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Midorka posted:I've brewed outside in similarly cold weather, there's one advantage and that is that it's going to be much quicker to cool the wort down. I didn't really notice the boil taking much longer than normal, but you may want to pre-heat the mash-tun to ensure your mash will be the correct temperature. Awesome. Thanks a lot for the response.
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Jan 26, 2013 15:52
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he1ixx posted:I did a ton more research after the feedback here and ran across this one, which I ended up buying. I'm going for the fig/raisin/plum flavors I so cherish in St Bernardus Abt 12. I'm under no illusion that what I make will be anywhere near that good but hey, its a target right? If you're going for a St Bernardus taste, I would use either the WY3787 or its sister White Labs strain, WLP530, as that is the Westmalle strain. Westvleteren uses the Westmalle strain, and St Bernardus used to brew Westvleteren's beers. I'm pretty sure St Bernardus still uses basically this same strain today. Also, use a blowoff tube. Cheers! EDIT: Well, I just saw you chose WLP500 already. That's Chimay's strain. Its a bit more fruity and less phenolic than the character you get with the westmalle strain.
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Jan 26, 2013 19:33
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digitalhifi posted:If you're going for a St Bernardus taste, I would use either the WY3787 or its sister White Labs strain, WLP530, as that is the Westmalle strain. Westvleteren uses the Westmalle strain, and St Bernardus used to brew Westvleteren's beers. I'm pretty sure St Bernardus still uses basically this same strain today. Also, use a blowoff tube. St. Bernardus uses the "original" Westvleteren Strain, I believe.
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Jan 26, 2013 19:36
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Well I freaked out and didn't think my Belgian strong ale was fermenting so I ordered additional yeast (Wyeast Abbey II) and so that will be arriving tomorrow. My problem was actually that I hadn't closed up my bucket properly hence no bubbles and I couldn't be bothered to check. Is there some way I can use this next batch of yeast in a secondary fermentation when I rack to a carboy, or should I hold off and use it for another beer? I'm trying to keep this strong ale sweeter and as such I'm worried more yeast is going to dry it out substantially. Thoughts?
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Jan 26, 2013 20:56
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the yellow dart posted:Well I freaked out and didn't think my Belgian strong ale was fermenting so I ordered additional yeast (Wyeast Abbey II) and so that will be arriving tomorrow. My problem was actually that I hadn't closed up my bucket properly hence no bubbles and I couldn't be bothered to check. Is there some way I can use this next batch of yeast in a secondary fermentation when I rack to a carboy, or should I hold off and use it for another beer? I'm trying to keep this strong ale sweeter and as such I'm worried more yeast is going to dry it out substantially. Thoughts? Save it for another batch.
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Jan 26, 2013 21:02
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digitalhifi posted:If you're going for a St Bernardus taste, I would use either the WY3787 or its sister White Labs strain, WLP530, as that is the Westmalle strain. Westvleteren uses the Westmalle strain, and St Bernardus used to brew Westvleteren's beers. I'm pretty sure St Bernardus still uses basically this same strain today. Also, use a blowoff tube. I called and swapped out the yeast for the WY3787. I really appreciate the expertise. I love this thread! On a separate note, I brewed my APA in the bitter Pennsylvania cold today. Aside from frozen limbs the OG was perfect (even a little too perfect) and I found the temperature was really controllable with the cold. I tucked it away in a corner and I'm waiting for the first "blug blug blug" of the airlock. One thing I noticed, and I'm not sure its an issue but I figure I'd air it here. I pulled the yeast pack out of the fridge (Wyeast Thames Valley smack pack) and the capsule must have been burst during shipping. I freaked out a little at first but then started warming it up. After some serious warming, the pack plumped up nicely. I assume the yeast is ok, right? I've never had a pre-burst capsule before and didn't know what to expect with it. The Wyeast website just says use it soon and don't worry about it so that's the play but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with adverse conditions with stuff like this. (yes, I'm obviously a beginner...) Thanks everybody!
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Jan 26, 2013 23:27
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The only liquid yeast I've ever had problems with was a pack that shipped in the middle of 100-110F sweltering July, stuck in a UPS warehouse over a holiday weekend. Didn't inflate and after 3 days I gave up on it and forgot about it in the brew room. Came back to life about 2 weeks later and I made a huge starter with it for my next beer. My point is, yeast is really hard to kill unless you're trying to.
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Jan 27, 2013 01:04
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Angry Grimace posted:St. Bernardus uses the "original" Westvleteren Strain, I believe. Yup, just checked Brew Like a Monk. That is what is believed, although its still not 100% clear.
