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Nice piece of fish posted:Very nice. I got one brewing that ought to be ready for bottling in about a month (Gravenstein, lynghonning) with meadowsweet and using just boiled raisins for a nutrient kick but I'm really not sure it needs it, it's been extremely active and turned active after a very short lag phase. It’s just to keep the fruit from being able to mold, and I suppose to keep it from floating out and increasing contact time, so finding a way to keep it submerged should work great. So if you can keep the fruit down, then it’s a waste of time. I did add grape must to a spontaneous last year and it was basically impossible to keep it submerged while it was fermenting, so I hope you have good weights and a good bag. It does make me wish I had a filter or mesh that would fit in my fermenters for that purpose.
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Sep 16, 2020 08:33
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I've been punching down mulberries in my melomel for over a week now. It seems like fermentation is slowing down, now I have to figure out how to rack off of loose fruit (I guess fine mesh over a racking cane?)
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Sep 16, 2020 08:36
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more falafel please posted:I've been punching down mulberries in my melomel for over a week now. It seems like fermentation is slowing down, now I have to figure out how to rack off of loose fruit (I guess fine mesh over a racking cane?) I had a fine mesh sieve from the kitchen that I was able to put the racking cane in and lower with the liquid level. It was clumsy, but worked great. I tried just wrapping the cane, but it just clogged immediately.
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Sep 16, 2020 08:45
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I have managed to wrap the cane in hose before, but it is hardly ideal. I am open to suggestions for sure.
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Sep 16, 2020 09:27
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I figure a hop bag would to the trick? I've tried using that for berries and it works for that, but it needs a lot more glass weight than what I used and I don't want to use anything else. Figure it would work in the inverse if it's threaded over the siphon.
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Sep 16, 2020 10:31
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There was vaguely half a gallon extra dark mild in the fermenter after kegging, and it's in a bucket with a spigot and the yeast flocced like a rock, so I guess I've got a poor man's cask dispense. On my third pint. 
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Sep 17, 2020 00:44
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Tell us about the beer 
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Sep 17, 2020 00:45
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I've made this recipe 8 times, it's probably my favorite beer in the world. It's a little darker and a little more chocolate/roasty than a traditional dark mild, but it's not a porter, so I wouldn't know what else to call it. My efficiency is trash, so this is targeting 65% brewhouse, for 10 gallons 1.040 OG 73% (11lb) Briess Ashburne Mild 10% (1.5lb) UK Brown Malt (I prefer Fawcett, but all I can get easily at the moment is Crisp) 10% (1.5lb) ~120L UK Crystal (I prefer Simpsons) 6.7% (1lb) Pale Chocolate ~17 IBU of a UK hop at 60. I usually use EKG, I was out this time so I used some Northern Brewer which is not the same, but you'll never notice. Use Magnum if you want. Mash at 154-156F, use an estery flocculent English yeast. I like S-04 or 1968, but Windsor, 1099, or if you can get it, 1026 are very good. I need to try it with 1318 one of these days. It'll probably finish in 2-3 days because it's a 5 gallon yeast starter. Carbonate it low, like 1.7ish volumes. If you can do a cask dispense do it (and invite me over)
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Sep 17, 2020 01:02
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Sounds really good. I was planning to brew something very similar myself (just a touch more pale chocolate, about half the brown and crystal by percentage and using MO with a touch of wheat malt since I can't get mild malt).
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Sep 17, 2020 01:33
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Since it is fall I also kind of want to brew a somewhat strong and deep amber beer somewhere in the ESB to Old Ale spectrum. American examples would be stuff like Naughty Hildegard and Lord Rear Admiral, while from the UK Fullers 1845 comes to mind. I'm thinking 14.5 P (1.060 ish) for a 6,0% ABV beer. 40 IBUs of Goldings and Fuggle (maybe slightly favoring late additions). And a grainbill along the lines of: 86% Crisp Maris Otter 6% Fawcett Amber Malt 6% Fawcett Crystal 45L 2% Crisp Crystal 90L. Too much crystal? I usually go with none for my bitters, but for the other extreme this seems about right? Maybe do Crystal 60 and 120 for an even darker color? I would mash around 150-152 and ferment with WLP007 because I like my beers dry, but I'd be open to 1469, 1968 or even 1318. thotsky fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Sep 17, 2020 |
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Sep 17, 2020 14:26
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Nice piece of fish posted:Very nice. I got one brewing that ought to be ready for bottling in about a month (Gravenstein, lynghonning) with meadowsweet and using just boiled raisins for a nutrient kick but I'm really not sure it needs it, it's been extremely active and turned active after a very short lag phase. Yep, if you are using pure apple juice and perhaps tossing in skins and flesh of a couple apples in the primary, adding nutrients or raisins is a little overkill. Just picked our Gravensteins before the hard freeze we got last week. They need to ripen a bit still, but I have no more honey to mix another batch up.
