|
When that beautiful batch you put in the fridge to get to pitching temp starts bubbling before you pitched.  It was my best brew day ever, too. I put a lot of work into nailing my water profile and mash pH, and everything went swimmingly. I've never had a spontaneous fermentation (that I'm aware of) but after 48 hours it's got a full krausen and lots of activity, so I guess I'll let it go until it's done and then see what I've got.
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 12:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 08:30 |
|
|
^^^ Did you aerate at some point before pitching? It could have just been trapped gas settling out. ChickenArise posted:I've been using the Polder oven probe thermometer thing from Amazon for my mashes (and all kinds of other things) for a long time now and I'm sure it's a horrible idea, but it's served me well. I use that same one for mashes and heating my strike water and it works quite well. Let's you set an alarm which is handy. For quick checks I have a waterproof one from Comarck that was about $15.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 14:33
|
|
|
Nope, racked it gently to the bottom of the fermenter. And it's going strong, smells of co2.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 15:08
|
|
|
Looking forward to getting that hydromel going, I am going to do a single batch Saturday and in a couple months we try it and it's good enough I'll do a big 5 gallon  Tepache has come up here a few times, but does anyone do anything special and wacky? There's of course no real single recipe except for "pineapple and cinnamon" but I've seen beer added, or not added. I added beer when I made it my first time but I used a beer with clearly residual yeast as I thought that would be helpful, but I've seen recipes using light filtered beer. Does it even matter to do that? Could I sprinkle some EC-1118 or Pasteur Champagne on top to give it a push? It needs to be ready for Saturday night.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 15:46
|
|
|
I'm thinking of buying this thermometer so that I can monitor the mash temp without continuously opening the mash tun. It seems like a pretty good deal for $40. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious that would make this a bad idea. I have a 10 gallon cooler mash tun if that matters at all.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 17:02
|
|
|
Seph posted:I'm thinking of buying this thermometer so that I can monitor the mash temp without continuously opening the mash tun. It seems like a pretty good deal for $40. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious that would make this a bad idea. I have a 10 gallon cooler mash tun if that matters at all. I use this one for mashing: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004XSC5
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 17:07
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:Looking forward to getting that hydromel going, I am going to do a single batch Saturday and in a couple months we try it and it's good enough I'll do a big 5 gallon It seems like you are always trying to get batches ready for some upcoming weekend. Have you ever considered just having a rolling solera of prison wine or skeeter pee or something?
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 19:53
|
|
|
I've rescued dead thermometer probes before (where they read some ridiculous number 200 degrees above actual temp). Take the probe, put it on a cookie sheet, and place it in a cold oven and turn the heat to 350. By the time the oven gets up to temp, the probe should work again.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 19:55
|
|
|
Home Brewing Thread IV: a rolling solera of prison wine and skeeter pee
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 19:55
|
|
|
HatfulOfHollow posted:Home Brewing Thread IV: a rolling solera of prison wine and skeeter pee when is thread IV gonna be anyways? I hope when we get to 15 the thread is "7th son of a 7th son of a home brewing thread." And the entire OP is scratched and it's just Bruce Dickinson yelling with a bunch of fire behind him.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 20:00
|
|
|
ChickenArise posted:It seems like you are always trying to get batches ready for some upcoming weekend. Have you ever considered just having a rolling solera of prison wine or skeeter pee or something? But is it thematically appropriate
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 20:06
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:But is it thematically appropriate For this weeks period masquerade dance, the featured theme is Poe's Masque of the red death, and the beer on draft will be an Irish Red Ale laced with live ebola cultures.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 20:14
|
|
|
Just heard a quiet "light bulb being broken outside" noise come from my beer closet. One of my belgian tripels that's been in the bottle for five months decided it'd had enough of this life and now there are tiny shards of glass everywhere. This has been a week of firsts for me!
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 12:44
|
|
|
Ambihelical Hexnut posted:Just heard a quiet "light bulb being broken outside" noise come from my beer closet. One of my belgian tripels that's been in the bottle for five months decided it'd had enough of this life and now there are tiny shards of glass everywhere. This has been a week of firsts for me! All the more reason to get a kegging system!
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 13:06
|
|
|
Tasted my Blonde ale last night. It was killer. Mild fruity hops, light body, smooth and easy. I could have 6! Even my wife who hates beer said she would probably like it (She could only smell it cause she's a preggo).
