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Paladine_PSoT posted:Hey, anyone interested in a Goon Homebrew secret santa this year? I'd be willing to administer. My Holiday Spiced Ale is willing to travel.
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Nov 15, 2011 17:07
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Paladine_PSoT posted:Okay, here's the SA Homebrewer Secret Santa reg form. Registration is open until 11/30/11 and I will send assignments no later than 12/3/11. Just signed up! Out of curiosity, what's the customary amount of beer to send out for these things? A couple bottles? And for the restrictions/packing requirements, it's basically just to pack it really well and don't send via USPS, right?
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Nov 15, 2011 18:02
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Paladine_PSoT posted:Okay, here's the SA Homebrewer Secret Santa reg form. Registration is open until 11/30/11 and I will send assignments no later than 12/3/11. Signed up! I would also like to know guidelines on how much stuff is customary to send, though I've got plenty.
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Nov 15, 2011 18:14
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The OP of rage-saq's beer trading thread has good tips on packing and shipping.
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Nov 15, 2011 18:16
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Looking to make a biscuity/grainy/bready ale, I am thinking of something like this: Base: Maris Otter Speciality: Biscuit Malt and CaraPils Adjunct: Flaked Barley Hops: Kent Golding Yeast: Safale S-04 80 minute boil to get some of those melanoidins. Will this combo make the beer I am describing or horse piss? EDIT: Probably mash around 154ish ziebarf fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Nov 15, 2011 |
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Nov 15, 2011 18:27
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clutchpuck posted:
Had to sneak a taste yesterday. It's been in a keg in a cold garage on shady* property for almost a week at 12psi so of course it isn't fizzy enough but it's getting there. I wonder how much of the cloudiness will drop out after another week and a half when we plan to open it. On one hand, I've seen beers clear up miraculously with a good cold crash. On the other hand, I used malted wheat for a majority of the base malt so it should be expected to be cloudy. Any thoughts? VERY light malt flavor. Almost no immediate taste, zesty clean lemony finish. If I read the hydrometer right it has about 4.7% ABV. Pretty much mission accomplished in the flavor department. I really can't wait to drink it. * literally shady, lots of trees keep the sun off and it keeps pretty consistent temp in there.
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Nov 15, 2011 19:05
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I finally got to it and finished my stir plate. My work gave us Veteran's Day off, so I used the day to finish the plate. It was a fun father / son bonding project. My 7-month old boy loooved watching me solder everything together. He thought it was coolest thing ever. Which got me thinking: Someone needs to make a baby's first soldering iron. Nothing dangerous, just a 25w iron that only hits 600F or so. Nothing serious. And make it shaped like a cute giraffe or something. Yeah, that's the ticket!  So now that I have this stir plate, I guess I'm not too sure how to use it. Maybe I'm over-thinking things here. From what I've read, all I need to do is set the speed fast enough to keep the yeast suspended. So does that mean I shouldn't really see any kind of a whirlpool effect in the starter? My stir plate can spin water fast enough to get a nice vortex going. (Pro tip: Babies love watching stir plates work) Speaking of starters, how many days before brew day should I start building up my yeast? like 2-3 days before? When I harvested the yeast cake, I literally just harvested it into a bunch of mason jars. The jars have a mix of trub, beer, and a little thin line of yeast. Is it okay if some trub makes it into the starter along with the yeast? Once I have the yeast poured into the starter jar, all I need to do is add in some DME and let the stir plate work? What about yeast nutrient? I've heard of some people using yeast nutrient. I've heard others say it's a waste of money. Last bit: Is it safe to use aluminum foil over the mouth of the jar I'm going to be building the starter in? I've heard some people say to use airlocks, but others say aluminum foil is fine.
