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Oak chips generally go in secondary or bulk aging. Sanitize them before use by soaking them for a couple of weeks in vodka or bourbon. Taste the beer pretty frequently to be sure you don't over-oak it.
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Oct 9, 2011 01:07
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:25 |
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That's another thing to consider - if the recipe was written for syrup, but you subbed in dry extract pound for pound, you would get a higher gravity than projected, as dry extract contributes a little more gravity per pound.
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Oct 10, 2011 17:00
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tesilential posted:I haven't ever seen this question asked, and I know it's 100% opinion but I still would like some suggestions of having a diverse lineup of styles on tap. My current tap list is: Strong red after Lagunitas' Hairy Eyeball fortified cider All-Sorachi Ace IPA In bottles, I have some dark Belgian quad. In fermenters is a Dusseldorf alt. High on my list of probable upcoming batches: Oatmeal stout Winter warmer (brown and spiced) Barleywine Munich/Saaz SMASH For you, I'd suggest doing something big pretty soon so that it has time to age a bit for the holidays - a barleywine maybe. Next, something dark like an export stout or robust porter. Maybe a Kolsch for holiday drinking by those who want homebrew but aren't into bitter or dark beers. IPA last so it will be fresh.
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Oct 10, 2011 21:03
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Prefect Six posted:1 pound of chocolate wheat, .5 pounds of carawheat and .5 pounds of roasted barley. No need to convert any of those - just a steep will do, so temperature is less critical than if you were doing a mash. It would be best if you didn't exceed 165 or so, to avoid extracting tannins from the husks.
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Oct 11, 2011 03:50
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Daedalus Esquire posted:Ok, so here is my attempt at a first all grain recipe. That's a huge grain bill unless that's a 10 gallon / 19L batch. For five gallons, I have to assume 40% efficiency to get in the ballpark.
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Oct 11, 2011 04:39
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tesilential posted:A strong red sounds delicious and interesting! I hadn't ever considered brewing something like that. http://hopville.com/recipe/619172/home-brew/hairball There are two yeasts listed because I split this into two fermenters. Overall, I liked the English yeast better for this one, but there was nothing wrong with the American one, either. Be aware this may not be what you are thinking of - Hairy Eyeball is a caramel bomb, and while this is toned down from that (making, IMO, a better beer than theirs), it's still long on caramel. tesilential posted:edit: I forgot to ask, how is the All-Sorachi Ace IPA? I've never tried those hops and only seen them in an all-sorachi saison at the beer store. It's really, really good. http://hopville.com/recipe/770950/home-brew/usagi-iii There's a lot going on with the hops that you just don't see with American types - tons of neat floral aromatics and a lemon-peel kind of flavor. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Oct 11, 2011 |
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Oct 11, 2011 15:26
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Morbid Florist posted:Well the things you learn... It will be fine. In fact, this is related to a technique I have seen advocated for making flavorful, but lower-alcohol beer: doing a high-gravity ferment to get the complexity of a strong beer, then cutting it with water to keep the alcohol content manageable. I doubt you'll have much of a noticeable effect at ~1.065 OG, but at least there's precedent. As long as the water you added was clean, there's pretty much no chance it goofed anything up. Boiled and cooled would be best as it both degasses the water and assures sanitation; water from a sealed bottle would be good too; but even regular tap water is probably going to be OK as municipal supplies are pretty sanitary.
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Oct 13, 2011 16:02
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It's going to be just fine. But it would have been just fine without the move to secondary also. MorbidFlorist, many/most of us do single-stage ferments for most/all of our beers. The consensus is that secondaries are kind of deprecated.
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Oct 13, 2011 22:06
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Noghri_ViR posted:Happy Freedom to Home Brew Day everyone! Woo hoo! Raise a glass in the general direction of Plains, GA! vvv I did, and I meant to comment on it, but I got distracted by something shiny. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Oct 14, 2011 |
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Oct 14, 2011 17:57
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Sionak posted:I switched out the ones on the keg lids, but not the IN/OUT posts since I wasn't quite sure how to do it. For the ones on the posts, I usually end up cutting the old ones with a utility knife or an Xacto. I've never been able to get them off without cutting them because the groove they sit in is pretty deep and narrow, but others have reported success just by using a fine tool of some kind to get under them. I say why go to the trouble - if you're replacing them, there's no need to be particular about them, right? For the one under the posts, on the dip tubes, once you get the post off, the dip tubes will just lift out of the keg (might want some soaking and/or wiggling if there's soda gunk up in there). The O-rings can just be slid off the end of the removed dip tube and a new one slid on. In both cases, a light coat of keg lube as you reassemble will help them seal nicely.
