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Yeah, I'd keep it pretty low, and at under 10 IBUs. Honestly, I don't even boil hops in most of my sours since the IBUs are so low you can't taste them, and the provide little balance at that amount anyways.
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Jan 23, 2018 21:03
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I do 5-8, aged hops are ideal though, if you can get them.
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Jan 24, 2018 00:42
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I just learned that The Mad Fermentationist leaves his keg hops in the keg the whole time he is drinking the beer. It is obviously in a mesh tube, but huh...I never considered that.
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Jan 24, 2018 00:47
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ChiTownEddie posted:I just learned that The Mad Fermentationist leaves his keg hops in the keg the whole time he is drinking the beer. It is obviously in a mesh tube, but huh...I never considered that. I've done this for beers that I know will be gone in maybe a month. So if I brew an IPA and I have a party planned for sometime soon, I will throw them right in the keg. At colds temps the grassy character doesn't come our that easily compared to room temps.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:51
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Power_of_the_glory posted:Anyone have any idea what the hop tolerance for this yeast blend should be? Can't find any information. I'm assuming less than 10 IBU due to the lack of pediococcus in the blend. That blend will be very hop sensitive. If you're going for sour I would use little to none, and more than 10 would stop it altogether.
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Jan 24, 2018 04:10
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rockcity posted:I've done this for beers that I know will be gone in maybe a month. So if I brew an IPA and I have a party planned for sometime soon, I will throw them right in the keg. At colds temps the grassy character doesn't come our that easily compared to room temps.
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Jan 24, 2018 04:49
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Syrinxx posted:How does your dip tube not get clogged up? Or do you mean you throw a bag / mesh thing right in the keg. There are stainless hop rockets that you can put right into the keg or you can use tea bags/muslin bags. Look back a page or two for links to what's being referenced. You could throw pellets in without a container, but they still get gooey. You can solve this problem of it getting clogged here by cutting a 1/4" or something like that from the bottom of the liquid out post.
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Jan 24, 2018 05:15
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Pham Nuwen posted:Harvested the fruit around town, it's everywhere down here in New Mexico. Look for the biggest, darkest fruits; ideally they should be a deep purple color. You want them to be ripe enough that they basically fall off when you grab them, maybe needing a slight twist to get them off. You'd be surprised how much material the little spines (glochids) can penetrate under pressure, so I'd recommend either very thick leather gloves or just some kitchen tongs provided you can get a good grip. A few pages back, my Italian family members used to harvest them with a metal can nailed to the end of a broom stick. They would just reach up/into/wherever the fruit was so it was in the can then just push it until it fell off into the can, then just tip it out into a bucket. (Seems there are legit tools similar to this if you google Prickly Pear havesting)
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Jan 24, 2018 09:40
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Syrinxx posted:How does your dip tube not get clogged up? Or do you mean you throw a bag / mesh thing right in the keg. As noted above, you can use a hop bag or one of the stainless steel tubes, which I just switched over to a few months ago. I tie some fishing line to it to keep it suspendedand just seal the keg right over the line. It's thin enough to where it will still seal no problem under pressure. You probably don't need to even tie a line to the steel tube ones, but you definitely want to if you use bags. I'd probably avoid throwing hops in loose even if you cut the dip tube because hop particulate can get into your poppets on the kegs and mess up their functionality.
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Jan 24, 2018 14:44
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Per this article I dryhopped a bunch of store-bought beers to check out the flavor of the hops I had lying around. http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html It worked great and a pregnant friend asked if I could do the same with non-alcoholic beer. I did and she loved it. What is to stop me from gently pouring a bunch of non-alcoholic beers in a fermentor, dry hop them in bulk, add some yeast and priming sugar and bottling them again? This would make it easier to store the beers for whenever she wants some, without the hops being in there long enough to develop weird flavors.
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Jan 29, 2018 10:38
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Oxygenation could be an issue.
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Jan 29, 2018 13:51
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It would also technically no longer be non-alcoholic.
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Jan 29, 2018 14:32
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Why do they need to be re-conditioned? Do the N/A ones go flat as soon as you open the cap? You'd probably only want to give it a very very light priming charge due to the residual carbonation that I'd be more concerned about bottle bombs because of it. I suppose this is a time limited problem, but long enough for it to be a thing.