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Sep 17, 2020 15:29
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Whoa, you got a freeze already?
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Sep 17, 2020 15:40
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thotsky posted:Since it is fall I also kind of want to brew a somewhat strong and deep amber beer somewhere in the ESB to Old Ale spectrum. American examples would be stuff like Naughty Hildegard and Lord Rear Admiral, while from the UK Fullers 1845 comes to mind. There’s a lot of dislike of crystal, but 8% is not too high for an ESB or Old Ale. I’d say it’s right on target. Dry ESBs strike me as odd, and combined with a high mash temp, a good yeast choice is important for that silky mouthfeel. I really like 1968 as I think it accents the malt really well, but it also gives a texture I can only describe as creamy without being thick or cloying. 10-12% is where it really gets too much, but you should be fine with color either 90 or 120. I’ve used 1968 in a couple different styles, ESB being most notable, but it really gave my London Porter a perfect balance that the dryer London ale yeasts didn’t bring. I haven’t used 1469 myself, but I’d like to try it in the same way.
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Sep 17, 2020 15:59
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Hey thread. I want to move from extract. I brew in a stock pot and I ferment in a plastic carboy that I put in my fridge. I manually check and manage temps using a Tilt 2 and that seems to work pretty good. I used to live up north where I would ferment in keg, under pressure. That worked fine also. I'd say the things I want to improve right now are: - Improve my ability to chill wort after the boil. I'm in Austin and the tap water isn't really cold enough for a chilling coil to have much of an effect. - Move to all grain. - Improve my fermentation setup. Of these, I figure I should improve fermentation first. Does that match with what you all would do? I'm considering getting a spike conical, which seems like it would let me add hot/cold temperature control and eventually expand my batch size. To that too much gear? Is there a better mid range step between carboy fermentation and a conical I should do instead? I desire to eventually lager and harvest yeast - aspirations! - so that's one of the things making me lean in this direction.
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Sep 17, 2020 19:52
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A coil should work, even if your water is not very cold, but if the speed is the issue then maybe look into a counterflow or plate chiller? Some people do no-chill... I would say all grain (a bag for brew-in-bag does suffice) and temp control (cheap fridge and inkbird) are what I would invest in first. Then maybe kegging equipment.
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Sep 17, 2020 20:52
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I have a plate chiller and would recommend against them because they are a pain to clean. It does drop my temp from boiling to pitch temp in about 15 minutes but I'm always suspicious I didn't clean it out all the way, even though I spend more time cleaning it than anything else. Picked up my cider from the local orchard. It is flash preserved so should be good to toss my yeast into it tomorrow when I have a chance. I have an old pouch of Imperial Kolsch yeast, it's about 2 months out of the use by date. Figured I'll use that to get rid of it.
