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Jhet posted:Halfway through my first all-grain batch, a Peaty Oatmeal Stout. I undershot my mash temp because well, because I didn't add all the numbers in correctly. It's cooler than I expected today and so my numbers were off. Not by much, but that was an interesting fix. Grats, you won't. I hope you went easy on the peated malt, I've read it can get out of hand quickly.
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Oct 19, 2015 02:40
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Yeah sour browns are great. The Bugs in bug county have been my favorite sour strain(s) that you can buy in a pitch-able form. Haven't used too many dregs yet. Bug County loving owns. My local shop got a couple packs in for their lambic and I scored a vial of dregs when they bottled. That, Belgian sour mix 1 (WLP), and the yeast bay farmhouse sour and melange and I think Brett amalgamation went into my Flanders red. gently caress it smells amazing  That's the same beer, in both carboys - the difference is there's half an oak spiral in the right and 1.5 in the left, it'll all get blended when it's time to bottle. To the very right is my bourbon barrel stout. It is stupidly bourbon-y and I'm hoping time calms it. And the champagne bottle is a special bottle of quad 
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Oct 19, 2015 04:16
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I brewed my biggest beer ever yesterday. My imperial stout was 1.120 before I decided to dilute it a bit. Took it down to 1.096 which is a bit closer to where I was hoping to end up. The wort tastes amazing. My last two batches have been much higher efficiency so I think I'm going to need to readjust my equipment profile in beersmith. I may have finally fixed my issues because my last two batches have been 70% instead of the few batches that were around 45%. I think they were due to the grind and my sparge process.
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Oct 19, 2015 14:57
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HatfulOfHollow posted:I brewed my biggest beer ever yesterday. My imperial stout was 1.120 before I decided to dilute it a bit. Took it down to 1.096 which is a bit closer to where I was hoping to end up. The wort tastes amazing. 70% is pretty drat good for getting to 1.120. I guessed at 65% on my first beer about that size recently and fell around 60%. I went the opposite route and topped it up with DME to hit my OG.
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Oct 19, 2015 16:03
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Has anyone used an Edgestar or other tabletop small kegging system with homebrew? Trying to figure out a way to work on brewing in a smaller space that doesn't involve bottling. Not sure how those little kegs will work for carbonating.
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Oct 19, 2015 18:07
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Jacobey000 posted:Grats, you won't. I hope you went easy on the peated malt, I've read it can get out of hand quickly. I went with a whole 2oz in a 5gal batch. It was subtle when I tasted the wort before putting it into the fermenter. I have a whole list and schedule now for things to make. It's a wonderful feeling. And after that I'm going to start with some brown sours. I think it was the farmhouse sour mix that I was planning to start with.
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Oct 19, 2015 19:31
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Nephzinho posted:Has anyone used an Edgestar or other tabletop small kegging system with homebrew? Trying to figure out a way to work on brewing in a smaller space that doesn't involve bottling. Not sure how those little kegs will work for carbonating. Got a flyer from Northern Brewer in the mail today. Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but it looks like they are selling 1, 1.75, and 2-2.5'ish gallon kegs now. The 1 gallon fully disassembles and can be put in the dish washer.
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Oct 20, 2015 01:10
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Nephzinho posted:Has anyone used an Edgestar or other tabletop small kegging system with homebrew? Trying to figure out a way to work on brewing in a smaller space that doesn't involve bottling. Not sure how those little kegs will work for carbonating. I used to brew with a guy who used the 5L minikegs. It never really looked all that great to me. He had issues with the kegs bulging when he tried to prime in them, and the CO2 is expensive to buy in those cartridges. I've said this many, many times over the years, but I really wish there were a better solution between bottling and full-on Corny kegging. Everything that's on the market seems to be a pretty flawed compromise.
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Oct 20, 2015 02:03
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The smaller ~10L cornies maybe? Although they're basically the same price as full size. You could use a micro charger and reg, after keg conditioning, the only advantage of that is slightly smaller size than a sodastream bottle
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Oct 20, 2015 03:40
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Are you looking to put the entire small batch into one vessel for serving, or just to reduce the amount of work for bottling? The little kegs are so expensive and you still need the regulator and dispensing equipment, the same as full size. I really don't think it's worth it. I've had good luck putting small batches in the 750ml brown champagne bottles. It is way less work and makes them feel kinda special. I also have a massive 2L swingtop that I will use.
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Oct 20, 2015 13:11
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Der Penguingott posted:Are you looking to put the entire small batch into one vessel for serving, or just to reduce the amount of work for bottling? That was going to be my suggestion. Find bigger bottles.
