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more falafel please posted:Not sure if you can find them in the UK easily but Chugger pumps are the somewhat cheaper alternative to March pumps, and from all accounts they work just as well. This guy claims to have got Chugger pumps into the UK, but I'm not sure how: http://beerdirective.tumblr.com/post/51566998324/chugger-pumps-in-the-uk He might reply if asked, though.
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Jun 17, 2014 18:27
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more falafel please posted:Not sure if you can find them in the UK easily but Chugger pumps are the somewhat cheaper alternative to March pumps, and from all accounts they work just as well. Jo3sh posted:This guy claims to have got Chugger pumps into the UK, but I'm not sure how: Cheers guys! I'll go ask him, it really weird that something like the pumps has hardly any range here for homebrewers.  Hopefully the guy with reply! 
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Jun 17, 2014 21:43
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So, I went ahead and did this thing 12lbs of berries, 10lbs of sugar, 1 can of grape concentrate. With the bottled water, the whole batch cost right at $40.  I only put five gallons of water in here, but the bag of sugar brought it up over six gallons, so I had to siphon a gallon out to be able to fit all of the berries. I guess I'll stick that in the fridge and use it to top up the volume once I siphon the whole thing off the berries.  Since this must is hardcore purple staining, I obviously had to splash some on my jeans! Hopefully oxyclean will take care of that. Last time I worked with this berry mix(in a cider) my hands were purple for a couple of days... The 10lbs of sugar brought the initial 5 gallons of water to 1.080, although I have no idea what the actual starting gravity ended up being with the berries and whatnot. At the very least I know I hit my minimum target. So, for now it sits to let the pectic enzyme do its thing, and tomorrow it'll get a pack of champagne yeast. I'm planning to do another wine this time next month, although I'm not sure what yet. Probably a merlot kit or something similar, since that seems to be closest to what most of my friends and girlfriend drink. I hope I'm still on my wine kick when the fall rolls around, because that's the earliest any of these things will be done...
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Jun 17, 2014 21:55
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Why should I get a mash paddle, besides the fact that they look cool?
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Jun 17, 2014 23:12
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Yessss. My copy of American Sour Beers arrived today. This reminds me that I should bottle my current sour and brew a fresh one. After power reading this book of course.
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Jun 17, 2014 23:31
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pugnax posted:Why should I get a mash paddle, besides the fact that they look cool? The shape helps break up dough balls, a large one is useful for large/thick mashes, plus they look cool.
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Jun 17, 2014 23:33
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It's already too late to change, but I might as well ask, I've got my batch of New England Brown sitting in the bucket right now, but when I brewed it I realized I couldn't fit all five gallons of water into my pot. What I did was shove two gallons into the fridge and put three into the pot to boil with the grains, then add the chilled water into the bucket with the brew. Will this come out diluted? I have a feeling it'll just be more concentrated in the three gallons and then dilute to near-normal afterwards, but I've got no experience and I want to know what I'm dealing with.
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Jun 17, 2014 23:36
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pugnax posted:Why should I get a mash paddle, besides the fact that they look cool? You can also use a huge wire whisk. The homebrewfinds guy advocate this approach, and if you watch his page, you can catch them for only a small number of dollars. They are supposed to break up doughballs even more effectively than a mash rake.
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Jun 17, 2014 23:59
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:It's already too late to change, but I might as well ask, I've got my batch of New England Brown sitting in the bucket right now, but when I brewed it I realized I couldn't fit all five gallons of water into my pot. What I did was shove two gallons into the fridge and put three into the pot to boil with the grains, then add the chilled water into the bucket with the brew. Will this come out diluted? I have a feeling it'll just be more concentrated in the three gallons and then dilute to near-normal afterwards, but I've got no experience and I want to know what I'm dealing with. As far as gravity, you'll be fine. A concentrated boil (where you add some of the water after the boil) is pretty common practice for extract+specialty grain brewers. Did you actually boil the grain? That's not really best practice - you ought to steep them below about 170 degrees F, then remove them before moving to a boil. Also, it can help your color and hop utilization if you add half your extract at the beginning and the remainder with only a few minutes left in the boil.