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Jan 29, 2018 15:29
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Oxygenation could be an issue. True. rockcity posted:It would also technically no longer be non-alcoholic. Yeah, I guess the priming sugar adds some alcohol which isn't desirable. Jhet posted:Why do they need to be re-conditioned? Do the N/A ones go flat as soon as you open the cap? You'd probably only want to give it a very very light priming charge due to the residual carbonation that I'd be more concerned about bottle bombs because of it. Well if I'm going to dryhop them in bulk they'll be in a fermentor for at least 3 days. I doubt there is anything left after that. Looks like there are too many downsides for this to work, I'll probably just have to plan the dryhopping and cold crashing a few days before she wants to drink one and not keep leftovers around too long.
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Jan 29, 2018 16:12
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How about buying a commercial keg or sixtel of whatever you want (they do sell NA beer in kegs at places like BevMo and Total Wine), venting the pressure (put a coupler on it and bleed the gas off), then pulling the coupler assembly and adding dry hops in a bag or mesh capsule. Reinstall the spear and put pressure back on. You'd lose a little carbonation temporarily, but the risk of oxidation would be pretty small, I would think. Probably wise to retrieve your dry-hopping bag or capsule before returning the keg. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 29, 2018 |
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Jan 29, 2018 16:40
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We did our group-wide Lager Day yesterday in preparation for continued cold weather. I ended up going for a really simple adjunct lager to see how close I can get to the cleanliness of a simple commercial lager like Yeungling. This batch was made with a pretty hefty addition of Flaked Corn (via Corn Masa) and El Dorado hops for a pseudo-Mexican swing on things. Went pretty well, but for the second brew in a row, my strike water temperature calculator has been vastly under where it should be and I've had to reheat some mid-mash water to get it up to temp. Not a big deal, but I'd rather not do that. Going back to my original grain mill, my efficiency went bonkers and I ended up way overshooting my OG and back-adding water to the boil. Brewing in these mixed weather conditions and with gear that produces wildly different results, I've gotten pretty good at adjusting things on the fly, but it'd be really nice to not have to do that every time.
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Jan 29, 2018 16:53
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I've had a terrible time with my fruit additions and fruit drinks over the last two years. I've made a perry, a strawberry belgian (siphoned from a larger batch), a berry wine, and a pineapple champagne that all taste pretty much the same. It's got a tasteless, medicine-like acid and absolutely nothing else. They've all fermented to dry, and once the sugar's gone, the flavor completely disappears. I've been using farmer's market and supermarket fruits for all of these. I'm starting to think all of their flavor is in the sugar, and once it becomes alcohol the flavor it had disappears. The only conclusion I've come to is that my fruit sources aren't very good, or aren't intended for brewing. The perry was made of regular eating pears, all I did to the strawberry belgian was puree the fruit fresh and let them finish fermenting before siphoning to bottles. I've been trying to avoid brewery extracts and artificial flavoring, but is that how most products actually end up getting made?
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Jan 29, 2018 18:06
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You need to stop fermentation at a good spot to preserve those flavors, which takes a lot of practice, constant sampling, chemicals, and using an appropriate yeast. I only do fruit additions directly into the keg after fermentation and cold crashing now because I don't want to deal with that issue.
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Jan 29, 2018 18:50
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I've had a terrible time with my fruit additions and fruit drinks over the last two years. I've made a perry, a strawberry belgian (siphoned from a larger batch), a berry wine, and a pineapple champagne that all taste pretty much the same. It's got a tasteless, medicine-like acid and absolutely nothing else. They've all fermented to dry, and once the sugar's gone, the flavor completely disappears. I've been using farmer's market and supermarket fruits for all of these. I'm starting to think all of their flavor is in the sugar, and once it becomes alcohol the flavor it had disappears. The only conclusion I've come to is that my fruit sources aren't very good, or aren't intended for brewing. The perry was made of regular eating pears, all I did to the strawberry belgian was puree the fruit fresh and let them finish fermenting before siphoning to bottles. I've been trying to avoid brewery extracts and artificial flavoring, but is that how most products actually end up getting made? Fruit beer can be hard to keep the flavors and aroma you associate with the fresh fruit. Generally people are not using enough fruit, but some things (watermelon) have delicate flavors which are hard to keep. How much fruit did you use? It takes a ton of fruit to make something similar to commercial fruited beers. It takes between 1-3lbs of fruit per gallon of beer for most things. It's better to over-fruit and blend in plain beer then the other way. Adding puree after fermentation, wait til refermentation is complete and bottle is standard. You also chose some of the more difficult fruits. Store bought pears and apples are hopeless and you need special varieties for fermenting into beverages. Strawberry is a hard beer flavor to get right. Did it have Brett? Supposedly there can be an interaction between Brett and something in the seeds which makes a chemical flavor. It's also a pretty light flavor. Pineapple can also get weird and "bile-ish". I've had good beers with it but it's not an easy fruit either. I like it blended with other fruit. Cherry and raspberry are two easy fruits to do. Make a one gallon batch of a simple, light flavored beer and add 2-3 lbs of either of those and it will be good.
