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Docjowles posted:You don't need a refractometer, but they are a nice time saver. I dunno, I would highly recommend a refractometer over a hydrometer. I ended up breaking about 5 hydrometers before I finally dropped the cash on a refractometer. I'd consider it an investment that would save careless people like myself A LOT of money!
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Sep 19, 2011 06:36
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This is the recipe list from the last thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2984156&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=447#post393860805 Would be great if it could be put in the OP.
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Sep 19, 2011 10:05
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crazyfish posted:Would be great if it could be put in the OP. The thing is, it would take a buttload of work to get all the recipes over here. Since the old thread is closed, the quote button doesn't work anymore, and those recipes would massively overwhelm what we have got here so far. I could paste in the link you just added, but eventually it will require archives, and page 1 is not a huge amount better than page 2. This is why I kind of like using an online recipe formulator. I use Hopville, but there are probably other good ones. For anyone who cares, here's my online recipe book: http://hopville.com/brewer/recipes/Jo3sh
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Sep 19, 2011 15:31
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Brewed up my pumpkin ale yesterday and it is fermenting quite vigorously right now. Not a crazy krausen, but it's bubbling like mad. Really looking forward to drinking this one next month, it smelled fantastic going in.
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Sep 19, 2011 16:06
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I recently got a bunch of old bottles that I hoped to use for my next batch, but most of them have poo poo in the bottom. I'm guessing they weren't entirely emptied when the contents were consumed so some mold started colonizing the bottom. Then this was left to dry for years (quite possible decades). I've had some of them soaking with water and a bit of dish soap for days now, but it doesn't seem to do much at all. Is there anything that would do a better job than regular soap?
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Sep 19, 2011 16:21
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Lrrr posted:I recently got a bunch of old bottles that I hoped to use for my next batch, but most of them have poo poo in the bottom. I'm guessing they weren't entirely emptied when the contents were consumed so some mold started colonizing the bottom. Then this was left to dry for years (quite possible decades). I've had some of them soaking with water and a bit of dish soap for days now, but it doesn't seem to do much at all. Is there anything that would do a better job than regular soap? PBW (available at your homebrew shop) or OxyClean Free. Let 'em soak for a couple days and that poo poo will be pristine.
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Sep 19, 2011 16:23
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Lrrr posted:I recently got a bunch of old bottles that I hoped to use for my next batch, but most of them have poo poo in the bottom. I'm guessing they weren't entirely emptied when the contents were consumed so some mold started colonizing the bottom. Then this was left to dry for years (quite possible decades). I've had some of them soaking with water and a bit of dish soap for days now, but it doesn't seem to do much at all. Is there anything that would do a better job than regular soap? Have you tried blasting the crap off with something like this? These things work awesome. http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_BrassBottle&CarboyWasher.cfm
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Sep 19, 2011 18:32
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RiggenBlaque posted:Anyone have recommendations for places to buy keg o-rings? I can't imagine one set costing $3.50 is right McMaster Carr. AS568a orings. The sizes you will need are: Corny lid (the big one): 417 Silicone or Buna-N (half the cost of silicone) will work. Post: 111 Dip tube: 109 All silicone would cost you roughly $1.98 per replacement (shipping is not included in this, as McM does not include shipping cost until they charge you for your order. In my limited experience with them, they put as many as they can into a box (it's just bags of orings), and it's around 5bux shipped. Using Buna-N for the big o-ring drops that to ~$1.45 pre-shipping.
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Sep 19, 2011 21:03
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When do the bulk hops coming in again? My hops plant was destroyed by nasty bugs, so I don't know when to gauge harvest time. I need at least 2 pounds from HopsDirect for the year.