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Jun 18, 2014 00:02
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Jo3sh posted:You can also use a huge wire whisk. The homebrewfinds guy advocate this approach, and if you watch his page, you can catch them for only a small number of dollars. They are supposed to break up doughballs even more effectively than a mash rake. I have one of those and while it works well, the handle is annoyingly short and gives you no leverage at all. My 36" mash paddle is much less work for breaking up dough balls so I mostly use the whisk for small batches and mixing extract.
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Jun 18, 2014 00:12
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internet celebrity posted:I have one of those and while it works well, the handle is annoyingly short and gives you no leverage at all. Agreed. I can see a whisk working well for smaller batches, but when I tried one in a ~25 pound grist, it was way harder than the rake.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:28
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more falafel please posted:The shape helps break up dough balls, a large one is useful for large/thick mashes, plus they look cool. Yeah, I think I want to grab one just to complete the tool trifecta - my dad was an old school microbrewer in the early 80s and passed along his original kettle, charismatic spoon, and metal spoon. Be nice to have a mash paddle that I could add to when I pass it on to my kid eventually.
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Jun 18, 2014 03:40
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Who needs a fancy sparge arm?
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Jun 18, 2014 03:52
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I was under the impression that sparge arms were sort of a racket, and a hose is fine as long as you keep a constant level of water above the grain bed.
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Jun 18, 2014 04:06
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pugnax posted:I was under the impression that sparge arms were sort of a racket, and a hose is fine as long as you keep a constant level of water above the grain bed. You want it to evenly go across the grain bed and not cause any channels (like if you put a power hose aimmed at it it's pretty obvious but there are less obvious ways). However it's really easy to make your own sparge arm and there is many many ways. All you really want to do is spray the water over as much area as you can and not just have water going on one area the whole time. 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Jun 18, 2014 |
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Jun 18, 2014 04:07
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Jo3sh posted:As far as gravity, you'll be fine. A concentrated boil (where you add some of the water after the boil) is pretty common practice for extract+specialty grain brewers. I steeped the grains and boiled the malts, which were grain based. I'm figuring out the terminology- my bad. I did the temperature by eye. I make a lot of tea, so I can usually tell when something's about to boil. How important is a thermometer for the rest of the brewing process, though? A straight roiling boil should be fine, right? I can crank it up to maximum unless I've got an industrial grade kitchentop or something, right? EDIT: I just did what the store owner recommended, bring it to boiling, turn off the heat, dissolve the malt extract powder, bring it back to boiling and add the first round of hops.
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Jun 18, 2014 07:26
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I steeped the grains and boiled the malts, which were grain based. I'm figuring out the terminology- my bad. I did the temperature by eye. I make a lot of tea, so I can usually tell when something's about to boil. How important is a thermometer for the rest of the brewing process, though? A straight roiling boil should be fine, right? I can crank it up to maximum unless I've got an industrial grade kitchentop or something, right? No that's exactly correct. The terminology confusion is that the malt extract is typically called 'extract' as opposed to 'malt'. All good though - a smaller boil diluted with water is exactly the way to go. It can also help in bringing down the temperature of the wort rapidly. The thermometer is more important for the specialty grains - I usually add them to the cold water and take them out when the water hits 170F.
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Jun 18, 2014 13:05
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Fluo posted:You want it to evenly go across the grain bed and not cause any channels (like if you put a power hose aimmed at it it's pretty obvious but there are less obvious ways). However it's really easy to make your own sparge arm and there is many many ways. All you really want to do is spray the water over as much area as you can and not just have water going on one area the whole time. I took a polypropylene fast-food tray that was left in my shed when the old people moved out, cleaned it, drilled a billion holes in it, and wedged it in my cooler--the hose rests above it and I pump the water onto the tray, letting it drip evenly across the surface of the grain bed.
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Jun 18, 2014 14:42
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Jacobey000 posted:Who needs a fancy sparge arm?  (batch sparge supremacy)
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Jun 18, 2014 20:31
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Another opinion poll - brewing software? BeerSmith? Brewtarget? Qbrew?
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Jun 18, 2014 20:39
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pugnax posted:Another opinion poll - brewing software? BeerSmith? Brewtarget? Qbrew? Brewtoad for me. It has some shortcomings, but it works for me and the UI does not actually make me angry.