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Oct 20, 2015 13:40
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I'm starting to think I'm under pitching by overestimating cell counts in dried yeast. There seems to be a huge discrepancy in what the online resources give for cell counts in dry yeast... I'm thinking it is closer to 100/11g rather than the 200 estimated other places. I'm not getting any off flavors but fermentation is taking forever to kick off. I'm using o2. Generally I'll pitch 1 packet up to 1.070, two packets up to 1.090 and three after that. When using dry yeast: I use us-05 a lot, generally without a starter, always rehydrated. Sometimes s-04. I repitch slurry 3-4x and I get way faster fermentation and better attenuation on each successive batch. I stop using it because I get bored with the yeast. Recently I did an stout, 1.090og, 11g, three packs of s-04, I had issues chilling but had already rehydrated the yeast. Rather than let them rehydrate too long and use up all the nutrient stores, I made a 1.8l starter w/ stir plate. This really highlighted the difference. I had strong fermentation within 8hrs and the beer is already cleaned up and ready to bottle/keg after 1.5w. I've been getting similar results with slurry and liquid yeast with proper starters. The final product is fine with the dry yeast but it is so much slower and has a huge lag. I brewed an amber, 11g, 1.070 on Sunday, pitched three packets of rehydrated us-05 and still nothing happening this morning. I'm sure it will be fine but it makes me freak out and I know its not gonna ferment nearly as quickly - tying up valuable fermenter space. I guess the answer is make starters or deal with the lag. As I ramp up my brewing production, keeping something in the fermenter a long time is starting to be a problem...
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Oct 20, 2015 14:33
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I've never had lag issues with dry packs, with or without O2 addition. I generally do about the same as you, but I don't think I've ever pitched 3 packets - I have been repitching recovered trub/slurry though for an extra kick. Brewer's Friend says an 11g packet has roughly 10bn cells/gram when fresh, so approximately 110bn/packet. MFG Recommended 0.35 pitch (million cells/ml/ºPlato) is the dead-rear end minimum I'd ever pitch and it's saying a 1 packet pitch is only sufficient for 1.042 OG without a starter, 2 packets for 1.088 OG. I had one instance of exaggerated under-pitch and the beer had a mild off-flavor like green beans or something. Stir plates are in my near future just to save a buck, if nothing else.
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Oct 20, 2015 15:42
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robotsinmyhead posted:Stir plates are in my near future just to save a buck, if nothing else. Get a large flask if you ever do big beers. My stirplate actually seems to work better with the 5L flask I got than the 2L that is no longer with us. Also chiming in to say that I've never had an issue with attenuation or off-flavors using rehydrated US-05 as a single pack with beers up to about 1.070. I do ramp up temps (to ambient kitchen temp which gets pretty warm) toward the end of ferment to dry things out. ChickenArise fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Oct 20, 2015 |
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Oct 20, 2015 15:47
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I've never had any issues with off flavors or under attenuation with us-05. I suppose I really can't complain. It's just the lag time that terrifies me. 36-48hrs feels like something is wrong.
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Oct 20, 2015 16:06
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I've also never had signs of underpitching with dry yeast. I'm super-lazy about the way I use it, too. I don't use O2 when I use dry yeast, and I just dump it in without rehydrating (except for mead, but that's a different story). US-05, S-04, even W-34/70 - I've used 2 packets for lagers and big beers, one packet for everything else, and it has always done well for me. Heck, the last Imperial stout I made with S-04 was so vigorous with 2 packets per bucket that it blew the lids off and coated the interior of my ferment fridge with yeast goop. In fact, does anyone know of a vendor that sells US-05 or S-04 by the tray rather than the individual sachet? I've been starting to wonder if I should just buy yeast in bulk and always have it on hand.
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Oct 20, 2015 16:06
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Jo3sh posted:I've also never had signs of underpitching with dry yeast. I'm super-lazy about the way I use it, too. I don't use O2 when I use dry yeast, and I just dump it in without rehydrating (except for mead, but that's a different story). US-05, S-04, even W-34/70 - I've used 2 packets for lagers and big beers, one packet for everything else, and it has always done well for me. Heck, the last Imperial stout I made with S-04 was so vigorous with 2 packets per bucket that it blew the lids off and coated the interior of my ferment fridge with yeast goop. I was looking when I was picking out a cider yeast and I could only ever find 1-3 packets. Best bet is asking you LHBS I'd imagine. Wine yeast on the other hand seems to easily come in packages of 10. I've only had lag when I haven't used enough yeast, regardless of dry/wet. Once I switched to a stir plate and starter from harvested yeast I haven't had any problems. I have 6 or 7 different yeasts right now too. The hardest part is remembering to make the starter two days before brewing. Even the Peated Oatmeal Stout I brewed on Sunday has already dropped its krausen. I'll still give it until the weekend before I measure for bottling. I see deals for relatively cheap stir plates and flasks on homebrewfinds.com all the time. It's still $30-50 though depending on what you get.
