Beer Feeds

Hey all,

Since I can't find my chart and I figured it would just be easier to ask the experts who peruse this board.

I have never carbonated at room temperature before so I was wondering at what pressure I should set my regulator to and for how long if the room temp is ~75 degrees.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Happiness,
Sean

On the weekends here in sunny, steamy, omg-it's-f*ing-hot Florida, I'm enjoying my new hobby of homebrewing. But my last two batches that I brewed in May and July were really pretty awful. Undrinkable really. I think my problem is temperature control. The beer that I brewed last winter when temps were much more moderate were fantastic.

During the summer days (March - November!) when no one's at home, the thermostat get's edged up to 78F. Any lower and I'd be paying so much in electricity costs that there wouldn't be anything left to finance brewing. But when I get home the temp goes to 76 and at night I go as low as 74 so that I can get a decent night's sleep. So temp averages about 76. I tried a Belgian ale that should been able to tolerate the temps a bit better but it wasn't terribly successful either. I know that there are guys who use a chest freezer or refrigerator with an external temperature control, but even if I could afford to spring for the extra equipment, I don't have anywhere to put it.

What can I brew that will tolerate warmer temps, or how can I keep a 5-gallon fermenter cool enough? I'm just itching to make an ESB, but 68F is just out of the question except in the dead of winter around here.

Hi there-

I am looking for a grain milll. Can anyone give me some advice on a decent one for a decent price? Ive seen them online anywhere from $110 to like $1300.

Thanks!

...Its Great! I screwed up my first batch by not making the strike water a high enough temp. I think I made it 160 and the mash ended up being 145-150. It was also not enough water.

And there is my question: For my second, which turned out great,I used a 180+stike temp. I noticed that for my second batch, I had much better results filling my 14 gal stock pot all the way up to 12 gallons. I know that you are supposed to use about 1 gal for every 2 lbs of grain. So that equals 7 gallons for the 14 lbs of the $.89 2 Row that I use.

Here is what I think, please correct me if I am wrong: The other 3 gal seems to get lost by being absorbed in the grain during sparging and the last 2 is lost in the boil off, considering that I do 1.5 hour boil.

I want to increase to 10 gallon batches, but I am afraid that my 14 gal pot is not big enough. Any advice?

Planning brewing a Hop Burst American Bitter this weekend with the new White Labs Super Yeast. Anyone use this ? Says it ferments faster that WL001 but how much faster? With a low OG beer (1.030-1.032) was wondering if its ferments faster the 001, will it be ready in a weeks time.

Pancho and I spent the better part of Sunday morning canning wort for yeast starters. Canned 40 pints should last a While.

We used cans of extract pale. Our formula was based on 1 lb of extract will = 1 gallon at 1.038.


My pressure cooker will hold 20 pints with the false bottom I cut out from left over perforated SS I had on hand. Place 10 in bottom add the false bottom add another 10 pints 15 minutes at 15 lb's of pressure.

Waiting for the pressure to go down is the only slow thing in the process, so on the second run we turn off the flame and went for lunch.


God Bless
Swagman

Forty five bucks. All you can drink of Northern California's best craft beers for four hours. Live music. Good food. Good times.

http://bayareacraftbeerfestival.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bay-Area-Cra...129573180396415

Anyone have any information about these stands, how much do they cost for the basic frame to a complete system and how good are they:
Link

Thanks

I know many of the people here know this already, but I just wanted to reiterate it and share the photo of my friend's pup. I'm not really a dog guy, but Bruer is cute and I don't want anyone killing their pets.

http://dieseldrafts.com/journal/2011/08/psa-hops-kill-dogs/

A little over 2 years ago I sold all of my brew gear and moved across country.

I was in a house then and had a full blown keggle AG system.

Now I'm in a 3rd floor apartment....

I never gave any thought to smaller batches back then because I had a garage, hose, back year.etc. Now I can't stand it any more and have to get back to brewing.

I just ordered my first load of "re gearing" stuff that I'm sure I'll need but I'm wondering what you guys think is the best strategy for smaller batch AG brewing.

I also have an electric stove.

My guess is that I am going to be able to boil around 3gal so I could look at 3 gallon full boils. I don't know much about partial boils, and I looked over the Brewtopia concept a little and decided to ask here.

What would you do in this situation?

I have not decided on a mashing system yet so I'm open to any ideas for AG apartment brewing.

Thanks!

Kinda bummed, I poured a glass and out came a milky substance. It seemed liked lactic acid to me. How long do you think it might take to clear? Can I do anything to stop it?
I intended to bottle this soon, will this get in the way of that?

thanks

I brewed 10 gal of saison yesterday and it is fermenting nicely at ambient temp (about 72F) with WLP 565. I have read some of the archived discussion regarding beers of this type and I will preface my questions by saying that this is my first foray into using Brett.

