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Marshmallow Blue posted:I have a double sink, I switch the kettle out back and forth between new fills of cold water and it takes 20-30 minutes. I can live with that til I can get a chiller. That was one of the first things I made for myself. Parts ran me ~$45 at home depot. Most expensive part was the flexible copper tubing. Only thing I'd do differently (and I may still modify) would be to add a quick release at the sink/hose end.
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Mar 27, 2015 17:36
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Jacobey000 posted:This is a problem with recipes in general too, I think the kickstarter is kinda silly. 44k for what? To start a website? Which is kinda a homebrew store? Why not just partner with a homebrew store around their location (quick google search shows 5), and just take a cut of the sold kit? I don't see any added value of this. All people are going to do are post links to "buy the recipe" on their brewfrog/HBT/NB posts. There's not any value added here. Which is disappointing in that it's nice to be able to use other recipes and buy the ingredients. This unfortunately doesn't change any of that and just makes another middleman to make the cost of brewing higher in the end. That said, I imagine it'll get funded anyway.
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Apr 3, 2015 23:45
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more falafel please posted:Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to tell when bottles are carbonated. After a week, put one in the fridge for 48 hours and pop it. Don't be worried if it's not carbed up yet, I rarely have decent carbonation before 2-3 weeks. This is really good to know. I popped my Strong Scotch Ale in the fridge after only a week in the bottle and there was almost no carbonation. I didn't dump it, and the flavor is pretty decent, but it really needs the carbonation to taste good. On the other hand, my Standard Bitter is done carbing after 5-6 days. I don't know why I was expecting the same thing. I'll need to pop another in the fridge now that it's past the 2 weeks mark and see how it is.
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Apr 6, 2015 17:04
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DontAskKant posted:Bottle at least one in a plastic bottle so you can feel when it is hard. Also a great idea. I did stick another into the fridge this morning, and turns out my Strong Scotch Ale really needed that extra week to fully carbonate. I'm going to give my bombers at least another week or two before opening one of those. Notes of caramel, plenty of malt, and a bit buttery almost in the mouth. Bit too much of a bite that I can't decide if it's from the 2oz Willamette hops or the alcohol (my guess is the later). Going to let it age a few more weeks and compare. Will letting it sit improve it much or is it just a pipe dream?
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Apr 6, 2015 20:27
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Scarf posted:One of the breweries down here (Westbrook if anyone is familiar) often gets rid of bourbon (and other various) barrels from time to time and sells them for like $35 a pop. Is it worth it to pick one up for beer purposes? Or is pretty much all of the flavor and whatnot extracted after aging one batch is completed? They're possibly still good. Bourbon barrels can only be used once for bourbon by legal definition for the style. Those barrels are good for a few more turns filled. I think you just need to pay attention to what was in it before and know that there might be some other bugs in there hiding in the wood. If I could get one for $35 for brewing I would, but my guess is they're nearing their life and are being put to pasture (for gardening and whatever you might do with it). Can't hurt to talk to the brewers though.
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Apr 9, 2015 16:44
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MalleusDei posted:I've only every been to Bob's on 55th, but its a pretty good shop (it's also really close to me). They were out of Washington 2-row one time, but I've never had any other problems with them not having stuff. Bob is a pretty friendly guy, and seems pretty willing to give advice, just chat about brewing, etc. Bob's is pretty close to me too, and I've not really been tempted to go anywhere else because of how helpful they are there. Granted, I would try the one that's 20 minutes away before driving all the way to Bob's if I were up by Lake Stevens. 
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Apr 15, 2015 00:56
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LaserWash posted:fairly easy, somewhat boozy Russian Imperial Stout recipe. Edit: This is what I found this morning. The blow off tube that I added after cleaning up is going nuts and I can hear it upstairs on the other side of the house. 