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Oct 15, 2011 05:04
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crazyfish posted:So I'm interested in brewing a Belgian wit 1) DME and LME are pretty well interchangeable, so you should have no problem there. I have not heard that LME is easier to caramelize, but I do know that old or poorly stored LME can darken over time. I think you'll have a hard time getting as pale a beer as you would from all-grain no matter how you do it. Whatever you choose, get the palest you can and do a late extract addition to keep the color pale. The oats will add enough gums that I don't think you'll have a heading issue. 2) Yes, that's correct. DME ~=45PPG; LME ~=36PPG. 45*0.8=36 3) I really think you're going to want to do a minimash rather than just a steep. Personally, I'd replace the aromatic malt with pilsner and hold it and the oats for an hour or so at around 150. Aromatic is not a steeping grain; it needs to be mashed. It does have the diastatic power you would need to convert itself and the oats, but I am not so sure its character goes well in a Wit. 4) Flaked oats are more like quick oats than regular rolled oats. Lots of people report success just chucking quick oats into the mash, but for rolled oats, you would need to gelatinize (cook) them first.
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Oct 15, 2011 17:52
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If you want to continue to do concentrated boils, a 20-quart pot is a very effective size. If you are interested in doing full-volume boils or all-grain brewing, you will need a larger pot - probably something in the range of 28-32 quarts. It's worth pointing out that if you brew at full volume, boiling on the kitchen stove and chilling in the kitchen sink become somewhat problematic, so you'll also want to be aware of other potential expenses such as propane burners and wort chillers. Next you are buying ingredients or visiting your local shop, also ask about Fermcap-S. This is a milky liquid you can add to the boil (about 1 to 2 drops per gallon) that will break the surface tension of the foam in the pot, greatly reducing the risk of boilovers.
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Oct 15, 2011 19:14
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Prefect Six posted:Are ball lock kegs becoming harder to find? Keg Connection wants $50 for used ball lock kegs. They have cheaper 'converted' ones and an even cheaper one with a 'racetrack' lid. I'm pretty wary of going with either of those options. Prices do seem to be rising. I think this is for a couple of reasons: 1) They are not so widely used anymore. I think basically all of the soda fountains and bottlers have switched over to bag-in-a-box systems, so there are fewer kegs out there and the flood of decommissioned kegs is slowing to a trickle. 2) Scrap metal prices are very high right now. I'm pretty sure either of kegconnection's lower-cost options will work ok. They are nonstandard, meaning some parts may be harder to find down the road, but these things really do hold up to abuse pretty well. You are correct that pin-lock kegs are a little fatter than ball-locks. They are also a little shorter. Depending on your specific application, this can mean one or the other will fit better. I know a guy who specifically runs pin-locks because they work better for his kegerator. You can also check around on Craigslist and such. I have heard that they do pop up from time to time in the $30-40 range, but that they tend to go fast when they do.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:14
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I've been going through my kegs and rehabbing them all where needed. Not shown: 3 - Five gallon kegs currently in the serving fridge 2 - Five gallon kegs on long term loan 1 - Three gallon and 1 - five gallon that need parts
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Oct 17, 2011 20:10
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RiggenBlaque posted:Those cornies that have only a handle and no collar should be the standard. Fun fact: Those little three-gallon kegs fit perfectly inside the five-gallon Rubbermaid cylindrical cooler if you remove the handle. This makes them perfect for taking beer along to BBQs, parties, camping trips, etc.