I'm not worried about brewery contamination and will have dedicated carboys, kegs, and lines.

After reading that many folks rack to secondary at about 1.015 to leave some sugars for the Brett to chomp on, that is my plan.

Questions:

1. I'm going to use WY5112. Currently I have my primary in two glass carboys. I plan on racking into a 15 gal glass demijohn and pitching the Brett. Should I make a starter for the 5112 and if so, how large for the 10 gals?

2. Lots of discussion about oxygen contact being OK (perhaps necessary) for the Brett. If this is true, should I activate aerate the beer going into secondary and should I oxygenate (using O2 and stone) prior to pitching the Brett?

3. The demijohn will have loads of head space for oxygen. Should I leave to top open, lightly foil covered, rubber stoppered w/airlock?

4. Continue to ferment/age at ambient temp I presume? The 5112 suggests temps over 68F. I foresee the next month being mostly 70-80 with night time drops. My basement, when I decide to move it down there, stays pretty steady at 65F.

Thanks for your patience and input. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

I just brewed a Grand Cru over the weekend. It was the Brewferm extract kit. I made a 5 gallon batch. I pitched the yeast friday night and had tremendous fermentation!! I'm really excited. BUT, 2 days later I realized the kit was for a 2.5 gallon batch, not a 5 gallon batch. So essentially, I added 2.5 gallons of water more than what it called for. So this beer will be watered down. I understand it will still be drinkable and good, but it won't meet its desired result. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I know this sounds crazy, but what if I were to make another 2.5 gallon kit, add it to my brew and pitch new yeast. Or can I add DME? Is this a complete no-no? Am I just stuck with drinking a weak batch? Thanks!

Hi all,

my neighbor wants to built a draft system with corny kegs stored in a mini-fridge in his basement, with the beer lines running up through the top of the fridge, through the basement ceiling, and up through an island in his kitchen, with the draft tower mounted on top of the kitchen island. His island does not have enough cabinet space to contain a refrigerator, so he is looking for this alternative design.

This would require pushing the beer up through about 20 feet of beer line, by my rough estimate. I have 2 questions:

1. Is it possible to balance the system with a single CO2 pressure to carbonate the beer and dispense the beer through that length of beer line, at a single CO2 pressure?

2. How would you insulate the hole where the lines exit the refrigerator, since there would be no draft tower mounted there?

Also, it seems like there would probably be a lot of foaming due to the amount of warm beer that would be sitting in the lines.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

--Caduceus

Summer is approaching its farewell and I'm getting a brewing itch to do something a little crazy. And...I figure every perilous journey should include a little forethought, right?
I brew mostly big beers, so I would say I am familiar with the ins and outs of high OG brewing. I routinely hit pretty close to my target FG on 1.100 beers. BUT this bad boy I'm hoping to land at 1.200+. I know there are other threads discussing these kinds of ventures and I've read them. Here, I am considering a slightly different method of introducing the wort to the yeast, so please let me know what you think. Here goes my recipe and plan of attack:

Batch: 6 gal.
Mash. Eff. 80%
OG: 1.214
Run Off: 16 gal.

NW Pale 28lb
Munich Light 5lb
Belgium Aromatic 2lb
Crystal 150 2lb
Flaked Rye 1lb

Light Brown Sugar 3lb (End of fermentation)

Summit 2oz (90 min); 1oz (60 min); 1oz (20)
Centennial 1oz (10 min); 1oz (5 min)


Procedure
I will mash low 146-148F. Boil down to 6 gal.
Here's the twist:
--I plan to drain some of the final runnings into a separate pot and boil it down to 1 gal. at 1.06-1.07 SG and pitch a large starter of wlp099 onto it (considering brewing an APA for a cake).
--Employ a sort of intravenous method of introducing the concentrated wort. The idea is to place the concentrated wort in a bucket with a faucet and connect a line from the faucet to the fermenter. I would place the diffusion stone directly under the faucet out, constantly delivering filtered air (this will provide aeration and possitive pressure in the wort dispensing bucket).
--Once fermentation is underway, I will set the flow of the concentrated wort to despense over the course of several days, providing a steady and consistent supply of of aerated wort.
--After the wort is significantly munched, I would add the 3lbs of brown sugar in steps.

Thoughts???

I'm taking a Belgian Pale Ale to a little "friendly" food/beer pairing competition, and have to make a dessert to pair with it. I'm thinking something fruity and creamy, like a crumble with some custardy clumps in it, thinking that the peppery esters might pair well with a bold fruit like peach or apricot...