Jhet fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Apr 20, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2015 16:10
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The patience and the need for a unique set of equipment is what's keeping me from starting a sour at this point. My wife would love one, provided it tastes good. I'm planning for one with watermelon and one with blackberry, but really I just need to read the Sour Beer book by Tonsmeier and buy a bunch of small carboys so that I can have a bunch of different small batches going. It would be nice, but I've only been doing this for about four months. It's the 6+ months of waiting for the sours that makes me want to jump right in. Granted, I could just buy a some growlers and get them filled to keep her happy in the meantime and worry about expanding my repertoire. But sours...
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Apr 25, 2015 05:52
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Bag of Sun Chips posted:I still consider myself a novice in homebrewing, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I'm not using any separate equipment, save a different auto siphon and tubing. If I wanted to be extra careful, I probably should buy a dedicated bottling bucket. I'll need to try that yeast blend, because my basement stays at a consistent 63-64F. My plan is to have dedicated sour equipment for anything that isn't stainless or glass. Basically anything that the bugs can stick to the cracks in anything plastic. It's more needing a carboy or multiple secondaries to have it aging in for 6mo or more that is the real investment. I'm thinking about just taking 1 gallon of my ordinary bitter recipe and saving it before bottling and pitching a souring bug or some dregs. I've been making it regularly and it's pretty simple. I'm just trying to figure out a) what to pitch (probably brett) and b) what else to do with it (spices, fruits, etc).
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Apr 28, 2015 14:51
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Scarf posted:I have a beard and don't enjoy sours beyond tastings I have a beard and enjoy sours beyond tastings. I'm not sure the two are connected. I've had a beard much longer than I've enjoyed sours. Maybe that's because it's not a hipster beard? Dunno. There's a local sour here called "Sprinkles" by Everybody's Brewing. It has hibiscus and something, and it's awesome. Plenty of lemon sour, and the hibiscus makes it light and floral for me. It's an American Red Sour, and unfortunately they don't have any information on their website and I've only seen it on tap. But knowing what it started as, and some of the flavoring makes wanting to dive into Sours so much easier. And yamdankee, I'm only four brews in and I'm already making notes on experiments I'd like to do. It was really helpful for me to read as many different versions of how to make a simple extract beer as possible, but definitely read at least one that isn't connected to your recipe at some point. It really helped to know what was doing what and why (but that's just me).
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May 6, 2015 00:16
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(aside from Westbrook's Gose, and mainly just because it's local).
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Bag of Sun Chips posted:Is anybody interested in going in on a group buy for Thermapens? They are running a 15% off deal, and you get a discount for purchasing more than 5. That's the cheapest I've ever seen them and I would be interested. It's a mighty steep jump for anyone who's not already in the market for it though, but let me know if you can find a large enough group. I'd go for either regular or backlit.
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May 14, 2015 19:06
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Adult Sword Owner posted:Right, keeping them in That looks amazing. I bet you could do wonderful things with it. I've toyed with the idea of using honey in things, but I don't think 4 carboys for 20g of mead would go over at all in my house. Not until I make my wife a sour or three first. I do have to say that it saddens me that it would be cheaper to buy from Costco than if I were to just drive to Kent, WA to buy it from the source.
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May 22, 2015 20:45
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I brewed my Rye Saison yesterday. Wyeast 3711 is one happy yeast. It shouldn't reach the upper end of the temp scale unless it takes it there itself as my basement is about 64-67, so it'll be interesting to try it again later in the summer if it actually gets warmer in my basement. I have plans for une bičre de garde for fall/winter. It'll be in bottles before my Russian Imperial by a good two weeks. And then there's the wait for them to properly carb. I really hate waiting. Anyone have a good tip to get this to carb properly in bottles? The last high OG beer I made didn't carb well and I want to avoid that this time. I didn't make a starter for that last one, but I did for the RIS. I also saved yeast from the primary for the RIS. Do I need to add a bit of yeast starter back in a day or two before bottling, or should I be okay if I add the proper DME addition?
