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If you aren't worrying about insanely vaguely small chances of something going wrong then you aren't really brewing.
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Feb 21, 2013 23:17
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withak posted:If you aren't worrying about insanely vaguely small chances of something going wrong then you aren't really brewing. Not giving a poo poo about anything at all is also an equally valid approach. But there's definitely no middle-ground.
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Feb 21, 2013 23:50
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I definitely take the worrying, obsessive approach 
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Feb 22, 2013 03:12
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fullroundaction posted:I brew with ginger a lot and this is right on. Don't not stop posting about ginger... I've got my own question about it. A chef buddy once said I should use ginger shoots (available in spring only basically) which have a more delicate and less 'burn', my local farmer's market has them during that time. Do I use more or less? I'd like to revisit the "Vagabond Ginger Ale" recipe in Papazian's book I brewed two years ago.
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Feb 22, 2013 03:46
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Hypnolobster posted:Those bungs always get stuck in the neck because they don't stay whenever they're wet. Most annoying part of better bottles by a long shot. I've also used the non-drilled version and due to my own not thinking it through and had them get sucked in tight as a drum during cold crashing to the point the better bottles were all deformed and mushed. Thanks to the lip on the plastic bung it didn't get pulled all the way in, and a simple grip on it was enough to release the vacuum and remove it easily. A++ would buy again. In fact I need another one because I have 4 fermenters now, as I have a drinking problem.
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Feb 22, 2013 04:03
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My experience with better bottles and the lipped bung have been exactly the same right down to undrilled stopper and deformed bottle. If you're using a stopper other than that lipped style then there's your problem. Buy the right stopper.
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Feb 22, 2013 04:11
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I gave up on bungs and made my own blow off tube size stoppers out of delrin on the lathe at work Two oring grooves and a barb that fits 1" tubing
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Feb 22, 2013 04:23
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That's brilliant and I'm totally stealing the idea.
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Feb 22, 2013 04:45
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Huh, so attachments in the android awful app don't really work, trying to post a third time. Crisis averted. I could only find a lovely corkscrew yesterday, and had to bring a swiss army knife from the office to pull it out. Yes, I hastily cut it with the sanitized Leatherman and still couldn't get it out. Oh well, got the decent bung in there now. Oh yeah, hypnolobster, I may be stealing that idea pretty soon Wow, sorry about the huge image, fixed it. Imgur's mobile site doesn't have thumbnail options anywhere I could find. Mistaken For Bacon fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 05:01
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Jacobey000 posted:ginger shoots I don't have any experience with these, but I sure am going to keep an eye out for them in season. I live in semi-rural SC so the only time I have access to things other than lovely Food Lion ginger roots is when I take a trek up to Whole Foods about 2 hours north  . Please give us a trip report when you experiment with them!--- My own question: I'm bottling my Gose this weekend (about 6 months in primary, just reached the perfect sour/saltiness) and I want to make sure it actually carbonates. Do I have anything to worry about as far as there being enough yeast in suspension? Should I give it a big swirl a couple days before or just proceed as normal? This beer is kind of my special snowflake and first long-term fermentation so I'm super paranoid.
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Feb 22, 2013 05:28
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Garanimals4Seniors posted:GIANT loving IMAGE Ow! Resize that poo poo, your using imgur even - they have that option right after you upload it. This is the second one posted like this recently, this sort of thing is kind of inexcusable at this point. e: I may have gone a bit off the deep-end on my side, but thanks for the info on the mobile side. fullroundaction posted:I don't have any experience with these, but I sure am going to keep an eye out for them in season. I live in semi-rural SC so the only time I have access to things other than lovely Food Lion ginger roots is when I take a trek up to Whole Foods about 2 hours north Will do on the shoots. 6 months isn't that long, but if you are paranoid about it, you can dose it with some yeast (05 or t-58) when bottling. Jacobey000 fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 12:32
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fullroundaction posted:My own question: I'm bottling my Gose this weekend (about 6 months in primary, just reached the perfect sour/saltiness) and I want to make sure it actually carbonates. Do I have anything to worry about as far as there being enough yeast in suspension? Should I give it a big swirl a couple days before or just proceed as normal? This beer is kind of my special snowflake and first long-term fermentation so I'm super paranoid. Even if you cold crash for a week, which essentially drops most of the yeast out of suspension, you're still going to have more than enough to carbonate. Don't worry about it.
