Beer Feeds

I am looking for an extract recipe for a good summer ale. if you have a good one please let me know.
Thanks
Steve

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So I had a brain fart this morning and left 1lb of Belgian aromatic out of my mash this morning. It’s about 9% of the grain bill. I batch sparge, so I rest for 60m, mash out if needed, then collect first runnings, add sparge water, collect second runnings, add sparge water, and collect my final runnings. I discovered my mistake right after I started collecting my final runnings.

I stopped runoff, I ran the pound through the mill real quick and dumped it in, and now I’m letting it sit for about 15 minutes. Just from eyeballing, it looks like there’s in the neighborhood of 1-1.25q/lb mixture left in the mash tun at this point, and it’s about 160F.

Will I just settle for poor conversion from this late mash addition? Will it convert just fine, but I won’t have very good lauter efficiency, since I’m essentially no-sparging the 1lb of belgian aromatic? I don’t think adding more sparge water is a good thing since I don’t want to oversparge, but I could be convinced otherwise pretty easily.

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Have screwed up 3 beers through experimenting, now I really just want to get back to basics and had a couple of questions (simple ones) that I wanted to get a lesson on:

1. I’ve got 2 primaries going right now. They should sit at a stable temp consistent with what the yeast likes for 2 weeks and then be racked to secondary for 2 weeks. When racked to secondary should I put them in a slightly colder area? Example: Sitting right now they are about 72. In my garage it’s about 60.

2. Once I keg the 2 beers I have fermenting right now is it OK to add priming sugar to them, or just let them sit at 10psi for 2 weeks? I’m looking for 2.5 volumes so that should be good, but wanted to ask about the sugar - I know it’s not necessary if I am going to force it, but curious.

For reference the 2 beers are basic Red Ale and Pale Ale recipes. Thanks for any advice!!!

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I was looking at labels on various beer bottles and was marvling on the variation of each label.

Any suggestions on some good label making/design software?

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I ordered one of these this week to make a conical fermenter. I know how I’ll make the dump valve portion and the air lock, but I’m unsure on how to install a racking port. I’ve seen some threads about folks being interested in these, so could I get some hints/tips/links on how to do it?

Thanks,
Dave

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I’ve been thinking about fermenters recently.

Carboys are great except if you drop them and the shatter.

Buckets are great because you can really get in there and clean them, but there plastic so they can scratch.

Old kegs are good because there SS, but hard to see inside when cleaning them.

Corny kegs are good if but there never quite the right size (5gal corny doesn’t really have enough head room to ferment 5gals and 10gal would probably be too much headroom for a 5gal batch.) and some say the narow diameter is not good for the yeast bed (wider is better)

Why doesn’t someone make a SS bucket with a lid that has an o-ring like a bucket and some latches to clamp the top shut?

It would be the best of both worlds and you could rig any kind of connection into the lid for an air lock/dip tube.

Does anything like that exist?

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We had over 40 people over for the superbowl, and they blew all four of my corny kegs and I have been out of beer since then. I finally got around to brewing an IPA to replenish the stock and plan on brewing a “regular” pale ale tonight.

So for the first time in several years of brewing, I am considering to try and pitch over my previous brews yeast cake. Does putting the wort into the fermentor directly on the last brews cake significantly carry over any flavors over from the previos brew? I figure I should be safe since I am going from an IPA to a pale ale that it shouldnt matter a bunch but wanted input from those that have done it.

Thanks

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Does anyone know where I can pickup 6 or so 15.5 gallon kegs? Getting married and were having a hell of a party. Also, is there any problem filling a sanke style with regular home brew equipment?
Thanks,
Mike

Currently on tap: Honey Pale Ale, 46 ibu’s 6% abv and tasty as hell.

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This is an American brown ale with Amarillo and Tettnanger hops. I pitched a very large amount of slurry from a hoppy red brewed two weeks prior. I had it sitting in the pantry since it’s still cool here (and my fermentation fridge is lagering some other beers). The morning after brewing I checked to find it glugging away, satisfied I left for work. Thirty minutes later, as my wife was about to leave, she went into the pantry for something and noticed the airlock was full of yeast. Thank goodness she moved it into the adjacent bathroom (after cleaning out the airlock) because we came home to find this in the bathroom:

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I’ve been putting off doing anything with this beer, but I think the time has come to address the problem:

A couple years ago, I made an Imperial Stout and it’s been sitting in the closet since I bottled it on December ‘07. The last time I checked, a couple months ago, it was absolutely flat. It has been this way every time I check up on it. The closet is at 66F. I brewed it on 9/25/07 using Wyeast 1084 and fermented at 68F. After a week or so it was racked to a secondary with some oak chips until bottled on 12/3/07.

As I understand it, Wyeast 1084 lends itself to darker beers and with medium flocculation, I would think it should still have had enough yeast in suspension to properly bottle condition.

I see a few options here:

1. Live with flat beer. I don’t like this option, as you can imagine.
2. Carefully empty them all into my 2.5 gallon corny and force carbonate it; then drink it quickly.
3. Uncap each bottle and add some yeast to jump start the conditioning again.