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 13:35
|
|
|
Is this just a terrible themapen knockoff? The price is certainly right.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 14:04
|
|
|
Seph posted:All the more reason to get a kegging system! Oh Ive got one and it's my preferred way, I just don't have enough kegs to store everything I make.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 14:10
|
|
|
Finalizing everything for my first brew day a week from this Saturday, and I think I've decided on what I want to try... Does anyone have a good English Pale recipe? Maybe a Fuller's London Pride clone? One of my go-to beers, and if I can produce something even half as good, I'll be pretty happy. I found this on byo: code:
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 16:15
|
|
|
pugnax posted:Is this just a terrible themapen knockoff? The price is certainly right. Yes it is, but the one I bought seems to work well enough. I've only used it I've so far though. Mine was on the high end of its tolerance range in ice water, pretty much dead on at boiling. Reads quickly, but I'm not sure it is any better than the nice long probed thermoworks stuff posted recently. Seems durable, at least.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:06
|
|
|
Syrinxx posted:100% of my probe thermo deaths have come when I let the top of the rigid probe get immersed in liquid. In that case it's covered by a spring but I'd wager it's not waterproof so just keep it in mind. So how do you keep it from getting fully submerged during the mash? Tape it to the side or shut the lid on the cable? I'm trying to think of a creative way to keep it upright and the top dry.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:14
|
|
|
Ambihelical Hexnut posted:Just heard a quiet "light bulb being broken outside" noise come from my beer closet. One of my belgian tripels that's been in the bottle for five months decided it'd had enough of this life and now there are tiny shards of glass everywhere. This has been a week of firsts for me! It's pretty terrifying when this happens as you pick up the bottle. Infected beers are scary for real.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 22:11
|
|
|
Oh I was terrified wiping all the remaining bottles down and transferring them to the fridge for that reason. I used to leave all of my stuff inside of garbage bags while conditioning but I've never had one burst so I stopped doing it. The amount of really teeny tiny glass shards that stuck in my skin while I was cleaning up may motivate me to resume the practice. Or just order a shitload of those cheapo messed up pin lock kegs and rotate stock through the keezer more often. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 22:29
|
|
|
Hi, I am super sorry if this has been covered recently, I read through the last few pages but this is a giant thread. We bottled our second batch of beer two weeks ago, an amber ale, and for the first time used those carbonation tablets. I can't tell you exactly which kind, because tbh I'd never considered them before (we didn't for our last batch--my partner picked them up from the brewing store and was all excited about them and of course now doesn't remember what kind they were, but we did follow the instructions for use exactly). Anyways, we bottled the beer two weeks ago, and it looks like the tablets didn't really dissolve in most of the bottles--there's white tablet chunks chilling at the bottom of most of them. Is there anything I can do about this? Do I just need to wait more? Was I wrong to allow the tablets? Should I leave my partner for using them?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 22:35
|
|
|
So I'm completely new to brewing and I have a question about bottling. A lot of the starter kits I've looked at make 5 gallon batches, whats the best way to go about bottling all of this beer in terms of bottle sizes or types?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 22:38
|
|
|
CrotchDropJeans posted:Hi, I am super sorry if this has been covered recently, I read through the last few pages but this is a giant thread. You can probably just invert the bottles a few times to gently agitate them. That ought to mix things up a bit. But what you might be seeing is yeast - if it's more of a uniform film than chunks, that's probably what it is. A gentle agitation won't hurt in that circumstance either - you'll just have to wait for it to settle again before the beer will be clear. There's also no reason not to chill one bottle and try it out to see how things are going in there. Nerd Grenade posted:So I'm completely new to brewing and I have a question about bottling. A lot of the starter kits I've looked at make 5 gallon batches, whats the best way to go about bottling all of this beer in terms of bottle sizes or types? "Best" is slippery. I used to just save and scavenge bottles of whatever sizes I could get my hands on. That ended up being mostly 12-ounce bottles. If you bottle entirely in 12s, you'll need about 50 to 55 to be sure to have enough for five gallons. Some people prefer to bottle in 22s to cut down the amount of bother involved with bottling, but you'll still want about 28 or 30 of those. Or any mix of the two. Any amber pry-off (not twist-off) bottle is the standard. I've used green and clear ones, too, but they are a little more sensitive to light, so keep them in the dark. Actually, keep all your beer in the dark for best results.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 23:04
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:You can probably just invert the bottles a few times to gently agitate them. That ought to mix things up a bit. Thanks! It's definitely chunks of tablet. I'll crack one open later tonight and report.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 23:06
|
|
|
Seph posted:So how do you keep it from getting fully submerged during the mash? Tape it to the side or shut the lid on the cable? I'm trying to think of a creative way to keep it upright and the top dry.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 00:26
|
|
|
CrotchDropJeans posted:Thanks! It's definitely chunks of tablet. I'll crack one open later tonight and report. I've had this problem before, do either/both of these: give them a bit of a shake upside down, warm them up (room temp/~70f) It happens, they are compressed enough sometimes and it's nbd.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 02:31