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Nov 15, 2011 20:44
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Dolemite posted:starter * A very small vortex is what I shoot for. You don't need that poo poo spinning around at 100000 RPMs. On really flocculant yeast I turn it up otherwise it just instantly clumps up and drops out. Those strains are fascinating to me for some reason. * A bit of trub isn't going to hurt anyone. * You want a 10:1 ratio of water to DME in your starter. So say you were going to make a 1L starter. Measure out 100g of DME, then add enough water to reach the 1L line on your container. You don't want 1L + the DME, you want (100g + X) = 1L if that makes sense. mrmalty.com has some good FAQ's on starters, even if some folks think Jamil's numbers are retarded (I personally don't). * I do use nutrient; it lasts forever (you need something like 0.1 tsp in small to moderate starter) and isn't very expensive. If you're going to all this effort to care for your yeast, why not go the last mile and put an extra 5 cents of insurance in there? * I've tried a bunch of things, and tinfoil works fine and is zero hassle. Done a lot of starters at this point and never once had an infection. * I give it 24 hours on the stir plate, then a day cold crashing in the fridge. Take it out a few hours before pitching, decant off the wort (which usually smells pretty weird, don't worry it's not infected) and let it warm up to pitching temp. Might need longer with a bigger starter, I've never done more than 2L.
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Nov 15, 2011 21:09
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crazyfish posted:Signed up! I would also like to know guidelines on how much stuff is customary to send, though I've got plenty. I would think a sixer would be ideal.
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Nov 15, 2011 21:55
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Planning out an APA with Rye. Going to use NB's Rye Extract (20% rye). I'm going for rye's spiciness. What would be a good aroma/flavor hop that would accentuate this? e: Willamette maybe? Prefect Six fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Nov 16, 2011 |
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Nov 16, 2011 00:08
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Hey I can join the discussion now! I finally caved and bought some equipment to start brewing. Since it's that wonderful time of the year for apples, I decided to start with some hard cider. After picking up some amazing fresh pressed cider from the orchard, I've got 5 gallons of cider and yeast currently making copious amounts of CO2 in my spare bathroom tub! I'm already hooked and have started planning for a wheat ale after the cider finishes.
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Nov 16, 2011 00:14
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Docjowles posted:
Yeah, DME + yeast with no hops smells absolutely repugnant. That said, I usually skip the cold crash and aim to be short 1.5L and then dump the whole 1.5L starter into the wort while the yeast is still highly active. I haven't noticed any ill flavor effects from the unappetizing starter liquid since in the grand scheme of things the 1.5L is not very significant and the wort has essentially been concentrated to offset it. The upshot of this is that it really minimizes the chances of any other bugs building up their own colonies before the yeast start to outcompete them - I've had batches start bubbling within 2 hours simply by pitching the active starter in, which is always a relief.
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Nov 16, 2011 00:25
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Docjowles posted:* I give it 24 hours on the stir plate, then a day cold crashing in the fridge. Take it out a few hours before pitching, decant off the wort (which usually smells pretty weird, don't worry it's not infected) and let it warm up to pitching temp. Might need longer with a bigger starter, I've never done more than 2L.
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Nov 16, 2011 03:08
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crazyfish posted:Signed up! I would also like to know guidelines on how much stuff is customary to send, though I've got plenty. That's a really good question. The GWS SS has a limit of $20, but it's hard to put a value on homemade goods. I say send what you want to and be happy with what you get! It's random goonerosity in celebration of... winter ale season?
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Nov 16, 2011 04:46
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I was thinking I'd probably send a 4 or 6 pack since it's enough they can space it out to try at different ages, but won't take too much that I can't share it with any of my family who wants to try it on Christmas (100+ family party, luckily a lot of them aren't beer drinkers).
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Nov 16, 2011 06:34
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Zakath posted:What's the reason for cold crashing? I imagine it's to allow the yeast to settle out for decanting. I guess there must not be any problem changing the temperature that quickly on a starter. Basically the premise is to get the yeast to go dormant so that most of the wort used to grow them up can be decanted - this is especially useful if you're doing multiple steps to grow your colony (i.e. 100ml -> 400ml -> 1600ml starter). IMO though you're throwing away perfectly fine booze as well as killing one of the primary advantages of pitching a starter, which is having 3-400 billion active fermenting yeast take hold immediately in the freshly cooled wort.