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Sep 17, 2020 21:28
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My tap water isn’t very cold in the summer, I usually cool the wort to 110 or so with my coil then put it in the fermenting fridge then pitch in the morning. Another option is to run the cooling water through another coil in a tub of ice water first. But if I were to pick one thing it would be automatic fermentation temp control. Cheap fridge or freezer and inkbird is the way to go.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:14
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Each of the major upgrades (temp control, all-grain, kegging) improves an aspect of your brewing experience. All-grain gives you much more control over your recipe, but you can make great beer with extract, especially if you're getting fresh extract (DME is better than LME in this regard, but fresh LME is fine). Kegging improves your packaging/carbonation/drinking experience, but the only beers it really *improves* are very hoppy ones that would otherwise start to fade by the time they're carbonated in bottles. Fermentation temp control dramatically improves your ability to make beer without off flavors no matter what the time of year, or what yeast you're using. If you have the space for a minifridge or a small chest freezer, temp control will dramatically improve all of your beers for ~$200 or so. If you've got a big enough pot and the means to heat it, moving to BIAB just costs a bag. I'd recommend spending the $40 or so on a Brew Bag, they're super nice. BIAB is a method of all-grain brewing, for some reason a lot of people starting out think it's some kind of stopgap measure between extract and AG. It's just all-grain, with different equipment and somewhat different processes. Kegging is awesome and I wouldn't ever want to go back, but it's more expensive than the other major upgrades, requires more space, and while it certainly improves your drinking experience, it doesn't make your beer better. I don't consider a nice chiller to be a major upgrade, especially if you have fermentation temp control. I guess it helps that even in the summer here, I can chill down to around 80F pretty quickly, but there's nothing wrong with chilling it down to a reasonable level (100F or lower), putting a stopper on the carboy, throwing it in the ferm chamber, setting it for your pitch temp, and pitching in the morning.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:45
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I forget where I read/heard it but the two biggest factors in making good beer is understanding your water and fermentation temperature control. If you get a small fridge, make sure it's a fridge only and not one of fridge/freezer since most of the cooling coils are in the freezer part. I think another view of BIAB is to think of it as a single vessel all grain versus two or three vessel all grain. I made the jump from extract to electric single vessel all grain. It's amazing how consistent my beers turn out.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:59
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calandryll posted:I forget where I read/heard it but the two biggest factors in making good beer is understanding your water and fermentation temperature control. If you get a small fridge, make sure it's a fridge only and not one of fridge/freezer since most of the cooling coils are in the freezer part. Agreed on BIAB. I went the more traditional route first (8 gallon kettle, cooler with bazooka tube, batch sparge, turkey fryer), but when I wanted to move indoors and expand capacity I went to single-vessel electric. I mostly did it so I didn't have to buy 3 kettles, but I like it a lot. I can't imagine adding an hour-long sparge to my process in order to save $2 in grain per batch.
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Sep 18, 2020 01:11
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I just no chill directly into my fermenter, the headspace and extra time at high temps doesn't seem to have a noticeable impact on my beers. I don't make super hoppy beers, but my pale ale turns out alright. My next bit of kit will prob be an immersion chiller, and I'll just use a little 10w pump to recirculate ice water from a chilly bin.
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Sep 18, 2020 01:36
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Nice piece of fish posted:Whoa, you got a freeze already? Was freaky about a week ago. We’d been in the 90s with lows in the 50s for most of the summer, and then we had a couple days where it did not get out of the 30s with lows in the 20s. (Fahrenheit). We are now back up into the 80s for highs again. My loving joints are feeling it. Between it and the perpetual smoke coming from california, I may very well be dead by 2021. edit: I was getting snowed on while elk hunting
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Sep 18, 2020 03:13
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more falafel please posted:Agreed on BIAB. I went the more traditional route first (8 gallon kettle, cooler with bazooka tube, batch sparge, turkey fryer), but when I wanted to move indoors and expand capacity I went to single-vessel electric. I mostly did it so I didn't have to buy 3 kettles, but I like it a lot. I can't imagine adding an hour-long sparge to my process in order to save $2 in grain per batch. I was first of my group to really go all in on the electric setup. When my friends would come over and we spent time inside bullshiting and drinking beers, a lot of them started looking into all electric. I'm currently in the middle of framing in a part of my basement for a brewery setup as I was tired of carrying everything upstairs.
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Sep 18, 2020 10:44
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Hasselblad posted:Was freaky about a week ago. We’d been in the 90s with lows in the 50s for most of the summer, and then we had a couple days where it did not get out of the 30s with lows in the 20s. (Fahrenheit). We are now back up into the 80s for highs again. My loving joints are feeling it. Between it and the perpetual smoke coming from california, I may very well be dead by 2021. You in Colorado as well? I've only been out here 4 years, but everyone is saying they can't really remember the last time we got an early September snow. Brewing related: I'm going to split a batch of my rye lager and do 5 gallons with some vanilla bean, but only have one fermenter, so I was planning on adding the vanilla in the keg. Is this an alright approach? How can I reduce oxygenation? Should I get a corny-lid with a hook and put the vanilla beans in a cheesecloth bag? Scarf fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Sep 18, 2020 |
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Sep 18, 2020 15:37
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My dad used to home brew long ago and he recently found some of his old recipes & equipment so now we are going to start it up again. I don't have a temp controlled fermenting container. Am I limiting myself to certain beer styles because of this? My current plan to use a glass carboy kept in a closet.
