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rage-saq posted:With Belgians the time, temperature and maturation (aging) cycles largely depends on the yeast, but to a lesser but still significant degree the style. Thanks! I have a dubbel (sposed to be a quad but efficiency yada yada) brewed with Westmalle yeast (3787) that ended up at 9.2% ABV. I also used a similar fermentation, starting at 68* and getting to 74* after 24 hours. Held it at 78* until it finished and left it in primary for over a month. I'm almost certain the unpleasantness is yeast related, as an RIS I brewed 2 weeks ago at higher ABV is already good. Anyways I'm kinda relieved it takes a while for your dark strong belgians to mature, makes me think mine could end up being good/great one day. rage-saq posted:As far as what you should do for your beers I'd recommend picking Brew Like A Monk as there are also many ways to get the yeast flavor that you want. They have numerous sections in the book that outline different strategies different brewers have towards getting what they want out of the yeast, and how those can mix in with the grain and hop flavors. I have Brew Like a Monk and it has been a great help. Sorta why I was confused as to why my dubbel didn't turn out so good, since I had read the yeast could handle the temps fine. Have you tried using this yeast at lower temperatures? I think I will try 68* for a few days when I brew a tripel.
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Nov 5, 2011 01:30
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78f fermentation temp isn't really a problem for the Westmalle yeast. 78f ambient temp is probably somewhere int he 86-88f range which is definitely outside of its comfort zone. How were you measuring fermentation temperature? What kind of "unpleasantness" would you say it has?
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Nov 5, 2011 01:40
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So my cranberry wheat beer is just sitting in secondary (tertiary?) just hanging out in the back hallway because I don't have any containers to put it in. The base brew is ~8.5% then the cranberries went in, and I didn't measure the added sugar but it was bubbling really well, and even know is slightly active. I'm unsure of how long before I can get something to serve it in, this isn't a problem is it?
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Nov 5, 2011 02:04
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Jacobey000 posted:So my cranberry wheat beer is just sitting in secondary (tertiary?) just hanging out in the back hallway because I don't have any containers to put it in. The base brew is ~8.5% then the cranberries went in, and I didn't measure the added sugar but it was bubbling really well, and even know is slightly active. I'm unsure of how long before I can get something to serve it in, this isn't a problem is it? It can be if you let go for too long. Generally speaking you've got about 3-4 months before your beer will go bad. Longer if you refrigerate it. It won't spoil but it will taste worse the longer it goes. There are a lot of factors in how much time you have. Namely where is it stored? At what temperature? Is the container it is stored in glass? If so is there light getting to it often? You should store your beer in cool, dark places and if you must use a glass container use a dark brown glass if possible as sunlight will make beers go stale quite quickly. I don't actually like using glass carboys for this very reason.
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Nov 5, 2011 02:34
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rage-saq posted:78f fermentation temp isn't really a problem for the Westmalle yeast. 78f ambient temp is probably somewhere int he 86-88f range which is definitely outside of its comfort zone. How were you measuring fermentation temperature? Measured via thermometer strip on bucket. I allow for 1-2*f higher in the center, so my strip read 77*. My non geek gf said "apples" immediately upon smelling. I noticed something was off, kind of a cider twang. Haven't smelled/tasted anything like it since my first few batches with no temp control (80's fermentation, under the can yeast and s04 and us05 yeasts). A buddy who drinks craft beer regularly says it tasted like a woodchuck cider. He actually liked it. tesilential fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Nov 5, 2011 |
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Nov 5, 2011 03:14
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TheCIASentMe posted:It can be if you let go for too long. Generally speaking you've got about 3-4 months before your beer will go bad. Longer if you refrigerate it. It won't spoil but it will taste worse the longer it goes. Does anyone make dark brown glass carboys?
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Nov 5, 2011 04:09
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Lightstrike doesn't smell like apples - it smells like natural gas or skunks.
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Nov 5, 2011 04:57
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Paladine_PSoT posted:Does anyone make dark brown glass carboys? Not to my knowledge. The largest I've seen are gallon brown glass jugs.
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Nov 5, 2011 05:05
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tesilential posted:Measured via thermometer strip on bucket. I allow for 1-2*f higher in the center, so my strip read 77*. Could be acetaldehyde which is just a flavor of a young beer. Give it some time and it will go away.