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Oct 20, 2015 16:56
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I barely made my cream ale conan starter in time for my last batch, soi I didn't have time to crash it and I think it was still fermenting a good bit when I added it. Fermentation in my carboy was active within the hour. 
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Oct 20, 2015 16:58
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ChickenArise posted:I barely made my cream ale conan starter in time for my last batch, soi I didn't have time to crash it and I think it was still fermenting a good bit when I added it. Fermentation in my carboy was active within the hour. I like to just turn off the stir plate in the morning. I'll pour some into a mason jar to wash for later and pop in the fridge, the rest will just sit to settle the rest of the day. I'll decant what I can then pitch the rest. It's a good feeling when it starts within an hour. I was almost concerned that it went too fast, but then I remembered that breweries only need to ferment for a few days with ale yeast.
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Oct 20, 2015 17:04
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My underpitch came from a slurry package of Omega Labs yeast that the LHBS dude told me was fresh and SURPRISE SURPRISE wasn't. It was allegedly supposed to be roughly 150bn Cells, which was about dead on for what I needed it for, but unlike dry, slurry packs degrade pretty fast. Come to find out that pack was not fresh, at all.
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Oct 20, 2015 18:18
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So, semester has come to an end and I'm going to try my second kit brew (first "real" one), a Cooper's Dark Ale. My Cooper's Stout kit came out around 3% ABV, this might have been letting fermentation temp remain too high the first 36 hours, the expired ingredients, or maybe iffy sanitation (had the O-ring pop off and drop in, jammed saran wrap into the hole along with airlock as I didn't have another one handy). Considering the "best by" date on the tin was almost five years ago it still came out surprisingly drinkable, although not great. I'm not sure if it's just the low ABV or deliberately undercarbing it, but I'd say it tastes a bit watery/weak. Would I be likely to get something that tastes a little more full-bodied if I use less water? Was thinking maybe only filling up to the 20L mark instead of the 23L. Or would that potentially mess up the process? I'm also going to be using reconstituted Cooper's Pale Ale yeast instead of kit yeast (I actually pinched the sachet from this Dark Ale kit to use in the stout last time), hoping that'll help as well.
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Oct 20, 2015 23:34
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ABV is basically a function of how much dissolved, yeast-accessible sugars are in the wort. Looking back at your older posts, it looks like your first batch had an original gravity of about 1.038, so I'm not surprise your beer ended up in the 3-ish percent range. If you want to make a richer beer this time, with a higher ABV, you can do that pretty easily by adding additional malt extract. I think you're using prehopped, canned beer kits - you could do a lot worse than to just use two of those in a 23L batch, which would get you something like 6% ABV and a definite fuller body.
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Oct 21, 2015 00:07
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Pompous Rhombus posted:So, semester has come to an end and I'm going to try my second kit brew (first "real" one), a Cooper's Dark Ale. Use a can of malt extract instead of any other sugars they suggest to avoid wateriness. It's also to do with the low abv.
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Oct 21, 2015 00:10
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Appreciate the tips! Other question: would a wine bottle with a metal screw top be OK for bottling beer? My landlord gave me a leftover bottle from when he had family visiting to kill, wouldn't mind another 700mL. Jo3sh posted:ABV is basically a function of how much dissolved, yeast-accessible sugars are in the wort. Looking back at your older posts, it looks like your first batch had an original gravity of about 1.038, so I'm not surprise your beer ended up in the 3-ish percent range. If you want to make a richer beer this time, with a higher ABV, you can do that pretty easily by adding additional malt extract. I think you're using prehopped, canned beer kits - you could do a lot worse than to just use two of those in a 23L batch, which would get you something like 6% ABV and a definite fuller body. Would I get similar results by just halving the amount of water? I am actually not a huge drinker these days so smaller batches wouldn't be the end of the world. Although that'd leave a lot of headspace in my fermenter, not sure if that's OK. wildfire1 posted:Use a can of malt extract instead of any other sugars they suggest to avoid wateriness. It's also to do with the low abv. I actually did use dark malt extract instead of sugar in the first brew, although it was probably of similar vintage to the tin (was sealed, but still), should have mentioned that in my post!
