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Are the Better Bottle plastic carboys really a better bottle? I've brewed 2 gallon batches a few times, splitting them into couple of 1-gallon carboys for fermentation, but I'm looking at moving up to a 5-gallon. And I'm not sure if I should go glass or plastic? Is there any difference besides the weight?
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Nov 9, 2011 22:29
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exant posted:Ok. My kit recommends drinking a lot of Grolsch. Swing-tops are nice if you have them, but keep in mind that if the bottles are green (Grolsch) you'll need to take care to keep them out of the light. There are some brown swing-tops around, though. Retemnav posted:Are the Better Bottle plastic carboys really a better bottle? Better Bottles don't shatter into a million pieces if you drop them, so there's that. Any reason you don't want to use a bucket?
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Nov 9, 2011 22:51
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exant posted:Ok. My kit recommends drinking a lot of Grolsch. No kidding. Bottling sucks, but capping isn't such a massive ordeal that it justifies the huge price difference between normal bottles and swing-tops.
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Nov 9, 2011 23:05
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Toebone posted:Better Bottles don't shatter into a million pieces if you drop them, so there's that. Any reason you don't want to use a bucket? I thought carboys were "better" for some reason? I have a five gallon bucket with a spigot that I bottle from. One problem I've had with it is that once I get above 4 gallons or so, the seal around the spigot begins to leak a little. I guess they make fermenting buckets without the spigot, though? Honestly, I hadn't thought about it because I normally hear about carboys.
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Nov 9, 2011 23:28
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crazyfish posted:No kidding. Bottling sucks, but capping isn't such a massive ordeal that it justifies the huge price difference between normal bottles and swing-tops. Yeah, and I'm not sure if it says more about Grolsch, or more about bulk swing-cap retailers, but I'm fairly certain a 4-pack of Grolsch swing-tops (with beer in them) is cheaper than 4 bottles from an Internet distributor.
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Nov 9, 2011 23:42
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Started another Hefe today. 2.5 gallon using a 1 liter starter (no stirplate) of Wyeast 3068. 1 hour later and it's already bubbling into the blowoff. I'm making starters for everything from now on. Might even look into a DIY stirplate.
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Nov 10, 2011 00:09
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exant posted:Of course, Grolsch stops coming in swing-tops the same time I start brewing. To add on, I started with swing-top bottles too, thinking they'd be easier / better. They're not. It's a pain to 'cap' when you fill, I've only ever had sealing problems with my swingies, never my capped bottles. And they're was more fiddily to clean & sanitize. I also, (given further up the thread) recommend that if you're going to pay money for a capper, get a bench capper, the wing ones don't work on many bottle types, I've found.
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Nov 10, 2011 01:28
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Retemnav posted:I thought carboys were "better" for some reason? I have a five gallon bucket with a spigot that I bottle from. One problem I've had with it is that once I get above 4 gallons or so, the seal around the spigot begins to leak a little. I guess they make fermenting buckets without the spigot, though? Carboys have the advantage of not having the enormous surface area for infections to drop in, and that's essentially it. Better Bottles don't really have any disadvantages at all. Just don't use a carboy brush to avoid scratching them up and life is good. I've dropped a carboy before and almost destroyed my foot, so gently caress glass.
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Nov 10, 2011 01:48
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IMO buckets > carboys (glass or plastic). Top cropping is ridiculously easy in buckets as is cleaning. My glass carboy is only getting used for secondaries from now on. Getting all the Krausen scum out has proven to be difficult. Also the stopper and airlock isn't as secure as the bucket lid. When the stopper is wet with star San it is slippery and has popped out and fallen on the floor.
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Nov 10, 2011 07:43
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I love my better bottles, in part just cause it's fun to see the ferment going along. I had an issue where my bucket picked up a funny smell and nothing I did got rid of it. Maybe it was just a lovely old bucket that needed to be replaced but I decided to try out a better bottle and never went back. I also worry about the oxygen permeability of buckets (as we started debating recently here) although I admit that's not a big deal unless it's sitting there for months.
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Nov 10, 2011 16:25
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tesilential posted:IMO buckets > carboys (glass or plastic). Have you tried using oxyclean ("free" - the non fragrance stuff) and hot water, just filling up the loosely rinsed carboy and letting it sit a few hours/overnight? I did that with my carboy that was caked like crazy with krausen and tons of hop residue, and the oxyclean ate that stuff up and made the inside of my carboy look like new with little to no scrubbing or effort. I also really enjoyed watching the fermentation going on in the carboy - fermenting in the bucket makes me paranoid that I can't see what is/isn't going on.