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Nov 5, 2011 05:27
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rage-saq posted:Could be acetaldehyde which is just a flavor of a young beer. Give it some time and it will go away. On the one hand I'm glad my beer may turn out fine, on the other I'm concerned about what process error caused this. Is it simply not possible to have a 9%+ ABV yeast dominant beer that i ready young? I seem to remember in BLAM that westvleteren had a short primary and then a secondary at ~60* just to clarify the beer Has anyone fermented Westmalle's yeast at lower temperatures? What was the result?
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Nov 5, 2011 07:26
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tesilential posted:On the one hand I'm glad my beer may turn out fine, on the other I'm concerned about what process error caused this. How young are we talking? Its definitely going to take some time for a big complex beer mature properly.
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Nov 5, 2011 07:44
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TheCIASentMe posted:It can be if you let go for too long. Generally speaking you've got about 3-4 months before your beer will go bad. Longer if you refrigerate it. It won't spoil but it will taste worse the longer it goes. This isn't really accurate info. Your beer will not go bad just sitting around in a fermentor and sunlight doesn't make beers stale. If you plan on leaving a beer for more than 1-2 months (depending on who you ask, I go more towards 2 months) you do want to have it in a glass carboy. This is because buckets have multiple times more oxygen permeability and your beer can get oxidized. You do want to keep your beer from direct contact with UV light, but this is because it reacts with hop compounds and skunks the beer. Nobody makes brown carboys but a black t-shirt or better yet a cardboard box covering yoir carboy will keep light out just fine. You can let your beer sit in the proper fermentor as long as your sanitation is good and you take care of it.
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Nov 5, 2011 14:08
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Is there a list of out there of commercial beers that use non-coniditioning yeast for bottling? I want to star trying to harvest from bottles, specifically De Dolle Dulle Teve. Really digging that one lately. I know Wyeast 3942 is De Dolle Wit yeast and I've used that in the past but I'm guessing Dulle Teve has it's own strain. Supposedly derived from Rodenbach.
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Nov 5, 2011 18:27
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Josh Wow posted:This isn't really accurate info. Your beer will not go bad just sitting around in a fermentor and sunlight doesn't make beers stale. You're right, I used the wrong word and should have used skunked. But you're wrong on a lot of other topics. Plastic buckets are more oxygen permeable than glass but the difference has been proven to have no appreciable difference when it comes to storing beer. You'd have to store the beer for a year to have a demonstrable difference. Your typical homebrew bucket leaks 23 cc/L of oxygen per year while a glass carboy with silicone stopper leaks 17 cc/L of oxygen per year. Your suggestions for covering the carboy are smart. Your typical lightbulb emits a small amount of UV light. Comparing it to the sun, 8 hours of indoor lighting is the equivalent of 1 minute of direct sunlight. To put that into perspective, direct sunlight can skunk light beers in under an hour. The darker the beer the more time it takes. Stale flavors in beer are typically caused by a compound called trans-2-nonenal which is generated in beer naturally around a rate of .5g/L per 5 months at room temperature. At 0.35g/L of trans-2-nonenal a beer is generally considered stale.
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Nov 6, 2011 00:59
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Could you link a source on that? Everything I've heard said that a plastic bucket is like an order of magnitude above glass in oxygen permeability. Fake edit: found the source I was thinking of. Lists a bucket as 220 cc/L per year vs 17 for a glass carboy w/ stopper. 23 is for a wooden barrel. Although I admit I could be reading the chart wrong. http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/flemishredale.shtml Real edit: Either way, props on the Gabriel Knight avatar, love those games.
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Nov 6, 2011 01:25
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Some Google spelunking on oxygen permeability. Here's Nalgene's guide to their plastic equipment. Page 58 has an permeability table by material. This mentioned the Nalgene information above, but also says that in talking to them they assume most permeability is from the closure. Interestingly, the PETG that better bottles are made out of seems to perform much better.
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Nov 6, 2011 02:39
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So I'm about to attempt the Ayinger Oktoberfest clone from Clone Brews and I'm a little bit confused. I'm doing the extract recipe. The first step is to STEEP (yes it says steep) 8oz Cara-Munich, 8oz dark Munich, and 3oz dark crystal for 30 minutes at 150. Ok cool I can handle that. However, the next step is "Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Sparge the grains with 1/2 gallon of water at 150f." Uhhh isn't sparging something done when you mash? I know I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I find it very odd that they would instruct you to sparge for an extract recipe. I wouldn't be doing extract if I had the proper equipment for mashing and sparging...
