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Nostratic posted:As good as that sounds, I'm really looking for another extract recipe; I'd like to get another few batches under my belt before I jump into doing grains. Plus I've only got a 5 gallon pot, which is likely too small for grains. For the purpose of doing extract beers, your 5 gallon kettle is fine. All you are really looking to do is steep some grains while your water is heating up. Toss them in a grain bag and steep them for a half hour or so, it will make your beer better, you are looking for flavor and aroma, so you could toss them in when your pot is about 130 and try not to let your water get above 150. Maybe a 1/2 to a full pound of mixed grains, some toasted barley, crystal, get experimental! After your half hour steep is up, pull them and bring your water to boiling as normal, then dump in your extract and do an hour boil. Is it the 3.7 lb can of extract? If so you are going to need another couple pounds of extract, Probably want to get your total liquid extract to right around 6 lbs. Then maybe a few ounces of goldings or fuggles hops, not sure how bitter the extract is, so maybe ask down at your homebrew shop, but you are going to want some for aroma at least. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing." Its pretty much the perfect book for where you are, experience wise. Edit: Its pretty hard to screw up beer. You might not be making something completely to style, but once you get past the intimidation factor, making beer is pretty drat easy, all grain or extract. After its all over with and in bottles, there is a 100% chance you are going to end up with something that has alcohol in it, and it might even taste good! Don't worry about getting a few more pure extract beers under your belt before moving on to using grains. bengy81 fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 00:37
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Xiuhteuctli posted:Could this end in an explosion during bottle conditioning? It could if there are fermentable sugars in there and a yeast that is still awake and capable of accessing them. However, if after you've pitched healthy new yeast at an appropriate temperature and your gravity has stayed constant over a couple days, then the rest of the sugars in there are probably unfermentable (which is definitely weird at 1.030, but not impossible...). To be sure, make sure your fermenter is fairly warm (70+) when you pitch the S-33. If it doesn't ferment then, it's not going to.
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Feb 11, 2013 00:47
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Bruinator posted:Please post how you end up installing the new tower. Be careful as I'm pretty sure mine has some lines on the sides as well as the back. Mine has a black plate on the entire back but doesn't appear to have lines otherwise. One more question; what's the best route to getting fresh craft beer kegs? I can special order from the liquor store but I have this dream that I could buy from the distributor directly somehow. Is that generally possible?
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Feb 11, 2013 01:06
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WaterIsPoison posted:So I'm looking to brew a pretty hefty beer (OG 1.086) and I'm planning on reusing the yeast from a Irish red I've got in primary right now. Should I just pitch directly on the cake? Or should I pour off into glass jars? I'm planning on pitching the wort the same day as I rack the red to secondary. You can pitch right onto the cake (assuming your wort is pitching temperature when you do it). I haven't purchased yeast for my last 6 or 7 brews using this exact method (though it takes some work scheduling it that way). It's been mentioned plenty of times before, but your best possible source of yeast is what's sitting at the bottom of your fermenter (unless it's been there for over 6+ months, and even then it's usually fine) for a variety of reasons (you know it's good yeast!). e: that's a lot of parentheses. fullroundaction fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 01:07
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Nostratic posted:Total noob question: Got a can of Coopers English Bitter malt concentrate from my son as a late Christmas gift. Any suggestions for recipes? I have one batch of dark ale under my belt, but that's it, so the easier, the better. It's prehopped extract, right? You could do worse than to boil it up in a 2.5 gallon batch all by its lonesome. You don't need to do a full hour boil, but ten minutes or so will help with sanitation. And heck, you could boil it with only a gallon or so of water, then add it to another 1.5 gallons of boiled and cooled water in your sanitized fermenter. Don't use the unknown yeast that is under the cap of the kit, though; spring for a packet of S-04 or some other English Ale yeast. Or if you want a five-gallon batch, get another can just like it and boil them both up together. Don't add a bunch of sugar like it says on the label; you'll make tastier beer with all malt. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 02:39
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revmoo posted:Mine has a black plate on the entire back but doesn't appear to have lines otherwise. Generally no, the three tier system goes brewery->distributor->retailer. If you live in a state that has good laws you may be able to buy direct from the brewery.
