|
The complete European lack of PBW/Starsan is annoying. Hopefully Brouwland/Five-star learn their lesson and don't mess with EU import law again.
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 07:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:04 |
|
|
What's a decent alternative to Starsan that's easily available in the EU? I still have enough for my next brew in a month or so, but after that I'll need to stock up again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 08:02
|
|
|
I would trade you a huge bottle of Starsan for some PBW.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 08:10
|
|
|
I tried out a similar product called Craftmeister, which can be used in any temp water for cleaning. I've only used it once but I liked it a bit better than PBW.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 09:47
|
|
|
Vienna lager: should I go with a 100% Vienna grainbill?
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 10:46
|
|
|
Speaking of Vienna lager: this may be less of a question for the homebrewing thread and more for the general beer thread... I'm going to Vienna next week and was kinda eager to try to find a commercial example that typifies the traditional style, only then to discover that Vienna lager is apparently one of those styles that is basically extinct in its region of origin. Are there any good commercial examples of it that are generally available, either within Vienna or just in Europe in general? Or is the style pretty much just "a Helles that happens to have been made with a large portion of Vienna malt", seeing as even stuff like Sam Adams qualifies under the style according to BeerAdvocate. Drone fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Sep 17, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 10:49
|
|
|
I think there's quite a bit of leeway with Vienna lagers. There are some light German examples that are pretty much just a helles made with Vienna malt, and then you have strong American examples using medium caramel malt like Eliot Ness, or medium strength ones using light crystal like the one from Devils Backbone. If you have good oxygen control and you are confident in your yeast attenuating using some crystal will probably get you to the color you want easier, but I can't seem to get stuff as crisp as pro lagers when I do so I go 40% pils, 40% vienna, 20% munich 10L
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 13:06
|
|
|
I went with almost 100% Vienna when I made one last. Mash at 146 and boil for at least 1.5 hours. Very clean and malty. Technically, Negro Modelo is a Vienna lager too, they just use a proportion of adjuncts to thin it, and I’m not sure they even use much Vienna malt in modern times. I’m not so sure they’re supposed to be light in mouthfeel, and aside from Elliot Ness I don’t think I’ve run across any that get distributed. Metropolitan in Chicago has done them, but I don’t know if they package it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 13:16
|
|
|
Pfriem goes for a mix of pilsner and Vienna, with a bit of caraaroma (150L) for color.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 14:05
|
|
|
Oxine/ClO2 chlor-tabs all work fine for sani. You can get them as RV septic tank sanitizer, or camping water sani/sterilizer. It’s only good for about 30min though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 17, 2019 14:41
|
|
|
Anyone with a RIMS setup or experience, I'm troubleshooting this issue with my new stand setup and having trouble using to the correct terminology in other forums to get a good answer: When I'm mashing and have the pump recirculating wort in the mash tun, it appears as if the grain is getting sucked down onto the false bottom to the point where it's hydrolocking the system. It works great for a few seconds, then locks up. If you agitate the mash/scrape it off the false bottom, it's runs fine, so I'm 100% this is what's happening. We had the same thing happen with both batches, one using a fairly standard mash thickness of like 2qt/lb and another over 3qt/lb (basically as thin as we could do with the kettle size+grainbill). The re-circulation inlet pipe/sprayer is not strong enough to spray wort down that far into the kettle to clear wort grain off the false bottom.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 14:42
|
|
|
You're probably compacting the grain bed from far too much flow. You should have a valve on the outlet of the pump to slow the flow down. RIMS needs a decent amount of flow but nothing crazy. You're getting good flow at first because you're pumping out the free volume from underneath the false bottom quickly and compacting the bed. Also, the important part of mash recalculation is that the false bottom isn't a filter, it only exists to help the grain bed lightly compact and clear up to act as a filter. You wouldn't want any recirc to try and clear it of grain either, that would be very bad.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 14:58
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:Anyone with a RIMS setup or experience, I'm troubleshooting this issue with my new stand setup and having trouble using to the correct terminology in other forums to get a good answer: No RIMS experience... but is it really all that different from a stuck sparge? Would any of those solutions work? Are you able to slow down the flow-rate for the recirculation?