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Jan 29, 2018 19:10
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robotsinmyhead posted:You need to stop fermentation at a good spot to preserve those flavors, which takes a lot of practice, constant sampling, chemicals, and using an appropriate yeast. I only do fruit additions directly into the keg after fermentation and cold crashing now because I don't want to deal with that issue. This is the answer I keep coming to, I don't have a keg. I'm sure I could preserve the sweet flavors people liked about the store-bought fruits if I killed off my fermentation and artificially carbonated to finish. I don't know how traditional or common that method would be, but I'd probably retain more flavor. Der Penguingott posted:Fruit beer can be hard to keep the flavors and aroma you associate with the fresh fruit. Generally people are not using enough fruit, but some things (watermelon) have delicate flavors which are hard to keep. I put two pounds of strawberry into a fairly simple belgian pale. It had a strawberry taste, but the wrong strawberry taste. I think the flavors I expected were left in the fruit and the more unusual background flavors came out in front, which was not welcome. Der Penguingott posted:You also chose some of the more difficult fruits. Store bought pears and apples are hopeless and you need special varieties for fermenting into beverages. As always, I chose the path I hadn't encountered before. There's no end to cherry or raspberry beers from breweries where I live, and I felt obligated to try something new. Now I know why there aren't any strawberry beers for sale. I've also seen some of my beer-hating friends with pineapple cider lately, I figure it has to have apple cider in it, too. If I wanted to get some good brewing cider, where would I check? I've heard of homebrew associations making field trips to local orchards and splitting 100 or so gallon batches of cider purchased directly from the farm, but I'm also not a member anywhere yet. On the other hand, my aunt's got a tree that's started to put out more apples than they can use, but that'll probably be a toss-up on quality when it ferments. They're definitely apples for chewing on. Thanks for the advice DISCO KING fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jan 29, 2018 |
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Jan 29, 2018 19:41
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:As always, I chose the path I hadn't encountered before. There's no end to cherry or raspberry beers from breweries where I live, and I felt obligated to try something new. Now I know why there aren't any strawberry beers for sale. I've also seen some of my beer-hating friends with pineapple cider lately, I figure it has to have apple cider in it, too. If I wanted to get some good brewing cider, where would I check? I've heard of homebrew associations making field trips to local orchards and splitting 100 or so gallon batches of cider purchased directly from the farm, but I'm also not a member anywhere yet. On the other hand, my aunt's got a tree that's started to put out more apples than they can use, but that'll probably be a toss-up on quality when it ferments. They're definitely apples for chewing on. You've been lead correctly about the strawberry and pears. They're super painful to use because they don't have a strong enough flavor to really work. Leaving it sweet isn't really doing to change this. The cider that we get from the group buy here is a blend of 6 different varietals. It's the best cider I've ever made, and the natural yeast that comes with it is also very good. It has just the right malic and tannic balance and tastes wonderfully of apple. I've made cider from Ryan's Fresh Apple Cider (PNW available), but this blend now is much better. I'm a member of the local group in so much as I've joined their facebook group. You might also try adding malic acid for cider and tannins for the other berry wines. It depends heavily on the strength of flavor that your fruit begins with, so farm fresh is ideal, but it will vary for each fruit you use. Pineapple isn't so bad, but it needs to be tart, so if you're not using something to produce acid it doesn't taste as good. I made a tepache adjacent drink, but the lacto (if there even was any) didn't have a chance to do anything so it just tasted kind of gross. The batch I made with the successful lacto was really pretty good. So if you're doing a pineapple cider, Add lots of pineapple and the rind as well and add some strain of lacto or wild yeast to really bring it into awesome.