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May 26, 2015 02:46
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ReaperUnreal posted:I also made a rye saison with 3711. It was fantastic and I'm looking forward to making another batch. I've also found that 3711 is just as insane when repitched. I'm about 5 generations in right now and it gets down to 1.000 like nobody's business. I wish it had more of the traditional saison characteristic, but with the high temperature range and fairly neutral flavour, I've found that I can make most things with that yeast. I based mine off this rye saison. I used 6.6 lbs of Pilsner LME because I didn't want a left over 0.6, and Willamette hops because it's what I had. I'm hoping the earthy notes of the hops comes through, but they got the full boil, so I doubt there'll be all that much left past the bitter. The AA on them was a little higher than the Styrian in that recipe, but not that much. I don't want to open the fermenter until the weekend, but it tasted interesting on the way in. I'm looking forward to the next half dozen generations of it. Bonus: I'm going to need a mini-fridge just to store all my yeast. Up to two generations of 1028 London ale, one of 1084 Irish ale, and now the 3711. I want to collect the 1728 Scottish, the 1968 London ESB, and 1272 American Ale II and call it enough different strains. I want to figure out my yeasts and then move to all grain in the next 12 months. Because  . I'd move to kegging, but not until I have permanent digs for my mini home brewery.
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May 27, 2015 18:33
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Der Penguingott posted:How do you guys get to 6th gen with yeast? I will use it 2-3 times then I get bored of that yeast and it sits in the fridge too long and gets kinda weird. I've had kinda bad luck reusing most yeast >1m old. I was popping them too. I try to empty out any liquid with food in it now and replace with boiled water that has been cooled in the fridge. Slows down the yeast and let's them go dormant from what I've read. I need to get better at washing the yeast so I have better results in future gens. When I'm wanting to use it I just make a starter the week of brew day to wake up and get the yeast going again. It's worked so far, but I need to get better about the science of it. Edit: I don't use the same yeast for everything. Specific yeasts for certain styles is the goal here.
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May 27, 2015 19:44
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LaserWash posted:I keep two yeast strains (wlp 001 and 835) in mason jars that I make "over-sized" starters for. The part that doesn't get pitched is put in the mason jars for later storage (the yeast bank). I've used that 001 strain at least 7 times with no change in flavor (seems pure to me, especially given the method I'm raising it in). I don't know why, but I never even thought about starting fresh and staying fresh. I guess part of me wants the yeast to evolve a little bit, but I can really see the usefulness in having the same starting strain to pitch each time. When I get my yeast fridge, I'll need to do the starter wort thing. The chemistry toys that I get to buy for yeast are what interests my wife. I'd even let her play with them if it lets me continue this hobby indefinitely.
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May 27, 2015 20:08
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internet celebrity posted:Pro tip: Jaryllo hops are kind of gross in a single hop IPA. I haven't, but they look like they'd be good for a saison if it's supposed to be spicy and fruity. I'm not sure I've seen it in anything. What did you use them for? Personally, Chinook tend to be overused to me. They almost immediately give me a headache from the piney flavor. Simcoe not to the same extent. I think most of it's from them being used in excess in the IPA and DIPA that over-populate the taps near me.
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May 28, 2015 23:56
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For the few people out there that were looking at buying a Thermapen. The Purple color is being discontinued and is marked down to $79 right now. I'm buying one, and if you were looking for a group buy, this is still probably cheaper.
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May 29, 2015 19:44
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Plinkey posted:Welp, that 5 gallons of Pliny copy lasted 6 days, RIP delicious beer. A small part of me hopes that you didn't have help, but there aren't any misspellings in your post. Anyone have any good fruity standard IPA extract + specialty grain recipes? There is an abundance out there right now and I'm looking for something that's been tried with good results. It's hopefully the last beer I make before starting the move to AG this summer. Mostly just need to decide to drop the on the setup.
