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bengy81 posted:A picture would be helpful, but I am gonna go ahead and guess that your beer is fine. The next time you take a gravity sample, take a drink of the sample. If it tastes like warm flat beer, you are fine. I'm sure (hope) you're right. As I said I'm probably being paranoid. I suppose I'm extra paranoid because I got a secondhand carboy that was sitting in a basement for a while. I probably sanitized it half a dozen times but I was still cautious. Edit: Most of the picture is just smudges and dust on the outside of the glass. The red/orange specks are on the inside. 
lifts cats over head fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 05:40
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That looks fine/normal; it could be yeast flocculating. The only real infection (unsalvageable poison beer, not sour) I've ever seen was fuzzy and shades of green/black. It smelled like trash water and tasted worse.
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Jan 21, 2013 05:44
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nominal posted:the strain (3711) or the fact that it's the first time I've used a starter or both. the strain. it's a madman. nominal posted:I was thinking, though, if I want to throw some dregs from Orval or something else in there for some brett character, when would be the best time to do it? I've never worked with brett before. Is it something I can do way down the road, after this stuff is kegged and carbonated and I've had ample opportunity to try it and decide if it'd even be a good beer to dose? Can I pitch it right into the keg? Will there be much sediment if it referments in the keg, or would I need to rack it off to a new keg after a few months? Is a finished, carbonated beer in a keg even a decent environment for the brett to work, once it's back up to room temperature? If you want to pitch dregs, I'd pull a gallon or more of the saison into a cider/wine jug and pitch there. You would be fine with pitching into the keg but there is a host of possible issues, one being the hoses could become infected, another that the dregs won't become active enough in the fridge (if that is where it is) to do much of anything. There shouldn't be too much sediment, but that just depends on the same factors as it would any other beer you've made. A carb'd keg is a an 'okay' environment, but not ideal. I know brett likes O2, but that doesn't mean it can't get more funk in a bottle (or in this case a keg). They will mellow down a lot, and change over time, so it's sort of a complicated answer. I'd say pull a couple gallons and pitch them, bottle when you think you want to drink it and save a handful while drinking one every few months. Brew the beer again a year later and go hog wild with the whole five gallons if you love it.
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Jan 21, 2013 05:56
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Hypnolobster posted:I have one of these Is the probe water proof? I.e., you can just leave submerged in the mashtun? Half the time I end up brewing in the dark, at night, in the cold, and the steam coming of the HLT makes it a pain in the rear end to read the thermometer. This thing appears to fix that. e: I read that it's submersible, but I'm wondering if that it just the tip or if can you throw the whole enchilada in there, coil/cable and all? tinsel fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 05:57
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tinsel posted:Is the probe water proof? I.e., you can just leave submerged in the mashtun? Both the mini needle probe and the PTFE tip probe are waterproof all the way from the tip to the plug that goes into the thermometer. I stick a little weight on the PTFE probe and let it hang out in the HLT (otherwise it floats), or push it down into the mash with my paddle. Right at knockout, I stick it into the boil kettle and leave it in there while I'm chilling too.
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Jan 21, 2013 17:14
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I was super lazy and let my mash tun sit outside without cleaning it for...longer than you ever should. I gave it a nice long PBW soak and scrubbed it good last night, but I'm gonna have a hard time not thinking about what the inside looked like next time I drink something brewed out of it.
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Jan 21, 2013 18:18
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Toebone posted:I was super lazy and let my mash tun sit outside without cleaning it for...longer than you ever should. I gave it a nice long PBW soak and scrubbed it good last night, but I'm gonna have a hard time not thinking about what the inside looked like next time I drink something brewed out of it. Heh yeah this is something that only happens once. I left my cooler sealed with some spent grain in it after a brewday ended really late, then got lazy. Opened it like 2 weeks later and sweet baby Jesus, it smelled like I was storing dead bodies in there 
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Jan 21, 2013 18:23
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Jacobey000 posted:the strain. it's a madman. 3711 IS a beast, but the "bubbling within a couple hours of pitching" is definitely more a symptom of pitching an active starter. A starter of 3711 is likely considered an IED by homeland security though.
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Jan 21, 2013 19:03
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I usually chill and decant my starters (because starter wort is ) but on Saturday I pitched a whole 2L starter at high krausen into my bavarian hefeweizen and it was bubbling like mad in an hour. Am I going to get more off flavors from pitching the entire starter or is decanting the way to go?
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Jan 21, 2013 19:20
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internet celebrity posted:I usually chill and decant my starters (because starter wort is For what it's worth I always decant, since as you say starter wort tastes and smells like rear end. If I don't want to drink it why am I dumping it in my beer? But 2L into 5 gallons is like 10% of the volume so it will probably be barely noticeable at worst, don't freak out about it.