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Jan 27, 2013 01:17
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he1ixx posted:I did a ton more research after the feedback here and ran across this one, which I ended up buying. I'm going for the fig/raisin/plum flavors I so cherish in St Bernardus Abt 12. I'm under no illusion that what I make will be anywhere near that good but hey, its a target right? I sometimes go doodling around on the Burgundian Babble Belt and I have come to agree with the popular take on quadrupel there. It's pretty much one malt and some dark candi sugar done in a very particular way. So it is indeed more an act of skill. I can say for sure that I haven't really hit the quadrupels with those grain bills you see that go all the way down a sheet of paper. If you look into the peculiarities of making dark candi sugar, and particularly how to make a multi-textured dark candi sugar, then what you want is in reach. Actually if you look at this page, which I didn't see before, you'll find something to mull over: http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2012/02/candy-syrup-right-way-hint-weve-been.html Regarding the cold temperature, you might be surprised. If your water starts out at room temperature or higher (are you mashing?) then you are not fighting cold liquid. It will start boiling around the same usual time. Afterwards, the air will take up all your steam like a sponge, and you may find your boil to be a little too successful.
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Jan 27, 2013 02:13
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Safbrew S-33 just blew an airlock across the room on a 1.074 OG stout in a fermenter with a gallon and a half of head space. I have learned my lesson on using a blow-off tube now...
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Jan 27, 2013 09:11
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digitalhifi posted:Yup, just checked Brew Like a Monk. That is what is believed, although its still not 100% clear. It seems like if this was really a problem you could just culture some yeast from a bottle of St. Bernardus in either case.
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Jan 27, 2013 12:27
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Angry Grimace posted:It seems like if this was really a problem you could just culture some yeast from a bottle of St. Bernardus in either case. Do St. Bernardus carbonate with the same strain they ferment?
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Jan 27, 2013 14:21
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They must filter it out or something, otherwise yeah this would have been resolved 10 years ago.
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Jan 27, 2013 18:37
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I'm having a bunch of people over for the Superbowl, and I'm just about out of kegged homebrew. If I go out to a liquor store and get a sixtel, what do I need to hook it up to my current ball-lock draft system? Is it just one of these, with the liquid and gas lines hooked up to the barbs? Also, do liquor stores rent them ala the traditional hand-pump tap, or do I have to make the investment?
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Jan 27, 2013 23:13
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Toebone posted:I'm having a bunch of people over for the Superbowl, and I'm just about out of kegged homebrew. If I go out to a liquor store and get a sixtel, what do I need to hook it up to my current ball-lock draft system? Is it just one of these, with the liquid and gas lines hooked up to the barbs? Also, do liquor stores rent them ala the traditional hand-pump tap, or do I have to make the investment? I've never seen liquor stores or whoever rent out the taps alone, normally they have those bronco pumps. Simplest is what you're talking about, get a tailpiece the same size as your beer line, a tailpiece nut and gasket, and just swap everything over. If you're going to be doing it frequently it might make sense to think about putting flares on your lines. I once saw an article showing how to convert a Sanke tap to have ball lock posts on the ends but it really makes the thing not low profile anymore and might not fit in a small fridge. Don't forget that the type of Sanke tap you need depends on the beer you're buying.
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Jan 28, 2013 04:47
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So, just out of curiosity, am I the only one that didn't receive their secret santa gift this year?
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Jan 28, 2013 16:03
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digitalhifi posted:So, just out of curiosity, am I the only one that didn't receive their secret santa gift this year? I didn't get anything yet either. Well either that or the package was stolen off my front porch I guess.
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Jan 28, 2013 18:41
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I usually let my beer sit for a week or three after fermentation has stopped (at least visually) for stuff to clear and to make sure yeast has had ample time to do it's job (I am scared of opening my carboy for gravity readings and usually just take them as I'm kegging). Usually I'm letting it sit at about 68 or so, then cold crashing for a few days right before kegging, but since this is a saison, and I had it up above 80 by the time fermentation appeared to have stopped... should I also keep it at that temperature for the next few weeks, or would sitting for that long at that high of a temperature have a negative impact on the beer somehow? I know yeast doesn't generally like getting cooled off but I'm not sure if that's such a big deal at this point since it's already had 2 full weeks to do its thing.
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Jan 28, 2013 18:42
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So I put together my first mead last night. Straight orange blossom, no frills. Seems to be fermenting nicely already as of this morning. Just gotta get bottles, corks, and a corker. Waiting 6-9 months after I rack it is going to be hard. 
