment. (I have a single bucket setup, you see.) I had the idea to siphon the beer into the canning pot (and maybe an extra soup pot) I boiled the brew in the first place. Could I then just dump the sugar solution right in, and bottle it straight from the pots? Do I have to stir the sugar to get it mixed up right? Put the sugar solution in whatever your intermediary vessel is so that when you rack it it gets all mixed in. As it's transferring, it might not hurt to move the out end of the tubing around a bit to both swirl stuff around and generally make sure it gets mixed up. You can probably still wind up with uneven distribution of the priming sugar, but I bet it's a lot harder if you just rack directly onto the sugar.
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Jun 22, 2014 20:23
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Cointelprofessional posted:Oh yeah?
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Jun 22, 2014 21:12
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I finally bought an autosiphon. I'm about 10 days to bottling, and I'm trying to find a way around the currently enormous amount of sediment. (I have a single bucket setup, you see.) I had the idea to siphon the beer into the canning pot (and maybe an extra soup pot) I boiled the brew in the first place. Could I then just dump the sugar solution right in, and bottle it straight from the pots? Do I have to stir the sugar to get it mixed up right? I'd find a vessel to use that will hold five gallons and can be easily sanitized. This can be another bucket (doesn't need headroom for krauesen), a pot, or whatever. Boil up your measure priming sugar in a pint or two of water, then put it into the sanitized vessel, and rack your finished beer in on top of it. If you make the hose coil a bit in the bottom of the second vessel, the gentle swirling will get you 80% or more toward mixing the priming sugar. You can then mix a small amount more with the sanitized hose, autosiphon, or spoon. Put the primed beer up on the counter, stick your sanitized bottling wand in the end of the hose, and siphon into bottles, then cap.
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Jun 22, 2014 22:00
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ChiTownEddie posted:Whoops. I grabbed sweet orange peel apparently instead of bitter, how will that change the flavor in a light saison? Sweet will definitely taste more like oranges, so that's the change depending on how much you use. I don't spice saisons but I'd guess either type will probably end up tasting fine. When using the Indian-type coriander in wits I only use bitter orange, as the coriander tastes strongly of orange to me.
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Jun 22, 2014 23:07
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ChiTownEddie posted:Whoops. I grabbed sweet orange peel apparently instead of bitter, how will that change the flavor in a light saison? Anytime I have ever tried a beer that used dried orange/tangerine peels, I find them lacking. Fresh zest is ze best.
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Jun 22, 2014 23:17
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Fluo posted:Haha yeah same. It the bananas blended well good into the smoke so it tasted like smoked bananas and it was kind of like.... who smokes bananas? Yeah, it inspired a reggae-esque song called "The Smoked Banana Rag". Thought about maybe cooking with it and eventually dumped the whole thing. Just took a stab at a Caracole clone. 12# pilsen 2-row, 1# caramunich, 1# caravienne, 0.5# belgian biscuit, 0.5# carafoam, 0.5# light candi sugar. Bittered with halletau and finished with hersbrucker. WLP575.
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Jun 23, 2014 04:30
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Squee! The forums are back up! I've been wanting to post about an attenuation/flavor/tuning situation I have here. I'm trying to make a flemish red. Somehow between vigorous mashing and a concentrated boil, I got an starting gravity of 83 points--a good 20 points higher than I should have. I decided to start the fermentation there. 80% of the beer was fermented in primary with a trappist yeast, and 20% has been fermented with White Lab's flemish mix that includes some critters. Primary has finished and both vessels have frozen at around 14 points. This is higher than the style allows, but with dilution with another gallon of water, I suspect I'll get it to around 11-12, which is the high end of the closing gravity according to the BJCP. However, I'd like to try to knock out a few more points, and make it a little bit redder. I was thinking of getting some amber extract and krausening while diluting. I have already racked to secondary; would whatever yeast is left be able to pick up where I left off? Should I resort to champagne yeast or similar? I also was kind of disappointed that the wild mix didn't really do anything (yet). I was hoping to get a basic impression after primary and think about the blend to use. My idea was to pasteurize the wild batch in a large pot of water at 160F for a protracted time before blending. This would lock in the acidity and fermentation. However, I couldn't get an impression of what the wild batch could do. The grain effect was similar to the main batch, and it had a strong acetaldehyde flavor. Generally how long does it take for this to convert? Has anybody been able to get a rough ratio before for sourness? I'm going for Petrus Oud Bruin, which the BJCP technically classifies as a Flanders Red. Any schemes on what to do? I was hoping to ask this a few days ago and have some time to get whatever so I could do this before the weekend, but then the forums went down. If you were curious, the main batch tasted like sorta-sweet, but otherwise well-done, young trappist ale. That came out perfectly fine. I also had done a wit whose final gravity came out at 4-5 points; I like my wits more dry than the BJCP states. However, that may have happened because I ended up with a much lower OG, so I added a blend of light extract and sugar 2-3 days into primary.
