Archive for October, 2009
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
I have some things on hand that I’d like to use up. I do full boils and will be fermenting at 68* using T-58. I’m thinking….
6lbs NB Wheat LME
.5lbs Carapils
.5lbs Quick Oats
.5oz Cascade 7.5% aa for 60 min.
.25oz Liberty 4% aa for 30 min.
.25oz Hallertau 3.6% aa for 5 min.
I know the Carapils will aid in head retention (which shouldn’t be a problem with a wheat beer) but what else would it add?
I know the Oats will add a smoothy chewy texture but would that be unwanted in this beer (I’m just experimenting).
What do you think I’ll end up with? And don’t say “BEER!”
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
So I have a bunch of leftover Columbus and Centennial and decided to try an IPA and this is what I came up with. I still have more Columbus and Centennial hops so if anyone has suggestions on doing things differently, and presumably better, I am in an experimenting mood.
Quantity Grain Type Use
1.00 lb American Munich Grain Mashed
1.00 lb Crystal 20L Grain Mashed
10.50 lb American two-row Grain Mashed
Quantity Hop Type Time
1.00 oz Columbus Pellet 60 minutes
1.00 oz Columbus Pellet 15 minutes
1.00 oz Columbus Pellet 10 minutes
1.00 oz Centennial Pellet 5 minutes
1.00 oz Centennial Pellet 0 minutes (Flame out)
1.00 oz Centennial Pellet 0 minutes (dry hopped)
Cheers,
Sean
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Suppose I put a bunch of beer in a cooler full of ice for a few days, and I wasn’t able to drink all of it. What happens if I let it come back up to room temp for storage (asides from obviously having warm beer)? Obviously, I’d chill it again before serving…
I’ve been told that temp cycling the beer skunks it, but I’m guessing that’s an urban legend.
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Posted: by yesmar (3 hours ago)
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Just had my first stuck sparge after 5 all grain batches.
Couldn’t figure it out - blew into the tube, added some water, stirred…then felt something funny at the bottom of the tun…my manifold had come apart and was useless. Fortunately, I had just converted another 10 gallon Igloo into a tun and was I was able to pour the whole thing into the second tun and sparge from there.
No amount of rice hulls would have fixed a screwed up manifold!
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
So I am brewing a beer. I am shooting for something red in color…hops and yeast aside, do you think this malt bill will get me somewhere close to a “Red” beer?
5.25 gallons
10# Pilsner
2# Munich
6 oz. Special B
6 oz. Crystal 120L
4 oz. Honey Malt
Well? My efficiency is around 70% and I plan on hopping this beer to about 35-40 IBU. Do you think I’ll achieve a nice ruby/red color? If not, what do I need to get there without using any roasted/chocolate/carafa/black malts?
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Posted: by smithr53 (17 hours ago)
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Posted: by pudd (23 hours ago)
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Due to the high cost and odd sizes of deep chest freezers, I think I want to build one. I am working on the heat transfer calcs, but right now I’m leaning towards using a standard 5,000btu window air conditioner as it is compact, easy to control, and even includes a fan.
Secondly, I was under the impression that the R-22 window air conditioners use orifices instead of TXV’s in order to regulate flow.
Would an air conditioner be able to keep the box at say 32*f (lowest temp) without freezing up?
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
I just started my first batch of lager, thought i’d give it a shot and see how it turns out. My question is that the kit I bought says to pitch yeast at 72-78 degrees and wait till fermentation starts before I slowly cool to 55F (1F per hour). I haven’t been able to verify this in some minor research to back up their instructions. Everything I’ve read says to primary ferment at 50-55F, and nothing about waiting till ferment starts before cooling.
Also, kit says to raise temp back to 65F after 10 days of primary fermentation to improve flavor, then transfer to secondary and slowly cool to 40F for 3 weeks. Is that temp raise called a diacetyl rest? And will the yeast still be producing CO2 as this temp increases?
Let me know what works for you, please!
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Posted: by chunk6649 (48 minutes ago)
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Sean Paxton, The Homebrew Chef; Will Meyers, Cambridge Brewing Company; and Ron Jeffries, Jolly Pumpkin Brewing Co. will focus on cooking and pairing food with Belgian and Sour ales. Flavor profiles will be discussed with food and beer samples for seated attendees. Experience the variety of flavors that can be brought out by cooking and pairing with beer!
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Free State Brewing Company Executive Chef Rick Martin describes the benefits of eating and drinking local with Head Brewer Steve Bradt. Rick and Steve will provide handy tips on how to match local produce, meats and cheeses with the local craft beer in your town while preparing some delicious samples for the audience.
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
After much trepidation, I finally bottled beer I made at home and enjoyed some this week. I only waited 7 days, I used ONE P.E.T. soda bottle to help gauge progress of carbonation. This past week we opened a couple bottles and enjoyed them in mini mugs, 1 16 oz. bottle of beer to fill the 2 mugs.