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Oct 17, 2011 20:17
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mewse posted:I've become really comfortable with specialty grains but I'd like to jump to the simple mini-mash described on HBT to make an oatmeal stout. You'll probably want equal parts base malt and specialty grains. So if yo have a total of 2 pounds of specialty grains as you describe, you'll want 2 pounds of 2-row. For a mini-mash, water:grain ratio is less critical than in an all-grain recipe, but you'll want to think about something in the neighborhood of 1.25 quarts of water per pound of total grain. So if you had 2 pounds of specialty grain, plus 2 pounds of 2-row, 5 quarts of water would be a good place to start. Keep the whole thing between 150 and 160 for an hour, drain to your main boiler, and add water to make your preboil volume plus your malt extract.
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Oct 18, 2011 03:29
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Yep, that seems like a good idea - it will help you get the most out of your grain.
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Oct 18, 2011 05:06
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Morebeer, on the rare occasions I need any.
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Oct 18, 2011 21:24
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yep.
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Oct 19, 2011 19:33
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Agreed - I checked in Firefox, IE (ew), and even downloaded Chrome and tried that. No issues on any of them - I was able to browse, add items to the cart, and begin the checkout process - and scroll to the bottom of every page I viewed.
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Oct 19, 2011 20:14
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It also depends on how much volume he's going to boil. If he's just doing 5 gallon batches, it's hard to imagine his preboil volume is more than 7 or 8 gallons. The only way to know 100% for sure is to try it, but obviously that's somewhat difficult with a burner you're buying from a store or something.
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Oct 21, 2011 01:33
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I'll just put my boilerplate advice on CO2 tanks here: If you have not already, check the welding shops and such around you to see if any of them fill the bottle you bring, or just do swaps. If they just do swaps, you might be better off buying a full bottle from them rather than buying the pretty aluminum bottle from kegconnection or whatever. The way to know for sure is to find out what it will cost you both ways - to buy the bottle, have it shipped, and then fill it, as compared to buying the full bottle from a local supplier. Also, if you have space and budget, a 10-pound gas bottle will mean half as many trips to get the bottle filled/swapped.
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Oct 21, 2011 16:13
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digitalhifi posted:I contacted Airgas, some other large welding gas operation sales place, and a specialty beverage dispensing place that sells gas. None of them would sell me a C02 tank. That's weird as hell. There are several welding shops near me that will sell full bottles and swap them when empty. My shop and a beverage supplier near(ish) to me will fill for somewhat reasonable prices as long as the bottles have good hydro dates. I am thinking about moving my gas outside the fridge and moving to a 20-pounder just to have more, but the 10-pounder has been lasting me 10 months or so between fills/swaps. Prefect Six, also look on Craigslist. Sometimes I see bottles come up for $50 or so. And I'm not tryin to say DON'T buy the pretty bottle, just that there may be other solutions. Buying the bottle from kegconnection may make sense just from the pain in the arse factor of getting one elsewhere though. It's really up to you, based on what all the factors are worth to you. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Oct 21, 2011 |
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Oct 21, 2011 18:28
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Docjowles posted:I have a giant 20lb tank and it owns. Probably done about 10 kegged batches and the pressure dial hasn't even moved. The only part that sucks is when I want to bring a keg to a party, hauling around this enormous tank is painful. I have one of those pocket CO2 injectors for road trips and such. It's a bit expensive to push very much beer this way, but it's convenient for the annual Vegas trip, etc. Mine is really old and uses the 12-gram carts, which are way cheaper than the 16 gram carts the newer ones use, but still not really what I would call worth it for heavy use. If I go to a 20-pound bottle, I will keep the 10 as a backup / travel solution. Oh, also... the pressure dial won't move at all until you are virtually out of gas. This is just because of the physical properties of CO2 - it liquifies at comparatively low pressures. This means the pressure will remain essentially constant until there is no more liquid in the tank, at which time the needle will plummet like a rock. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Oct 21, 2011 |
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Oct 21, 2011 19:06
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digitalhifi posted:Ideally I would just repitch onto a cake from a helles or something though. 5 GALLON STARTER! That's probably what I would end up doing also - and it's how I seem to end up brewing big ales, too. I don't like to go very many generations, usually about three, but a chain of beers in small, normal, and strong strengths works nicely. My last 1.080+ beer finished in about 3 days on a 3rd generation yeast cake like that.