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Feb 11, 2013 02:40
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Kentucky. That sucks. I actually have contacts at a lot of local distributors and breweries. I didn't want to try calling in favors unless I thought it was doable.
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Feb 11, 2013 02:50
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revmoo posted:Mine has a black plate on the entire back but doesn't appear to have lines otherwise. Mine too but it clearly sheds heat through the sides and top since they get really hot while the compressor is on. There are no external condenser coils on the outside back of the unit and they need to be somewhere for the refrigeration cycle to work.
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Feb 11, 2013 05:06
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revmoo posted:One more question; what's the best route to getting fresh craft beer kegs? I can special order from the liquor store but I have this dream that I could buy from the distributor directly somehow. Is that generally possible? What Josh Wow said. There are several stores around me that get fresh kegs from local breweries, but they're always never the steal that you'd think they'd be. I can get a New Belgium Ranger at about the same cost of what I'd pay if I bought by the bottle.
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Feb 11, 2013 05:07
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Hey, look what I got this weekend  Sorry, I just had to gloat a bit. I'm still pretty excited about it.
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Feb 11, 2013 17:31
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Congrats, that's awesome! What was the winning beer?
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Feb 11, 2013 17:43
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Docjowles posted:Congrats, that's awesome! What was the winning beer? The guy who beat me in my category was also a RIS but BOS was a Weizenbock. Since the competition was put on by a local brewpub, the winner gets to have their recipe brewed on their 10 barrel system so I'll get to taste it in a couple months.
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Feb 11, 2013 17:47
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internet celebrity posted:Hey, look what I got this weekend Congrats! I can't believe they had over 80 entries this year (which is apparently more than double from last year). Wilmington hipsters 
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Feb 11, 2013 17:52
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Congrats! Woo finally back into brewing after taking so much time off (like 2 months). Brewed a dark saison last night and planning my next beer. I am thinking a hopped rye beer for March's thaw. My initial idea for the malts has 17% rye. I hear you really want to keep the amount of rye under control, does that seem like a good amount?
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Feb 11, 2013 18:14
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Did a cream ale yesterday. OG was 1.044, and the FG on this style is suppose to be 1.006 - 1.012, right? Okay, so after I get there, the question is should I cold crash/lager in a secondary bucket, or just in the primary fermenter? And how long should I do it for?
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Feb 11, 2013 20:48
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I would do this based less on reaching a specific number, but more on reaching what turns out to be the number you get this time even if it's not in the range the recipe gives. Then I would just crash right in primary for a couple of days, and then package.
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Feb 11, 2013 21:19
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Scythe posted:It could if there are fermentable sugars in there and a yeast that is still awake and capable of accessing them. However, if after you've pitched healthy new yeast at an appropriate temperature and your gravity has stayed constant over a couple days, then the rest of the sugars in there are probably unfermentable (which is definitely weird at 1.030, but not impossible...). To be sure, make sure your fermenter is fairly warm (70+) when you pitch the S-33. If it doesn't ferment then, it's not going to. Ah drat. I pitched at about 66 degrees, and I've seen very little activity since then. I hope it doesn't stall at 7% 
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Feb 11, 2013 23:12
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Jo3sh posted:I would do this based less on reaching a specific number, but more on reaching what turns out to be the number you get this time even if it's not in the range the recipe gives. Then I would just crash right in primary for a couple of days, and then package. Yeah, okay. I'll give it a try!
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Feb 11, 2013 23:38
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internet celebrity posted:Hey, look what I got this weekend What do you want? A medal?! Oh wait... Congratulations! One day I hope to have medals. I guess I should enter some stuff.
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Feb 12, 2013 04:30
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almost fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 12:51
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almost posted:It's from store bought apple juice so I assume it's yeast and not pectin. Is that a fair assumption? Apple juice has pectin in it regardless of source; did you boil the juice? If you didn't, the haze is almost certainly yeast. My remedy for that has been time and cold storage, but gelatin would also work. Isinglass I have not used.