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Feb 22, 2013 14:42
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Thanks for the reassurances. Is there any general time-frame where you really SHOULD be adding more yeast before bottling (for really old barley wines or whatever)? Did a little Googling and there seems to be a lot of opinions out there  Doing my first no-boil BW this weekend to sit on top of the Gose cake. First time doing a decoction mash too. Definitely going to try to stay sober for this one.
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Feb 22, 2013 17:23
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From what I understand there's always going to be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate no matter what. Even in a clear beer there's millions of yeast.
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Feb 22, 2013 17:48
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fullroundaction posted:Thanks for the reassurances. Is there any general time-frame where you really SHOULD be adding more yeast before bottling (for really old barley wines or whatever)? Did a little Googling and there seems to be a lot of opinions out there I'd dose if it's been more than 6 months if it were me bottling, just because opening a bottle w/o a hiss would be heartbreaking. But that is just me. Midorka, I'm sure, is right. Jacobey000 fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 20:32
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Its a sour, anything but heat or nuclear pasteurisation and you'll have yeast that will be able to carbonate. No guarantee on time it takes though.
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Feb 22, 2013 22:40
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When doing a melomel, does the fruit need to be ripe (like peaches), or does that even matter?
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Feb 22, 2013 22:45
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Well, I did my first decoction mash today, for a schwarzbier. A triple decoction, even. The process itself wasn't all that bad. Just a lot of idle stirring while listening to comedy podcasts. Hitting my temps did not go very smoothly, though. I followed the volumes recommended by beersmith but every rest ended up about 15 degrees cool. If I was smart I guess I would have had some water boiling on the stove to bring things up to temp with, but that didn't happen this time. I thought I managed to hit my pre-boil gravity at the end but forgot to account for temperature, it actually ended up hitting about ten points high. We'll see what happens when/if it finishes fermenting I guess. Maybe I ended up making a beer after all. Or maybe it's an unmitigated disaster! Can't wait to find out! Next time I guess maybe I should pull more mash to be able to hit temps and also have some back-up water to heat with?
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Feb 22, 2013 23:02
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Midorka posted:From what I understand there's always going to be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate no matter what. Even in a clear beer there's millions of yeast. This is generally true but not universally so. A beer that's sat for a long time, or that has stressed the yeast significantly in some way (e.g. something that's 10%ABV or more), may sometimes take a very long time to carbonate, or may not at all. I've only ever had two scares with this: One was an imperial brown ale I brewed in my first year of homebrewing, which was not carbonated at all at the three week mark. Agitating the bottles and leaving them upside down got more yeast back in suspension and eventually carbonated the bottles properly. My second problem was just last year, with a 10%ABV imperial IPA. I did not reyeast, and the beer simply sat in the bottles completely flat for five weeks before I did anything. I ended up rehydrating some US-05, sanitizing a milliliter dropper, then reyeasting and recapping every bottle. The beer then carbonated wonderfully, but ended up noticeably oxidized. I have always reyeasted anything that's sat for more than a few months, which has never caused any issues for me. So I'd say that reyeasting isn't commonly needed, but is good practice for any beer that's over 9%ABV, has sat for more than three months, or has had any other significant stresses (e.g. fractional freezing for an eisbock) on it. It's hardly any effort and the additional security is more than worth it.
