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Archive for the 'Homebrewing' Category

So the bar I work at is having trouble with their frigde. Would it be possible to use a conventional analog Johnson controller to solve this issue?

Edited by chuck_d to correct title spelling

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Too Long of a Secondary Fermentation?

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

I brewed 5 gallons of a pale ale the first week of October. On the 10th of October I added hops to the fermenter. (I have a conical fermenter. I drained the yeast from the bottom of the fermenter prior to putting a mesh bag of hops in the fermenter.) I planned to bottle the beer a week later, but life got crazy and I never got it done. Now I want to bottle but am afraid it has been too long in the fermenter.

I removed the bag of hops a couple of days ago and pulled a small sample of the beer to test the gravity. The gravity was .014 and the beer seemed to taste fine. Unfortunately, don’t keg my beer, I bottle it. I’m not real excited about bottling all the beer if it will end up being bad.

Hoping someone can offer advice as to whether or not this secondaried too long with the hops.

Thanks in advance.

Martin

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Final gravity for ESB

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

I made an ESB last weekend, I used WYeast 1028, 1 can of Alexander’s light malt extract, 1 pound dry extract, Kent goldings hops and specialty grains….I got this recipe from a guy that works at a local brewery (I was craving a pint of Fuller’s when the idea to make an ESB popped into my head!) I never asked him if I should move this to a secondary before bottling? What should the final gravity be? Any ideas? I don’t want to bottle if it isn’t ready and have exploding bottles in my basement!

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Overhead track trolley?

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Its getting harder and harder to move 6 gallon carboys in and out of a chest freezer. No they are not too heavy but the position of one’s back as you lower to the bottom or lift out is about as bad as can be. “remember dad always said not to use your back as a crane?”

Anyway, A search only pulls up I beam and heavy duty track roller trolleys. Can Anyone suggest a lightweight track with rolling car that I can hook a simple rope hoist to and roll carboys from the cieling? Or even perhaps another way to call it for searching?

CB

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Juniper Berries

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

When would be a good time to add juniper berries to a pale ale to give it a good hint of juniper flavor? Would the last 10 min. of boil be fine or should they be in the boil longer? Also, the dried juniper berries that you can buy at the LHBS should they be cracked/crushed before adding or can they go in whole?

I am sure adding them to the secondary would also work.

Thanks

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Rogue Good Chit Pilsner Clone

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Hello All:

Want to try and clone the Rogue Good Chit Pilsner I had when I was up in Oregon. On the bottle, it says:

5 Ingredients:
Brewed using 5 ingredients: Weyermann acidulated, Rogue Micro Barley Farm Dare Floor Malt, Rogue Micro Hopyard Liberty Hops, Pacman Yeast (although the website says Czech Pils Wyeast 2278) and Free Range Coastal Water.
Specs: 13º PLATO, 40 IBU, 77 AA, 6º Lovibond

The recipe I have come up with for a 5 gallon batch is:

9.5 lb - Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt
1.5 lb - Acidulated Malt
2.0 oz - Liberty Hops @ 60 min
1.0 oz - Liberty Hops @ 41 min
1.0 ea - Rogue PacMan Yeast (Alc. Tolerance 12% ABV, Flocculation med-high, Attenuation 72-78%, Temp. Range 60-72°F (15-22°C)

Question:
1. Does the recipe look anything close to the original specifications? I double-checked all my conversion and they are spot on.
2. What would you suggest I ferment this beer at?
3. How should I lager this beer and for how long?

Thanks for any help!

Chris

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True or false…

Friday, January 27th, 2012

I thought I had read otherwise, but a beer server told e that tonight.

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Cornie storage with co2

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Just finished cleaning my cornie kegs.Whats your thought about
storing them with a shot of co2?

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Hi Everyone

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

I just wanted to post to say Hi. It has been several years since my last post and I am looking forward to interacting with all of the knowledge her that is to be had.

Waitito

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Is that Ale guy still here?

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

That dude seemed to really know his stuff. Ale, if you’re there, give a shout. I’ve got some questions about making your own beer.

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Sam Adams Alpine Spring

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

I had some on draft last night and found it excellent. Has anyone else tried it?
A clone recipie would be great!

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yeast

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Upgrading to a 10 gal brew from 5 gal. When pitching yeast, do I need twice as much or two packets or will one still do? Any help?

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Getting back into brewing

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Long story short, I gave up brewing a few years ago when I moved onto a sailboat. Fast-forward to today and I just signed my first lease on terra firma (hey, thats a good name for my first batch!) in 3 years. I’m looking to get back into brewing with my new fiance (all sorts of changes going on this year and we’re only on day 13!) and am curious…whats the best deal on a starter kit these days? I’m thinking I’ll ease back in with extract, and keep it stove-top for now with partial boils, but I’m not opposed to jumping back in with both feet with all grain. Any new advances in a compact, stove-top, all grain system?

Thanks Brewboard, great to be back!

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I just got my first refractometer and I found this site that claims to calculate abv from a hydrometer and refractometer.
http://www.brewheads.com/refract-getabw.php

I understand there are some accuracy issues with refractometers, so how does that effect the accuracy of the calculation? also, any input you have on use or care is appreciated.

thanks

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Old grain

Friday, January 6th, 2012

I have about 13 pounds of crushed grain that I bought over eight months ago, but never had a chance to use it. The big question is the grain still good to brew with or should I just toss it out. I did look at the grain and if did look good and no bugs in it.

Thanks

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mad elf help!