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Jan 21, 2013 19:41
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All of this "left my grains in too long, I wanted to loving die" posts are making me excited for brewing my berliner weisse.
Jacobey000 fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 20:00
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I just racked a rye IPA to secondary; FG reading gave an attenuation of 84.5% (1.071 to 1.011) with WLP's California Ale Yeast. Previously with an IPA and the same yeast I had an attenuation over 90% (1.063 to 1.006). Both of them were fermented at a really consistent 68*, both were temp adjusted, the previous IPA was outstanding and the rye one I just did is very promising based on how it tastes today. So...why is the yeast going so crazy? WLP001's range is supposed to be 73 to 80% in apparently the same conditions I'm fermenting at (68-72). Am I doing anything wrong or am I missing something? The beer in both cases seems fine. Should I not care, or should I try something different? internet celebrity posted:I usually chill and decant my starters (because starter wort is I stumbled into a decent idea with this yesterday (I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this): I did a 3L starter, decanted, had the yeast sitting out on my table. I wound up with a little bit of wort left over from my mash (maybe a half quart?), so I figured I'd throw it in there and let it get started, and this wouldn't affect the flavor or anything much as the wort is the same. It was going crazy by the time I pitched a few hours later, today (12 hours on) it has almost filled the bucket. bewbies fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 20:08
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Jacobey000 posted:berliner weisse. For Southern Californians, I am told from a reliable source that Golden Road in Glendale has a Berliner Weisse which they serve with woodruff syrup. I'm not sure if it's available all the time, occasionally, or what, though.
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Jan 21, 2013 20:13
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bewbies posted:I stumbled into a decent idea with this yesterday (I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this): I did a 3L starter, decanted, had the yeast sitting out on my table. I wound up with a little bit of wort left over from my mash (maybe a half quart?), so I figured I'd throw it in there and let it get started, and this wouldn't affect the flavor or anything much as the wort is the same. It was going crazy by the time I pitched a few hours later, today (12 hours on) it has almost filled the bucket. This is an awesome idea. Did you boil it or anything before adding it to the yeast?
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Jan 21, 2013 20:24
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internet celebrity posted:I usually chill and decant my starters (because starter wort is I always pour the whole starter in while it's active, never noticed anything as far as "off flavors," in fact my beers improved in flavor from using starters (outside of the occasional yeast-dominant beers like Belgians). FWIW all the members of our homebrew club (who make delicious beers themselves) like the beers we bring and have never brought up anything that could be construed as related to pitching an active starter. Honestly the starter smells awful from the getgo (i.e. when it's 2L of hot reconstituted DME wort) - I think unhopped DME just smells awful but I used to make great beers from it before going all grain so I guess it's all about the effect of hops on wort aroma.
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Jan 21, 2013 20:25
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bewbies posted:I just racked a rye IPA to secondary; FG reading gave an attenuation of 84.5% (1.071 to 1.011) with WLP's California Ale Yeast. Previously with an IPA and the same yeast I had an attenuation over 90% (1.063 to 1.006). Both of them were fermented at a really consistent 68*, both were temp adjusted, the previous IPA was outstanding and the rye one I just did is very promising based on how it tastes today. If you're happy with mouth feel and residual sweetness then you don't need to do anything. All grain your main lever in FG is mash schedule. Warmer single infusions or less time spent in the beta rest zone in multistep schedules will result in higher FGs.
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Jan 21, 2013 20:33
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bewbies posted:I just racked a rye IPA to secondary; FG reading gave an attenuation of 84.5% (1.071 to 1.011) with WLP's California Ale Yeast. Previously with an IPA and the same yeast I had an attenuation over 90% (1.063 to 1.006). Both of them were fermented at a really consistent 68*, both were temp adjusted, the previous IPA was outstanding and the rye one I just did is very promising based on how it tastes today. Was the ambient temperature 68* or do you mean that's what the bucket said? Remember that during fermentation the beer warms up due to activity.
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Jan 21, 2013 21:03
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Tried to brew a half-batch barley-wine today, like I did around this time last year. Tried to do all-grain instead of a mini-mash and DME, and ended up with a FG of 1.062 instead of the desired 1.088. Is it just a really bad idea to try to do a half-batch of a strong beer? I back-calculated my efficiency, and it ended up being around 59%, which is pretty terrible. I used less water during my sparge than I otherwise would have. Should I have been aiming to boil all of the extra water off?