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Jun 26, 2014 02:16
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Squee! The forums are back up! I've been wanting to post about an attenuation/flavor/tuning situation I have here. I'm trying to make a flemish red. Somehow between vigorous mashing and a concentrated boil, I got an starting gravity of 83 points--a good 20 points higher than I should have. I decided to start the fermentation there. 80% of the beer was fermented in primary with a trappist yeast, and 20% has been fermented with White Lab's flemish mix that includes some critters. Primary has finished and both vessels have frozen at around 14 points. This is higher than the style allows, but with dilution with another gallon of water, I suspect I'll get it to around 11-12, which is the high end of the closing gravity according to the BJCP. However, I'd like to try to knock out a few more points, and make it a little bit redder. I was thinking of getting some amber extract and krausening while diluting. I have already racked to secondary; would whatever yeast is left be able to pick up where I left off? Should I resort to champagne yeast or similar? Ok, so to start with, it would probably have been a good idea to dilute before you fermented. The reason for this is that yeast doesn't function as well in a higher alcohol/gravity solution, and is likely responsible for your higher than desired FG. I'm also confused as to you why you split the batch, if you want to make a true flemish red you need to condition the whole thing in primary for 12-18 months. If you want to blend back in post fermentation I suspect you're going to need a lot more beer that's sour, it's quite difficult to get a very sour beer from lab blend. I'm also not sure what you're talking about when you say krausening, could you explain what you mean? Rocko Bonaparte posted:I also was kind of disappointed that the wild mix didn't really do anything (yet). I was hoping to get a basic impression after primary and think about the blend to use. My idea was to pasteurize the wild batch in a large pot of water at 160F for a protracted time before blending. This would lock in the acidity and fermentation. However, I couldn't get an impression of what the wild batch could do. The grain effect was similar to the main batch, and it had a strong acetaldehyde flavor. Generally how long does it take for this to convert? Has anybody been able to get a rough ratio before for sourness? I'm going for Petrus Oud Bruin, which the BJCP technically classifies as a Flanders Red. Like I said, you need time. A lot of time. I think pasteurizing would be a mistake too, it can only damage your beer and half the fun is tasting your sour beers as they change over the years. Hopefully this helps!
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Jun 26, 2014 02:43
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Yea so with souring, especially first generation stuff, you definitely want to have what would normally be considered sub-prime conditions for other beers. Heat is fine, temp fluctuations are fine, under pitching is ok, blending yeasts and bacterias are fine, etc. What you really want to do on a first gen though, is sour the whole volume. It takes a long time to get a lab blend up to snuff and it's going to be easier to dilute the sour beer with clean beer then to go the other way around.
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Jun 26, 2014 03:01
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Well I have about 10 gallons of five year lambic that is probably vinegar now, but I thought that would be too rough for a flemish red. I suppose it's about time I punched a hole in it and tested it again. I was suspecting I'd get more acetic acid than lactic acid if I was blending with that. Yeah I see the point in aging but I don't have a good bottling rig for keeping the beer aging for years. I did some kriek a few years ago that won in category, but a year and a half later, it was blowing up the bottles it was in. Krausening is when you add some fresh wort to some beer, preferably with the wort already starting to ferment. It kicks back up fermentation and helps clean up crap. They talk about that in traditional lager making, although it's not normally necessary. It would do a good job beating up the acetaldehyde quickly. The new wort doesn't really need to be fermenting.