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Jun 18, 2014 20:52
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Jo3sh posted:Brewtoad for me. It has some shortcomings, but it works for me and the UI does not actually make me angry. Yeah man, I like what I can do with BrewSmith but the UI makes me want to die.
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Jun 18, 2014 20:57
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I think I'm going to put Beersmith away and go to Brewtoad.
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Jun 18, 2014 21:25
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I've been using Brewer's Friend for everything except calculating strike water temperature, because, annoyingly, it doesn't let me do it assuming my mash tun is pre-heated, and its calculations are always annoyingly off when I use it not-preheated. Otherwise, it's great, I can use it on my phone, etc.
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Jun 18, 2014 23:40
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If you convert to Brewtoad, don't forget to join the Something Awful group!
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Jun 18, 2014 23:54
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I still use ProMash 
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Jun 19, 2014 00:04
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Started 2 gallons of mead but the airlock wasn't bubbling much after a few days. Turns out the seal around my cork wasn't that good. Tossed some plumber's putty around it and its happily bubbling away a bit faster now.
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Jun 19, 2014 00:23
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I'm wanting to make a 'bourbon barrel' stout next and could use some advice all around. BCBS is my inspiration and luckily Goose Island posts the ingredients on their website. After reading that your base malt should be 75% of the grain bill, I think I have the grains dialed down: 2 row, 18 lbs chocolate malt, 2.5 lbs Munich malt, 2.5 lbs roasted barley, 1 lbs Not sure about hops, although BCBS uses Willamette so I want to use that one. I'm also not sure when I should add the hops in the boil or what temperature would be good to mash at (I'm thinking 150). I'm also not sure about what yeast would be best although I've had good results with Wyeast Scottish Ale Yeast so I might use that. Whenever I google homebrew bourbon barrel stouts it seems like people impart the bourbon barrel flavor a variety of ways. Anyone here ever make one? I'm thinking about what seems to be the standard, soak 4 oz of oak chips in 8 oz of bourbon, then add the oak chips and some (Not sure how much) of the bourbon to secondary for 2 weeks to a month.
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Jun 19, 2014 00:41
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Sublimer posted:I'm thinking about what seems to be the standard, soak 4 oz of oak chips in 8 oz of bourbon, then add the oak chips and some (Not sure how much) of the bourbon to secondary for 2 weeks to a month. All of it, imo. Taste after 5ish days and every few days after. I keep my oak cubes vacuum-sealed with whatever bourbon I have around. If they get particularly scuzzy, I'd give them a quick boil and sanitizer rinse. I've only used them twice so far, but presumably they'll give up on barrel character eventually and I'll throw them into a sour to get infected.
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Jun 19, 2014 00:56
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pugnax posted:Yeah man, I like what I can do with BrewSmith but the UI makes me want to die.
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Jun 19, 2014 02:08
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nmfree posted:I disliked BrewSmith's interface a lot more before I tried using BrewTarget to make a few new recipes. BT made me want to put my fist through my computer screen. Honestly BrewSmith's water additions integrations is so baller I can't really see any other tool winning out.
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Jun 19, 2014 02:17
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Sublimer posted:I'm wanting to make a 'bourbon barrel' stout next and could use some advice all around. BCBS is my inspiration and luckily Goose Island posts the ingredients on their website. After reading that your base malt should be 75% of the grain bill, I think I have the grains dialed down:
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Jun 19, 2014 02:27
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Massasoit posted:Started 2 gallons of mead but the airlock wasn't bubbling much after a few days. Turns out the seal around my cork wasn't that good. Tossed some plumber's putty around it and its happily bubbling away a bit faster now. Yup this is why airlock activity is not a good indicator of active fermentation. Have you used any nutrients or aeration schedule? --------- Speaking of meads, i'm getting ready to start an experiment with 100% brett in meads. Going to grab 4 vials (trois, brux, anom, and clausenenini) and do 4 one gallon batches.