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Jun 4, 2015 00:10
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I bottled my Russian Imperial Stout yesterday night. It tastes like a Russian woman has captured me and is forcing me to do her housework. In other words, it has a good bitterness, wonderful sweetness, and I'm really looking forward to it being done carbing. In other news, the Rye Saison I have going with Wyeast 3711 is still fermenting. It started out a bit north of 1.060, and is just getting down to 1.015. I'm expecting it to get a little further, and it's been a little cool in my basement still so I'm not worried. It should taste pretty good from the sample I took. Not as spicy as I was expecting, but I think that's the 3711.
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Jun 7, 2015 02:58
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atomic johnson posted:I’m wondering if I can turn these into anything interesting with, maybe, some Brett, lactobacillus, and an oak spiral? Or are they probably just hosed lovely beer? From what I've been reading, Brett would be the way to go for the brown, and possibly lacto and Brett for the red. I'd taste them to see how good/bad they actually are before buying the Brett though. You may want to pitch some dregs too, because at this point it's a science experiment anyway.
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Jun 7, 2015 07:06
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yamdankee posted:So my first homebrew, a Bavarian Heffe, turned out awesome. It's really got all of my favorite taste in a beer. Only thing is, I took a hydrometer reading and it says it's only got an ABV of 1%. It can't be that low can it? It fermented the full two weeks, and it remained bottled for almost another full two weeks. I did take the reading from beer from a cold bottle. I read they need to be warmer. Is it screwing up my reading that much just by being cold? I don't know how I'm going to take a reading from a room temperature bottle and then cool it down to enjoy drinking it without letting it get flat... It's probably not that low. There is a little calculation that goes into actually figuring the ABV. This is the one that I use most often, but there are plenty out there and there's nothing much that will change the formula drastically. You need to know your starting and finishing gravity to find your answer. Your hydrometer won't give you the actual ABV alone.
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Jun 7, 2015 20:39
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rockcity posted:Apparently my double IPA is coming in at 192 IBU... Lord I'm hoping the theoretical limit comes into play and the high gravity nature keeps that at bay. Yay for triple IPA mistakes! And if you can seriously get 192 IBU, I want to know what you put in, because drat. Let us know how it tastes.
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Jun 7, 2015 23:30
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rockcity posted:90 min boil I really don't see this getting too bitter. The hop schedule looks pretty yummy too. You can always let it mellow en masse in a secondary too if it's too bitter before the dry hop. If it's tasting good now, you're at least on the right track.
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Jun 8, 2015 04:44
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BaseballPCHiker posted:If anyone is in the Minneapolis area and plans on brewing this weekend and feels like teaching I'll gladly contribute a 6 pack of something to the effort. This was a lot more involved than just helping my friends sanitize things like I had done in the past. I'm pretty sure there are a few LHBS' that have brewing classes in MSP. At least they did when I lived there five years ago. It should help with confusion much better than we can probably answer the questions, because they'll probably have brewing visual aides. That said, I like to rewrite instructions before I do anything in the kitchen so that I don't miss anything important. Not all recipes are written well, and more often then not, they'll bury something like 'you need a 2L yeast starter' at the end and not in the ingredient list or as step one. It's my measure twice, cut once step in the kitchen. That way, if you come across something that doesn't make sense, you can figure it out without the boil going.
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Jun 9, 2015 16:32
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Zuph posted:Man, looks like my local homebrew store is going out of business: http://insiderlouisville.com/business/old-kentucky-homebrew-close-end-june/ I used to live down Baxter in the Highlands. If we're being honest, that brew-in-store idea was never going to work in the area. People have too much space for it to be useful. And the people who don't have 'enough' space, either know someone who does, or have been making it work in their apartment kitchens anyway. The location really didn't help things either. If they'd been out off the Watterson, it may have worked, but really he sort of tried something and it failed. It's too bad, because without that capital investment in the brewing set-ups, he probably would have been able to last for a while longer and maybe turned it around. It's sad that I'm advocating his location be out in the suburbs, but I can see a larger market in St. Matthews and to the NE to Crestwood. I knew a lot of people that wouldn't come into the city except to maybe go to the theater or a sporting event.