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Jun 26, 2014 05:44
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A page or two back I posted about adding homemade canned blueberries in syrup to an ale I had been making. I think I added them around day 11 or so. I believe it's been 7 days, but I don't have my notes on me. Initially I got a huge resurgence of krausen. I even had some come out of my airlock. This was particularly aggressive considering I had 3.5gl of beer in a 6gl better bottle. So anyway, fermentation has basically subsided but I'm checking the gravity tomorrow before I bottle. My issue is that the blueberries are still floating (fine with that) the tops of them are covered in white. From an ignorant perspective it would appear like mold, however I am pretty sure it's just krausen. I can't really snap a pic as the krausen residue is all over the inside of the bottle and makes it particularly hard to see. How will I know if I have an infection? I canned the berries myself and had them boiling for 20m. I really don't think any critters were alive. I think a bacteria infection isn't likely. How will I know whether I'm good or not? I plan on autosiphoning below the surface (obviously) and doing my best not to disturb the top layer of berries. Advice? Should I just go with a taste test? The white really only appears to be on the berries, which is what leads me to believe it's krausen.
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Jun 26, 2014 05:46
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I have a pack of wyeast brett bruxellensis sitting in the fridge I need to use. Any suggestions? I was considering doing a saison and pitching a 50/50 french saison/Brett blend into primary.
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Jun 26, 2014 08:06
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Bobsledboy posted:I have a pack of wyeast brett bruxellensis sitting in the fridge I need to use. Any suggestions? You can do a starter to build up your cell count and split it if you want. I got 8ish little containers that I can pitch from one wyeast packet.
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Jun 26, 2014 08:46
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Bobsledboy posted:I have a pack of wyeast brett bruxellensis sitting in the fridge I need to use. Any suggestions? Brett saisons are one of my favorite "styles". I just cracked a two year old bottle of a saison with Brett C and it's still tasting wonderful. Pitching both into the primary is the way to go if you're after a funk-forward beer. I usually leave them in secondary for 3-4 months until I'm satisfied with the funk levels before bottling.
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Jun 26, 2014 14:24
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Toxx posted:Advice? Should I just go with a taste test? The white really only appears to be on the berries, which is what leads me to believe it's krausen. Just smell/taste it. It would probably be noticeable.
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Jun 26, 2014 14:44
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ChickenArise posted:Just smell/taste it. It would probably be noticeable. That's what I was hoping would be the case. I assume I'm looking for anything sour or funky/out of the ordinary?
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Jun 26, 2014 15:44
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Is Wyeast 1272 insanely slow, or did I just mash too high and denature all of my fementables? It's been almost two weeks in primary and we're down to 1.023ish, but was shooting for a pretty dry 1.010 or so. There's still a bit of foam on top, so I think the yeast might still be up to something, but I'd like to move it over to free up my big carboy. Or I guess I can just pick up another fermentation vessel and just let this pale ale do it's thing for another week or two.
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Jun 26, 2014 16:34
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It's been a while since I brewed with 1272, but I don't recall having any issues with it. A quick look around the web, though, shows a number of people having slower ferments with it. Leave it alone and check back in a week or so.
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Jun 26, 2014 17:03
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Toxx posted:That's what I was hoping would be the case. I assume I'm looking for anything sour or funky/out of the ordinary? Taste seemed fine. Really really strong yeast flavor (not exactly in a good way, I figure this will fade considering I added a quart of fruit/sugar to a 3gl batch) I used wyeast 1272, OG .066 FG was .008. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is that not like super high attenuation for this yeast? It was in a 70 degree basement for what amounted to about 4 weeks.
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Jun 26, 2014 21:01
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Toxx posted:Taste seemed fine. Really really strong yeast flavor (not exactly in a good way, I figure this will fade considering I added a quart of fruit/sugar to a 3gl batch) I used wyeast 1272, OG .066 FG was .008. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is that not like super high attenuation for this yeast? It was in a 70 degree basement for what amounted to about 4 weeks. The normal attenuation levels kind of get thrown out the window once you start adding sugars, since they are a lot more fermentable.