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Jan 29, 2018 20:36
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Is this the right thread for kegerator issues? If not, is there another thread I should direct this post to? If so, I just purchased a 2-tap kegerator kit a couple weeks ago when it went on a great sale. Standard kit that comes with a 5lb CO2 tank (1 regulator, so both kegs are supplied by the same CO2 line that gets split), and 5' of 3/16" ID beer line for each tap. I have Firestone Walker 805 and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA Cornys in it at the moment, running at 42'F. Since 805 is a lighter beer, I'm guessing it needs to be run a few degrees cooler, but the IPA a touch higher, so I settled in between. I've been trying to find the carbonation levels for both of the kegs. I found somewhere in a google search that 805 is carbed at 2.5, which suggests I should be running 13PSI @ 42'. I've contacted Ballast Point, but no response so far. Anyway, my main issue is at 12PSI, it comes out of the faucet so loving fast that I get 95% foam/5% beer, even after pouring a few pints. I've tried dropping it down to 9-10PSI, but then I start getting pockets of CO2 in my beer lines and it still comes out way too fast. Down around 5-6PSI, I still have pockets of CO2 in the lines, but it actually comes out of the faucet at a reasonable rate where I'm getting like 60% beer/40% foam. Is there anything I could be completely messing up? Did I de-carb my kegs by running the PSI too low?
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Jan 30, 2018 20:06
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When you balance lines, you need to know your liquid line ID, PSI, and keg height (measured halfway up the keg vertically) in reference to the tap. There are calculators online to help with this math, but it's probably that the kegs aren't carbed the same. Unfortunately, with only one regulator, you can't do much about that but find a happy middle ground. It's weird that the keg is bucking gas like that though, that doesn't seem normal. Just eyeballing the math on this and assuming your kegs are close in height to your taps, 5ft lines @ 3/16ths should be right at 5psi serving pressure. http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/
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Jan 30, 2018 20:18
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I'm guessing your system is out of balance which would explain why you get so much foam. How long are your lines? This is a pretty good article that can help you troubleshoot: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/a-balancing-act-how-to-balance-your-home-draft-system/
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Jan 30, 2018 20:18
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robotsinmyhead posted:When you balance lines, you need to know your liquid line ID, PSI, and keg height (measured halfway up the keg vertically) in reference to the tap. There are calculators online to help with this math, but it's probably that the kegs aren't carbed the same. Unfortunately, with only one regulator, you can't do much about that but find a happy middle ground. Sorry, I meant to include the math in my OP about the keg height, etc. I worked it all out last night based on an equation here. P = (L*R) + (G * 0.5) where L = line length = 5 ft R = line resistance = 2.2lb/ft (3/16" ID line) G = distance from faucet to middle of keg = ~2.5ft (rough estimate, as I can't remember exact value right now) I ended up with a pressure of ~12.3psi. Using your calculator above gives me ~6.5psi with the same numbers. Odd! Although, this number makes a ton more sense. nullfunction posted:I'm guessing your system is out of balance which would explain why you get so much foam. How long are your lines? 5 foot. e: Thinking about the numbers above, it seems at face value, 6.5psi won't be enough to maintain carbonation if I'm at 42', correct? Even the carbonation charts seem to suggest 12-13psi for a keg with 2.5 vols CO2. Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Jan 30, 2018 |
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Jan 30, 2018 20:56
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Oh wow, Ballast Point just got back to me. They carb their Sculpin kegs at 2.65 vols CO2 @ 34'F, which charts out to ~10.5psi. That is way colder than I thought. So if I went down to 6.5psi, as the one calculator would suggest, my beer would start going flat, correct? Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jan 30, 2018 |
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Jan 30, 2018 22:46
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If not flat, certainly much less carbonated. I use 10' Tygon beer lines, and keep the regulator around 10-12 PSI for pretty much all of my beer. Seems to work pretty well (the Tygon is lined, and has lower flow resistance). I keep the kegerator around 38*.
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Jan 30, 2018 22:54
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Hmm, maybe I need to buy some longer lines...