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Oct 21, 2015 00:37
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Appreciate the tips! No, that bottle will not hold pressure. As for halving the water, you'd probably be fine fermentation-wise. Once fermentation starts and CO2 starts being produced it will push out all of the air inside of the fermenter. However, assuming is a pre-hopped extract, like I think those are, you'd end up with not just double the sugars, but double the bitterness, which might not be a good thing. rockcity fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Oct 21, 2015 |
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Oct 21, 2015 01:24
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Jhet posted:I went with a whole 2oz in a 5gal batch. It was subtle when I tasted the wort before putting it into the fermenter. Man, your post reminded me of my beer doc: http://bit.ly/1tSTUyG I haven't touched it in a while, I've got a month by month schedule that I had too before work took over. I should get off my butt and work on it.
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Oct 21, 2015 03:26
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Jacobey000 posted:Man, your post reminded me of my beer doc: http://bit.ly/1tSTUyG I never even thought of putting it in a spreadsheet. I'm in so much trouble now. I've just been using beer smith for all the recipes, but it's easy to forget about something. I finally decided what to brew this weekend though. I figure I should take my Saison Dupont harvested yeast out for a spin and see how it does. I'm concerned that it'll stall, but I have 3711 on hand to kick it the rest of the way if I need it. So just a straight saison. I may bottle a few with some hibiscus tea to see how it tastes. I have to go pick up some DME for starters, so I'll pick up some wheat and rye for that and a rye saison again. Now time to go make that spreadsheet. Edit: how did that Kentucky common turn out? I lived in Louisville for a while, and it's an intriguing recipe that no one can really agree on.
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Oct 21, 2015 04:39
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I put my second-ever keg on gas last night, then came back a little later for a beer from the first and it kicked. What timing. I either drink too much or brew too little. I'm trying the 40psi for 18hrs force carb method (I had to shut it off before work, so it was closer to 14.5hrs) Hoping for the best.
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Oct 21, 2015 12:26
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Just use Josh Wow's method, there's no need for hope.The OP posted:A: Josh Wow has you covered. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3437782&pagenumber=630&perpage=40#post442003548
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Oct 21, 2015 16:32
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I'm going off This Method. The way I have my keezer and gas setup, it's too difficult to shake the keg in the keezer or remove the gas setup. edit: they've edited this method in other brewdays and they seem pretty set on the 40psi x 18hr setup. 30psi x 30hr was what I used for my first keg, and while it didn't fully carb the keg in that time, it only took another 2 days at serving pressure to get it going.
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Oct 21, 2015 17:34
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Jhet posted:I never even thought of putting it in a spreadsheet. I'm in so much trouble now. I've just been using beer smith for all the recipes, but it's easy to forget about something. IIRC Saison Dupont dregs are just simple ale yeast, but I could be wrong. I thought they centrifuged their "special" yeast. Yeah, the spreadsheet thing came from me working with my brew partner and people I'd "gift" beer to, so they knew where they're special lied in the mix. The Kentucky Common was pretty great actually. Going light on the roasted/crystal malt was pretty key, for me. If you want to read about : http://cobdavis.com/2013/10/sour-mash-kentucky-common/
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Oct 21, 2015 17:34
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Jacobey000 posted:IIRC Saison Dupont dregs are just simple ale yeast, but I could be wrong. I thought they centrifuged their "special" yeast. Not that I can say for sure, but I've also heard that Saison Dupont filters their yeast out and re-pitches something different for priming. When you also consider that they don't use any special bugs I have a hard time seeing the point in not just buying 3724 or WLP565.
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Oct 21, 2015 18:18
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Jhet posted:I see deals for relatively cheap stir plates and flasks on homebrewfinds.com all the time. It's still $30-50 though depending on what you get.  
