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I haven’t been brewing long enough to have seen what Big Brew - National Homebrew Day is all about, but on the Beertown Website Big Brew day is a pretty big topic!
Do you have plans to celebrate?
I’m doing the Relay for Life here in Seattle through my job later that day, but I’m going to try and get the “Fill In The Hops Blonde” up and rolling before I have to go 
My cascade and nugget rhizomes have been in the ground for 2.5 weeks, still nothing. They didnt have any shoots on them when I planted them, so they may have been duds. How often are rhizomes duds? I’m a pretty bad gardener, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. Hopefully I didnt kill them already.
I really like my stainless steel Mash Tun(9 gal Italian Kettle, SS false bottom) setup nowadays, but it still needs to be dialed in a just a bit.
+ 
Too much bits of grain are making their way through the stainless steel false bottom which is causing me to have to Vorlauf entirely too long for my runnings to become clear. And causing extra clean up whenever I step mash a hefe as some of the grain collects and then BURNS to the bottom of the kettle durring my steps.
So… I need to either make a tighter seal with my false bottom to the sides of my kettle(which I would prefer to do) or run a braid under my false bottom. Which kinda defeats the whole purpose of having a fasle bottom in the 1st place! 
The 1st idea I have had is to try and fasten some high temp plastic tubing to the outside perimeter of the false bottom. But what should I use to fasten it with… A needle and some kitchen twine?
I want to brew a mexican style beer and really like the commercial version of Dos Equis Special Lager. Does anyone happen to have a recipe for a clone of it?
Instead of buying a “pre-selcted” kit, I’ve decided to collect the one of my own. At least this way I had to educate myself about every piece and get only what I need.
I wasn’t really trying to save money, but rather to have an easy-to-handle system.
3 gallon batches filled nicely into the scheme (and my fridge) and because I already have a kegerator with CO2 tank, that’s what I’ve got in my shopping list:
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Star San 32 oz, Sprayer, Gloves
Kitchen Scale
Measuring Cup
Glass Jar
Strainer
Plastic Paddle
5 Gal Stainless Steel Pot w/ Glass Lid
25′ Copper Wort Chiller
Triple Scale Hydrometer
Hydrometer Test Jar
Lab Thermometer
Liquid crystal Thermometer (for kegs)
5 Gal Conelius Keg (Fermenter)
3 Gal Conelius Keg (Conditioner)
3 Gal Conelius Keg (Serving)
Airlock /Blowoff
1/4 MFL disconnects
1/4 flare fittings & clamps and washers
3/16″ ID Beverage Tubing (for beer and gas?)
——————————————————————
So, what I’m missing there? (beside the ingredients) 
A brewbuddy and I have been brewing a lot lately, and many batches use Munton’s MO. I had brewed some british styles that were all very clear late ‘07, then I switched over to lagers to start off ‘08. My buddy complained that all his beers involving MO had chill haze, but I boasted that my british beers (still on tap at this point) were clear.
Then I bought more Muntons MO. All of my beers from this malt have serious chill haze. Put them next to other beers that I brewed around the same time, and the difference is obvious. Polyclar works well for these MO beers, proving that chill haze is indeed the culprit.
Anyone else? I’ve only been brewing a few years and dont yet understand the inflow of foreign crops, can we expect this to be the case the rest of the year?
I have been out of town and I was going to bottle it tonight. Thursday will mark 3 weeks in the secondary. Is it ok to bottle? Thanks!
Online Videos by Veoh.com
I enjoy using this yeast strain (White labs WLP023) for bitters and milds. I just made a mild with it and now i have a lovely yeast cake ready for another ferment. I was planning on brewing an american ipa and was originally going to use 1056, but now i’m thinking of trying the burton yeast instead. i like the complexity of this yeast, do you think that would be lost in a hop bomb like an ipa?
J
I did an extensive search which came up with nothing. I just scored a Sanyo 4910M on Craigslist yesterday for $40. I know with the 4911/4912 people are extremely concerned with the coolant line on top of the fridge. However, with this particular model, it looks like the coolant panel is located on the back of the fridge. Should I go ahead and do the corn starch/warm water technique to see if there is a coolant line running on the roof? Common sense tells me I should spend the time to do this anyway, but didn’t know if anyone elses experience mentions no coolant line on the top.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Earth Day is a great idea. Except for the fact that it only happens one day a year. Why isn’t EVERY day Earth Day? Yes, there are some days when it’s really fun to abuse your body with a 16 oz. steak and onion rings, […]
Hey, I just got this email from Fred at monster mills
“The MM2-2.0 with 2″ rollers will retail at $179, and the MM3-2.0 will run $229. Both have 6″ long 2″ diameter rollers, and come standard with a 1/2″ drive shaft, and regular stressproof steel rollers. They’re are in production this week, and should be ready for shipment early next week.”