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Nov 6, 2011 03:56
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but steeping with ~50% Munich at 150 sounds like almost a mini-mash. It's not a bogey man so whatever. It's all good. Also the 'sparge' is probably just pulling your bag out and pouring some water over the grain to make sure you get all of whatever you need out of it. See: RDWHAHB Edit: which is not to say maybe you need an additional pot for heating up that water separately. I'd hope you have a pot for that but I won't assume, because several people in my life have advised against that over the years. Darth Goku Jr fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Nov 6, 2011 |
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Nov 6, 2011 05:48
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beetlo posted:I wouldn't be doing extract if I had the proper equipment for mashing and sparging... You're doing what's called a "mini-mash" or partial-mash. You'll get more flavors and convert more sugars by doing this method. It may seem wonky, but there's science behind what flavors/colors/sugars you're extracting by soaking the grains in the water for longer and then using sparge water. Just think of it as a step towards all-grain.
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Nov 6, 2011 05:50
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I agree that it's pretty much a mini-mash, but at the bottom of the page they have mini-mash directions. Basically more grain and less DME. Good times. I figure scoop the grain bag out, place a splatter screen over the pot with the grain bag on it, and pour my sparge water slowly over it. I can handle it, I just find the instructions slightly misleading. It helps that I'm actually cutting it in half. My fridge isn't big enough for a full batch carboy or bucket.
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Nov 6, 2011 07:08
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beetlo posted:I agree that it's pretty much a mini-mash, but at the bottom of the page they have mini-mash directions. Basically more grain and less DME. Good times. I figure scoop the grain bag out, place a splatter screen over the pot with the grain bag on it, and pour my sparge water slowly over it. I can handle it, I just find the instructions slightly misleading. It helps that I'm actually cutting it in half. My fridge isn't big enough for a full batch carboy or bucket. Practically speaking, sparging just means rinsing residual sugars off the grain, so their instructions are fine, if confusing. You don't have to conduct a mash to sparge, and vice versa. The crystal malt, and maybe the cara-munich (I'd have to check) will contribute sugars without mashing, and rinsing ("sparging") the grain will help pick up the sugars stuck in the middle of your grain bag after the steep. They're basically asking you to do exactly what you said. Suspend the grains above the brewpot and dump some water through to wash out any sugars sticking to the grain/bag. Which is really all sparging is.
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Nov 6, 2011 07:26
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TheCIASentMe posted:It can be if you let go for too long. Generally speaking you've got about 3-4 months before your beer will go bad. Longer if you refrigerate it. It won't spoil but it will taste worse the longer it goes. Nope. Many people have had beers sit in carboys or buckets for over a year and had great beer. In fact, as often as not the subject claims it ended up being their best or cleanest beer ever. Personally I've never gone over 3 months in primary, but that's because i need the beer for my pipeline. I wound not be worries at all about autolysis or anything with Homebrew as long as your sanitation is sound.
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Nov 6, 2011 09:28
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My wing capper gave up after like 150 bottles. I'm not really pleased, but it's bent all out of shape. Anyone have a suggestion for a capper? I'm going to do a bench capper this time, as it seems easier. Going to a keg setup isn't an option for me at this time.  Also, does anyone know how to get recipes out of Beersmith that I can C&P here in any sort of pretty fashion?
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Nov 6, 2011 15:14
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TenjouUtena posted:My wing capper gave up after like 150 bottles. I'm not really pleased, but it's bent all out of shape. Anyone have a suggestion for a capper? I'm going to do a bench capper this time, as it seems easier. Going to a keg setup isn't an option for me at this time. I use the bench capper found here. It's worked pretty well for me and is pretty sturdy. Speaking of kegging, I got my kegs this weekend and started to clean them. I don't have the right deep socket to remove the in/out posts, so going to have to take one to Lowes. Do you guys cut your dip tubes? It seems to be pretty close to the bottom, right where all the yeast would probably settle out so I'm thinking it's necesssary.