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Jun 11, 2015 23:55
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Zuph posted:Here's hoping they're able to avoid bankruptcy, and re-open in some other location. Until then, guess I'll have to plan my beers more than a day in advance :-( I'm hoping for it too. But that's the same story from when Ear Xtacy closed. The rents in the neighborhood really shouldn't be rising that fast, and it's ridiculous. I get rising rents, but it's just sad. I'd say Germantown would be good, but it's going to be the same problem in few enough years. It's sad, but I don't know any other brew shops in the area. I really would think there's a market for it. E: In other news, my Russian imperial stout tastes great, but it ineeds another week or so to carb still.
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Jun 13, 2015 06:28
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McSpergin posted:I've done 45% rye in saisons and loved it. It won't finish generally as dry if you use flaked but malted usually does. I use both and it is fuckin delicious It is loving delicious. My rye saison just finished carbing and I want to drink it all right this very second. All this rye talk and I want to make another batch immediately.
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Jul 2, 2015 03:53
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robotsinmyhead posted:A guy in our brewclub bought a Four Roses Bourbon Barrel when he was down in Kentucky for the Derby. He wheels up a loving monstrous 55+gal oak barrel with a half gallon of whiskey left it in. What happens when you want to make more and can't get it to reproduce? Even if it's a one time experiment, that just seems a shame. Especially if you don't drink the Four Roses first. Bluegrass Brewing Co in Louisville does a Bourbon Barrel Stout that's usually good if you want to get your hands on something to drink in comparison.
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Jul 2, 2015 16:49
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robotsinmyhead posted:Yeah bourbon barrel stouts are pretty easy to find around here. I'd reckon there's a bottle release from a local microbrew featuring a Barrel-Aged SOMETHING about every month. See, now you've got me. I wish that I'd looked for a barrel when I lived in Louisville myself, just for the bug barrel. Although, I think I'd prefer 10gallons, because 55 is too much to fill for me right now. I'm pretty sure I see wine barrel beers more frequently in the Pac NW, but I'll be honest and say that I don't drink as much even microbrew stuff now that my basement is constantly filled with beer.
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Jul 4, 2015 20:15
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LaserWash posted:[...] Super glad you had fun. I wish I had the time to drive around to do tours like that. I will say that the last time I was at Fremont Brewing there were plenty of hop bombs. They also some good other offerings, and some decent sours. I'll need to go around and see what they're doing again. I have a few others that I need to visit first probably: like Everybody's Brewing which did a stellar sour called Sprinkles. They're on the Washington side of the border if you just go north out of Bend. Deschutes is also my favorite for recycling bottles because the labels are easy to remove and more importantly the beer inside them is well worth drinking.
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Jul 6, 2015 15:32
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LaserWash posted:A tiny bit of roast taste would be superb. So I'll be going with either the Carafa Special or Blackprinz and a tinge of Black Patent. Here's what I've got in BeerSmith: I think that'll probably be good. I don't have a lot of experience with the style, but I don't think the Black Patent would be enough to cover up the taste of the pils malt, and should be good for just some roast flavor. I'm looking at using Peated Malt in an oatmeal stout and 2-4oz is about what I've settled on for it. I'd expect the peated to be much stronger than the Black Patent, but on the balance the flavors it's cutting through are similar to the strength of the roast/smoke. So really, too me, it doesn't look like you'd be adding too much.
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Jul 25, 2015 23:37
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McSpergin posted:gently caress I do this with bottle strains from local farmhouse breweries. Always end up with a couple vials of some Brett and saison blends. Also with Vermont ale because it's $16 a vial to get in Australia and it's good for a few batches Yeast harvesting is awesome. Starters are awesome. So long as it's fermenting all the way and producing a drinkable beer, who cares what people do with dry yeast packs? In other news, how they hell do I buy a full bag of malt without paying out the rear end in shipping charges?