I’m looking at the MM2 (2 roller). The 1.5″ roller model is $100, so I’m trying to assess whether the 2″ roller MM2 is worth $80 more. Opinions?
edit: It looks like the 1.5″ roller models are now $109 so the difference would actually be $70.
Posted: by Redwood21 (12 hours ago)
following an earliar thread i started which led me to goggle gella’s of hays, ks. they have an ale(kiltlifter) thats brewed with heather tips instead of hops, the purpose of hops to give bitterness and flavor, (right), then other herbs, Rosemary, juniper, etc. could be used instead of hops, right or wrong? and how would you figure the amount to use? or start small in the boil, taste at the primary and dry (hop?) more flavor. WOW! are there already recipes around without hops?
Posted: by auxiliary (19 hours ago)
Back inside where the sound is good, just like the beers.
Beer:
Rankings:
Extras
It is just not what you thought it was going to be?
For a long time I had seen 4-packs of Gulden Draak at one of the places I buy beer. They had it for something like $17 per 4-pack. I would always pass it by thinking, “They must be crazy!”
However, for whatever reason, I have also thought it was a (light) belgian trippel. Of course, the white bottles would not suggest otherwise.
Well one of the other stores I go to had singles of them (for like 3.99 I think it was), so I said what the hey and tried it. On first pour, I was shocked to find that………it was dark. However, it was really, really, REALLY fantastic.
So have you ever had a beer that was nothing like or at least significantly different from what you thought it was going to be?
So I think the tittle said it all…
Is there’s any advantages to go with one?
Also, for the spa box, is it have to be the same brand than the main house panel?
I read a lot of thread on electric brewery but I’m not sure it have been discuss before.
If so… sorry 
P.S. I’m talking of the big stuff (50A/240V).
Thermo #1 - My probe thermometer - Probe became submerged and began giving me crazy readings. not technically broken, but, I didn’t have any extra probes so I set it aside……………………….in the ####g sun. Totally ruined the LCD screen. Adios mofo
Thermo #2 - My instant read brewing thermometer. Was holding the probe in Starsan and accidentally dropped it in. LCD screen is now fubar. Sayonara
Thermo #3 - My instant read kitchen thermometer. After wort was done cooling, I set it on the ground after I hit my pitching temp. About 15 seconds later I felt somthing go crunch under my size 11 Red Wings. RIP
Finally time I got around to motorizing my mill… a few 10G batches tends to motivate. Consensus from the board seems to be that this motor (173RPM 1.8A RFE from electronicsurplus) is a good bet, though since it runs clockwise, most have either been rewired or the mill roller has been flipped to allow a direct drive. Has anyone set this up as a belt drive with pulleys? Seems like it might be a little simpler (less to modify), but I didn’t find many examples. My mill is currently bolted to a table with the hand crank on the right, so it’s already nicely configured to simply mount the motor behind the mill and replace the hand crank with a pulley. I could use some advice though from someone who’s done it before:
1) Any reason this is a bad idea? I know direct drive doesn’t put as much torque on the mill, but I don’t know how big of a deal that really is. Any sage advice out there on direct drive vs belt drive?
2) What pulleys have been used by others for this purpose? McMaster has a dizzying array of them, I really can’t tell what would work best.
3) Any problems keeping the belt tight? Should I be worried about this?
Thought it a good idea to ask the mob before I start buying stuff… thanks in advance.
Fellow members of the People’s Republic of Flying Dog, I bring good tidings. This past weekend, the bi-yearly World Beer Cup was held in San Diego Just under 3,000 beers from around the world were entered in 91 categories, and Flying Dog Brewery was recognized with two medals:
Gonzo Imperial Porter - Gold Medal, Imperial Stout […]
Hi All,
At work, so I don;t have all the numbers infront of me… But I will summerize:
Picked up the ingredients for a Irish Red from my LHBS and had the 10.5#’s of grains crushed there.
Ititial Mash was 3Gallons + 1Qt as per Beersmith.
Seemed to hit the proper mash Temp , closed the cooler up for 45 minutes, then collected my 1st runnings.. I could tell right away that the Wort was not Sweet enough.
Anyway, continued with the Batch Sparge, added 4+ gallons, and sparged and collected approx 6 gallons for the boil.
PRE-BOIL Gravity was 1.022
OG for the Recipe is 1.052
Nothing I could do, so I proceeded
I had .5lb of DME in the fridge that I added hopinh to boost the Gravity up a bit.
Post Boil OG ended up being 1.030
BeerSmith Calulated my efficiency at around 30%… YIKES…
I know it’s impossible to tell where I went wrong without more info… But I have a strong suspiscion it was my crush as the LHBS used an old Coffee grinder.
I’m thinking I will order an AG recipe from HBA, and have the grains crushed by them. And compare.