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Nov 10, 2011 17:08
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Yeah PBW or oxyclean free are incredible for cleaning carboys. Mix in with hot water, leave it alone for a day, your poo poo is sparkling clean 
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Nov 10, 2011 17:31
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Docjowles posted:Yeah PBW or oxyclean free are incredible for cleaning carboys. Mix in with hot water, leave it alone for a day, your poo poo is sparkling clean oxyclean (free) is a miracle substance and I don't think I could brew without it. Cleans all my bottles up too!
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Nov 10, 2011 17:42
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As rage-saq pointed out, a roughly 50:50 mix of OxyClean Free and TSP (the new phosphate-free kind) is basically PBW. I've been using that in my bucket fermenters and they've never been cleaner. A good scoop of powder and a fill with hot water, then leave alone for a day or more, then dump and rinse.
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Nov 10, 2011 17:59
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Jo3sh posted:As rage-saq pointed out, a roughly 50:50 mix of OxyClean Free and TSP (the new phosphate-free kind) is basically PBW. I've been using that in my bucket fermenters and they've never been cleaner. A good scoop of powder and a fill with hot water, then leave alone for a day or more, then dump and rinse. I've been doing this for about the past year and it's awesome. I still keep around a 1lb tub of PBW that I tell myself is for extremely important hard to clean things, but to date I only have really used it for every few month harder cleanings of my plate chiller. TSP, Oxyclean Free and Oxalic Acid are pretty much the only cleaners I ever need, and they're all dirt cheap and hilariously effective. I love it. e: related chemicals tip: For people using StarSan, BUY DISPOSABLE PIPETTES. 3ml or 6ml pipettes let you mix 1 gallon of starsan in moments. 1 gallon needs 5.9ml of star san and you don't have to mix the basically required for accuracy 2.5 gallons/.5oz anymore. I've had a bunch of sterile pipettes for a while but always just used them for taking refractometer samples during brewday. This is a way cooler use. Hypnolobster fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Nov 10, 2011 |
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Nov 10, 2011 18:10
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Hypnolobster posted:I've been doing this for about the past year and it's awesome. I still keep around a 1lb tub of PBW that I tell myself is for extremely important hard to clean things, but to date I only have really used it for every few month harder cleanings of my plate chiller. I've started doing ~1/4tsp -> 32oz spray bottle for all my sanitizing that doesn't need to be done en-masse. The guy at my LHBS who sold me my brew kit on the first day (who I haven't seen back there since despite having made numerous treks there) told me to get iodaphor rather than starsan due to the price difference. I'm probably going to just get rid of my iodaphor or at least figure out something else to do with it. Maybe mass sanitizing bottles until it's gone? crazyfish fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 10, 2011 |
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Nov 10, 2011 18:55
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Hypnolobster posted:e: related chemicals tip: For people using StarSan, BUY DISPOSABLE PIPETTES. 3ml or 6ml pipettes let you mix 1 gallon of starsan in moments. 1 gallon needs 5.9ml of star san and you don't have to mix the basically required for accuracy 2.5 gallons/.5oz anymore. I've had a bunch of sterile pipettes for a while but always just used them for taking refractometer samples during brewday. This is a way cooler use. This makes so much sense that I'm angry at myself for having to have been told it. Thanks.
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Nov 11, 2011 00:43
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How can TSP be phosphate free? The P does stand for phosphate, doesn't it?
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Nov 11, 2011 00:54
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beetlo posted:How can TSP be phosphate free? The P does stand for phosphate, doesn't it? It does. They still call the new stuff TSP though. Basically, if you go to the hardware store and look in he paint section, you will (or at least I did) see two boxes right next to each other: TSP and Phosphate-free TSP. I could go look up the name of the chemical they use now instead of tri-sodium phosphate, but it's way over there. OK, since I was in the garage anyway, I looked. It's sodium meta-silicate. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Nov 11, 2011 |
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Nov 11, 2011 00:58
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Darth Goku Jr posted:This makes so much sense that I'm angry at myself for having to have been told it. Thanks. I went through my first container of StarSan pretty quickly compared to most people because I'm obsessive about sanitation. About halfway through my second bottle I finally got off my rear end and calculated how much I actually need for small quantities and since then, the amount hasn't moved despite doing ~12 batches and mixing fresh every time. I can mix half gallons accurately too and split it between my spray bottles 
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Nov 11, 2011 01:18
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JohnnySmitch posted:Have you tried using oxyclean ("free" - the non fragrance stuff) and hot water, just filling up the loosely rinsed carboy and letting it sit a few hours/overnight? I did that with my carboy that was caked like crazy with krausen and tons of hop residue, and the oxyclean ate that stuff up and made the inside of my carboy look like new with little to no scrubbing or effort. I have been using oxyclean free since I started brewing. It does work well, but still failed to remove Krausen gunk from a 4 week fermentation. Also I have really hard tap water so oxyclean leaves a hard white coat on everything unless I rinse it out within a few minutes of use.