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Sep 19, 2011 21:24
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Tedronai66 posted:McMaster Carr. This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks a lot
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Sep 19, 2011 21:48
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ScaerCroe posted:When do the bulk hops coming in again? My hops plant was destroyed by nasty bugs, so I don't know when to gauge harvest time. I need at least 2 pounds from HopsDirect for the year. October 5th on the HopsDirect website e: can you just recycle old bucket fermenters? I have a grip that I'm ready to put out to pasture indigi fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 22:55
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Couple of recent updates to my blog, OneGallonHomebrew.com. First - Tasting notes of my Fruity Pebbles Dubbel (TLDR, it was awesome) Second - Part 4 of my Make Your Own Yeast Bank series - the yeast finally get frozen! (You can find the whole series here) Today will be a triple brew day after work! Well, not really - but I'm going to be making a 3 gallon all-grain batch of brown porter (hopefully my oven/stove will be able to handle this! 2 gallons works ok, but 3 is really stepping it up quite a bit.) The 3gal batch will be divided into 3 one gallon glass primaries. One will be a standard brown porter, one will be a graham cracker porter (my fiancee's first brewing experiment) and I'm also going to make a Serrano-Jalapeno Porter. All three will be entered into the LHBS's porter competition, although I'm not sure how exactly... It is a porter competition, and my understanding is that the graham cracker brown porter could probably be entered straight in to the brown porter category. The pepper brown porter is probably best entered into the SHV category, but I don't think they'll have one, so is it "out of style" to enter it as a brown porter? Should I just keep that one and enjoy it and enter the graham cracker brown porter and the standard brown porter?
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Sep 20, 2011 20:07
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My brother recently gave me his old beer fridge, so after a quick online order from kegconnection and following the guide at http://bit.ly/7KMZTm here is the end result: I picked up co2 this morning at the local welding supply shop and am looking forward to kegging both my Hef and Pumpkin Ale tonight! Anybody have any tips on bottling from the kegs after the beer is carbed?
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Sep 20, 2011 20:37
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Just slip a hose over the spigot, put the hose down to the bottom of the bottle, fill the bottle, and then pull the hose out. The hose will take up roughly the same volume as a bottling wand, thus leaving the beer at the right level. Also, chill your bottles and hose before attempting the procedure. Doing so will prevent most all of the CO2 from coming out of solution. Of course, depending on how quickly you hope to consume them, you may want to cap on foam, so just set the bottle down on the table hard once and that should make enough foam for capping. At least in my experience, bottling from the keg is the best thing in the world. You get all the advantages of kegging, but if you need a six-pack, it takes roughly as much time as it does to go into the store, grab a sixer, and check out at the register. Also, you can fill growlers that way too.
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Sep 20, 2011 20:56
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j3rkstore posted:My brother recently gave me his old beer fridge, so after a quick online order from kegconnection and following the guide at http://bit.ly/7KMZTm here is the end result: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/ That works well for me. Make sure the bottles are as cold as the beer. If you wanted to go straight from the faucet, you could modify the method slightly and use a more flexible tube with a stopper on it.
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Sep 20, 2011 20:56
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Imasalmon posted:http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/ The Bowie bottler (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/bottling-wand-perlick-525-75-aka-bowie-bottler-228344/) and the stainless CP filler from the video in that thread (with the basketball air needle) look like definite improvements to biermunchers original concept. FINALLY getting my parents old fridge this weekend  Already have one keg conditioning/carbing naturally (Saison, which was drat loving delicious when I kegged) and planning on brewing again soon for the second keg I have. I'm also wondering if I should get a ~30qt aluminum turkey fryer pot/burner combo (ala Amazon/Bayou Classic), or hold off until I build my brew stand sometime next year.
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Sep 20, 2011 21:24
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Bad Munki posted:Of course, depending on how quickly you hope to consume them, you may want to cap on foam, so just set the bottle down on the table hard once and that should make enough foam for capping. I don't have a kegging setup so I am out of the loop; why is this? Advantage/disadvantage to capping on foam? This weekend will my first all-grain batch attempt - an oatmeal stout. I have a home-built mash/lauter tun made from a cooler, and I've been told that it may be a good idea until I get the hang of it, to expect lower mash efficiency, maybe somewhere close to 65%. Does this sound right? clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 20, 2011 22:31
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Capping on foam is done to prevent there from being any O2 in the bottle with the beer. Since the foam is all CO2 coming from the beer, and the foam pushes out any air sitting on top of the beer, if the cap is actually mushed down into foam when you cap it, you're guaranteed to have eliminated almost all of the O2 from the bottle. This is irrelevant to kegging and is more or less just a good practice for bottling in general. Of course, if you're going to drink the bottles in fairly short order, it won't matter, but if your beer may be sitting around for quite some time before consuming, eliminating O2 from being in contact with the beer is desirable. Of course, you can go full-OC and get a $500 beer gun (or whatever they cost) which actually purges the bottle of air by forcing it full of CO2 before filling with beer, such that the beer never touches the air in the first place. Even so, in that case you still want to cap on foam.