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Feb 23, 2013 00:52
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Ubik posted:So I'd say that reyeasting isn't commonly needed, but is good practice for any beer that's over 9%ABV, has sat for more than three months, or has had any other significant stresses (e.g. fractional freezing for an eisbock) on it. It's hardly any effort and the additional security is more than worth it. I'd go with this, too. I reyeasted my sour porter that aged for ~1 year and was, like FRA said, my baby. The $3 packet of dry yeast and 30 minutes to rehydrate it were totally worth the peace of mind. Maybe there's a little extra sediment in the bottom, but who cares 
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Feb 23, 2013 01:15
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Who Dat posted:When doing a melomel, does the fruit need to be ripe (like peaches), or does that even matter? Ripe is good. A little over ripe can be even better. Just think about how much better the really dark soft strawberries taste compare to the regular ones. Rotten is different though. You don't want rotten. So ripe is good, the edge of ripeness (starring Mel Gibson) is better. But using fruit that's not ripe wont necessarily hurt but you'll get less juicy flavor and maybe some different flavors.
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Feb 23, 2013 02:08
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Docjowles posted:I'd go with this, too. I reyeasted my sour porter that aged for ~1 year and was, like FRA said, my baby. The $3 packet of dry yeast and 30 minutes to rehydrate it were totally worth the peace of mind. Maybe there's a little extra sediment in the bottom, but who cares If that happened to be what you sent me for the SASS homebrew swap, I will completely concur. That stuff was drat delicious, don't change a thing.
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Feb 23, 2013 06:09
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So when re-yeasting would you simply pitch a packet into the primary, wait a day, cold crash then bottle?
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Feb 23, 2013 15:07
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It seems kind of counterintuitive to pitch yeast and then cold crash to get everything to drop out. Whenever I've done it I just add it to the bottling bucket and gently stir it in.
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Feb 23, 2013 15:21
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I guess it does, but I like clear beers, or at least not a huge mess of yeast at the bottom of each bottle. I guess it's superficial but presentation matters to me.
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Feb 23, 2013 15:29
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One packet of yeast in five gallons will make a pretty small amount of sediment in each of 50 bottles. It's not like you're going to get a big 1" yeast cake or something. 11.5g of yeast / 50 bottles ~= 1/4 gram per bottle. So yeah, it's some, but it's not a lot. And the conditions under which it makes sense to do this mean that all the other sediment has fallen out of suspension already. With careful upright storage and a smooth pour, I think you'll still get clear beer in your glass.
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Feb 23, 2013 15:43
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This is pretty neat - its a crossover between the commercial and homebrew topics, but probably more interesting to homebrew types:
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Feb 23, 2013 16:49
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Midorka posted:I guess it does, but I like clear beers, or at least not a huge mess of yeast at the bottom of each bottle. I guess it's superficial but presentation matters to me. I meant it seems silly to add yeast so your bottles will carbonate, and then cold crash to try to get the yeast you just added out of suspension.
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Feb 23, 2013 17:34
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Yea or nay on secondary for cacao nibs?
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Feb 23, 2013 17:39
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Whodat Smith-Jones posted:Yea or nay on secondary for cacao nibs? Everything I've read on the matter pretty much says that chocolate malt is the best, easiest way to add chocolate flavor. Everything else is hardly noticeable. Having tried both Baker's chocolate in the secondary and chocolate malt, I have to say the malt was more noticeable. I can't imagine the nibs being a lot better than Baker's chocolate, but then again, I've never felt like getting some to try either.
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Feb 23, 2013 17:44
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I've always found chocolate malt to not be very chocolaty except in color. I find I always get more of a light coffee flavor. The only time I used actual chocolate was a Hershey bar in a one gallon experiment...make sure whatever cocoa you use doesn't have too much fat/oil. Bleh that was gross.