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Nov 16, 2011 17:23
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Zakath posted:What's the reason for cold crashing? I imagine it's to allow the yeast to settle out for decanting. I guess there must not be any problem changing the temperature that quickly on a starter. The main reason people decant larger starters is you've just oxygenated the poo poo out of all of that unhopped beer left in the flask and it can contribute off flavors in the finished project. If unhopped super young beer is perfectly good booze I don't want to know what's not good. And I've had decanted starters take off in less than 2 hours so I think that's a non-issue too.
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Nov 16, 2011 18:00
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Super Rad posted:IMO though you're throwing away perfectly fine booze as well as killing one of the primary advantages of pitching a starter, which is having 3-400 billion active fermenting yeast take hold immediately in the freshly cooled wort. I don't personally care about having a vigorous ferment going in 2 vs 8 hours or whatever, so much as a proper pitching rate without buying 2+ vials depending on their age and my OG. And I'd argue that it's not "perfectly fine booze", I want to have 5 gallons of my recipe, not 4.5 plus .5 gallons of nasty crap I wouldn't drink straight. If we're talking about a 500ml starter or something, sure, dump it in. But not 1L or bigger. Just my 2c, not saying pitching the whole thing is wrong, just I don't like to.
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Nov 16, 2011 18:12
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Good deal on one of those FoodSaver vacuum sealers if anyone's interested: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3564994 This is what you guys use for your bulk hops, yeah?
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Nov 16, 2011 18:25
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Prefect Six posted:Planning out an APA with Rye. Going to use NB's Rye Extract (20% rye). I'm going for rye's spiciness. What would be a good aroma/flavor hop that would accentuate this? I think I'm going to go with Chinook, since I bought a pound of that from hops direct. What are the chances the Magnum I bought from Brewmaster's Warehouse is still 15.2% AA after sitting vacuum sealed in my freezer for two months? Here's the recipe. I'd like to add another 10 minute addition of Chinook if the AA on the magnum aren't quite as high as purported. Really want to accentuate that spicy flavor and aroma. I am trying to stick to an APA BJCP style. Not for competition or anything, just to do it. I guess there's no reason I can't be a few IBU higher than the BJCP really. Instead of posting I should just open word and start typing to myself. Prefect Six fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Nov 16, 2011 |
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Nov 16, 2011 19:31
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Also: Homebrew Club or Home Brew Club? Homebrewing or Home Brewing? (I think I know Jo3sh' answer on that one)
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Nov 16, 2011 19:55
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JohnnySmitch posted:Good deal on one of those FoodSaver vacuum sealers if anyone's interested: That looks like a good deal. I guess it's "mini" because it accepts only the 8" width bag stock, which is probably not a problem for hops. Prefect Six posted:Also: Homebrew Club or Home Brew Club? Homebrewing or Home Brewing? (I think I know Jo3sh' answer on that one) There is no One True Answer. But you knew I was going to say that.
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Nov 16, 2011 20:08
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Prefect Six posted:What are the chances the Magnum I bought from Brewmaster's Warehouse is still 15.2% AA after sitting vacuum sealed in my freezer for two months? They'll be close enough to 15.2% that it won't matter one way or the other. Factors like boil volume, gravity, boil strength, pH, how quickly you cool the wort, whether you use a hop bag, etc. will affect the IBUs more than .3% AA either way would. Hell, the ounce you got could by chance contain a sample of pellets that is higher or lower than the 15.2% AA bale average anyway.
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Nov 16, 2011 22:27
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indigi posted:They'll be close enough to 15.2% that it won't matter one way or the other. Factors like boil volume, gravity, boil strength, pH, how quickly you cool the wort, whether you use a hop bag, etc. will affect the IBUs more than .3% AA either way would. Hell, the ounce you got could by chance contain a sample of pellets that is higher or lower than the 15.2% AA bale average anyway. That said, I read some Hop descriptions somewhere, and IIRC some hops lose about half their AA after just six months. I know when my not vacuum sealed cascade got more than a couple months old I wouldn't use them for the bittering charge, just late addition and dry hopping.