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Sep 20, 2011 22:34
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OMG I broke it! Well, maybe not really. I brewed my third batch this weekend, it's an Belgian Honey Wheat for my wife. As of this morning (36 hours) there is no pressure on the airlock at all. I'm trying to RDWAHAHB, but  Some notes: * It's my first fairly high-gravity beer (1.080) * The Wyeast packet didn't bulge after being on the counter for ~3 hours on brew day. * I actually managed to over-cool the wort. 120 in the pot then poured it over some ice. It felt pretty cold ( I don't have a thermometer that goes down that far). I would imagine it was about 50 when it was pitched. I've heard 3 days is panic time, but.. my  . I have a dry packet that came with the kit I can pitch in if I don't see any activity.Advice?
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Sep 20, 2011 22:49
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What are you fermenting in? If it's a bucket just take the lid off and look in. If there's kreusen (foam/poo poo on top) then it's working fine and there's probably just a poor seal on the bucket or airlock. If it looks exactly the same as when you pitched 3 days ago that's a bit worrisome.
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Sep 20, 2011 22:52
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clutchpuck posted:This weekend will my first all-grain batch attempt - an oatmeal stout. I have a home-built mash/lauter tun made from a cooler, and I've been told that it may be a good idea until I get the hang of it, to expect lower mash efficiency, maybe somewhere close to 65%. Does this sound right? That's pretty good advice. Keep good notes of your volume to fermenters and the gravity at that time so you can then compute what your actual efficiency was. This will give you a little better basis for making the computations for your next batch.
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Sep 20, 2011 23:08
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Docjowles posted:What are you fermenting in? If it's a bucket just take the lid off and look in. If there's kreusen (foam/poo poo on top) then it's working fine and there's probably just a poor seal on the bucket or airlock. If it looks exactly the same as when you pitched 3 days ago that's a bit worrisome. It has a small foam building on the top of it, like, just a few bubbles. I think it's just an ultra delayed start. It smelled like wheat beer and yeast when I opened it. I'm going to give it another 24 hours.
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Sep 21, 2011 00:14
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That's a good idea. You're not allowed to start panicking until 72 hours have passed with no activity. What are some tips and tricks anyone has for nice, malty brown ales? Anything you have to suggest would be appreciated - grains, mash procedure, hop schedules, etc. I did this as a fairly simple base for my cherry pie ale but I'm not sure how well it'd stand on its own code:
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Sep 21, 2011 00:25
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I'm going to brew a Surly furious clone, but the recipes I've looked at call for Citra and Simcoe hops. Those aren't available at my local store so I've been trying to figure out substitutions. I figure that I can substitute Amarillo for Citra, but what would be a good replacement for Simcoe? Also, does anyone have any good experiences with cold crashing? It seems like it's only something used to clarify the beer and get little bits out of it. I have a chest freezer that I use for kegging, but I can fit a bucket in there for a few days if it will help.
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Sep 21, 2011 01:30
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The closest thing for a replacement of Simcoe is Citra, and for Citra is Simcoe. Which is to say there is no replacement.
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Sep 21, 2011 01:36
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Yep, those are both brand new varieties (well, Simcoe's a little less new, but still very popular), and not available in giant quantities yet. But you're in luck, because all the hopyards in the Northern Hemisphere are harvesting now. Keep an eye out, you may find some soon.
Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Sep 21, 2011 |
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Sep 21, 2011 02:11
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TenjouUtena posted:It has a small foam building on the top of it, like, just a few bubbles. I think it's just an ultra delayed start. It smelled like wheat beer and yeast when I opened it. Yeah, 1.080 is pretty high if you just pitched into 5 gallons without making a starter.