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Jan 21, 2013 22:21
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Zakath posted:Tried to brew a half-batch barley-wine today, like I did around this time last year. Tried to do all-grain instead of a mini-mash and DME, and ended up with a FG of 1.062 instead of the desired 1.088. Is it just a really bad idea to try to do a half-batch of a strong beer? I back-calculated my efficiency, and it ended up being around 59%, which is pretty terrible. I used less water during my sparge than I otherwise would have. Should I have been aiming to boil all of the extra water off? Yeah. Did you only sparge once? Either way you left a lot of sugars. Might as well sparge again and make another beer with the mash.
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Jan 21, 2013 23:04
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Jo3sh posted:For Southern Californians, I am told from a reliable source that Golden Road in Glendale has a Berliner Weisse which they serve with woodruff syrup. I'm not sure if it's available all the time, occasionally, or what, though. Yeah, I made a visit to a local gourmet simple syrup company and they gifted me a handful of different syrups so I'm pretty excited to try them out in the Berliner I plan on doing. As far as 'Brew News' I made an 8 batch of Belgian Blonde/Pale with 5gal going to S-33 and 3gal to EC-1118 & Brett B. I've also come to the conclusion that brewing with someone is 100x better than brewing alone; 3rd brew in a row I wasn't home brewing.
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Jan 21, 2013 23:10
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Keep in mind the attenuation % for yeast that's listed on the package/website is based on a specific set of conditions in a laboratory, none of which you are meeting while homebrewing. Things also change drastically when you're dealing with much higher or lower gravity than usual, or weird adjuncts like rye, etc. I was told all of this by a Wyeast rep after getting drunk and sending a sarcastic email about their numbers. IIRC the person said their math is all based on 1.050 wort, but I could be remembering wrong.
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Jan 21, 2013 23:11
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Zakath posted:Should I have been aiming to boil all of the extra water off? Yup, as you noticed higher gravity beers require more water and longer boils - it also helps to keep a few pounds of DME on hand just in case you really end up under your target FG.
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Jan 21, 2013 23:19
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fullroundaction posted:I was told all of this by a Wyeast rep after getting drunk and sending a sarcastic email about their numbers.
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Jan 21, 2013 23:33
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Got my stir plate built and working, I just need to get a real stir bar and an Erlenmeyer flask, and make a case for it in the woodshop. Here it is in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9j4Z9Wgh3o (I know exposed wiring is bad, but 6 volts never killed anyone.)
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Jan 22, 2013 03:17
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Right now my home made stirplate is busy building a starter that I'll split into four pint jars tomorrow and put into the fridge. Of course, to do that I have to move the yeast cultures that are already in the pint jars into half-pint jars. Of course, to do that I need to boil some half-pint jars so that they're sanitized and that there will be sterilized top-off water. Of course, to do that, I have to get off my rear end...
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Jan 22, 2013 04:02
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Jo3sh posted:For Southern Californians, I am told from a reliable source that Golden Road in Glendale has a Berliner Weisse which they serve with woodruff syrup. I'm not sure if it's available all the time, occasionally, or what, though. Yeah, I tried that over the summer, it's really good. They were out of syrup so I had it straight. Nice and sour and had a fair amount of body for such a low gravity beer. I've considered making a batch but I haven't really done enough research on the different methods of getting the right flavor. Frankly it's easily the best GR beer I've had, I always end up leaving there unimpressed. Does anyone know what recipe/process they use? I came up empty researching it a few months ago.
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Jan 22, 2013 06:20
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constituent concentration total hardness 53 mg/l CaCO3 total alkalinity 42.7 mg/l CaCO3 calcium 17.4 mg/l magnesium 8.5 mg/l sulfate 12.4 mg/l sodium 10.7 mg/l chloride 23.2 mg/l chlorine .75 mg/l So here is what was given to me by my city's water department. Can anyone who uses beersmith tell me what I should be putting into the water profile? It doesn't seem quite match up, mineral profile just has Ca, Mg, Na, SO4, Cl, and HCO3. It's been a long time since I took chemistry so I'm not sure exactly how to break these down.
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Jan 22, 2013 19:59
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Ca is calcium, Mg is magnesium, Na is sodium, SO4 is sulfate, Cl is chlorine, CHO3 I guess is Chloride. It's been a long time since chem!
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Jan 22, 2013 20:30
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Daedalus Esquire posted:constituent concentration I'm assuming you're only having problems with the SO4 (sulfate) and HCO3 parts. I'm no expert, but if I remember correctly, total hardness can be represented either by CaCO3 (as they do in the water report) or as HCO3 (as BeerSmith does). Multiply the CaCO3 value given by your water report by 1.22 (as per this site) to get it represented in HCO3, and plug that in to BeerSmith and you're all set.