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Jun 27, 2014 02:01
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Ok cool, I won't worry too much and pop one open in two weeks.
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Jun 27, 2014 02:10
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wildfire1 posted:Brett stuff ExtremistCow posted:Brett stuff Righto, I think I'll make a big starter, save some and then go ahead with pitching a saison/Brett mix in primary. I might give the Brett a days headstart as 3711 is a bit of a beast.
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Jun 27, 2014 03:55
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Bobsledboy posted:Righto, I think I'll make a big starter, save some and then go ahead with pitching a saison/Brett mix in primary. I might give the Brett a days headstart as 3711 is a bit of a beast. Don't bother with the head start imo, Brett is slow and you're going to get Brett character even with 3711,dont worry about that.
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Jun 27, 2014 12:43
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For anyone who's interested in sour beers, or interested in starting one for the first time: Mike Tonsmiere's American Sour Beers is seriously awesome. Probably the best modern book on sours to-date. Seriously good and full of gems and excellent advice. I'm halfway through and learning so much, total expansion on Wild Brews.
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Jun 29, 2014 22:27
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hellfaucet posted:For anyone who's interested in sour beers, or interested in starting one for the first time: Mike Tonsmiere's American Sour Beers is seriously awesome. Probably the best modern book on sours to-date. Seriously good and full of gems and excellent advice. I'm halfway through and learning so much, total expansion on Wild Brews. I also recommend American Sour Beers, pure ordered it many months ago and it turning up at the start of the month was great.
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Jun 30, 2014 02:11
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Speaking of wild beer. New little yeast company has mildly attached itself to my homebrew club. They gifted us bunch of beta-version brett blend - Trios & fantome-isolate. They also sell FULL pitches, none of that starter bull honkey. Initially I was thinking a standard pale ale recipe and pitch these in, but now I'm thinking of doing a kind of Patersbier (small belgian, featured on the AHA site). Thoughts on the recipe? code:
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Jun 30, 2014 03:57
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Only the brett yeasts and no others? What's hbc hop and is there really a tradition that uses ajwain in brewing?
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Jun 30, 2014 05:28
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Speaking of brett, does anyone have advice for cleaning a brett infested keg? I figure I'll boil all the small stuff, cook the dip tube in the oven, and replace the lines. The keg itself is too big for my dishwasher so I can't steam it. I'm considering filling it with boiling water and then soaking it with bleach, rinsing, and soaking with Star San. I have an expensive batch going into this keg so I really want to make sure the brett is gone.
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Jun 30, 2014 12:49
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DontAskKant posted:Only the brett yeasts and no others? What's hbc hop and is there really a tradition that uses ajwain in brewing? 1) Yes, it's a brett blend. Local yeast company is trying to get some "beta" info on the mixes/strains - they work nearly identical to sacc when used solo. (Fall out, "normal" attenuation) The flavor/aroma profiles are similar to belgian strains 2) it's a high alpha experimental hop with "grape and floral note" - had them around and want to reach med-range IBUs. 3) No, not at all. The recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg seed - I highly dislike those as beer spices so I put my spin on it to fit what I enjoy. Admittedly, it's not 'really' a Patersbier and more a session Belg Pale.
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Jun 30, 2014 13:37
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My brew club is having a malt liquor party at the end of the summer. Anyone have any tips for brewing one and not having it turn out like rear end? I was thinking just 2-row, some crystal, and a poo poo-load of corn sugar. We're supposed to be aiming for at least 50% of our gravity coming from adjuncts.