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Nov 11, 2011 02:52
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My local club is really starting to grow. As such we're looking into getting a tad more organized, so I'm soliciting for the following: Any advice on running and maintaining a successful club. Any club willing to share their by-laws to give us a go-by. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me at username at gmail dot com if you're worried about making GBS threads up the thread. Thanks!
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Nov 11, 2011 03:22
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Prefect Six posted:Any advice on running and maintaining a successful club. I can offer my personal feelings on what not to do  My local club is very big at this point and full of great people, but I find myself hardly ever going because the meetings tend to totally lack structure. Half the time it devolves into Weekday Night Drinking Club which is not what I personally want out of a club. I'd much rather hear or give a presentation, get structured feedback on my beer beyond "it's good man" from the dude that can't taste poo poo cause he pounded an imperial stout before my pilsner, or do collaborative projects, plan competitions etc.To be fair they are getting way better about this. Last time I went there was an optional breakout tasting panel and I got to give and receive a lot of helpful feedback. They also recently had the head of sensory evaluation from the local Budweiser plant to give an awesome demonstration of how they sample literally every ingredient and step of the brewing process to ensure quality (hurr hurr Bud quality). If they keep on with that stuff I'm much more likely to re-up my membership dues. Obviously every group is different. Maybe you just want an excuse to get shithoused on a Wednesday with your buddies. There's nothing wrong with that, I just found that that style of meeting doesn't get me excited at all. TL;DR try to give every meeting a defined structure and purpose. Opening with 20 minutes of social drinking and sampling is great, but move onto something productive. I always want to come away feeling like I learned something.
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Nov 11, 2011 06:09
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Wheat beer experiment checking in: Tastes good, strong citrus notes on the finish. Light malt taste, light body. It will be good when its fizzy and cold. Cold crashing for a couple weeks and shooting for killing it in one night for a party. Summary: 5 gal; wheat, pilsner, and crystal malt; 1 oz Cascade; Wyeast Northwest Ale yeast
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Nov 11, 2011 08:20
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Clicked your post history cause I don't remember what wheat beer experiment was. You take really nice photos, especially that last one. Anyone used Sorachi Ace hops? I have a ginger beer recipe I like that uses a bunch of lemon zest and juice. Kinda wondering if I could cut some or all of the lemon and just use Sorachi hops. Backloaded to the last 15 minutes to get flavor/aroma without tons of bitterness since they're like 12%AA. The current recipe is a small amount of cascade at 60 min and that's about it. By all accounts "lemony citrus" is the character you get from the hop, hence the question.
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Nov 11, 2011 08:50
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I have a question, how big a jerkoff am I I soaked my carboy in Oxiclean for a week or two and when I rinsed it out I noticed a few tiny bubble-looking things at the corners. I thought they were just bubbles in the glass because they didn't rinse away or brush away with my carboy brush, and this thing is cheap and there are some actual bubbles in the neck. I just realized they may have been mineral deposits. Anyway, my Flanders Red's been in there for a few months now, what are the odds that it's ruined? That stuff's got to be at least mildly poisonous, right? I'm so sad that I may have to dump it  This is my cleaning SOP and I've never noticed anything like that before, in my bottles or in my buckets, but maybe I used too much of the cleaner that time. I don't know why this just occurred to me, but it did.
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Nov 11, 2011 08:50
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indigi posted:what are the odds that it's ruined? oxyclean's active ingredient is sodium percarbonate, it breaks down into "hydrogen peroxide (which eventually decomposes to water and oxygen) and sodium carbonate ("soda ash")": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_percarbonate so i'd suspect the minerals you saw on the side of your carboy are probably sodium carbonate, which isn't toxic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate i don't know what sort of off flavour it might contribute to your brew, but you should be safe to taste it.
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Nov 11, 2011 18:50
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Docjowles posted:You take really nice photos, especially that last one. Thanks. I try to make sure I backlight my beer porn to show off the color, but really the camera does most of the work.
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Nov 11, 2011 20:35
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Over the summer, I had a local brewery's Earl Grey Tea infused beer, and it was really tasty. I've been thinking about doing something similar with some Roiboos tea. I know I could just boil the tea and add that to the fermentor at the end of the boil, the same as coffee. But I was wondering about fermenting, moving to a secondary fermentor and cold-infusing the tea in the secondary. If you've never tasted the difference between boiled tea and cold infused tea, you get a much subtler, cleaner flavor from cold infusion. I was looking at using a box or two of regular old teabags, the same as you'd make a cup of tea with. Considering they're sealed up pretty well, do you think I'd be safe cutting the strings off and throwing them in the secondary before racking over the beer? Or I could cut open the bags and add them all to a sanitized muslin bag or something. I guess what I want to know is: do you think any nasty stuff could be hiding in those dried tea leaves that could gently caress up the beer?