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Jan 28, 2013 19:15
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Who Dat posted:So I put together my first mead last night. Straight orange blossom, no frills. Seems to be fermenting nicely already as of this morning. Just gotta get bottles, corks, and a corker. If you use yeast nutrient during primary then it should be OK to drink fairly soon. I usually fill 6-12 beer bottles and put the rest in wine bottles so that I have something to taste as it ages. What yeast did you go with?
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Jan 28, 2013 19:31
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Who Dat posted:So I put together my first mead last night. Straight orange blossom, no frills. Seems to be fermenting nicely already as of this morning. Just gotta get bottles, corks, and a corker. As much as they say you don't need secondary, I like doing it for a month or two as it provides a noticeably more clean/smooth taste and reduces the amount of yeast I have to deal with at the bottom of the bottle. It's a bit counter to the whole "you can't screw this up look how easy it is" mindset a lot of recipes use to get people started, but I enjoy the final product more. For comparison, I don't mind yeast in most beers but in mead it's a lot more off-putting to me.
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Jan 28, 2013 20:53
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I used 2 packets of Lalvin 71B-1122 in a 5 gallon batch along with a nutrient and energizer. Used 15lbs of honey, 4 gallons of distilled water (honey mixed with 1 gallon boiled). I think maybe I will use 6 beer bottles and try 1 every month just to see how it's progressing.
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Jan 28, 2013 21:13
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Cpt.Wacky posted:If you use yeast nutrient during primary then it should be OK to drink fairly soon. I usually fill 6-12 beer bottles and put the rest in wine bottles so that I have something to taste as it ages. I agree with this. I'm no expert, but I think a lot of the notion that you have to let a mead sit around forever came from poor fermentation practice and a need to age out off flavors. My group's managed tasty results with less than a month of bulk aging. (And nigh-unsalvageable results even with considerably more time...don't neglect temperature control.)
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Jan 28, 2013 21:27
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Keep it in the dark too. I put a t-shirt on my carboys when they are aging mead or cider.porkface posted:As much as they say you don't need secondary, I like doing it for a month or two as it provides a noticeably more clean/smooth taste and reduces the amount of yeast I have to deal with at the bottom of the bottle. It's a bit counter to the whole "you can't screw this up look how easy it is" mindset a lot of recipes use to get people started, but I enjoy the final product more. I don't think of it as secondary "fermentation" but racking at least 2-3 times is really important for clarity.
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Jan 28, 2013 22:43
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A brown paper bag with a hole in the top for the airlock to peak through also works great for keeping the light out, possibly better than a shirt. I aged my mead for, what, 2 years? 3? I don't even remember now. It wasn't anything but honey water, so there wasn't any actual aging going on, but man oh man it was so perfectly golden clear when I finally bottled it, not a spec of yeast in the whole thing.
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Jan 28, 2013 22:45
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Can anyone recommend a container to measure beer with my hydrometer? I've been using a 100 ml graduated cylinder, but in following the progress of my sours, the cylinder isn't deep enough and won't read under 1.008. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that's deep and skinny enough so that I don't waste too much beer with each reading.
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Jan 28, 2013 22:52
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Cointelprofessional posted:Can anyone recommend a container to measure beer with my hydrometer? I've been using a 100 ml graduated cylinder, but in following the progress of my sours, the cylinder isn't deep enough and won't read under 1.008. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that's deep and skinny enough so that I don't waste too much beer with each reading. Your homebrew shop should sell something like this. Usually called a hydrometer flask or a test jar.
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Jan 28, 2013 23:09
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Docjowles posted:Your homebrew shop should sell something like this. Usually called a hydrometer flask or a test jar. Yes, Northern Brewer does. While they recommend it in the store, on the website both products that they offer have horrible reviews. Has anyone respond to the criticisms in the reviews or recommend something else? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/economy-test-jar.html http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/breakdown-test-jar.html
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Jan 29, 2013 00:22
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Cointelprofessional posted:Yes, Northern Brewer does. While they recommend it in the store, on the website both products that they offer have horrible reviews. Has anyone respond to the criticisms in the reviews or recommend something else? Maybe a footlong piece of staightened 3/4" vinyl tubing with a stopper. Sanitize the tube, dip in your wort, push the stopper in the end, remove from wort. Like a wine thief you can take gravity readings from. And its cheap and easily replaced.
