Beer Feeds

Posted: by beertasterb (22 hours ago)

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.

Posted: by DrHopenstein612 (10 hours ago)

Posted: by mjw2808 (13 hours ago)

Posted: by clover44 (14 hours ago)

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.

Posted: by axeman9182 (24 hours ago)

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

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?

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.

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.

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...

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.

Posted: by gymbo (22 hours ago)

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

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

Posted: by earthboundagain (45 minutes ago)

Posted: by mdwalsh (1 hour ago)

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

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.

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?

Posted: by Birdox (23 hours ago)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Looking at getting a grain mill to take the step to all grain.

was looking at this one
http://www.beer-wine.com/products/barley-c...ll-w-7lb-hopper

would like to know what you guys think of the buy or have a better one you could suggest to me.

Thanks
Tom

Posted: by Pigwings6 (23 hours ago)

At Christmas SWMBO bought me several All grain kits, 2 of which were lagers.

One of which has been lagering for a couple of weeks.

I need to get the next one brewed, as the grains came crushed, but I only have space to ferment or lager one at a time, and if I wait another 10 weeks to brew the next, the grain will be in a very sorry state.

Can I add the cabonating sugar to the carboy, bottle immediately, and leave the bottles in the fridge to lager, freeing up the space to start the next one?

-Oh, if it helps, the one lagering is a German Bock, it was almost 8%.

i kegged a hefe a while ago and added 3/4 cup of dme to carbonate the beer. So I was wondering, when I put this in the fridge and tap it. all of the yeast on the bottom will be drawn out in the first tapping, which will ultimately leave me with a clarified beer. That is not the way hefes should be as the suspended yeast imparts some of the unique flavors of the style.

Any comments?