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Oct 21, 2015 20:30
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Biomute posted:Not that I can say for sure, but I've also heard that Saison Dupont filters their yeast out and re-pitches something different for priming. When you also consider that they don't use any special bugs I have a hard time seeing the point in not just buying 3724 or WLP565. Everything I've read coming out of the research into Saison Vieille Provision (from Farmhouse Ales and others) suggests it's pretty darn close. I'm not sure there's any evidence that there are four strains of yeast used in it, but there is definitely one that makes it to the bottle that will create a beer with similar traits to the Vieille Provision. Both WYeast and While Labs sell a similar strain, so at worst I'll end up with something similar to Wyeast 3724. It's worth trying it out to me. I expect it will change and adapt over the time it spends making beer for me. The point in not buying it is that I had one at the bar and brought the yeast home with me. So, price of beer = price of yeast = win for my mouth. I really don't see much of a risk in doing it at any rate. I'd have made a starter regardless of source. CapnBry posted:You can also 3D print your own if you have access to a 3D printer. I made this which is an 80mm computer fan, an LM317 regulator, a resistor, a potentiometer and 2 magnets. I thought it looked a lot more badass than those boring plastic project boxes everyone else uses. As a bonus it is designed so when your starter overflows, the box doesn't fill with yeast sludge. I can get away with buying a stir plate. I can't get away with buying a 3D printer. I thought about making my own, but it wasn't going to come out to much cheaper, and buying one saved me some time I got to use doing other things. At least I haven't dropped my stirring magnet into my fermenter yet.
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Oct 22, 2015 00:12
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CapnBry posted:You can also 3D print your own if you have access to a 3D printer. I made this which is an 80mm computer fan, an LM317 regulator, a resistor, a potentiometer and 2 magnets. I thought it looked a lot more badass than those boring plastic project boxes everyone else uses. As a bonus it is designed so when your starter overflows, the box doesn't fill with yeast sludge. Seeing as I've just broken my second 5 litre flask (froze the fucken thing, trying to crash out lager yeast and forgot about it for too long and the glass froze and broke) I might take the time to draw something up in solidworks as I have two 3D printers at the moment. When I get the newer one to actually work is another question but seeing as my thesis is wrapping up, you never know!
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Oct 22, 2015 14:58
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McSpergin posted:Seeing as I've just broken my second 5 litre flask (froze the fucken thing, trying to crash out lager yeast and forgot about it for too long and the glass froze and broke) I might take the time to draw something up in solidworks as I have two 3D printers at the moment. When I get the newer one to actually work is another question but seeing as my thesis is wrapping up, you never know! I was going to buy a 5L flask because I have 2x 2L flasks and when I make 10 gallons I make two starters on two stirplates so everybody gets the same amount of yeast. I decided to grab a 5L flask to make it easier with just one starter. Boy those things are expensive! Then I started wondering: Why does everyone use a flask instead of the smaller (height-wise), easier to clean, easier to get DME into, somewhat cheaper, griffin beaker? I always just put a piece of aluminum foil over the mouth of the flask anyway so does it really need to fit an airlock, and is that the only reason?
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Oct 22, 2015 18:54
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CapnBry posted:If you want the OpenSCAD file for that design, let me know. I always wondered this too. Aside from the flat bottom on the beaker, is there any point in using a lab-grade glass beaker? I assumed it was for the smaller neck on the Erlenmeyer, but foil is pretty cheap.
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Oct 22, 2015 19:59
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CapnBry posted:If you want the OpenSCAD file for that design, let me know. My guess is exposure to "the elements" and the erlenmeyer flask has a design to avoid too much? I assume you can use whatever you want. Why do we just use carboys and buckets? There is a ton of other poo poo you can put wort/must into. There is science behind the shape of the vessel with fermentation, some Belgian breweries swear by their used square milk containers.
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Oct 22, 2015 21:12
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Still not fully carbed, but my leftovers Hoppy Brown is done. It actually came out pretty nice. I went all 7Cs Hops and I'm not sure I'd do it again - it smells nice (but very mellow) and tastes good, but it has a REALLY pronounced earthiness, bordering on dirty on the finish. This was also the first beer I've done with 'built' water, but I'm not sure I can tell the difference. My tap water is actually pretty well suited for beer making aside from high magnesium levels.
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Oct 23, 2015 01:35
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robotsinmyhead posted:I always wondered this too. Aside from the flat bottom on the beaker, is there any point in using a lab-grade glass beaker? I assumed it was for the smaller neck on the Erlenmeyer, but foil is pretty cheap. The only reason to ever use an Erlenmeyer over a Beaker is because you want to stopper it (either to sanitize and then seal from the environment, or collect gaseous products). I suppose it also has a relatively wider base than an equivalent volume beaker, so if you're boiling your starter straight in your flask it could be more convenient for a gas burner. IF you are ok with just sealing off your starter with foil (not worried about contamination, not a big enough volume to off-gas too much) then a beaker should work fine to. Or, in that case, a mason jar (so long as you're not putting it on the burner). I imagine if you're doing a full 2L volume starter, though, you start to enter territory where you might prefer an airlock.
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Oct 23, 2015 14:25
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