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Sep 21, 2011 03:49
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Does anyone have any recommendations for online homebrew stores that actually let you order things by the ounce? Brewmaster's Warehouse is cheap, let's you order down to the ounce, and has good prices on most things, but I can't keep ordering from them anymore because their orders just take too long to get out the door. I submitted an order on saturday afternoon (they're open saturdays till 6pm) and now, 2.5 full working days later, they still haven't shipped my order. I've tolerated it in the past, but I think I'm done with them.
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Sep 21, 2011 14:32
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RiggenBlaque posted:their orders just take too long to get out the door. That honestly doesn't surprise me if they accommodate orders down to the ounce. In bulk quantities, you can have them on hand prepackaged to just ship out. Down to the ounce, I don't see how you can work it out without somebody having to weigh and package each order. edit: My local homebrew store sells online and lets you order by the ounce http://store.homebrewheaven.com/storefront.aspx - I can't vouch for the online experience, but I do like stopping in. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Sep 21, 2011 |
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Sep 21, 2011 16:59
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Brewmasters Warehouse actually sent me an email a couple hours ago to inform me that one of the items I ordered was out of stock (even though the website says nothing) and that it took them 2 days to figure that out. I'll be staying away from that site for a little bit, I think.
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Sep 21, 2011 20:04
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I've noticed shipping time's increased at Brewmaster's Warehouse lately as well, which is a shame as I used to be able to place and order Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and have it show up bright and early on Saturday for me to use. But their prices are already the cheapest on practically everything before the 10% discount code (BNARMY), and with 6.99 flat rate shipping I just try to order things I need a week in advance. If I need something sooner than "next weekend" I just pick it up locally.
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Sep 21, 2011 23:18
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TenjouUtena posted:It has a small foam building on the top of it, like, just a few bubbles. I think it's just an ultra delayed start. It smelled like wheat beer and yeast when I opened it. It's happily bubbling away now! I suppose next time, as suggested, I'll build a starter.
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Sep 22, 2011 00:58
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TenjouUtena posted:It's happily bubbling away now! I suppose next time, as suggested, I'll build a starter. Yeah it probably got a bit of a shock between the high gravity and the cold pitching temp. For your average ale you really want more like low to mid 60's; 50 probably put it right to sleep. Glad it is up and at 'em again, though! There's some debate as to the necessity of starters (Jo3sh, the OP, did a side by side brew and couldn't taste the difference) but I imagine he'd also tell you to use one for a beer that big. My LHBS often only has old-rear end vials of any uncommon yeast so I tend to make a starter regardless. It's only made my beer better.
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Sep 22, 2011 01:30
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My fiance asked about brewing an imperial red - I think because she likes Rogue's Imperial Red. After some googling, this sounds like a really vaguely defined style. What would you consider an imperial red ale to be?
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Sep 22, 2011 01:41
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Troegs' Nugget Nectar?
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Sep 22, 2011 01:56
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Sorry - to clarify, what would a recipe for an imperial red ale look like? Like a less hoppy IPA, maybe, or a strong malty beer that still has some hops?
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Sep 22, 2011 02:22
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wafflesnsegways posted:Sorry - to clarify, what would a recipe for an imperial red ale look like? Like a less hoppy IPA, maybe, or a strong malty beer that still has some hops? Pretty much the same as an Imperial IPA but there is going to be some dark crystal and/or tiny amounts of some kind of black malt.
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Sep 22, 2011 02:30
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Yep, I was going to say, build a base to whatever gravity you want, add some crystal for sweetness and an ounce or two of roast barley, patent malt, or similar. Hit it moderately hard with American hop varieties. Ferment it with something like American Ale II.
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Sep 22, 2011 02:37
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What would you consider "moderately hard?" The 50-60 ibu range?
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Sep 22, 2011 03:32
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wafflesnsegways posted:What would you consider "moderately hard?" The 50-60 ibu range? There's a "west coast red" that is basically Pliny the Elder with some more crystal malt and color, and the traditional Irish red that is way more malt focused. I've never had Rogue's but just based on the brewery I'd shoot for like 80 IBU's and multiple big late hop additions. She's your fiance, how bitter does she typically like her beers?
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Sep 22, 2011 04:50
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