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Feb 23, 2013 17:47
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Josh Wow posted:I meant it seems silly to add yeast so your bottles will carbonate, and then cold crash to try to get the yeast you just added out of suspension. Well in the case of older beers isn't it possible that there wouldn't be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate? I was thinking that by adding yeast a certain amount would stay in suspension even after cold crashing. I mean, I cold crash my beers and there is always enough yeast to carbonate.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:02
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Has anyone ever used sugar cubes for priming? I was just reading a couple of forums that suggested using two sugar cubes for a 22 oz bottle. I'm bottling just two or three 22oz's from a keg, so I'm not adding sugar straight into the fermentor. Any reason not to do it this way? The beer is a Munich Helles done with an ale yeast if that changes anything.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:05
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If you're bottling from a keg, you shouldn't need to prime the bottles. Carb your keg of beer as usual. Put your bottling gear and bottles in the fridge or freezer for an hour or two before you bottle, and then bottle it and cap. If you want, you can give the filled bottle a good rap on the counter to knock just enough CO2 out prior to capping to get some foam to cap on if you're going to be storing the bottles for a while. The process doesn't cause anywhere near a significant amount of CO2 to be lost. If you think it is, just over-carb the keg a little bit temporarily.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:07
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Bad Munki posted:If you're bottling from a keg, you shouldn't need to prime the bottles. Carb your keg of beer as usual. Put your bottling gear and bottles in the fridge or freezer for an hour or two before you bottle, and then bottle it and cap. If you want, you can give the filled bottle a good rap on the counter to knock just enough CO2 out prior to capping to get some foam to cap on if you're going to be storing the bottles for a while. The process doesn't cause anywhere near a significant amount of CO2 to be lost. Forgot to mention, keg isn't carbed yet. I wanted to prime these in the bottle, I've done bottling from a primed keg before.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:09
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So carb the keg.  I mean really: if you're planning on waiting for the bottles to prime, why not just wait for the keg to carb and do it the more controlled and proven way? e: You asked if there's any reason NOT to do it that way, and yeah, there are a number I can think of, the main being that you really don't know what you're going to get priming-wise. And if you're only doing three bottles, you don't have a lot of wiggle room as far as over-carbing or under-carbing bottles. You can do them all the same, and maybe all three will be over carbed or under carbed. You can do them all a little different, and maybe get one successful one. Instead, just do it the normal way, and get three successful bottles. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Feb 23, 2013 |
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Feb 23, 2013 18:09
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Angry Grimace posted:This is pretty neat - its a crossover between the commercial and homebrew topics, but probably more interesting to homebrew types: This is pretty cool ... but why a 13 gallon batch? Are there that many homebrewers doing full 15 gallon boils and using 50L kegs?
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Feb 23, 2013 18:28
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fullroundaction posted:This is pretty cool ... but why a 13 gallon batch? Are there that many homebrewers doing full 15 gallon boils and using 50L kegs? I think it just happened to be the batch size Colby uses at home and they didn't want to scale it for whatever reason. The weirder part is the 12 oz. dry hop 
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Feb 23, 2013 18:37
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Whoa, 20 minute mash? What's up with that?
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Feb 23, 2013 18:40
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bewbies posted:Has anyone ever used sugar cubes for priming? I was just reading a couple of forums that suggested using two sugar cubes for a 22 oz bottle. Carb drops and sugar cubes are pretty notorious for causing infections and being hilariously inaccurate. You should probably just carb the keg, which will take about 2 weeks and then bottle some, vs bottling a few which will take 2 or 3 weeks to carb anyway. If you're determined, my personal path would be to take the total volume of beer, divide it out into bottles and take the total volume of sugar solution made properly and figure out how much should end up in each bottle. Make some on the stove, use a disposable pipette or something else that you can measure with accurately in the mL range and dose each bottle. random example, because I don't know what temperature or volumes you have: 5 gallons in 22oz bottles = 29 2.5 volumes desired in 5 gallons @ 40 degrees = 75.2 grams of cane sugar 75.2 / 29 = 2.6 grams per bottle of cane sugar to hit 2.5 volumes of co2 If you're bottling three, I'd make up a solution of sugar and boiled water at a concentration where a given volume (a couple mL's) will give you 2.5 grams of sugar in solution and dose each bottle. Or just go the easier route and throw 2.6 grams of sugar into each bottle.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:46
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