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Feb 12, 2013 16:32
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Cracked open my first home brew this past weekend and was happy with the results. Good flavor, decent mouth feel, and the right amount of bitter for my taste. However after the first one I noticed I got a headache and then again the following day when I drank more. I'm thinking I managed to produce fusel alcohol during the process based off what I've read. When I think back through the process I think I didn't aerate the wort enough when I pitched the yeast. I think I was paranoid because I've heard that aerating too much creates a cardboard flavor so I barely stirred in the yeast. After reading more information though I think that risk is only after fermentation correct? Is that the likely culprit for my headache? I didn't really test the Ph levels of my water either before hand but I don't think that's going to be it, but probably wouldn't hurt before my next batch.
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Feb 12, 2013 17:40
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almost fucked around with this message at 11:00 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 17:49
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lifts cats over head posted:Cracked open my first home brew this past weekend and was happy with the results. Good flavor, decent mouth feel, and the right amount of bitter for my taste. However after the first one I noticed I got a headache and then again the following day when I drank more. I'm thinking I managed to produce fusel alcohol during the process based off what I've read. When I think back through the process I think I didn't aerate the wort enough when I pitched the yeast. I think I was paranoid because I've heard that aerating too much creates a cardboard flavor so I barely stirred in the yeast. After reading more information though I think that risk is only after fermentation correct? Is that the likely culprit for my headache? I didn't really test the Ph levels of my water either before hand but I don't think that's going to be it, but probably wouldn't hurt before my next batch. You're right about the aeration. Before fermentation, you want to splash and aerate the heck out of the wort since yeast need oxygen to do their thing. They'll eat it all up during fermentation. It's only afterward that you don't want oxygen getting in there. Regarding the headaches, yeah, it's probably the aeration but could also be underpitching or fermenting too hot. Yeast throw off all sorts of nasty stuff when they're stressed out. I had one early all-grain batch come out with a WAY higher OG than I expected (we're talking like 20 gravity points), but I just said "whatever" and pitched the same amount of yeast the original recipe called for. Holy poo poo did that beer give you an awful hangover after just one pint.
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Feb 12, 2013 17:50
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almost posted:One thing I'm confused by is with my last batch I cold crashed the secondary and then bottled and kept the bottles cold, but it only partly cleared and then only slowly. But then when I left a half empty bottle in a warm room by accident it cleared in a day or two. It could be chill haze, which also can happen in beer. Cold storage will also (eventually) clear chill haze, but it takes a long time. Finings should help clear that out also.
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Feb 12, 2013 18:21
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Jo3sh posted:It could be chill haze, which also can happen in beer. Cold storage will also (eventually) clear chill haze, but it takes a long time. Finings should help clear that out also. Gelatin always clears chill haze for me but it usually takes 2 weeks to be commercial-level clear and isn't a one-day miracle solution. 2 weeks is not a particularly long wait when you have a keg and can just drink the beer while you "wait" of course.
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Feb 12, 2013 18:44
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almost fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 21:16
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Pop the airlock off for a few seconds every couple hours while the temperature of the cider is reaching the ambient temperature of the room. That will prevent backflow and/or your carboy imploding due to pressure change.
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Feb 12, 2013 21:20
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almost fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 21:24
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Does anyone have insider knowledge about how soon it will be before we start to see Amarillo again? Seems like everywhere I look its still sold out, so I'm guessing the most recent harvest hasn't made it to stores yet? Or am I SOL until next year? Also, I stumbled across this site and figured a bunch of you guys would appreciate it, despite the lovely web design: http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/default.asp 1 lb of (2012) "C" hops for $27? Ok. VVVVVV I think rhizomes start showing up in the early Spring. E2: Does anyone know of a good sub for Amarillo? Mikey Purp fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 22:19
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When is rhyzome buying/planting season? I've been wanting to grow a few vines for years now, and I'm finally in a position to do so and don't want to miss it.