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Jan 29, 2013 00:29
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Cointelprofessional posted:Can anyone recommend a container to measure beer with my hydrometer? I've been using a 100 ml graduated cylinder, but in following the progress of my sours, the cylinder isn't deep enough and won't read under 1.008. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that's deep and skinny enough so that I don't waste too much beer with each reading. PFFF . The money grubbing republican in me measures gravity in the plastic tube the hydrometer comes in. Anyways with mead, I find traditional meads are close to chaucers brand in about 4 months. I made a traditional in this time and only racked it once before bottling. I keep all my meads in the closet so they are free of Solaris contaminus. Once a mead is done fermenting you could bottle it and drink it. Sweeter meads will taste ok right away but a dry one can be really great when aged out. I'm aging an apple cider mead now that is dry and it tastes better every month. I'll drink it in October which will put it at a year old. edit: f@ck$n auto correct
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Jan 29, 2013 00:37
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Cointelprofessional posted:Yes, Northern Brewer does. While they recommend it in the store, on the website both products that they offer have horrible reviews. Has anyone respond to the criticisms in the reviews or recommend something else? I've got the second one and it is at least 10 years old and works perfectly. Easy to sanitize and clean and it has never leaked. I've not read the reviews but I'm not sure what anyone could complain about. It's just a cylinder you put liquid in and float a thing. So long as it keeps enough liquid in for the 30 seconds it takes to get your hydrometer and take a reading then it has done it's job.
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Jan 29, 2013 01:58
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I got a brewing kit for Christmas from my wife's parents. My first batch was an American Wheat that I think turned out pretty awesome. I have a porter in secondary and a Scotch Ale in a bucket. I have a whole bunch of questions. I would kind of like to make a Dunkelweizen, and I would like to brew it soon. Any good recipes for a Dunkelweizen that can be made with ingredients that will definitely be found in the local homebrew shop? Is it possible to make a beer like that with all DME and no LME? What is the difference other than the fact that LME stales faster and costs more? Any suggestions for something similar to Sam Adams Cherry Wheat? When I made the Am Wheat and the porter I used the dry yeast that came with the kits. When I made the Scotch Ale I sprung for the fancy yeast (Wyeast smack pack that is meant for Scottish ales). When I used the dry packs my fermenter was bubbling pretty vigorously the next morning. The batch I made with the fancy yeast took a lot longer to start bubbling and never really bubbled at the same pace as the dry yeast. Is this normal? How long does it take to make a tasty apfelwein/hard cider? It seems like all it takes is some apple juice, a bunch of sugar, some wine yeast and a lot of time in the carboy.
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Jan 29, 2013 04:01
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PBCrunch posted:I got a brewing kit for Christmas from my wife's parents. My first batch was an American Wheat that I think turned out pretty awesome. I have a porter in secondary and a Scotch Ale in a bucket. I have a whole bunch of questions. Was is the NB American Wheat? How long did you leave it fermenting? Conditioning?
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Jan 29, 2013 04:36
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PBCrunch posted:
Well I made a mr beer octoberfest, with a mr beer smooth lme soft pack addition. Tastes... EXACTLY like SAMs cherry wheat. I'm hoping it ages out over the next few days, but who am I kidding. Looks like cherry wheat for the Super Bowl.
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Jan 29, 2013 04:37
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1. My time with extract was pretty limited, but I assume DME and LME are referring to dry and liquid, not light and dark, right? Dunkelweizen's are wheat beers, so you'll probably need to use a wheat extract instead of dark or light extract. According to beersmith there are dry wheat extracts, but I've never actually looked for it, so I can't advise you on availability. I believe the book "Designing Great Beers" said that a significant portion of award winning Dunkelweizens were made using an extract base, so you won't really have to worry about quality. I unfortunately don't have a recipe to give you, but I believe it's usually something like a 70/30 split between wheat and malts. The 30% malt can be DME, but you'll probably want to reserve 5% or so for a specialty malt you can steep for more color contribution. 2. Not really sure, I always used some LME when I was doing extract, can't help here. 3. Haven't drank it enough to have an idea, you can usually google for clones of most popular beers. 4. Dry yeast packs usually have 200 billion cells, and they keep really really well as long as they are refrigerated. Liquid yeasts, by contrast have maybe half that and lose viability much much much quicker, to the point where its usually assumed to be 45-60 billion cells. There is also a sort of "Maximum" amount of yeast that beer will support, when yeast stop reproducing and start focusing on making our booze, they generally reach a population between 780 billion and 1 trillion cells for a 5 gallon batch. You're looking about starting with a 20% bonus to the population when you use dry yeast. 5. If you use yeast nutrients, you can probably have a decent one in a month or two, same as beer, but it really starts to shine at older ages. I had an 8 month cider that was absolutely wonderful.