For option 3, I would move it to the warmest part of the house (probably 70-72F) after uncapping each and adding a few drops of yeast and recap. There should still be enough residual sugar from priming to give the yeast something to munch on.

Does this sound reasonable? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Dave

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I used some gelatin finings for the first time recently in an IPA. The finings were added in the secondary along with the dry hops. It’s a recipe I’ve brewed many times before. However, this time the hop aroma did not seem as bright as normal. I understand there could be a host of factors at play, but I’m wondering if there’s any reason to believe that the finings had an impact? Thanks.

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After years of being gravity fed, I am going to start “force-feeding” my system by adding a pump. While I’m at it, I want to construct a whirlpool system. Hence, a couple of queries for those more experienced…

I know to restrict flow on the “out” side of the pump. For now I will be pumping through my homemade counterflow chiller (3/8″), and returning it to the boil kettle to whirlpool. There will be a ball valve on the “out” post of the pump, then a QD to connect via hose to the 1/2″ -> 3/8″ reducer on my CFC. I am using a converted keg as my BK.

So, onto the questions:

- Do I want to go back up to 1/2″ tubing to re-enter the kettle via the whirlpool apparatus? Or would it be better to stick to 3/8″ after flow is restricted? Will there be enough “oomph” to get a decent whirlpool going? (I’m not looking at pulling massive Gs or anything, just hoping to separate out break material!)

- How low in the BK do I want my whirlpool return to be? Certainly under the level of the wort, but all the way to the bottom? Or halfway up?

- I need to modify my pickup tube in the BK (currently in the center of the keg). How far out from the center should I make it to avoid picking up any of the “cone” of break material that will be in the center of the BK after the whirlpool? (I generally use hop bags and whole hops.) I’d love to see some photos of how others have set up their off-center pickup tubes.

Thanks for the feedback.

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I’ve been up here in Fairbanks for about 6 months now, and despite all the hype, the weather here is not so bad. It did get down to -40 something during that last two weeks in January. But, today it was in the 30’s (above). In some places around here the ground can stay frozen even during the summer (permafrost). But, I’ve come to find out that gardening, particularly vegetable gardening, is very popular up here. And the reason is because from around late April through early September we have unusually long daylight hours. And for just about the entire month of July, the sun doesn’t even set. And, it can get surprisingly warm. As I recall it was in the upper 80’s for a couple of weeks last July.

Apparently, the trick to growing things up here is to plant everything in boxes raised above ground to stay warmer, longer. Because even if you’re not on permafrost, the ground is the last thing to thaw in the spring and the first thing to freeze in the fall.

I’ve never grown hops before, so I’m going to do some more research, but I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to grow hops in Alaska or any other sub-arctic region like this.

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Any homebrewers from Alabama who want to help legalize homebrewing this year please post here or PM me..

There is a bill that has passed the Senate, and will hopefully come up for a house vote soon. Need ANY support possible to make this happen.. Phone calls, writing emails, thank you notes, etc.

Its gone well so far, but the base of people working this issue really needs to grow, so it can be pushed. Trying to get it passed on one of the remaining legislative days this year.

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So I just pumped out the 20 bucks for a new d/l of promash last week.

To my surprise they never delivered the initial email with d/l instructions.

I searched and searched only to find more disturbing news; now fearing I would have to recover my cash and get beersmith ( ew )

Finally I initiated the password recovery script that did infact send me instructions on how to download…

http://www.promash.com/Users/userhelp.html

Wow, how ****** can customer service be, is it a one man shop?

if so I am in the process of advising mr.donovan of the error.

I sent 2 or 3 emails to their support line with no response, this is sad.

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I was thinking of making a green beer for st patty’s coming up. Most people just put food coloring in a domestic.

Anyone have any recipe’s or ideas for something better.

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Any recommendations on books relating to opening/running a brewery?….T.I.A….

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I brewed a Dortmunder, with an extract recipe. I added 2 lbs. of DME to give it an alcohol boost. After fermentation has stopped I added some champagne yeast to try and take away the sugary flavor. Has anyone done this?

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Does anyone know of a small fridge that I could fit a pony keg in to use as a fermentation chiller?

I know that the keg dimensions are 16.125″ D x 13.875″ H.

I would need extra height to hold an air lock, but I’m not sure just how much height I would need yet.

I’ve seen a couple that look close but they don’t tell you in inside dimensions, only the ouside.

Also, most have some kind of hump or shelve in the bottom back so I’d need to put the keg above that and loose quite a bit of height.

# Height: 33 1/16″
# Width: 20 3/4″
# Depth: 21 1/2″

This one seems like it would fit, but it’s a little pricey at $255

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

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Does anyone know if there is such a thing as an off flavor sample kit? I have heard that there are kits that have doctored samples that have dms ect. issues so that a novice can taste them and realize exactly what it is that they are tasting.

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I got a new turkey fryer last week and seems to have kicked off a major brewing marathon for me…

Started with an Oktoberfest, all grain kit from LHBS, I couldn’t tell you the grain bill - but was prob de facto standard.