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Jan 30, 2018 22:58
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Doubling my liquid lines from 5 to 10' is the best thing I have done since I quit bottling. Disclaimer I'm at ~5500 feet so I kind of needed to, but it really fixed my foaming.
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Jan 30, 2018 23:28
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Any good lines on Amazon? I see a on of choices, but don't know which ones are ok and which are crap. Would this be ok? https://www.amazon.com/Proper-Pour-...2F16%22+10+foot
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Jan 30, 2018 23:31
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Just to be difficult, I run my lines really short, like 18" but I keep my keezer around 36f. Serving pressure is about 7-8psi.
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Jan 31, 2018 00:45
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Ok I must be a weirdo or something because I keep my keezer around 47F or so. So my wife and I are looking to have a child in the near future. I got to thinking about brewing something that I could bottle and open once a year on their birthday. I was thinking of something like a Russian imperial stout. Has anyone attempted something crazy/stupid like this? What got me thinking about this was Mike Tonsmeire recent post.
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Jan 31, 2018 01:38
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calandryll posted:Ok I must be a weirdo or something because I keep my keezer around 47F or so. What about a mead? It should be good after a year and just get better from there. A 5-gallon batch will make 50 375mL bottles; your kid could feasibly be drinking his/her birth-mead on their 50th birthday. Without getting too dark, it could possibly outlast you.
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Jan 31, 2018 02:00
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Hmm I hadn't thought about mead. Last time and only time I've made it, it turned out like rocket fuel. It was rough.
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Jan 31, 2018 02:02
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calandryll posted:Hmm I hadn't thought about mead. Last time and only time I've made it, it turned out like rocket fuel. It was rough. Mead is not necessarily expected to be good right off the bat, although apparently JAOM and some other mead recipes can be pretty good in a short period of time. This is all based on things I've read, though; my 3 batches of mead are all in various states of completion with the JAOM the closest to bottling.
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Jan 31, 2018 02:10
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Mead or RIS. Do both. One bottle won’t be enough every year especially when the kid is helping drink it. Henrik Zetterberg posted:Any good lines on Amazon? I see a on of choices, but don't know which ones are ok and which are crap. Should be fine. Price per foot is much cheaper at both ritebrew and kegconnection ($0.39) but shipping may change that for you. Depends if you need anything else or not anyway. Jhet fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Jan 31, 2018 |
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Jan 31, 2018 02:58
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Pretty much any home kegerator needs 10-12' of line if you're running at standard (2.55-2.70) carbonation levels. I just tell people to start with 12' and cut some off if it's pouring too slow. Another good rule of thumb is it should pour at 1 oz per second. robotsinmyhead posted:Just to be difficult, I run my lines really short, like 18" but I keep my keezer around 36f. Serving pressure is about 7-8psi. That means your beer ends up around 2.2 vol CO2. That's pretty drat low.
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Jan 31, 2018 03:53
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Ok picked up a couple 10’ lines at a local home brew place after work. Just checked my existing beer lines and how the hell do I undo the crimping on this to replace the line? I looked into replacing the whole wing nut thing, but I like the 90 degree bend. Is there an easy way to get my beer line out of this? Everything came as a kit so I assume they made it difficult to replace stuff on purpose. 
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Jan 31, 2018 04:06
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calandryll posted:Ok I must be a weirdo or something because I keep my keezer around 47F or so. RIS, barleywine, bochet, flanders red maybe? Also, Bottled my first lager tonight. The remaining uncarbed sample seemed to have more body than i would have expected from an ale at 1011. What's the scoop? I thought maybe diacetyl but it doesn't really scream butter, and i did a healthy rest. Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jan 31, 2018 |
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Jan 31, 2018 04:47
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Ok picked up a couple 10’ lines at a local home brew place after work. Just checked my existing beer lines and how the hell do I undo the crimping on this to replace the line? I looked into replacing the whole wing nut thing, but I like the 90 degree bend. Is there an easy way to get my beer line out of this? Everything came as a kit so I assume they made it difficult to replace stuff on purpose. Looks like a normal barb inside the tubing that you have on there. Just cut the tubing off and use a worm clamp to replace as it only takes a screwdriver to tighten. It won't look as nice, but it will work just as well and you'll be able to replace the lines when they start getting gross.
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Jan 31, 2018 04:52
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