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Oct 21, 2011 21:09
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That big oatmeal cookie brown ale from Radical Brewing that got discussed a bit a few pages back sounds like just the thing for a nice autumn beer. I'll probably head to the local shop tomorrow to buy grain and brew it next Sunday or Monday. Maybe I'll add a spice tincture to one of the kegs just for fun.
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Oct 22, 2011 20:07
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tesilential posted:I brewed a 1.085 RIS mashed around 148 so it will probably dry out a bit more than I wanted. I would not be so sure. For big beers, you really do need a fermentable wort or you end up with a candy beer. I don't remember exactly, but I did my last RIS at 152 or so, and used a few pounds of candi syrup in it, and it did not come out too crisp. Plus, you're using a less-aggressive yeast with 1968, so I think you'll have plenty of body.
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Oct 23, 2011 02:27
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Wow. You're way overthinking that. 1) Acquire juice. I use whatever Costco has on coupon or whatever. As long as it tastes good, it will made drinkable cider. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is ok. Sorbates or preservatives are not OK. This is already pasteurized, so there's no need to worry about it. 2) Sanitize your bucket, lid, airlock, and stopper. Star-San is the bomb for this. No-rinse, food grade, super easy to use. Short contact time. Don't fear the foam. I make up a spray bottle and just liberally spray everything down so it's good and wet, let it sit for a few minutes, then dump any liquid that has collected. 3) Pour the juice in the bucket. Because you are using factory-sealed containers of pasteurized juice, no special handling is needed. I just open up the lids and pour it in. 4) (optional) Add additional sugar. This will boost alcohol content and can add flavor. You can add things like white sugar, brown sugar, corn sugar, honey, juice concentrate (again, no sorbates), agave syrup, maple syrup, candi syrup... really, just about anything you can think of will work. If you choose to add sugar, you can add anywhere from 0.25 to 1 pound of sugar per gallon of apple juice, whatever you want. Honey is a nice choice because of its self-sanitizing nature. I have also used sugar straight from a new, unopened bag. If you're not confident the sugar is sanitary, you can boil it up with a little water for a few minutes to sanitize. 5) If you chose to add sugar in step 4, stir well to mix and dissolve with a sanitary spoon. 6) Add the yeast and seal up the bucket. Install your airlock. Fill the airlock with plain water to the line (about halfway up). 7) Leave it alone for a while. I usually let mine go 4 weeks or so. Cider does not ferment as quickly as beer does. Disturb it as little as possible. 8) Package the cider. This is worth a post of its own, but basically, you will add a measured amount of sugar if you wish to carbonate it, siphon it into bottles, and cap them. I use a kegging system, so I just rack it into a keg and hook up the gas line, but you're probably not there yet.
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Oct 23, 2011 19:12
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Bottling 1) Use a priming calculator to determine how much sugar you should use. 2) Weigh out that amount of sugar and put it in a saucepan with a pint or two of water. Boil for a few minutes to sanitize and dissolve. 3) Pour the resulting syrup into a sanitized bucket. Put your caps into a small bowl of sanitizer. 4) Sanitize your racking cane and tubing. Siphon your finished beer or cider into the bucket with the priming syrup. If you curve the hose, it will make the liquid swirl, and will mix everything up. If you just can't bear not to stir it, use a sanitized spoon. 5) Lift the bottling bucket with the primed beer or cider onto the counter. 6) Attach your sanitized bottle filler (a short piece of rigid tubing with a touch valve at the end) to your racking setup and start siphoning into your bottles. Fill the bottles until they are full all the way to the lip; that way, when you remove the bottling wand, you will leave a perfect amount of headspace. 7) Place a sanitized cap on top of the bottle and use your lever capper to seal it. 8) Store the bottles at room temperature for a couple of weeks to allow the carbonation to develop. 9) Serve. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Oct 24, 2011 |
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Oct 24, 2011 00:56
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tesilential posted:I've never made anything but beer, but i put Star San solution in the airlock. I tried that once and the foam that developed seemed to inhibit the flow of gas through the thing. If you don't overfill the airlock, the risk of suckback is essentially nil - and municipal tap water is pretty sanitary anyway. I've heard of people using vodka, too, but it doesn't really seem useful to me.
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Oct 24, 2011 00:59
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porkface posted:That's a good thing. It indicates outward pressure and a strong barrier of sanitizer. With that much outward bound gas, there's no need for a sanitizer barrier.