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Nov 6, 2011 16:02
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Prefect Six posted:I got my kegs this weekend and started to clean them. I don't have the right deep socket to remove the in/out posts, so going to have to take one to Lowes. If you have a 7/8", 12-point box wrench, that can work too. The 12-point part might not even be necessary depending on what kind of posts you have. Prefect Six posted:Do you guys cut your dip tubes? It seems to be pretty close to the bottom, right where all the yeast would probably settle out so I'm thinking it's necesssary. Nope. I suggest you try kegging without shortening your dip tubes for a while, then make the call. I find that by not hurrying my beer out of the fermenter, and cold-crashing for a couple of days before kegging, I don't really have a sediment issue. I might get some mud the first couple of pints, but it stops quickly and I pour clear beer after that. When I open up kegs for cleaning, there's not a giant pancake of goop at the bottom or anything. Remember, once you cut the tube, there's no way to put it back on. If you do decide to cut it, be cautious and take small bites.
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Nov 6, 2011 16:17
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I've just started kegging and have had no reason to cut dip tubes. I only do a 1 stage ferment and don't cold crash, and I have really only gotten sediment on my first and last pints so far.
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Nov 6, 2011 17:06
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Jo3sh posted:If you have a 7/8", 12-point box wrench, that can work too. The 12-point part might not even be necessary depending on what kind of posts you have. Have you had the same experience with IPAs and other beers with lots of hops?
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Nov 6, 2011 19:19
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Docjowles posted:Could you link a source on that? Everything I've heard said that a plastic bucket is like an order of magnitude above glass in oxygen permeability. HDPE plastic, aka recycling symbol "2" is 220cc/L/year. PET plastic aka recycling symbol "1" is 20cc/L/year or less. PET is basically equivalent to glass. Also PET water bottles such as those used in a water cooler are totally fine to use and are not different in anyway than a better bottle despite what someone on homebrewtalk will tell you. They are both just pure polyethylene.
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Nov 6, 2011 19:27
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Prefect Six posted:Have you had the same experience with IPAs and other beers with lots of hops? Yes. I use a suspended paint strainer bag in the boil, so hop carryover to the fermenters is very low to none. I could use a hop bag for dry hopping in the fermenters to keep things corralled, but I haven't bothered so far, and I haven't had issues. With my current IPA (which I dry-hopped with loose pellets in the fermenter after the bulk of fermentation was over), I did find a couple of flecks of hop material in the glass early in each keg, but it's not at a level that I find bothersome, and after a few pints I just draw clear beer. I do recognize that my tolerance for yeast and hops in the glass may be higher than others', but I've never had any complaints about it. Long story short, if you find you have a very strong aversion to yeast or hops in the glass (and you have every right to be - it's your beer, after all), shortening dip tubes and/or taking more care than I do to keep hop particles out of the kegs may be a good idea for you. I have not found it to be problematic for me, so I am not moved to take those steps. Others here report far different results than I do with similar methods, so it's possible there's some vagary of my rig or process that somehow keeps all that stuff under control, but I certainly don't feel like I'm being super-anal about making my beer clear. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Nov 6, 2011 |
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Nov 6, 2011 19:42
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Any opinions on this plate chiller? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frankenstein-Beer-Wort-Chiller-Plate-Heat-Exchanger-/350483430435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item905bfa573e According to a Q&A at the bottom of that page, you can choose 20,30, or 40 plates. Is this a case of more plates is better? vvv I see what you're talking about now. You're right, that doesn't seem like such a value now. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Nov 6, 2011 |
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Nov 6, 2011 20:51
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Jo3sh posted:Any opinions on this plate chiller? More plates is always better, it increases the surface area for cooling. In the case of this specific plate heat exchanger I wouldn't get it. The 40 plate one is about the same price as one without goofy garden hose fittings so its not really saving you any money. Like this one that uses 1/2" NPT-F is more or less what I have. http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-Plate-Heat-Exchanger-SS304-Cu-Brazed-1-2-FPT-B3-12-/230566338993?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aed321b1
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Nov 6, 2011 21:26
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Bottled my key lime wit today, and I have to say that this is far and away the best of the three batches I've done - the color is well in the range of a wit (despite being extract), and it tastes like it's going to be really good after it's carbed and given a couple weeks of age. I did the same recipe again today but with dried orange zest instead of key lime zest (more in keeping with the traditional wit) and pitched it on top of the leftover yeast cake. Fermentation took off like a rocket; The airlock is bubbling once a second right now and it's only been about 6 hours.