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Nov 11, 2011 20:37
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Retemnav posted:I guess what I want to know is: do you think any nasty stuff could be hiding in those dried tea leaves that could gently caress up the beer? Well, I just went and rewatched this video about the recent Stone/Baird/Ichii green tea IPA, and they say they dry-hopped with green tea leaves, so I think the risk is pretty low. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvosvdWfmas
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Nov 11, 2011 21:11
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Cool. I thought that they'd be fairly safe, but that's positive reinforcment. Guess I know what I'm doing next weekend.
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Nov 11, 2011 21:20
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Since I love love love wheat beers and I had success with the Hefe, I'm looking to try a Weizenbock next. Want to try to clone Vitus. The thing is... from the short research I've done it requires ridiculous attenuation. Starting gravity of 1.068 and final of 1.009. That doesn't seem attainable with extract and wheat yeast. Seems like it would even be difficult to pull off with all grain. So what about using some sort of sugar? I've read mixed things about it. Cidery off flavors and whatnot. From playing around in beersmith, it seems possible to lower the extract amount and up the sugar to get close to the right numbers (Couple of points too high on the final gravity).
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Nov 11, 2011 21:35
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You need to use a shitload of sugar (like 50% of the grist) before it ends up causing problems. And even then I dunno how much of that is "homebrew lore" vs well-studied fact. As a concrete example, I recently used 2 lbs of table sugar in a Belgian Tripel and it has no cidery flavors at all. Got around 85% attenuation (1.080 to 1.012). You can also help it along by pitching an appropriate starter, oxygenating well, using yeast nutrient, slowly raising fermentation temps after the first couple days and shaking the fermenter to keep things in suspension.
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Nov 11, 2011 21:52
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Sounds reasonable enough. Otherwise the recipe is almost exactly the same as the hefe. Add sugar, a little more hops, and a medium color specialty grain for color (Vitus is extremely light and technically is outside the style guidelines but is still darker than Weissbier). Oh and something to clarify. Irish Moss I suppose...
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Nov 11, 2011 22:10
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Looking at doing an oatmeal stout and I have a few questions regarding how some things will react. This is an AG batch with a total grist of 13.5lbs. I was planning on using .5lb of Cara-Pils and 2lbs of Flaked Oats along with some rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge. Will that be enough oats and will the Cara-Pils add body? Also with orange peel, is 10 mins before the boil is done a decent time or will it be bitter after that long?
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Nov 11, 2011 22:12
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What's your full recipe? It'd make it easier to give helpful feedback. That said, 2lbs of oats is a high enough percentage of the bill at 13.5lbs to give it oaty character and that should be enough Cara-pils to add some body, though you might not need it depending on your other ingredients and process. beetlo posted:Sounds reasonable enough. Otherwise the recipe is almost exactly the same as the hefe. Add sugar, a little more hops, and a medium color specialty grain for color (Vitus is extremely light and technically is outside the style guidelines but is still darker than Weissbier). Oh and something to clarify. Irish Moss I suppose... Another strategy you could try if you're mini-mashing is get a couple pounds of pilsner/pale malt and mash it along with your extract at 149* for ~30-45 minutes. This would break down the sugars in the extract even further and help a ways toward high attenuation. I've used this strategy as well as using powdered amylase enzyme to ramp up the fermentability of extract beers with very good results. indigi fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Nov 11, 2011 |
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Nov 11, 2011 22:32
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indigi posted:What's your full recipe? It'd make it easier to give helpful feedback. That said, 2lbs of oats is a high enough percentage of the bill at 13.5lbs to give it oaty character and that should be enough Cara-pils to add some body, though you might not need it depending on your other ingredients and process. Sorry, Ingredients: 6.0 lb Maris Otter 2.5 lb 2-Row Chocolate Malt 0.5 lb 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L 0.5 lb Cara-PilsŪ Malt 1.0 lb Rice Hulls 3.0 lb Oats (Pregelatinized Flakes) 1.0 oz Crystal (3.3%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min .5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min .5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min 3.0 tbsp Orange Peel (dried) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min (amount and time might change) 1.0 ea White Labs WLP005 British Ale
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Nov 11, 2011 22:47
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Take a sip, it tastes quite good, but has an aftertaste of sorts when breathing out after that sip that is almost but not quite like rubbing alcohol. Name that off flavor and how does one get rid of it?
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Nov 12, 2011 05:22
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Sounds like fusels, and you get rid of them by not making them. I doubt they'll ever go away once they're there, and I gave one batch that had fusel problems over a year in storage. Basically keep fermentation temperatures down and pitch enough healthy yeast.
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Nov 12, 2011 05:26
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How many carbonation drops in a 750ml bottle would you use to get champagne levels of carbonation for a cider?
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Nov 12, 2011 05:30
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