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Oct 24, 2011 15:26
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Amarillo and Citra pellets are up at Hopsdirect. Better hurry, though.
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Oct 24, 2011 16:43
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When they invent a fruit fly that can crawl through the door of my ferment fridge, I will run screaming in the other direction. Your point is taken though.
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Oct 24, 2011 17:01
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I got Magnum, because it has good clean bittering and is pretty flexible, and Bravo, becasue it sounded interesting. With what I have, that should get me through most of 2012, especially if I buy another pound or two later on. Northern Brewer is a good one, too.
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Oct 24, 2011 18:22
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Hm, let me just delete that. It looks like that was kind of a dodgy unit. Anyway, keep an eye on slickdeals and other deals websites for discounts on Foodsaver vacuum sealers. Bad Munki posted:Just wait'll they invent a fruit fly that comes with its own bottle opener. Or, for those of us that keg, its own CO2 canister. Some rear end in a top hat is probably crossbreeding fruit flies with Tsetse flies right now to make an armor-piercing fruit fly. He runs a sour-mash whiskey distillery and is trying to boost his market share by ruining all other alcoholic beverages. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Oct 24, 2011 |
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Oct 24, 2011 18:51
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They're probably not this year's harvest, but pellets keep well when stored cold in barrier bags. A few years ago, there was so much of a glut that at least some varieties were probably a couple years old in the shops.
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Oct 24, 2011 20:09
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I did not see any Simcoe on HopsDirect at any time yesterday, so I think ifuckedjesus is right. HopsDirect says they are releasing things in waves this year, so keep an eye on the site to see what else comes along - it's just barely possible they will get some Simcoe later on. Unless something really compelling comes along, I am pretty good for the year, though.
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Oct 25, 2011 15:33
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ifuckedjesus posted:"We do not grow or carry Simcoe." Hard to argue with that.
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Oct 26, 2011 01:10
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I think the idea is that he wants just enough fermentation to create carbonation, without eating up the sugar that makes the soda sweet. Monkeybutt, what you're trying to do is actually pretty difficult. There are a few safer, more consistent ways to make carbonated drinks, but they require hardware. 1) Get a kegging rig. Mix up your sodas in kegs, then chill them under CO2 pressure. This is how I and several others in this thread carbonate our beer, and it works very very well. It does pretty much require a dedicated refrigerator in addition to the kegging rig itself. Because root beer and other sodas are so high in sugar and don't have the inbuilt protections against infection that beer does (alcohol and hops), sanitation will have to be absolutely scrupulous. 2) Instead of a complete kegging rig, get yourself a CO2 bottle and regulator, together with some Carbonator caps. These are plastic caps that screw on to 2L PET soda bottles (which is what I think you are using now), and allow you to inject CO2 from a standard ball-lock fitting. This way, you can get by without the expensive kegs, and avoid having to get a second fridge. Mix up your soda in one or more 2L bottles, chill, and inject CO2 through the Carbonator cap. 3) You could just get one of those Sodastream machines that I have seen for sale various places. It seems like an expensive way to go to me, but I have heard people say they like it. and non-hardware options: 4) You could continue your ferment-and-chill process. The shortcomings of this method are obvious, but it's cheap. Is there some reason you are only filling the bottles 80%? The headspace just means that the gas produced by the ferment has somewhere to go other than into solution in the soda. Also, 1/8 tsp of yeast per 2L bottle seems like a lot - I think you really only need a few grains of dry yeast. 5) You could continue the ferment-and-chill process, mostly using unfermentable sweeteners, such as Splenda, and adding just enough sugar to create the carbonation you want. This sidesteps the whole overcarbonation / explosion issue, but not everyone likes the flavor of non-sugar sweeteners. It might take some tinkering to figure out how much sugar to use to get the carbonation you want. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Oct 26, 2011 |
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Oct 26, 2011 15:39
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:25 |
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I have dial thermometers mounted through the wall of my HLT and mashtun. You could do the same with electronic probes. Mostly, I just use the Thermapen, though. Once I hit my strike temp, my process pretty much takes care of itself.
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Oct 26, 2011 23:29
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