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Jun 19, 2014 03:37
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Sublimer posted:I'm wanting to make a 'bourbon barrel' stout next and could use some advice all around. BCBS is my inspiration and luckily Goose Island posts the ingredients on their website. After reading that your base malt should be 75% of the grain bill, I think I have the grains dialed down: You might want some more body, I'd mash high (~155º) or add some oats. And maybe a hint of Crystal 120. That's a lot of chocolate malt too. Since you're going big it's gonna need longer in secondary to mellow out. Anywhere from 3-6 months, the beer will tell when it's ready. Instead of chips, which have a large surface area and impart lots of oak quickly (ie days), I'd go with cubes. They'll be fine for months at a time. You won't get much bourbon just soaking chips or cubes. I like to blend in a bit of straight bourbon at bottling to taste.
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Jun 19, 2014 04:09
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I don't know about a mash temp of 154/155* for a bigass RIS with a ton of specialty malts. Something that big is going to have plenty of body without a high mash temp, and it'll be difficult to get it to ferment fully because you'll be in the upper range of what most yeasts can handle alcohol wise. I think sticking around 150* would be best.
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Jun 19, 2014 04:39
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If you're talking about a strong (OG >= 1.080) beer, definitely err on the side of low mash temps and high fermentability. Add simple sugars. Mash at 149, and do so for 90 minutes. The problem will definitely not be to make sure it has enough body, but rather to avoid finishing cloy. Dry it out any way you can; it'll still be plenty rich.
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Jun 19, 2014 04:47
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My name should be Josh as well because I'll echo what each of them said about a lower mash temp. Anything north of 1.090 is going to be plenty viscous after fermentation. Additionally, I highly recommend a monster starter or a 1L starter + some yeast nutrient to push it along. Otherwise you'll end up with a milkshake-thick stout which sounds good at first until you realize it's just not fun to drink something like that.
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Jun 19, 2014 05:01
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Discomancer posted:If that were me, I'd mash at 154 and use CA001. That's a good recipe (some crystal malt wouldn't hurt if you wanted to go that direction), and Willamette is a nice choice of hop for stouts. Though with how malty this is it probably won't make a difference. Is this a 10 gallon batch? I'd do 1 ounce of oak chips in 6-10 ounces of bourbon (depending on how bourbony you want it) per 5 gallons. You can always add another ounce and leave it for another week if it's not oaky enough the first time around. This is gonna be a five gallon batch. I did the math and figured out that if my five gallon batch is 10% alcohol and I add 8 oz of 100 proof bourbon, it will only kick the total alcohol up to about 10.5%. In light of that, it seems pretty remarkable that Goose Island goes from ~11% alcohol in their base beer (Which I'm pretty sure is Night Stalker, but hopped differently) and the barrel raises it to 14-15% for BCBS. It must be leeching a shitload of bourbon out of those barrels. Curious, why do you recommend CA001? White Labs only rates it a 2/4 for imperial stouts, but I guess that doesn't matter too much. ExtremistCow posted:You might want some more body, I'd mash high (~155º) or add some oats. And maybe a hint of Crystal 120. That's a lot of chocolate malt too. Would you recommend replacing some of that chocolate malt with Crystal 120 then? How important do you think it is to stick with 75% base malt / 25% specialty in a big stout like this?
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Jun 19, 2014 19:19
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I had designs on a beer for tomorrow: 11lbs Pilsner Malt/1.0oz German Tradition/Trappist High Gravity yeast. After calling my LHBS, he was out of the malt and the yeast. So, I threw together a belgian table beer recipe 11lbs 2-Row Pale 1.0oz Tradition 60min 1.0oz Saaz (5day dry-hope) WLP566 Saison II  I hear this yeast is a beast, and I'm pretty excited to drill down a very pale, 50+point beer to 1.004 or so. Who knows, if my mild stalls, maybe i'll just rack it onto that cake and finish it out. 
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Jun 19, 2014 21:26
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Yup this is why airlock activity is not a good indicator of active fermentation. I put some yeast nutrient and energizer in when I mixed the must. Haven't read anything about aerating after its fermenting. Is this a thing that should be done? This is only the third time I've made mead, so I'm by no means an expert. When I did it twice before I didn't do any aeration other than when I racked it because I was fermenting in a 1gal narrow neck glass jug. The Slack Lagoon fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 21:43
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