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 15:00
|
|
|
I think it's a fairly inexpensive pump. Good flow rate, but there's no adjustment on it that I've seen (and obviously no motor control elements).Hypnolobster posted:You're probably compacting the grain bed from far too much flow. You should have a valve on the outlet of the pump to slow the flow down. RIMS needs a decent amount of flow but nothing crazy. Is it normal to choke the outlet back manually with a ball valve? I'm not 100% sure there's one on there, but I could fit one. robotsinmyhead fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Sep 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 15:02
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:Is it normal to choke the outlet back manually with a ball valve? I'm not 100% sure there's one on there, but I could fit one. Yes, completely normal.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 15:37
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:I think it's a fairly inexpensive pump. Good flow rate, but there's no adjustment on it that I've seen (and obviously no motor control elements). From the picture you posted of your new setup, it looks like you've got a ball valve on the outlet (unless thats the top of the RIMS tube I'm seeing there. Definitely don't need a valve on the rims generally though). Generally, the way to start a recirc is to prime the pump, dough in, and then start the pump with the outlet valve closed completely. Slowly crack it open until you get a decent flow back into the mash tun. For RIMS, I'm assuming you're using it to hit strike temperature first anyways, but obviously you want to turn off the element between dough-in and getting the flow set correctly.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 15:52
|
|
|
Hypnolobster posted:From the picture you posted of your new setup, it looks like you've got a ball valve on the outlet (unless thats the top of the RIMS tube I'm seeing there. Definitely don't need a valve on the rims generally though). Generally, the way to start a recirc is to prime the pump, dough in, and then start the pump with the outlet valve closed completely. Slowly crack it open until you get a decent flow back into the mash tun. For RIMS, I'm assuming you're using it to hit strike temperature first anyways, but obviously you want to turn off the element between dough-in and getting the flow set correctly. Good eye, I didn't pay much attention to that. And yes, the method you described is how it do. It's all-gas with pilot lights for reignition controlled by PLCs / Solenoids. I'll do an effort post on the build/setup for fun sometime. It's a nice system and I'm mad that I waited so long to rebuild it / use it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 19:29
|
|
|
Pulled a sample of my festbier now that it's been carbing for a few days. Just about there, carbonation-wise. Still tastes a bit green on the back end, but not too bad. I really wasn't planning on cracking the keg until Oct 1., but I may have to pour myself a stein-full this weekend during some football games.
Scarf fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Sep 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 22:02
|
|
|
So, I made grape jelly today, and I just didn't want all those skins and remaining flesh to go to waste. So I put 4 gallons of spontaneous fermented beer on top of it. I'll check in a month (with swirl downs in between), but based on taste, it's doing really well. I'm excited to package and then wait three months before drinking. So somewhere around February maybe. Either way, I'm going to do a couple spontaneous sessions this year, it's turning out really well and I'm excited to get them in my barrels too. Moving my Fresh Hop Fuggles Saison to be drank tomorrow, and I need to brew something to replace. I got extra stuff for pressurized transfers and spunding valves, so I'll probably do an IPA and really load it with dry hops and then move it to serving vessel without looking at it. Should be fun! If that works well, then I'll consider rolling out a couple extra lagers this winter so I can store for next summer.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 23:24
|
|
|
I know that this isn't the "beer thread," but I think home brewers know a bit or two more than the regular beer drinkers (OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG New NEIPAs!!!! I must stand in line for 10 hours and buy the four pack for $4000 - slight exageration). Traveling to BWI (Baltimore Airport) on the way to State College, PA this weekend. We will probably have time to stop at a brewery or two on the way from State College back to Baltimore before our flight back home to Houston. Kinda sorta have Sapwood Cellars penciled in as one place to go since it's close to BWI. Any other solid suggestions for stuff on the way? Looks like State College has a place, but I'm not exactly feeling the "vibe." Tiny human friendly and good food is a must. Also, it's been a while since I've posted beer related stuff. Brewed what I call a Two-Hearted'ish using some Bell's Two-Hearted Dregs. Holy poo poo, I love some Centennial hops. That smell though..... mmmmmmmmmm..... It's been a few months since I've brewed because of the aforementioned tiny humans (who I love dearly). Trying to get back into the swing of brewing with a new job and some new equipment, to include a pump and whirlpool, the sous vide that I use for strike water, and a BrewBag I use for a mash filter in my cooler. Next up is something with some Weyermann Pils (and a scooch of carapils), Mittelfrüh, and the Harvest (Augustiner) strain. Going to be a riff on Michael Dawson's Munich Helles. Anyone brewed a British Golden Ale? Texas Brewing in DFW has a great podcast "Come and Brew It" where they've been working on a recipe that befits the style. This sounds really, really interesting. Hoppy, British and American hops, and some Maris Otter-like malt. Just look at this glorious thing, it looks amazing: https://www.txbrewing.com/media/manuals/Flying%20Shoe%20British%20Golden%20Ale%20AG.pdf This might be my next one - but with the my go-to English strain - Fuller's(1968/WLP002/Pub). LaserWash fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Sep 19, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2019 03:23