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Jun 30, 2014 14:09
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Looks good Jacobey! I was wondering if anything in this recipe looks off or needs tweaking before I brew it tomorrow or saturday. I've yet to decide the yeast but it will be just a clean crisp yeast. A basic IPA single hoped with Sorachi Ace and 2 lemon grass sticks at the end. Anything I should tweak? quote:Recipe Specifications
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Jun 30, 2014 14:32
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hellfaucet posted:For anyone who's interested in sour beers, or interested in starting one for the first time: Mike Tonsmiere's American Sour Beers is seriously awesome. Probably the best modern book on sours to-date. Seriously good and full of gems and excellent advice. I'm halfway through and learning so much, total expansion on Wild Brews. Anyone who wants to brew one is in luck. Wyeast is coming out with some limited new blends. https://www.wyeastlab.com/vssprogram.cfm?website=2 Wyeast 3203-PC De Bom Sour Blend™ Wyeast 3209-PC Oud Bruin Blend™ Wyeast 5223-PC Lactobacillus brevis
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Jun 30, 2014 14:44
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Fluo posted:Looks good Jacobey! Thanks - thinking about fermenting them in two different places (basement vs upstairs/garage) as my differentiator. Only thing I'd change - is this: have you tried "dry spicing" the lemon grass? I've had MUCH better success in using fresh herbs in the 'dry hop' stage. I think sometimes boiling can destroy some of the more volatile oils/aromas. Just a thought. I don't know which yeasts are available in the UK - but I'm a big fan of s-04 and us-05 for 'simple yeasts.' Heck if you wanted to play up the lemon like woah, get yourself some 3711/Belle Saison and let it rip!' e: Cointelprofessional posted:Anyone who wants to brew one is in luck. Wyeast is coming out with some limited new blends.  e2: VVV nice - best of luck. I have yet to use lemongrass but it's on my radar for sure. Jacobey000 fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Jun 30, 2014 |
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Jun 30, 2014 14:45
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Jacobey000 posted:Thanks - thinking about fermenting them in two different places (basement vs upstairs/garage) as my differentiator. I've not used dry yeast yet but because I'm starting to be on a bit of a budget. I'll be using us-05 for one, whitelab sandiego for the other half (I brew 40liters and split in half). I think I will use the lemon grass when I dryhop half the batch (other half I'm using raspberries as some mates wanted a fruit beer). Thanks man! And yeah UK wise we get all the dry, and all the WYeast & Whitelab yeasts. Theres a small UK based liquid seller but they're on slates where you only have 25billion and tend to be very basic. So I stick to Whitelab and WYeast, but starting to use dry one in awhile. I don't think I'll get my hands on Belle Saison but when I rebrew it (untweaked or tweaked) I'll makesure to get some 3711/Belle Saison.  I've had to get into the habit of restocking yeast more often and less amount. I save the yeast most the time and get a couple of beers out of them but I don't really enjoy washing them at the moment and don't have the means to build up a yeast bank. But heres what I got as of today: Wyeast: American Ale, Thames Valley Ale, Trappist High Gravity, Belgian Ardennes™, Belgian Lambic Blend™, Roeselare Ale Blend. Whitelab: San Diego Super Yeas. Dry Yeast: SAFAle U.S-05, NBS West Coast Style Ale Yeast. But yeah thanks man, next time I brew it I will get my hands on Belle Saison, and this time I am going to dry spice it with the dry hop!
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Jun 30, 2014 15:05
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Eagerly awaiting the ajwain update. I finally got a source of curry leaves smuggled into Korea and think I was thinking about that in a saison. The Sichuan peppercorns in a saison with some grapefruit might be nice.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:39
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Picked up a 10 gallon kettle with a ball valve and ingredients to do my first all grain batch in my dual cooler rig. It's going to be a hoppy wheat beer that I'll be brewing on the 4th of July. 5 lbs 2 Row Malt 3 lbs White Wheat Malt 1 lb Crystal 15 .5lb Rice Hulls I'm still not 100% on how I'm doing the hops yet, but I bought 2 oz of Cascade and 1 oz each of Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace. Right now I'm thinking something like this which would land around 43 IBU. .5 oz Cascade 30 min 1 oz Nelson Sauvin 10 min 1 oz Sorachi Ace 5 min .5 oz Cascade 1 min 1 oz Cascade dry hop Wyeast 1010 American Wheat
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Jun 30, 2014 18:23
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