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Jul 27, 2015 18:23
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Jo3sh posted:Three things have worked for me: Those are all great to know. It is ridiculous that 48lbs of malt from MoreBeer would be cheaper because of the whole shipping thing. I need to finish pricing out malts from the LHBS in the area, and this being Seattle, there are plenty to call. And plenty of clubs that I really should look into. Any Seattle area brewers know the Homebrew Clubs in the area and can give me any tips, I'd love to get a PM from you with any info you're willing to share. There's also beer incentives that I can offer.
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Jul 27, 2015 18:59
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Raised by Hamsters posted:I want to move from BIAB to having an actual mash tun, Igloo drink cooler the consensus route to go? Also I like making higher gravity beers (like 1.090 range), so is a 10 gallon cooler sufficient for 5 gallon batches, or should i be looking for something else? From all the research I was doing for mine, 10 gallons is the right size you should go for high gravity beers if you're making 5 gallon batches. Leaves plenty of room for malt and water. I went the kettle mash/lauter route myself and I'm waiting to hear back about it's fabrication. The guy who's doing it was ordering the kettles from the distributor and now he's trying to find a way to order them again. Good luck putting yours together!
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Aug 2, 2015 00:12
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more falafel please posted:Don't do this unless you know what you're doing. To make it safe (i.e., not Brett, but botulism, which can Kill You Dead) you need to pressure can at 250F for about 30 minutes. Boiling is not sufficient, and this is stuff you really, really shouldn't gently caress with. That's what pressure cookers are for. It's the route I'll move eventually. Right now my starters are small enough that I can normally just boil it in my flask. I do have a Strong Scotch Ale that will need over 400 x10^6 cells that is going to take a lot of stepping. Granted, I don't think the Brett would be the worst thing there, but botulism is bad. I'm buying a second fridge to keep hops and washed yeast in too. I have a very full brew schedule in the next 4 months that I'm anxious to get moving on. I'm just waiting on my mash/lauter and kettle to be fabricated. I'm starting a little 'drinking' club with people in my neighborhood and we have all sorts of requests. I don't think I've been this excited before about brewing.
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Aug 7, 2015 18:04
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Jo3sh posted:Back to recent discussions of issues in both Brewtoad and Beersmith - has anyone tried BeerTools Pro? I've looked at it, but I haven't tried it. It seems like it might be a combination of the goods/bads of the different ones. The yearly Gold membership to do anything complicated and store more than a single recipe online is an enormous turnoff, even if it is only $17/yr. I'd rather just buy BeerSmith and use that and Brewtoad for screwing around with recipes online. It just doesn't seem like their business model is one that I'd want to buy into, and it's not like it's going to do anything that the similarly priced BeerSmith isn't going to do.
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Aug 8, 2015 00:02
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Jo3sh posted:And yet the BATFE has sent letters saying they don't care about freeze concentration* **. I asked someone who works for BATFE about it once, and while he doesn't work in that division specifically, and he shed some insight into it. It had something to do with the formerly less than safe ability to distill in moonshine operations, but mostly it's a tax and distillers interest group problem these days. Obviously the tech is good enough now to do it at home, but as with all things in government it's going to take a while for it to change.
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Aug 15, 2015 03:14
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Errant Gin Monks posted:
Yay science! It's the best. I add DME or LME to any recipe over 1.075 ish. I don't see the point in lower efficiencies when I can hit my numbers without wasting grain or picking up odd flavors. Strong Scotch ales of 1.120+ won't notice the extract, and with the low hop schedule anyway, the only reason to go with mega grain bills is for two beers in one bill and/or a double mash.
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Aug 18, 2015 00:16
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Der Penguingott posted:Are you looking for new barrels? I've only seen used ones for reasonable prices. There were some used whisky 5g that came by on HomeBrewFinds, but they're about the same price as the 10g that Farmhouse has. I almost pulled the trigger on it today, but that's because 5g is the right size for me. I'd love to do 10, but I need to start smaller with it still because of space.
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Aug 19, 2015 05:12
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