|
|
|
Sapwood is great. I stopped in there on a work trip earlier in the year. Prepare to think you are in the wrong place driving in. It’s in a super nondescript office park with almost no signage. You’re also going to pass Troegs as you go near Hershey, PA. Great brewery and really good food in their taproom.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2019 04:09
|
|
|
I'm a long time brewer brewing on mostly my original home built equipment. I've upgraded a few things here and there but I'm still dumping my kettle by hand into the fermenters after chilling, for example. I'm going to have a bunch of money available soon in the coming months/years, and I think it's time to build a 10 gallon electric HERMS or something. I'm going to school and working as a mechanical engineer, have access to welders and such, so the actual construction and design is very doable for me. I'm wondering if anyone has built one and has tips/suggestions or resources for existing designs. I'm reading the Brutus 10 design doc now but I figured I'd ask here to see if you guys have any input.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2019 02:06
|
|
|
I use gas fired for my system, but it’s important to have sanitary welds so you’re not storing microbes. Aside from that, my system has two mesh filters, one for mash and one for boil kettle. I really like having the second as it helps filter whole hops, and also protein from the breaks that coagulate. The outs are also very low profile on the base of the kettle, so my volume loss from equipment is nearly zero. Only thing I might do differently is use different valves and butterfly clamps so it was easier to attach things to the kettles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2019 02:29
|
|
|
My system is a Brutus 10 knockoff. Not sure I can help much but I'm gonna do an effort post later this weekend about it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2019 14:41
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:My system is a Brutus 10 knockoff. Not sure I can help much but I'm gonna do an effort post later this weekend about it. Thanks I'd appreciate it. After reading a bunch last night, I'd like to keep it under $3k CAD which seems a little lean (especially for electric), but doable. One thing I would like to splurge on is the kettles but I know that will likely take half my budget in that case.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2019 15:08
|
|
|
~Brewtus 10 Megapost~ Based basically on a Brewtus 10 all gas build, I picked up the stand with burners, controls, and panel like 8 years ago before I knew what I was doing. I overpaid because the system was nowhere near being done. It sat for years because I was unmotivated and had no one to help me, BUT THEN! a long lost friend moved back into town and gave me some much-needed motivation and an extra pair of capable hands. (post caveat 1 - this thing is a mess because we didn't clean it well after it's first "real" use. There's still some leaks and it's very very sticky right now. post caveat 2 - it's in my friend's messy-rear end garage, but luckily he's moving next week to a much nicer place. I don't have room for this rig in my apt) Here is the completed stand. It's currently plumbed for propane with optional swapout for LNG if it's available at the new place (please). Auber SYL-2362 PID controllers monitor 2 K-type thermometers and control solenoids to switch the gas on/off to the burner. Relight is a pilot light (shown later)  Here's a shot at the burner. The arrow points to the pilot light tube that runs up into the burner. It's not controlled at all and we just choke the valve back until it's barely on - there is a pilot for both the HLT and MT.  Extremely messy pump. Not sure on the model, but it's plenty enough for this job. The stand is wired for 2 pumps, but I don't NEED it. Everything on the stand is camlock fittings, they're very nice.  A quick shot of the panel. It needs cleaned up and re-labelled. I'm still having trouble with the thermometers misreading, but we did the first run on pure fudge-factor and it worked fine.  2 shots of the false bottom from NorCal brewing. REALLY wish I would have spent the money for a handle on this thing cause it's a bitch to get in/out. We're working on a solution. In the second pic, you can see where we slotted the bottom to go over the thermometer probe.   Inside the mashtun. You can see the thermometer probe. The fitting in the middle is a blank, and the top fitting is the re-circulation pipe.  Outside the mashtun.  The Boil Kettle burner is some jet burner we haven't used yet. It's hard-piped and when we moved the other 2 burners up on the adjustable mounts, it banged into the carrier, so we moved it out of the way. The first run on this stand was a split boil, so we moved the wort off into 2 separate burners and continued on from there.  Me and the Boys. The MT and BK are both Concord (60qt and 80qt) tri-clad bottoms. They're cheap and good. The HLT is the kettle I normally use for my BIAB stuff at home from Bayou.  To-Do list is a lot of cleaning, relabeling the panel, handle for the false-bottom, replacing the burners with higher-quality ones, figuring out the thermometers, and fixing all the leaks. I lost track of the built cost for this, so you're on your own. I think I paid $900 for the stand and maybe another ~$1100 to get it finished up. All the finish work was done by me and my friend. robotsinmyhead fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Sep 21, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2019 16:18