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Jan 29, 2013 04:39
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Is the stuff marketed as Beer Line Cleaner the de facto choice for cleaning keg lines? I've managed to keep my lines segregated as far as beer types thus far (one for IPAs, one for RISs, etc) but I sorta forgot about what was previously in the line of the newest beer in the keezer and, long story short, I'll go on record as saying an RIS-tinged IPA tastes like poo poo and you shouldn't make one intentionally.
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Jan 29, 2013 04:47
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Daedalus Esquire posted:1. My time with extract was pretty limited, but I assume DME and LME are referring to dry and liquid, not light and dark, right? Daedalus Esquire posted:Dunkelweizen's are wheat beers, so you'll probably need to use a wheat extract instead of dark or light extract. According to beersmith there are dry wheat extracts, but I've never actually looked for it, so I can't advise you on availability. My LHBS carries it, so I would think just about any store would have it.
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Jan 29, 2013 06:33
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wattershed posted:Is the stuff marketed as Beer Line Cleaner the de facto choice for cleaning keg lines? I've managed to keep my lines segregated as far as beer types thus far (one for IPAs, one for RISs, etc) but I sorta forgot about what was previously in the line of the newest beer in the keezer and, long story short, I'll go on record as saying an RIS-tinged IPA tastes like poo poo and you shouldn't make one intentionally. I don't keep mine segregated and I haven't noticed any off tastes. After every keg, I'll run a few gallons of PBW through and let it sit for a day or two. Then I'll run Star San through when I'm cleaning my keg before racking into it.
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Jan 29, 2013 06:55
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wattershed posted:Is the stuff marketed as Beer Line Cleaner the de facto choice for cleaning keg lines? I've managed to keep my lines segregated as far as beer types thus far (one for IPAs, one for RISs, etc) but I sorta forgot about what was previously in the line of the newest beer in the keezer and, long story short, I'll go on record as saying an RIS-tinged IPA tastes like poo poo and you shouldn't make one intentionally. It's just expensive caustic solution (sodium hydroxide) so it's probably the best choice. I've only used it once but with good results. My cleaning regimen is a little bit splattery and I dont like the idea of getting caustic everywhere. Normally I run some PBW through and let it sit for a while before flushing with water and star san. My lines only get cleaned every 4 or 5 kegs and I've never had a flavor crossover but I do use that bev seal ultra barrier tubing. The lines are a pain in the rear end to balance and get on the barbs but they do what they advertise and dont discolor or hold tastes.
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Jan 29, 2013 06:55
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Oh man, I tried my hand at brewing some mead today. It was.. interesting. I first started making mead with a little kit that I bought at a ren faire. I knew exactly -0.5 things about mead and the directions were all wrong and I ended up opening it about a week after it finished fermenting (maybe it hadn't even stopped.. I'm not sure) to taste it, found it to be awful, and threw it out. I'm super-sad about that because now I realize that I was going about the entire thing rear end-backwards, so I decided to try again. I ordered the hydromel kit from morebeer.com, which arrived last night. I opened it up to check everything out, then set it all aside for tonight. I definitely had yeast when I opened the package, but somehow between then and this afternoon it wandered off. I didn't even realize it was missing until I had the starter all ready to go and panicked because I had nothing to add to it. I decided to fudge it with some baking yeast, got everything else sanitized and mixed and good to go in my carboy. When I went to put vodka in the airlock, I found that it had taken a serious beating in transit and had several cracks around the bottom of it that were leaking. Not to be dissuaded, I rubber-banded a fresh dishcloth over the top of the plug where the airlock should have gone and stuck it in my closet. I also realized that I have no freaking clue how to read a hydrometer. I have no idea if this is going to work or if it will be tasty or even if I successfully sanitized everything properly. I'm supposed to open it up every day while it's fermenting to stir the lees and at certain points add more yeasty foods, which means sanitizing my racking cane every time and worrying about things getting in when I open it. Would it be terrible if I just tossed the yeasty foods in once the fermentation starts and recap it and leave it alone? Assuming all that goes even remotely well, I'm left with the question of what to do with all this mead. I'm currently in a dorm room in South Korea and I'll be leaving in six months (for good) so I have to either bequeath my bottles to friends who are still here and have them tell me how good/bad it is, or figure out how to ship twenty bottles of mead back to the states on either my or the government's dime. I hope this stuff is tasty.. 
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Jan 29, 2013 13:52
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