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Sep 18, 2020 17:05
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Scarf posted:You in Colorado as well? Sure, that's fine, but you should be prepared to remove the vanilla in short order. I haven't done it in a while, but I feel like one vanilla bean only needed 2-3 days in a batch before it was done. It gets strong pretty quick. I would worry less about oxidation from one vanilla bean and more about ending up with too much vanilla. Llyr posted:My dad used to home brew long ago and he recently found some of his old recipes & equipment so now we are going to start it up again. A little? What's your inside temp look like? If it's 85, you're not going to be doing lagers, if it's 50 you're probably not doing Belgians. For pretty much any ale you're probably fine.
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Sep 18, 2020 17:13
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Alarbus posted:Sure, that's fine, but you should be prepared to remove the vanilla in short order. I haven't done it in a while, but I feel like one vanilla bean only needed 2-3 days in a batch before it was done. It gets strong pretty quick. I would worry less about oxidation from one vanilla bean and more about ending up with too much vanilla. Good to know! Any recollection on how the flavor changed (if at all) as it aged? I'm hoping to brew before the month is out and let it condition a bit until Christmas-time.
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Sep 18, 2020 18:34
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Scarf posted:Good to know! Any recollection on how the flavor changed (if at all) as it aged? I'm hoping to brew before the month is out and let it condition a bit until Christmas-time. Vanilla stays pretty well. The one porter I overdid it on got very tannic, it only mellowed out around ~2 years later. If you do it now, and it's to taste, it'll be fine until Christmas. The only one that was more brutal was cardamom. That stuff contaminated my Tygon dairy grade kegerator lines. Tasted good though, once it mellowed.
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Sep 18, 2020 21:02
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Scarf posted:You in Colorado as well? Utah, south of Park City. Was getting snow on the peaks, and in the high Uintas where I was hunting. First rack on the pyment this afternoon. Sipped a sample and it was very close to a lusty merlot. Going to let it settle for another week before second racking and back-sweetening. Anyone have ideas on how to fill headspace with co2? Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Sep 19, 2020 |
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Sep 19, 2020 05:41
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I have an awful sulfur smell coming from my cider. I'm hoping that I caught it early enough, it's been 3 days and fermentation took a bit to start, by adding yeast nutrient today that it goes away.
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Sep 21, 2020 22:17
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As far as I know that's kind of par for the course with Cider. I degassed twice a day for 4 days and it's completely gone now.
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Sep 21, 2020 22:24
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I've read both things. How did you degas? I shook it up when I added the yeast nutrient but figure I can always shake some more each day.
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Sep 21, 2020 23:04
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calandryll posted:I've read both things. How did you degas? I shook it up when I added the yeast nutrient but figure I can always shake some more each day. I've never needed to even degas. I just leave it finish fermenting and it blows off while conditioning under an airlock. No matter what yeast I use there's some sulfur to off gas, but there are some that are worse than others. The solution has always been just give the yeast time to clean it up and they do.
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Sep 21, 2020 23:16
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Copper reacts with sulphur and makes the smell dissipate so you can get a piece of copper pipe and stir the cider with it for a few minutes.
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Sep 22, 2020 00:09
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I grabbed a sanitized spoon and stirred the cider around until the fizzing abated somewhat.
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Sep 22, 2020 00:25
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Any way of keeping CaCl from going weird (watery) in the bag? The air is pretty dry here, so it will last more than a year, but eventually it becomes a mess.
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Sep 23, 2020 12:22
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Dry it over night in a oven, in the lab I'd do it at ~103C and then keep it in a desiccator. You can buy the desiccant pretty cheap on Amazon.
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Sep 23, 2020 17:08
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thotsky posted:Any way of keeping CaCl from going weird (watery) in the bag? The air is pretty dry here, so it will last more than a year, but eventually it becomes a mess. Best practice is to dissolve it all and measure the gravity and dose based off that. Otherwise the pearls always absorb some moisture making the dosing inaccurate. I can share some calculations I’ve got if you’d like.
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Sep 25, 2020 01:48
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21st day of pyment. Second racked to carboy and added the yeast killers and the 12oz of honey/juice. Still at ~14% abv and tastes like a nice pino noir. Going to rack to bottles in a couple weeks, just want to let it clear a bit more. Had I known how much lees there would be I would have begun with a LOT more juice. Headspace is extreme in the carboy, but I got a can of argon to assist.
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Sep 28, 2020 14:52
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broseph posted:Best practice is to dissolve it all and measure the gravity and dose based off that. Otherwise the pearls always absorb some moisture making the dosing inaccurate. I can share some calculations I’ve got if you’d like. hook me up
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Sep 28, 2020 15:23
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