|
|
|
I'm moving house soon so I've been bottling some wines I made last year, they've been in glass carboys for 12 months or more with occasional rackings. One of them was a milk wine which I've successfully made before - last time it came out a bit like a rich sherry. I think I left too long on the lees before its second racking, and it now smells and tastes distinctly of cheese. I've already bottled it so I guess I'll let it age a few months and see if it gets any better, but overall I think this is not a flavour profile I'm looking for.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 00:20
|
|
|
big scary monsters posted:I'm moving house soon so I've been bottling some wines I made last year, they've been in glass carboys for 12 months or more with occasional rackings. One of them was a milk wine which I've successfully made before - last time it came out a bit like a rich sherry. I think I left too long on the lees before its second racking, and it now smells and tastes distinctly of cheese. I've already bottled it so I guess I'll let it age a few months and see if it gets any better, but overall I think this is not a flavour profile I'm looking for. Cheeto Noir
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 01:42
|
|
|
How about 10g BIAB? Maybe a single 20g vessel, false bottom I presume I would need, likely a hoist for the bag. I've also seen some basket type setups which are neat, instead of/coupled with a bag. How does temp monitoring work? You cant really stir the mash can you? And an external temp probe wouldn't go inside the bag obviously. Pros/cons vs a 3 vessel setup?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 16:13
|
|
|
Biggest difference is maximum batch size for starting gravity purposes. I can easily fit 20# of malt in my 3V setup with a 10.5 gallon mash tun, but I hear you can be limited in OG potential with BIAB for the same size unless you’re sparging. So then you’d need a second for a HLT to push the limit. For regular strength beer I don’t know that you’re particularly limited by size or anything else for the BIAB. Time spent draining the bag should be similar to sparge times. You could still do any other modifications for whirlpooling and recirculating. Maybe harder to do a step mash because of having more liquid in the tun?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 18:36
|
|
|
For my second ever brew, I'm working on a bourbon barrel Porter. I just moved it to my secondary after 2 weeks in a primary. My IG was 1.044 which has a potential to get to ~6% if I understand gravity correctly. I just took another gravity measurement during the transfer and got 1.024, so the beer is only at ~2.6%. I'm tempted to repitch yeast in the secondary. Is this a good idea or am I just being impatient?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 22:53
|
|
|
MistressMeeps posted:For my second ever brew, I'm working on a bourbon barrel Porter. I just moved it to my secondary after 2 weeks in a primary. My IG was 1.044 which has a potential to get to ~6% if I understand gravity correctly. I just took another gravity measurement during the transfer and got 1.024, so the beer is only at ~2.6%. I'm tempted to repitch yeast in the secondary. Is this a good idea or am I just being impatient? How did you measure it? If you're using a refractometer make sure you're using the fg calculators
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 23:14
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:How did you measure it? If you're using a refractometer make sure you're using the fg calculators I was using a hydrometer. I'm not super fancy...yet... 😊
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 23:19
|
|
|
MistressMeeps posted:I was using a hydrometer. I'm not super fancy...yet... 😊 By the time you break you’re third one, you’ll buy a 25$ refractometer too. What yeast did you use for this porter? It would take a diastaticus strain or some amylase to get it down to 1.000, so your 6% isn’t going to happen. Most yeast recommended for porters is going to hit 70-80% attenuation, and with dark grain bills it can be a little less. I’d put that at a 4-4.5% finished product and expect it will likely end at about 1.015 ish. That number will depend on some other things, like mash temp and total conversion efficiency, but if you’re also using extract I’d put it at a little higher. The yeast in there should be fine, it may just take a little more time. Only 6-7 more points to go, and when you’re starting you should expect a slightly longer turn around while you learn how the ingredients behave.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 23:49
|
|
|
Jhet posted:By the time you break you’re third one, you’ll buy a 25$ refractometer too. Perhaps I'll grab one before next brewing day. I had just assumed they were really expensive. Jhet posted:What yeast did you use for this porter? It would take a diastaticus strain or some amylase to get it down to 1.000, so your 6% isn’t going to happen. Most yeast recommended for porters is going to hit 70-80% attenuation, and with dark grain bills it can be a little less. I’d put that at a 4-4.5% finished product and expect it will likely end at about 1.015 ish. That number will depend on some other things, like mash temp and total conversion efficiency, but if you’re also using extract I’d put it at a little higher. I was using dry Danstar Windsor ale yeast. The grain bill is English chocolate malt, English dark crystal and English black malt. I'm assuming that's dark based on the names and color? And I was using malt extract. I took the mash temp to 170. It was supposed to make it to an OG of 1.065. Any thoughts on what might have gone wrong and how I can improve next time?