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Jan 22, 2013 20:37
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RiggenBlaque posted:I'm assuming you're only having problems with the SO4 (sulfate) and HCO3 parts. I'm no expert, but if I remember correctly, total hardness can be represented either by CaCO3 (as they do in the water report) or as HCO3 (as BeerSmith does). Multiply the CaCO3 value given by your water report by 1.22 (as per this site) to get it represented in HCO3, and plug that in to BeerSmith and you're all set.  Put this in the OP or something, my city report is the same format and I constantly forget how to convert it. Thanks.
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Jan 22, 2013 20:39
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Ok great, thanks. I wasn't sure if I had to do some sort of chemistry, but that's a pretty simple conversion. I wasn't sure if I had to somehow factor in the Ca ions from the CaCO3 or something.
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Jan 22, 2013 21:25
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Daedalus Esquire posted:Ok great, thanks. I wasn't sure if I had to do some sort of chemistry, but that's a pretty simple conversion. I wasn't sure if I had to somehow factor in the Ca ions from the CaCO3 or something. Scholarly chemistry stinks. It might as well have been code:The only chemistry that matters to me is: yeast parties with sugar too hard... Gets sick, pukes alcohol and craps CO2.
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Jan 22, 2013 22:44
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Went to my LHBS today and bought a 1 inch stir bar, and built a wooden box for my stir plate. I can't believe how much better it works with a real stir bar! Just have to seal it, and it should be dry enough to use on Friday in time to pitch yeast on brew-day (Saturday). This has been a pretty fun build, wondering what to make next... Any suggestions?
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Jan 22, 2013 23:18
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Josh Wow posted:This is ok advice but definitely do not add the yeast at 80*. Always, always, loving 100% of the time pitch your yeast strain 2-4*F below the temperature you plan on fermenting. This would solve so many homebrewers problems it boggles my mind. Much appreciated. Followed these instructions pretty much, though I had trouble getting everything boiling. Got it going as close as I could and finished off. It's showing ferment activity and everything, so now I wait and see if I screwed up. If so, learning experience! Next time, with a stove unable to boil 2.5 gallons easily, should I split it into multiple containers? Combine boiling water and that'll remain boiling on a burner? Or just split and do entire thing in smaller batches but combine for ferment?
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Jan 23, 2013 00:18
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Super Rad posted:Yup, as you noticed higher gravity beers require more water and longer boils - it also helps to keep a few pounds of DME on hand just in case you really end up under your target FG.
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Jan 23, 2013 00:20
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Daedalus Esquire posted:So here is what was given to me by my city's water department. Can anyone who uses beersmith tell me what I should be putting into the water profile? Midorka posted:Cl is chlorine, CHO3 I guess is Chloride 
CapnBry fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 01:14
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RagingBoner posted:Just have to seal it, and it should be dry enough to use on Friday in time to pitch yeast on brew-day (Saturday). This has been a pretty fun build, wondering what to make next... Any suggestions? Honestly? Bottle storage. I WISH I was talented enough to make the 12x12oz/6x22oz container I attempted in my wood class. (I'd also buy some off you if are willing - PM Me, srs post)
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Jan 23, 2013 01:40
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RagingBoner posted:Just have to seal it, and it should be dry enough to use on Friday in time to pitch yeast on brew-day (Saturday). Just a tip but you should always try and decant the starter wort from your starter when you make it on a stir plate. It oxidizes the hell out of the starter wort and you don't really want to pitch that into your batch, so give it 24 hours in the fridge and just pitch the fresh awesome yeast.
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Jan 23, 2013 02:06
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Soooo I've been homebrewing for a year now. Have about a dozen batches under my belt. I really enjoy brewing. I'd like to consider the big leagues. Now - don't get me wrong - I understand this isn't something to take lightly. So as a goal for 2013 - I'd like to learn as much as I can about the brewing industry and what it would take to actually open and run a brewery. The question I'm trying to answer is: If I enjoy this so much - how conceivable is it to actually take the next step and go from hobby to career? So - I'm trying to lay out all the resources I should pursue to get started. I've got a few books on homebrewing and just ordered the Brooklyn Brewery's book (might help?). I'm already a member of the AHA. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks guys. edit: Sorry for the confusion. I'm not looking to open a brewery right this minute/this year. I'm talking more 5-7 years down the line. I want to start educating myself, gathering resources, figure out how to gain more experience than I can by brewing in my barely 600 sq. ft. apartment etc. Lowness 72 fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 04:18
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Lowness 72 posted:Soooo I've been homebrewing for a year now. Have about a dozen batches under my belt. I really enjoy brewing. I'd like to consider the big leagues. Maybe try ramping it up a bit first, see how you deal with a more frequent brewing schedule? I've only been brewing since late November and I'm making batch number 11 this weekend.
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Jan 23, 2013 04:35
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