Beer Feeds

Hey - running up to Indy this weekend - any good recommendations on bottle shops in the Fishers area?

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so I underestimated how little hop material it takes to clog my new chiller as well as my auto siphon… what do you all do to prevent this from happening?

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I have a Johnson controller for my chest freezer and was wondering if it could be modified for heat due to the fact that my basement is so cold. At the moment my fermenters are in my dining room and I would like to use the freezer to carbonate. Thanks for your help

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Posted: by bladesgolf (15 hours ago)

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Posted: by rushpatrick (2 days ago)

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Posted: by CairoKid (20 hours ago)

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Ok who has a good label removal addition to a good old fashioned tub of water for soaking and removing the labels off beer bottles?

TIA

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So Linuxelf and I had a Marathon brew session today. An English IPA, American IPA, Southern Brown, American Pale Ale and a 5th beer off of the last runnings from the previous 4 mashes. The Marathon Mongrel Pale Ale (as we are calling it) is the recipient of 3 different base malts, 12 different specialty malts 3 different hops (Challenger, Fuggles and EKG) and one packet of US-05 yeast.

It took us 9.5 hours but we got 5 beers out of it; for an average of 2 hours a beer. That ain’t bad at all. The Mongrel is a bit weak at 1.025 OG, but should be very interesting. Or very astringent.

All in all a good day, even if I was sick.

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Recipe for 5 gallons:
4 lbs. Mountmellick Irish Stout HME
3 lbs. Light DME
.5 oz. of Kent Goldings Hops 5.0% 15 minute boil
1 packet Fermentis Safale S-04
O.G. 1053
Hopefully it’ll be ready for St. Patrick’s Day!

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Looking to make an IPA for this summer. Just kind of winging it by adjusting a recipe that I already like and looking to have a bit of a change.

15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 65.22 %
3.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 13.04 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.70 %
2.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 8.70 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4.35 %
1.00 oz Williamette [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
4.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 48.3 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.70 %] (15 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2.50 oz Goldings, B.C. [4.20 %] (3 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2.20 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs East Coast Ale (White Labs #WLP008) [Starter 750 ml] Yeast-Ale

This is for a 12 gal batch.

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What are the up sides or down sides with each of these for a fermenting locker (or is it wash and get what is available).

I would do the bucket-o-water and the ice bottles, but I work out of town.

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I saved 2 small glass tonic bottles of 1272 this past weekend.
Washed and sanitized the jars, and then siphoned the yeast cake into them. Capped and refrigerated.

Do I need to put them in a starter to wake them up prior to pitching or can I just toss them in as is.

I was thinking they fully flocculated and thus setup their vitamin and “winter layer of fat” reserves and are in hibernation mode so I should be able to just pitch, but thought I’d ask. Never harvested before.

Thanks.

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Posted: by mikeyo (18 hours ago)

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Hello all! I’m new to the site and fairly new to brewing. So far my girlfriend and I have only worked with recipe kits containing liquid malt and some grains. That said, we have a recurring problem with our beer. Each kit comes with instructions that indicate what the approximate starting and finishing gravity should be. We have found that we almost always get the proper starting gravity (measured after the boil and after the beer has cooled to the proper temperature to take a reading.) The problem comes with the fermentation process. It seems that every batch we make ferments like crazy for a few days and then dies off pretty quickly. All visible fermentation has stopped within about a week. The instructions always indicate that we should let the brew ferment for two weeks, but the whole second week seems pointless since it has stopped fermenting. When we get to the day of bottling, and take a new hydrometer reading, we are always too high on the reading. Say the finishing gravity listed in the instructions is 1.012, we are likely to have 1.020. If I am understanding everything correctly, that means we are making some pretty weak beer (in the 3.1 - 4.0 range depending on the starting gravity.) The beer tastes fine, but I’d like it to get to the proper gravity.

I emailed the company that we order kits from (Midwest Supplies) and they suggested that if we use less than five gallons in the boil (and we do, about 3 gallons) that a portion of the sugars may be caramelizing and becoming un-fermentable.

So, my question is: Would it behoove us to add some regular sugar after the boil in order to give the yeast enough food to ferment the brew down to the proper gravity? If so, is there any kind of table to indicate how many oz of sugar to add to get a particular gravity. Or, could we just keep adding sugar until we get the proper reading? We don’t at the time have the capability to do a full five gallon boil to avoid the caramelization. Thanks in advance for any hints, please disregard any improper terminology, we’re still novices, but would like to get a lot better!

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…ok, so I’ve heard that one can use OxiClean to clean brew kettles, glass carboys, siphons, etc.
I understand the active ingredient to be Sodium percarbonate - a water-soluble oxidizing agent.
…although OxiClean lists Hydrogen Peroxide on their website (wouldn’t expect them to give all of their secrets away on the internet, but Sodium percarbonate is actually an adduct of hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate).

Now, I’ve purchased Brew Vint’s Cleanitizer and I have to say the two products look awfully damn similar, leading me to wonder if I’m paying extra for someone to package OxiClean into smaller packages or baggies for me!?!?
So, I wanted to know if anyone have any experience using OxiClean to clean stubborn debris from brewing equipment with any success before I jump out there and try it.
Any undesirable side-effects? Any reactions with copper and stainless one should watch out for?