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Feb 12, 2013 22:21
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Bad Munki posted:When is rhyzome buying/planting season? I've been wanting to grow a few vines for years now, and I'm finally in a position to do so and don't want to miss it. Preorders are basically now. Actual buying is in March, usually, IIRC. http://morebeer.com/search/103831 Correction, shipping in early to mid April, according to that page. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 22:26
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Mikey Purp posted:Does anyone have insider knowledge about how soon it will be before we start to see Amarillo again? Seems like everywhere I look its still sold out, so I'm guessing the most recent harvest hasn't made it to stores yet? Or am I SOL until next year? Nikobrew has 2011 Amarillo in pounds in stock now, but its $35 a pound which is pretty loving exorbitant. Even $27 seems vaguely pricey to me. I paid $22/lb. of Citra, something like $25/lb. for Amarillo and $20/lb. of Simcoe, and I felt like those prices were quite high (you can get substantially similar "C" style hops of other varieties for 12 bucks a pound). Buying in bulk really cuts down the cost of those random visits to the brew store for grain, but it doesn't really when they want more 2 bucks an ounce for them in bulk. As for subs, I would probably suggest either Cascade or Ahtanum. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 23:29
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So I just transferred my mead to its carboy. The initial gravity was 1.111 and before transferring after its 2 week ferment it read 1.006. Being a complete newbie, I'm unsure of how to read it. I tasted a bit and other that being a bit zingy and dry, it tastes pretty strong.
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Feb 13, 2013 00:03
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Who Dat posted:So I just transferred my mead to its carboy. The initial gravity was 1.111 and before transferring after its 2 week ferment it read 1.006.
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Feb 13, 2013 00:30
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Anyone have recommendations for actual kegerator build instructions? Specifically, I'm working with a chest freezer and will likely use a tower. On that note, do people have an opinion on towers vs. straight taps? I'm leaning towards a tower because A) I want the extra height B) I don't want to build a collar and C) I'm afraid of hitting some cooling lines or something if I drill into the front. Any comments on the pros and cons of each?
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Feb 13, 2013 00:37
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Would this be too much chocolate malt for a brown ale? 7.5 lbs Pale 2 Row 13.3 oz Crystal 60 13.3 oz Special Roast 13.3 oz Victory Malt 8 oz Chocolate Malt (UK) My understanding is that it can really overwhelm the other flavors even in small amounts. According to Beersmith this would give me about what I want in terms of color, but I'll tone it down if it'd mean the beer would be kind of lovely. I was also planning on using Mt Hood, Willamette and Cascade hops and "dry hopping" with cacao nibs for a week or two, if any of that matters.
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Feb 13, 2013 01:05
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Whodat Smith-Jones posted:Would this be too much chocolate malt for a brown ale? How dark do you want it to be? I used 8 ounces of pale (220L) chocolate malt in 10 gallons, and I think it's about the right brown color for me - that is to say, dark enough that it's brown and not amber in the glass, but pale enough that it's not dark brown or black, either. Maybe a trifle darker than Newcastle. If you're using 8 ounces of regular chocolate malt in 5 gallons, it's going to be pretty dark. Chocolate is 375-450L, per Northern Brewer. I'd cut it in half for the volume and in half again for the color, and use 2 ounces of that in 5 gallons. And that's not even considering the Special Roast (50L) and the Victory (28L).
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Feb 13, 2013 01:15
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Jo3sh posted:How dark do you want it to be? Well, Beersmith put me at 24.4 SRM with that grain bill I listed above, and the picture seems to be about as dark as I'd like. I double checked Beersmith's preloaded color profiles with what I could find on Google and they all appear to be accurate, so it's not like I'd be getting projected results that would actually be way off. Dropping the chocolate malt down to 2 oz just makes it look like it'll turn out way too light. 4 oz would be on the lower end of the color spectrum for the style by the looks of things, but if you're saying even that would be too much then what other options would I have?
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Feb 13, 2013 01:38
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I think you're good to go. I recently did a nut brown ale with a similar profile at 2.5 gallons which turned out a nice brown: 4lb 2-row 1lb CaraBrown 55L 1lb Victory 8oz Carapils 2oz Black malt
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Feb 13, 2013 01:42
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