So, what do you guys think? Any other ideas for a dessert that may match up with a BPA?

I want to buy a wort cooler but there are so many different ones and thr prices range from $40-$100, any advice?

amazon has a sale on larger Bayou Classic Stainless Steel Stockpot going right now - check it out:

36 Quart

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And what does it taste like? any one ever hear of this?

Hi again.
Is ther a way to set up beer bottle filling with my converted refrigerator that allows me t connect the beer gun witout opening the door or taking a keg out to do the filling??

my ball lock kegs have lots of black scuff marks on them. all the info on the web is about maintaining and cleaning kitchen utensils.

Soo how can i polish my used stainless ball locks. i used brillo an took off a great deal of mess but would like to give them one proper polishing.

any ideas for me

Hey all,

Haven't posted on here in a long time, but been brewing a lot lately. Hope everyone is well.

My LHBS will be getting in fresh hops soon, and I really want to try to make a beer that is brewed completely with the fresh hops. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find much on using fresh hops for bittering, and what I have read isn't very positive. Also, I've read lots about using 5x as much as you would for dried hops, but even then people have said their beers were underhopped.

So here's what I was thinking for a 5 gallon batch...

A very simple grain bill with mostly 2 row (and a touch of crystal and cara pils)
Target OG of about 1.070 (but I could dial this down)
Using about 1lb of Centennial wet hops for 60 minute boil
Distributing another 1lb of Centennial wet hops over the last 20-30 minutes of the boil including a generous flame out addition

Since I want to use strictly wet hops for this, I don't plan on hopping in the secondary fermenter because of freshness issues.

I would love to hear some opinions on this, particularly from anyone who has experience using wet hops.

Many thanks!

BwS

The Underground Brewers of Connecticut will host the 22nd Annual Southern New England Regional Homebrew Competition on October 2, 2011 at the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, CT. This is a BJCP-sanctioned event accepting entries in all categories of beer, mead, and cider.

Complete information, official rules, online entry forms, and online registration for stewards and judges can all be found at http://www.undergroundbrewers.org.

On another homebrew board, brewers are adding 45 and 30 minute hop additions left and right. Myself, I've abandoned these additions alltogether. If I use someone else's recipe that has these additions, I move them to (what I consider) more appropriate times. If I'm formulating my own recipe, I don't even consider additions between 60 and 20 minutes. Much of the time it seems like inexperienced HBers trying to formulate a recipe. What do you guys think? Am I way off base?

The Summer Suds in Savannah homebrew competition will take place Sept 1-2 in conjunction with the Savannah Craft Brew Fest over Labor Day weekend. All beer and cider styles will be accepted, plus this year we will have a Special Category 29 "Low Country Ale/Lager". Judges are needed as well and we should have a few Fest-related tix available either free or at a reduced cost for volunteers.

The entry window will be August 5-24 and cost is just $6 per entry. The Best of Show beer will be brewed at Moon River Brewing Company.

Vist http://www.savannahbrewers.com/index_files/SummerSuds.htm for more info.

FYI, Summer Suds now takes the place of our old annual comp, the Bay Street Bash.

It's been in 2nd for 7 days- was planning to go another or so.

The hops bag was sanitized before adding it for dry happing.

I'm concerned that today I noticed a LOT of activity/bubbles - more than normal or expected.

It's pushing up the hops bag & threatening to clog the air lock, again.

Any ideas? Is a couple of degrees hotter in the casa causing the yeast to get happier?

And, FG was on the high target before I racked it... could've gone a few points more.

thanks!

Someone named Jimmy had a ton of pictures with what seemed like interesting topics. All the pictures are gone. too bad.

I just ordered a 2 5gallon setup for my porch refrigerator. I dont drink beer but like the taste of it from time to time. I make wine and whiskey also.

I was thinking of making a beer with at least 12% alcohol and treating it with irish moss, potasium sulfite and sorbate before putting it into the 5 gallon dispenser. I will use co2 to carbonte.

Why wont this keep for a few months or longer. I only made a terrible tasting lager last year and consider myself a total greenhown with beer.
I read as much as i can about beer grewing. i have a bunch of books. Thats it i guess.

I'm not a thin skined person and when i say i amasking for advice i truly need it.

thanks

I know stainless steel is recommend as a brew kettle metal, however I've been using an aluminum kettle without trouble. Can I add a weldless kettle valve and thermometer to my aluminum kettle without any problems?

I am having my first go at a Calif. Common. It was fermenting in a fridge at 64 degrees for a little over 2 weeks when my wife inadvertently unplugged the fridge while I was out of town. The temp stayed in the upper 70's for week? Am I screwed?