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Nov 7, 2011 08:01
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Jo3sh posted:Yes. I use a suspended paint strainer bag in the boil, so hop carryover to the fermenters is very low to none. I could use a hop bag for dry hopping in the fermenters to keep things corralled, but I haven't bothered so far, and I haven't had issues. Do you re-use the paint strainer bag? I used one for dry hopping my last batch and it just seemed like more effort than it was worth considering they're a little more than a buck for two.
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Nov 7, 2011 17:44
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I brewed my first batch last night, using one of these kits: http://craftabrew.bigcartel.com/ Overall the process was a lot of fun and went pretty smoothly, but I did a few things wrong: -I forgot to add the bittering hops to the wort until 45 minutes into the 1-hour boil -My sink wouldn't hold water, so the ice bath failed and I had to cool the wort in the fridge for about an hour (and lined the pot with bags of frozen veggies). The fermenter was happily bubbling away this morning, so I'm still hopeful that it will come out well, but based on these mistakes, is this beer hosed?
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Nov 7, 2011 18:28
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exant posted:The fermenter was happily bubbling away this morning, so I'm still hopeful that it will come out well, but based on these mistakes, is this beer hosed? It's going to be considerably less bitter due to the short hop boil, but it's not hosed. In fact the long, slow chilling in the fridge probably means the wort sat hot longer than usual so that will help get the bitterness back up to where it should be.
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Nov 7, 2011 18:32
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Speaking of strainer bags, I want to do my next batch as a partial mash BIAB and I wasn't able to find a strainer bag that would fit over my 8 gallon pot. The biggest one I could find was only 5 gallons, and while it would work as a hop bag for sure, it's far too small to put 8 pounds of grains in. Anyone know where I could find something like, say, the bag used in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfi86yzhPvw
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Nov 7, 2011 18:41
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Prefect Six posted:Do you re-use the paint strainer bag? I used one for dry hopping my last batch and it just seemed like more effort than it was worth considering they're a little more than a buck for two. Yes. When brew day is over, I dump the hop goop, spray it off with the garden hose, then chuck the bag in the laundry. As you point out, this doesn't really save any money to speak of.
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Nov 7, 2011 18:50
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crazyfish posted:Speaking of strainer bags, I want to do my next batch as a partial mash BIAB and I wasn't able to find a strainer bag that would fit over my 8 gallon pot. The biggest one I could find was only 5 gallons, and while it would work as a hop bag for sure, it's far too small to put 8 pounds of grains in. Anyone know where I could find something like, say, the bag used in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfi86yzhPvw I have an 8 gallon pot like you're talking about, and a 5-gallon strainer bag and I'm doing just fine. It can hold 8# easily an I'm guessing I could push 10 or 11 if I had to. What I've done is use the technique Jamil Describes where I have a 4 gallon aluminum pot I use as a sort of lauter tun for conversion, then I transfer to rinse and sparge the bag in my 8-gallon stainless brew kettle.
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Nov 7, 2011 20:59
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crazyfish posted:Speaking of strainer bags, I want to do my next batch as a partial mash BIAB and I wasn't able to find a strainer bag that would fit over my 8 gallon pot. The biggest one I could find was only 5 gallons, and while it would work as a hop bag for sure, it's far too small to put 8 pounds of grains in. Anyone know where I could find something like, say, the bag used in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfi86yzhPvw I have brewed seventeen 5 gallon batches BIAB style with a nylon paint strainer bag. The smallest grain bill was 9# with most being around 13#. Recently brewed a big RIS, and I used 2 paint strainer bags to deal with the 21.5# grain bill. I did upgrade to an 80qt pot, so now I really do need a bigger bag. You can make one out of voile ($4 curtains at wal mart) or order one from the couple guys who make them on homebrewtalk ($20-35). I considered the latter because they make nice bags with holding loops and draw strings but I may just buy the voile and use a large section so I don't need to sew at all. tesilential fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Nov 7, 2011 |
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Nov 7, 2011 22:40
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tesilential posted:I have brewed seventeen 5 gallon batches BIAB style with a nylon paint strainer bag. The smallest grain bill was 9# with most being around 13#. So more or less it comes down to: 1) Buy voile curtain 2) Cut to size 3) Attach to pot with clips to keep it from moving around 4) Put in false bottom (probably a wire cooling rack) to keep the voile from touching the bottom of the pot in case I need to turn the heat on for temperature adjustments If that's the case, I'll probably hit up Wal-Mart or some place and hopefully find it cheap as hell. Thanks!
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Nov 7, 2011 23:06
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