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Nov 17, 2011 02:14
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50% loss? Maybe if you store them in paper bags at room temperature. If you have them in the freezer vacuum sealed I'd be surprised if they lost 50% bittering potential over two years.
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Nov 17, 2011 02:37
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There are a number of things out there that can calculate AA loss, both webapps and something like beersmith. Vacuum bagging and freezing (-2 to -3 degrees F) makes a HUGE difference when it comes to alpha acid stability. For example 15.4% AA Warrior is about 13.6% AA after 36 months if it was vacuum bagged and stored at -3f.
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Nov 17, 2011 06:41
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Frigging bottle bombs on my ESB, I had to dump the batch already despite me not having time to enjoy a single bottle due to a crazy hectic schedule at work and me just forgetting I had them  Gravity was stable at 1.012 for a few days at ~68* with WLP023 and I left it in primary for a further 2 weeks after that just cause I had no time to bottle. Primed with Cooper's carb tabs. I'm thinking either infection or the yeast just flocced like gently caress (which is odd cause I didn't even cold crash) and wasn't really finished. Luckily I have a couple mason jars of the yeast, I'll have to reuse and rouse a few times next brew. The taste I had out of primary was fantastic I popped a bottle in the fridge to try tomorrow, hopefully it doesn't explode before then.
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Nov 17, 2011 07:47
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indigi posted:Primed with Cooper's carb tabs. The old owner of my LHBS told me that a majority of the people that used those carb tabs came back and complained about some kind of infection, so that's a possibility. Also if you had an infection in your primary I wouldn't reuse that yeast.
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Nov 17, 2011 12:45
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indigi posted:or the yeast just flocced like gently caress (which is odd cause I didn't even cold crash) and wasn't really finished. What yeast was it? Many British yeasts flocc like goddam concrete once they decide they're done fermenting, cold crash or no.
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Nov 17, 2011 16:35
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Docjowles posted:What yeast was it? Many British yeasts flocc like goddam concrete once they decide they're done fermenting, cold crash or no. Wlp023=Burton ale=Thames valley=wyeast1275=poor flocculator
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Nov 17, 2011 17:44
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My bad, replying on the way out the door and before coffee = no reading comprehension  Didn't see that he specified the yeast.
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Nov 17, 2011 17:45
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Josh Wow posted:The old owner of my LHBS told me that a majority of the people that used those carb tabs came back and complained about some kind of infection, so that's a possibility. Also if you had an infection in your primary I wouldn't reuse that yeast. I've used them for about 15 batches now and never had this problem, and the one I saved to sample tasted really fuckin good ( ). I think it was probably a residual sugar problem.
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Nov 17, 2011 18:26
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indigi posted:I've used them for about 15 batches now and never had this problem, and the one I saved to sample tasted really fuckin good ( What was your mash temp? 1.012 seems like a good FG with that yeast.
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Nov 17, 2011 20:10
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tesilential posted:Wlp023=Burton ale=Thames valley=wyeast1275=poor flocculator Yeah, I just kegged my imperial porter the other day and after 3 weeks in conical and then a 1 day cold crash it wasn't totally flocced out yet. So I gave it 2 more days cold crashing and it ran off crystal clear.
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Nov 17, 2011 22:13
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Yet, oddly enough the pale ales I made with that yeast have been by far my clearest beers. It just takes longer to settle.
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Nov 17, 2011 22:32
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tesilential posted:What was your mash temp? 1.012 seems like a good FG with that yeast.
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Nov 17, 2011 23:36
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This secret santa thing looks cool. Is there a way we can specify what we're able to send, as well?
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Nov 18, 2011 01:09
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Has anyone here used Munich LME before? Good for German lagers? Seems like it would greatly simplify this Oktoberfest recipe I'm about to try. Simple is good. Less things to gently caress up and all...
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Nov 18, 2011 02:46
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If you're talking about the syrup from Northern Brewer I'm sure it's good as all their other syrups, and I'm also sure you could make a pretty dynamite lager with just the Munich syrup.
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Nov 18, 2011 03:08
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Briess, but it appears to be basically the same thing. 50/50 mix of munich and a base malt.
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Nov 18, 2011 07:28
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