|
|
|
McSpergin posted:definitely not the reg! everything but. I figured if nothing leaked, then it was the regulator Well, I finally got around to trying the submerge test, and actually found leaks in two different places: - My regulator has a distributor and two ball valves so I can pump the gas out to two different kegs (albeit at one pressure). It turns out that when either of the ball valves are partially open (all the way open or closed appears to not be an issue) there is a very audible leak around the valve lever. It's possible that if something gets bumped in the fridge that that lever could be what leaks out. - Most likely the culprit of this last round, the disconnect at the end of the gas tubing was loose and made visible bubbles when submerged. Thanks for everyone's help! Now to hook it back up and hope my IPA isn't totally ruined... edit: It was. I had gotten very near the bottom of the keg anyway, and it was total hop sludge. In fact, my faucet got clogged from hop debris. Dumped the remainder, and now I need to brew pretty urgently to get some taps going again. crazyfish fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Mar 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 03:25
|
|
|
Finished putting my mash tun together this evening. Filled it with water to check for leaks, all good! I do have a question though... I checked to make sure I had good operation and flow of the valve and draining, but noticed that it left a gallon when draining on a level surface. Is there a way to overcome this? When I'm transferring the wort later, can I just tip the cooler up a bit to ensure I'm not losing as much? Is there a better way to get that gallon out of the bottom? Or will this not be an issue with the grains displacing the liquid? Scarf fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Mar 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 04:20
|
|
|
My spontaneous fermenting accident has dropped almost 30 points in 3 days and is still going strong. According to the White Labs guy if an unknown yeast produces alcohol then that's the first check that it's not one of the dangerous pathogen ones, so I can safely taste the sample. It looks, smells, and tastes like young beer with no major issues. I am guessing at this point that I insufficiently washed or sanitized something which transferred yeast cells from another batch I made in close proximity, and it will turn out as drinkable beer. I'll update this post if I end up in the hospital tonight.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 13:52
|
|
|
Scarf posted:Finished putting my mash tun together this evening. You just have to account for the loss in your calculations, really. You can try tilting it, but that won't get you too far and you may get some of the bits you've been trying to keep out by vorlaufing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:25
|
|
|
I BIAB but maybe you could fashion a dip tube to go lower and use a pump if you have one? But that would probably send you down  road.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:29
|
|
|
Ok guys. I'm having some sort of hosed up discrepancy between BrewToad and Beersmith. I throw together simple recipes in BrewToad and then fine tune them when I'm near my laptop with Beersmith installed. I did that with this recipe: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/pet-unicorn But when I put it in Beersmith the gravity is whacked the gently caress out. Like, I had to drop my MO and Munich down to 1.75lbs each to get down to the same gravity. I double and triple checked my volumes and that's not the problem. What the hell is going on here? edit - Nevermind... Somehow I changed my efficiency in BrewToad to 35%. That would do it. deedee megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Mar 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:37
|
|
|
Nerd Grenade posted:So I'm completely new to brewing and I have a question about bottling. A lot of the starter kits I've looked at make 5 gallon batches, whats the best way to go about bottling all of this beer in terms of bottle sizes or types? Get a bench capper, not the lovely one that comes with the starter kit Drink a bunch of beer, brown bottle pop-tops, then clean and sanitize them Get a friend to speed things along because this is the most annoying part
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:47
|
|
|
You'll need 48 12 ounce bottles for a 5 gallon batch. Get to drinking.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:49
|
|
|
Sam Adams are easy to de-lable with a hot soak, but they have "Samuel Adams" embossed in the glass, other than that they're tops.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:58
|
|
|
Jermaine Dildoe posted:Get a bench capper, not the lovely one that comes with the starter kit I thought you meant the drinking here at first and I was like  to contribute - if you can get them, larger swingtop bottles make the process a billion times easier
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 15:59
|
|
|
Nerd Grenade posted:So I'm completely new to brewing and I have a question about bottling. A lot of the starter kits I've looked at make 5 gallon batches, whats the best way to go about bottling all of this beer in terms of bottle sizes or types? http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Beer-Deluxe-Brewing-Bottling/dp/B00HSFGZFY For 12oz I re-use bottles from Deschutes; the labels come off in a snap and the glass is nice and thick (I weighed them and they have more glass than nearly any other longneck). Also you get to drink Deschutes when you are collecting  Also as mentioned, swingtops are pretty easy although the most easily available ones (Grolsch) are green instead of brown.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 16:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 08:30 |
|
|
Syrinxx posted:Also you get to drink Deschutes when you are collecting That's a good upside. Everything those guys make is really solid. If any brewgoons are ever in Oregon, it's worth a trip over to Bend to take their tour.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 16:51
|
|