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Posted: by sooners3210 (22 minutes ago)

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I have recently discovered many great resources on Twitter about beer/brewing. It is a great way to be in the know about what beers are coming out or even brew-day tips and tricks. Do any of you here use Twitter during brewing? It would seem one online source would use another.. does Brew Board have an account? It would be great to know accounts you know about like breweries or beer- related. My Username on Twitter is FamilyAleGroup .

Thanks!!

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Hi All:

Need some help with this one. I have had this oxidation issue for the last 2 years in all of my beers and cannot for the life of me get rid of it. I would like to describe my process and see if any of you can notice any false habits. This is for a standard pale ale.

1. Crush grains with mill
2. Add grains to 5 gallon igloo with false bottom
3. Heat 14 qt water to 165 degrees and add to the igloo stirring to prevent clumping.
4. Wort will cool to 153-152 degrees during transfer and sit for 1 hour
5. Heat sparge water to 170 degrees
6. After 1 hour, I open the valve on the igloo and slowly drain wort into kettle (with a long hose) while at the same time start sparging with the 170 degrees water (fly sparge)
7. I will sparge until the kettle has about 6.5 gallons in it and then shut off all the valves.
8. I then turn up the heat on my kettle and begin my boil
9. After boiling for 1 hour and adding all the hops, I transfer all the wort into a bucket with a filter over the top to get rid of all the big chunks.
10. I then cool the wort to 75 degrees using a wort chiller. This takes about 30 -40 minutes.
11. I then add my yeast to the carboy and slash my wort onto the carboy from a high altitude for aeration.
12. Ferment for about 1 week at 60 - 65 degree
13. Transfer to secondary using a siphon hose for 2 weeks
14. Transfer to corny keg using siphon hose, cap, blow out oxygen from keg head and carbonate for 2 days at 30 psi.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Chris

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Let me begin by saying that I have never attempted to make mead, but I am curios about it’s unique history and brewing process. With that being said, I had a friend give me 10 pounds of sourwood honey from a farmers market in Asheville, NC. At this point, I only know a few details about the process, but does sourwood honey even make a good mead? I also understand that 12 pounds is a more appropriate amount for a 5 gallon batch If sourwood does make a good mead, should I add another style of honey to get to the 12 pounds, or wait till I can get my hands on another 2 pounds. With that being said, any recipe ideas?

Cheers!

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Posted: by Alex80 (12 hours ago)

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Posted: by Alex80 (12 hours ago)

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I started out making a barley wine. The grain bill was as follows:

Briess 2-row 19lbs
Thomas Fawcett pale chocolate 0.25 lb
Special B 0.25 lb
Briess 2-row Caramel 80 0.5 lb
Briess 2-row caramel 10 0.5

From that mash I made a partigyle. The gravity was 1.030 so I added pale DME to bring it up to 1.043. Hop additions were as follows:

all Cascade - 1 oz @ 60 min
1 oz @ 30 min
0.5 oz @ 15 min
0.5 oz @ 5 min

I’m now fermenting with US-05 yeast. I know it’s going to be beer but that’s about it. What style would you call it?

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Does anyone have the Qbrew numbers for this? I was planning on starting this in a couple days. As is, it makes 3.5 gallons. The directions suggest adding 2-3lbs. DME to bring it to 5 gallons, but I wanted to compare the Q-brew numbers before I decide. Thanks in advance for the help.
Also anyone who has made this, please leave feedback on how it came out.

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Posted: by Barleydine (20 hours ago)

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Posted: by Eatnlisten (20 hours ago)

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OK, this is a DIPA brewed with 16lbs of Pilsner malt and 3 lbs of specialty grains. A member in my Homebrew club is a BJCP judge and pointed out DMS in my brew. That I will agree with. However, what has caused this to occur in my carboy???

~Phillip

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Posted: by damndirtyape (23 hours ago)

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Posted: by gnemesis (2 hours ago)

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Usually, when I brew a batch, I brew too much wort.
This is because I have a 28 gallon boil kettle and a 12 gallon fermenter.
So recently, I’ve been boiling 5 gallons extra, which I ferment in buckets–untemperature controlled.
And I keep the beer in separate kegs. So when tasting, I can really tell the effect of controlling the temperature.
As you’d imagine, the uncontrolled batches are more estery, and frequently with off-flavors.
Sometimes the uncontrolled batches are just as good, but more often inferior. Drinkable, but inferior.

So I have the design for a new setup for controlling the temperature of a plastic bucket.
Please let me know if you think it could work and what I might do make it work, etc…

Parts:
1 Kegerator
1 50 gallon drum
2 5 gallon plastic buckets
1 plastic bucket lid
2 spigots
2 pumps
1 float swtich
20″ tubing and fasteners
1 2-holed stopper
1 temperature controller and probe
1 thermowell
1 3-piece air-lock

Notice: one pump is controlled by the float switch in the 50 gallon drum.
The other pump is controlled by the temp probe in the fermenter (which itself is inside the 50 gallon drum).

So when the temp of the fermenter drops below the controller’s set point, the pump turns on and cold water from the bucket in the kegerator is pumped into the 50 gallon drum.
Then when the level of water in the drum rises, the float switch turns on and warmer water is pumped from the 50 gallon drum to the bucket in the kegerator.

P.S. The design might be insane, but I have all these parts on hand (spare).

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I’m looking for a digital timer for my control panel. I want it to be wired into the panel and not battery operated. If anyone has one or knows where I can buy one please let me know.

Here is what I am looking for…

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