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

hello. ive been reading an older thread on here about troegs mad elf, and well, i decided to try it. got the grains, and the malts and yeast. now, i have two questions. first, in the directions they talk about mashing. could i get away with putting the grain in a sack and steeping it, then holding it up so that the bottom of the sack touches the water and sparging it with a big cup? also, at what temp should i ferment it at? thanks for any help i can get. im very new to this and want to make a decent product. this has been a year comming with getting the equipment together and research.

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First lager…stuck ferment?

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

I’m making my first lager, (bitburger clone, 55 degree primary) and I expected the primary ferment to go slow, but not this slow. The recipe said to expect a drop from 1.050 to 1.010 over 10-12 days, but it’s been 2 weeks and it’s only dropped to 1.024.
One theory I have is that there’s not enough O2 in the wort. (on brew day, I pulled out my oxygenator only to find an empty oxygen tank, so I just agitated the wort aggressively) could I go back now and ADD O2 at this point to try to get things going, or do lagers just usually take this long?

Unrelated question: when you do a diacetyl rest between primary and secondary, do you do the rest and then rack it to secondary, or do you rack it over first and THEN rest it?

Thanks in advance!

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Converting 8 Gal. SS brew pot to fermenter

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Cut a hole in the lid for a stopper and airlock, using a vinyl tube cut lengthwise in half as a gasket and using several small clamps to keep a tight seal. Going to try it out next weekend, I know 8 gal. is overkill for 5 gal. batches but that is what I have. Just wondering if anyone has experience with something similar, i dont see anything wrong with doing this but maybe you have some ideas.

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Calculating Mash Efficiency

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

At least I’m consistent. For the past five or so all grain batches I’ve been calculating my mash efficiency in the fifties. My last two were the best at 59%. I hear others obtaining. 80%. So I’m I calculating or measuring wrong? Or is my technique wrong? Example from yesterdays brew: Mashed 11.5lb grain in 32 quart cooler/mash tun with 4 gallon of strike water at 164°F, resting at 153°F for 60 min, stirring every 15 minutes with only a drop of 4 degrees by the end of the mash. First running collected approx 3 gallons with SG 1.071 and pH 5.0. Sparked with 4.5 gallons water at 168°F stirred and rested for fifteen minutes. Drained and collected 6.5 gallons of wort total with SG 1.040. I believe the correct calculation is: Total wort collected X OG / total grain bill. In my case 59%.

Can someone help me with this…feel like I’m missing something.

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Late LME addition

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

What is the reason for splitting a LME addition and saving one tofor add at flameout? I think I readget about it before on a posting or Palmer’s book, but wasn’t able to answer the question.

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Harshness in the finish

Sunday, December 25th, 2011

My beers recently have been turning out fairly well, but the last two have an acrid harshness at the finish.
Maybe they are both too young and the hops haven’t blended in yet, but could it be something that I’m doing
wrong in my process. I used EKG in an English Bitter, and I think? Cascade in a seasonal pumpkin beer.
Any thoughts? Thanks.

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Pacman vs. British Ale Yeast?

Monday, December 19th, 2011

The next brew on tap, an oatmeal stout, calls for British ale yeast.

My house strain (thanks to washing) is Wyeast Pacman.

Will there be a significant difference if I ferment with Pacman vs. a British ale yeast?

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heatstick

Saturday, December 17th, 2011

So I researched this a while ago but I lost the information I had. I have a 5500 watts heating element and I want to make a heat stick out of it. I want to hook it up to just 120 so my uderstanding is that I just hook up the hot leg to one lug and the return to the other lug and the ground to the case. What kind of power to I get out of this though? What can I expect as far as getting a 10 gallon batc to a boil? I understand I*E=watts but I don’t know what the amps are in this equation. I guess it must be <20 or I’ll trip my breaker. so it must be <2400.
Thanks for the help

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Serving tanks

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Considering a 27 gallon “Fermentator” setup. Instead of kegging from the Fermentator, is there some sort of serving/bright beer tank out there that you could transfer to and serve from? Carbonation? CO2 tank?

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Flow Control Perlick Faucets

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

So what is the use of this specific product.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/20581//Pe…_-_Flow_Control

I know little about commercial draft systems, and this is new to me. What purpose would this serve?

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Beer smith

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Bought a new laptop sat. and down loaded the 21 day trial of beer smith. Sunday I punched in several of my favorite recipes. Sunday night I went to plug in a few more and it wouldn’t let me in. It said that my 21 day trial was now 30 days old and I would have to buy a key. I planned on buying anyway so I did. Anyone else have this trouble

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Home malting kits

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

http://rebelmalting.com/About.php

I stumbled across this web site and thought I would share it with you. Shipping is a bit steep but I was quoted .75/# on emmer wheat.

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getting a 10 poundCO2 cylinder filled

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

I live about 80 miles north of tampa florida near crystal river. I can not seem to locate someone to fill a 10 pound CO2 cylinder that i just purchased.

I have contacted a few AIRGAS dealers and they exchange 5 pound and 20 pound cylinders but for some reason not 10 pounders.

i really need help on this one.

scotty

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0.060″ rubber to repair Cornelius Regulator

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

OK, this is a long shot but I’m call out to all my fellow homebrewers who rebuild their equipment. I have 3 Corney regulators that need the rubber in the back poppet valve replaced (item #183063000). It is .25″ in dia and .060″ thick. This is a 5 cent piece of rubber and I don’t want to spent $20 for a rebuild kit for just this. If I can find the proper thickness I can punch out the diamter. Has anyone out there sourced this thickness of rubber already for the same reason. Or do you know of a source to get it?? I’ve look at all of the usual places like McMaster and Grainger with no luck. Plese help me be cheap.

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Cornholio

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Bought a bottle of this limited edition baltic porter last night. Shorts, Dogfish Head and Three Floyds. Not sure if I will open it or just stash it away in the wine celler

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