Then moved on to the original Hopburst a couple days later blessed with a massive shipment from freshops.

Just yesterday completed a pilsner urquell clone.

On the deck is a dead guy clone - LHBS had pac-man in so picked that up along w/ grain for a single hop IPA.

I have also been eye balling an oaked yeti imp stout thread…

Sooo 1 week 20 gallons, if I continue ill be par to beat this federal limit everyones alway trying to top by 5 times! shh…

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I’m interested in buying an oak barrel for aging some beer. My question is whether I should worry about sourcing a whiskey barrel from a quality whiskey maker (i.e. top shelf brand) or whether any old maker will do? I ask because I’ve heard that a fair amount of residual whiskey will end up in the beer. It seems I’d want a good whiskey mixed in?

I have the same question for wine barrels as well.

Thanks for any guidance.

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Ken has written an article about making your own tap handles, check it out.

http://www.byo.com/component/resource/arti…handle-projects

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I tried to search for this but couldn’t find much. Search is working funny for me for some reason. Anyway, I just ordered my two keg conversion kit. I’m tired of bottling and the wife gave me the green light for the project. I’m going to do a door mount conversion but I need to keep the size as small as possible, mostly for the apt but partly to keep the complaining to a minimum. What’s the smallest size for 2 corny kegs and 5lb co2.

Thanks,

Tom

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Reading a recipe for an all grain 5 gal. kolsch style, it has the hops listed like this:

Hallertau .65 g alpha acid
tettnang .32 g alpha acid

I am not sure what this is saying.

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I’ve watched a lot of AG videos on You Tube and read How to Brew AG section, but is there anything I should know to boost my efficiency in my efforts with AG. I want to get a refractometer, but I’ll have to see how much $ I have left after my tattoo. I buy from my LHBS so I don’t need a grain mill. Just wondering if people have suggestions.
I will be batch sparging BTW. Also what are peoples opinions on the different brewing software out there for AG formulation?

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I have been playing with Palmer’s spreadsheet and looking at the range of SRMs based on my water & then how small salt additions adjust the ideal range of SRMs. I entered my water numbers into the spreadsheet as they were given to me by Ward Labs…

pH: 6.6
Total dissolved solids (TDS): 264
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm: 0.44
Cations/Anions, me/L: 3.3 / 3.4

Sodium: 13
Potassium: 2
Calcium: 34
Magnesium: 12
Total Hardness: 135
Nitrate, No3-N: 0.4
Sulfate, SO4-S: 9
Chloride: 21
Carbonate, CO3: <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3: 138
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3: 113

If I plug those numbers in and make no salt additions, the ideal SRM range is 7 to 12. If I add calcium chloride, the SRM range goes down. If I dilute with distilled and add back calcium, I can make lower SRM beers and all seems fine. But my chloride-to-sulfate ratio is always “very malty” (this value ranges from very malty to very bitter). If I make small additions of gypsum, the ratio changes to “balanced” and will go to “very bitter” if I increase the additions. My problem is when I make something like an Oktober or a pilsner and the ratio shows “very malty”. The recipe itself may already have “very malty” profile based on the malt-to-hop ratio so my guess is that my water profile is compounding the maltiness. I made a “Prague Pilsner” that had a good amount of Saaz hops and a number of other brewers commented that it was “very malty”. So how to adjust this ratio for something like a pilsner to make it “crisper” and get the ratio back to “balanced”? Some brewers have told me that gypsum has no place in lagers, especially pilsners, so what’s the magic here? Use more bittering hops? Thanks guys.

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So what’s brewing this weekend? I just put a swartzbier to bed on the yeast. Hit all my numbers. I also tried out my new HLT and love it. Gotta get working on the 3 tier stand.

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I brewed in the snow yesterday, which changed up my cleanup routine.

Normally, I put my Immersion Chiller in for the last 15 min of the boil and then after flameout, I collect the really hot water in my emptied out mash tun/cooler. Typically the exit water cools down quickly, so I only end up collecting just under half a cooler’s worth of water. But that’s enough to cover the IC after I hit fermentation temps. I give it a good couple of shakes up and down to mix things up and I’m done. The IC drip-dries in a large, disused stockpot that I use for storage and transport.

HOWEVER, this time I didn’t collect the hot water in the cooler. So I put the IC in it’s stock-pot carrier and filled it with hot as I can get tap water. Because I had some handy, I dumped in about an ounce of PBW and let that sit while I did other clean up. I was shocked and disgusted by what came off my clean-looking IC. Ewww. Thin ribbons of murky colored bio-film.

This may change my cleaning routine from here on out. But I wanted to check with people to see if normal “Hot Water Rinse then call it done, because it’ll be boiled for 15 minutes and sterilized anyway” is what other people do. I’ve never suffered an infection so the 15 minutes of boil is apparently working. Still, now it feels like I’ve dodged a bullet to this point.

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Check it out, I’m gonna be on this new podcast radio show this week with a bunch of guys that own beer bars and gastropubs in the city.

http://dieseldrafts.com/journal/2010/02/di…our-headphones/

I’ll be going on as their brewing expert. Should be lots of fun.

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