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 00:28
|
|
|
MistressMeeps posted:I was using dry Danstar Windsor ale yeast. The grain bill is English chocolate malt, English dark crystal and English black malt. I'm assuming that's dark based on the names and color? And I was using malt extract. I took the mash temp to 170. It was supposed to make it to an OG of 1.065. Any thoughts on what might have gone wrong and how I can improve next time? Your mash temp is pretty high, but you're also not doing a conversion. If you're using extract, you shouldn't be able to miss by that much unless you miss by a lot in the volumes. That yeast will end in the middle zone for attenuation, so high 70%'s will be normal. So with a starting gravity of 1.065 you would expect about 1.015 as an ending point. If you don't mix your solution carefully before taking a reading when you start, you may have a bad number to start. If you missed your volumes, you should be able to hit the 75% attenuation that you're wanting (which would be 1.011). But don't worry, we've all had these batches. My first all-grain batch I had the issue where I couldn't get it hot enough when I mashed in, and then I ended up nearly boiling it while trying to correct it. It was pretty disastrous, but did technically make beer. It just wasn't very good beer (and I think I may have dumped it). The next time was easier, and now I can crank out batches in a few hours time and only half pay attention. Your's won't be this bad, and you probably just need to be patient and let it tell you when it's done. The extra oxygen from moving it should help. Jhet fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Sep 23, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 01:20
|
|
|
Jhet posted:Your mash temp is pretty high, but you're also not doing a conversion. If you're using extract, you shouldn't be able to miss by that much unless you miss by a lot in the volumes. Thank you! I'll leave it alone for a bit and try to stop stressing. 😊
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 03:15
|
|
|
Brewed a munich dunkel yesterday and ran into some volume problems myself... Ended up with about 1.5 to 2 gallons left in the kettle after transferring to the fermenter. OG was intended to be 1.052, ended up at 1.042 because of the mis-calc. I also lost more heat from my mash tun than usual. Dropped about 6*F over the course of the hour. Nailed the strike temp and mashed in at 152 and by the time I lautered it was at 146.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2019 17:06
|
|
|
My keg just kicked and I'm trying to come up with something fun to make next. I'm aiming for something inspired by earl grey tea cookies but am shooting in the dark as to what to actually make. Right now I'm thinking something vaguely brown with munich as its primary base malt as I've never done that before For a ~3gal batch of the base beer (BIAB): 3.5 lb 10L munich 1 lb pilsner 4 oz brown malt 4 oz pale chocolate malt 1 oz Saaz All of these are intentionally nice numbers in both pounds and ounces. After that I'm not sure how I want to add the earl grey flavoring. From what I can tell there's basically 2 ways to add the flavoring--actually making the tea and adding it after fermentation or if only the bergamot flavor is desired, add the flavoring via extract or essential oils. Right now I'm leaning towards diluting some essential oil with neutral spirits to make my own extract since it seems more repeatable. Does anyone have experience with this particular flavoring? I think it's been discussed in this thread before but I can't remember when it was
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2019 06:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:04 |
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:My keg just kicked and I'm trying to come up with something fun to make next. I'm aiming for something inspired by earl grey tea cookies but am shooting in the dark as to what to actually make. Right now I'm thinking something vaguely brown with munich as its primary base malt as I've never done that before No experience with any tea flavoring, but it sounds delicious... particularly your use of brown malt. I absolutely love the taste of brown malt. I'm also hopping on the fun train as I've got a keg that's close to kicking. I've got a few ideas I'm mulling around; I really want to come up with an Anderson Valley Winter Solstice clone, but while I'm still putting that together, I whipped up a quick recipe for a Rye Lager this morning. Rock A Rye'm 7.5# Maris Otter 2.5# Rye malt 0.5# Melanoiden 2oz Carafa III (color) 0.5# Rice hull (filter) 0.5oz Northern Brewer @ 60min 0.5oz Northern Brewer @ 15min 0.5oz Fuggle @ 15min 0.5oz Fuggle @ 0min WLP 830 German Lager Yeast I've never used rye in quantities over like 7% of the grist, and I figured 25% or so would be a good place to start to test out some stronger rye flavor. I'm going for something clean yet spicy for late winter/early spring.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2019 17:26
|
|