Wow, that was nice and encouraging.
Sorry, just had to share my joy
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Found this on the web. It’s been stumbled upon on other sites, but Id thought I’d post it.
http://www.brewerslair.com/index.php?p=brewhouse
Felix
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
I brewed up 10 gallons of Belgian Double last week 5 gals. is fermenting out with a standard began yeast, and the other half was dosed with a big slug of brett/bugs that I built up from a bottle of Avery Brabant.
I normally let all my beers chill in the primary for 3 weeks before racking to keg, but i’m not sure the same practice is appropriate for an a brett beer - whats the word? Anyone have a stance on if 3 weeks good before I pull it off the yeast and throw it in a secondary to condition out for a while, or should is brett good to go in primary for a good while longer?
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
So it is supposed to not get above about 45 degrees here tomorrow (and it is supposed to rain all damn day AGAIN) and I was planning on brewing a couple batches (an experimental IPA and Denny’s Nick Danger porter). Rather than stand outside in the cold I plan on brewing inside and just splitting the batch into two equal pots on the stove. Now I have done this in the past, most recently with a failed Arrogant Bastard clone, and have had some issues. Mainly my issue is that the hops don’t seem to come out as strong as my recipe says they should. My process is as follows:
Collect all runnings into one pot; take pre-boil gravity reading.
Split wort evenly into two pots for inside boiling.
Hop additions split evenly between both pots.
After cooling, both pots added to fermenter and post-boil gravity reading taken (for posterity sake really).
Ferment as normal.
As I mentioned the last batch I did this on was an Arrogant Bastard clone that utlitized three 1 oz. Chinook hop additions. As I sit here drinking the results the hops are not anywhere near what they should be. In the past I have split other batches and it seems that when I do a hoppy beer that it doesn’t come out quite right, but less hoppy dark beers seem to be just fine. Do I need to ramp up the hops when I split pot brew? Do I need to calculate the hops as two 4 gallon boils instead of one 7-8 gallon boil to match my desired IBUs?
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Posted: by mjmadden (2 hours ago)
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Posted: by spacecowboy (13 hours ago)
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
I would like to brew an AG that has high FG and low alcohol, something called a energy drink by some people, dark and very malty.
I would like it to have let’s say OG as 1.050 and FG at 1.040, meaning most of the suggars are unfermentables (dextrins) and with high malt flavor (Crystal 40/120?) and dark (chocolate?)
I tried to play with some online brewing tools but even when I use only dextrin malt, the FG comes out still low, how come? I though when using dextrin malt, none of the sugars would be utilized.
So any ideas how to accomplish what I want?
One thing though. I want to bottle so I need active yeast left to carbonate by bottles,. I heard pasteurization is one way to stop fermentation and stay at high FGs but not an option for me.
Thanks!
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
I’m considering brewing an ale with apple cider/juice. The goal is to have a slightly sour beer with a hint of apple.
Has any one done this? If so, what kind of beer should I start with?
Should I use cider or juice?
I’m thinking I’d either mash with the cider/juice or add it into the boil….
Thanks
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
A friend has his first batch ready for bottling - an Imperial Stout that we’re going to bottle this weekend.
We have the necessary steps & equipment in place, however, I’ve never bottled before, and I was wondering:
Is it preferred to rack the beer to the bottling bucket via siphon, or will simply pouring it in be acceptable? (There is a small amount of trub in the secondary carboy, so I’m guessing that siphoning is best, but what about that lost yeast in the trub)?
Thanks,
Brian
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
I would like to use K type thermocouples for my 3-tiered keg(gle) brewing setup instead of analog thermometers.
I’m still in the assembly phases and was thinking a swagelock weld-less thru the bulkhead fitting with a TC probe of some sort protruding several inches into the interior.
Besides just buying expensive ones, I’m particularly interested in anyone’s homemade methods of doing this.
Thanks.
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Posted: by alaskajoe (11 hours ago)
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Posted: by eallured (18 hours ago)
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Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Posted: by stevieBbop (2 hours ago)
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Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
In august i brewed this beer:
8.5 lb. 2 row
1 lb. flaked wheat
1/2 lb. flaked oat
mashed at 154 for 60″
boiled 60″
1 oz. hallertau 60″
1 oz. hallertau 10″
pitched fermentis T-58
turned out to be a big hit with the family, so i’m going to do this again, but this time would like to try a different yeast, i have us-05 and wb-06 on hand, leaning towards the 06, but any suggestions.
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
On Wednesday we toured New Belgium Brewing Company with the staff from The Bruery. Eric Salazar the namesake of Eric’s Ale and manager of the wood cellar was our tour guide.
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Brewed today after nearly a year off. Just never seemed to have the time. Could not have been a more smooth brew day. Hit my mash temp and volumes exactly. Not sure if anyone here remembers me but I have been a brewboard member for quite some time.
Later,
ChefVinny
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Monday, October 19th, 2009
Posted: by thepiedpiper (20 hours ago)
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