ANYWAY,, Pitched yeast and it’s been fermenting OK for the last 3 days.. So, at least I know I made beer.. Probably closer to O’Doules
I normally mash in a cooler with st/st braid and batch sparge once. ie mash in rest at 150 - 156 drain add hot water then drain again. I know this is not ideal but it works out good for me. I use beersmith to calculate my recipes and over about 50 brews I normaly get 65% - 70% efficiency.
Yesterday I brewed a British Summer Ale
6lbs CMO
2lbs German Pils
1lb german malted wheat
1lb Turbinado
Single temperature mash for 90mins started at 148F ended at 146F all other steps as above.
I ended up with a little over 5.5 gallons in the fermenter at 14.0B = 1.054SG
Beersmith calculates this as 87% efficiency!
I have never mashed so low in temperature is this the reason for the high efficiency? I am sure my thermometer is correct as it has a NIST tracable calibration and reads correct in boiling water (200F here at 7000ft)
any ideas?
Ok so I have made 3 batches of beer now getting ready to make my 4th. The first one was Oktoberfest Lager From Midwest, the 2nd was Hank’s Hefe’ from Midwest, and the 3rd was a German Amber Ale from Midwest. All of them that I brewed turned out ok but there are a few things that I’m uncertain about so here is the question. They all had 2 things in common 1. is that they all turned out very cloudy 2. they all tasted ok (drinkable) but I was expecting a little bit better taste from them any one have any suggestions?
I know every one will be asking for ingredients so here they are
- Oktoberfest ( 9.3 lbs. Amber liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Carapils, 8 oz. Caramel 40°L specialty grains, 2.5 oz. hops, White Labs Oktoberfest Lager 820 -
and for fermenting (60-65°F ) Approximately 1-3 days after
adding the yeast you should start to notice a healthy fermentation taking place. A head of foam
(called krausen) will have formed and CO2 should be bubbling out of the airlock. Lagers are
fermented cool and stored for a lengthy time at an even cooler temperature. If you do not have control
over the ferment temperatures just try to keep it as cool as possible. At this point, move your
fermenter to your cool fermentation area (48-60°F). It is possible to start your lager fermentation in
a cool area if you have made a yeast starter. Most basement floors will do during colder months
otherwise you’ll need a refrigerator with temperature control. After 7-10 days of fermentation, allow
the temperature to rise to room temperature for 24 hrs. This is called a diacetyl rest and will aid in a
complete fermentation and diacetyl absorption. After the Diacetyl rest, transfer into a glass carboy
and let sit for 3-12 weeks at your lagering temperature (36-45°F )
- Hank’s Hefe’ (6 lbs. Wheat liquid malt extract, 1 lb. of Light DME, 8 oz. Carapils specialty grains, 1 oz. oz. bittering hops, White Labs Hefeweizen Ale 300 -
and for fermenting it went 2wks at 70°F single stage
- German Amber Ale (6 lbs. Amber liquid malt extract, 12 oz. Caramel 10°L, 4 oz. Chocolate Malt specialty grains, 3 oz. of hops, White Labs German Ale 029 -
and for fermenting 1wk at 70°F in primary and 1wk at 62°F in secondary.
Does any one have any tips for better taste and clarity I have also used Whirlfloc Tablets in the Amber Ale and no different. I’m thinking I need to let every thing ferment another week or two to get the clarity and taste to mellow out!
If this helps I have been Kegging the beer.
I am making an AG APA for my next batch. I went to order my ingredients and low and behold the hop shortage is effecting my order. Limited to only 3 oz. oh hops total here is my situation.
This was my original hop schedule.
.50 oz Simcoe @ 60 min
1 oz Amarillo @ 10 min
1 oz Amarillo @ 2 min
1 oz Amarillo Dry hop
Now I only got 1 oz of Simcoe and 2 Oz of Amarillo. I have .75 oz of Fuggles and Hurshbrucker on hand already. So here is my question(s):
How do I use what I have and come as close to my original recipe as I can being 1 oz short on hops?
Here are some thoughts;
I can use my .75 oz Fuggles that I have on hand to dry hop? (But I don’t really want to use fuggles in this recipe)
I can reduce my 10 min and 2 min hop additions to .75 oz and use .50 oz to dry hop.
I can keep my hop schedule as is and say “screw the dry hops” !!!
Which way does everyone think I should go with this one ……..
TIA !!
Posted: by thebreadguy (14 hours ago)
Posted: by beavers (14 hours ago)
I’ve got my first run planned for this weekend. I was planning on just using carbon filtered water (I do this with all my ales pretty much) but was wondering if the water typically used is a little softer. When brewing lagers, I’ve cut my carbon filter water with 50% RO with pretty good results.
Any thoughts?
Posted: by JCBears (18 hours ago)
Posted: by Taelec (22 hours ago)
