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fullroundaction posted:Explain to me why a beer with an OG/FG of 1.050/1.010 would have less calories than a 1.050/1.004 beer. Is it because the converted sugars are more ... digestible (or something like that)? I would have assumed the beer would have lost calories due to the energy used to convert the sugars to alcohol. Alcohol is 6.9 calories/gram, carbs are 4 calories/gram in humans.
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Apr 11, 2013 15:28
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Mistaken For Bacon posted:First, you're going to need a bigger pot. I would recommend 10 gallons minimum for a full-volume boil. Then, how does the cooler smell? If it doesn't reek, it's probably fine to mash in. Pull out the spigot and install your lautering apparatus, whether that's a stainless braid or copper/PVC manifold. Keep the 5 gallon pot to heat your strike and sparge water. If you already have a propane burner, that should be enough to get you started. The cooler smells OK. I assume surgical cleanliness is not necessary since an hour long boil is done after mashing.
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Apr 11, 2013 15:50
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davey4283 posted:I've heard that beers with higher alcohol content end up spending more time in the secondary fermentation carboy. Well, I agree with the idea of getting more fermenters, but for nearly all beers, even strong ones, I disagree with the idea of using a secondary carboy. I'd suggest getting another fermenter so you can run another batch in parallel, but honestly, my usual method is just to leave big beers in primary longer, then package as usual. Where I sometimes get mild beers in the keg ten days or so after brew day, strong beers can stay in the fermenter four weeks or even longer without any ill effect. So yes, buy more fermenters - but I would shy away from 5-gallon carboys because they have limited utility. But more 6-gallon fermenters and use them as single-stage fermenters for more parallel batches.
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Apr 11, 2013 15:53
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PBCrunch posted:I don't have a propane burner. I have a gas stovetop. Any specific recommendations for an outdoor burner?
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Apr 11, 2013 16:07
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I had a genuinely strange experience with a beer I opened recently. As far as I knew, I was making a pale(ish) ale (extract, pale with some british crystal) with Columbus for bittering and Kohatu for late. No dry hop, this was the last thing I made before moving house. I had little temperature control so the Wyeast 1056 I used ended up fermenting a bit warm from the cool temperatures it's recommended to go to. Well, I at least thought I had 1056 in the fermenter. Thing is, I gave a bottle to a brewer friend and he went "drat, that's a nice saison!". It drinks like a nice saison, it has a slight tropical fruit thing to it from the kohatu, and then loads of yeast character. Now I know that 1056 goes estery when warm, but can I genuinely get a passable saison quality from it? Or can it be that I've received a pack of saison yeast labeled as 1056 by mistake? Related somewhat: Thank you for the discussion of warm weather recipes over the past few pages. I'm looking for things to brew at home as the temperature warms up as I don't have much in the way of temperature control yet. Blasting out a bunch of wits and weisses will be great. And maybe an actual, intentional saison too. But I do have a question. I now have a garage where I could place my fermenters. The ambient temperature outside ranges between 6 degrees C at night (42.8F) and 17C (63). What, if any, would be the effect on fermentation from this swing in an uninsulated but covered and brick-walled garage? Let's assume 5 gallon buckets. Should I wrap them in old sweaters or not even bother? Any styles I shouldn't even consider?
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Apr 11, 2013 16:57
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I said I would post the BCJP score sheet I received for my Wit. Here it is and it has me scratching my head as to what the hell they drank for this sheet when I brewed this. The coriander is on the low side. The beer was fermenting at 68*f. The peel additions were on the low side. What the gently caress? I'm not sure what they drank, but they didn't drink my beer and I will send a bottle of my wit to anyone who would like to try it because it's pretty loving good. Side by side with this I thought it came out very similar in every regard. This leaves me really questioning the judge, especially after he did similar to my Winter Warmer in a contest we had in December. My scores were originally a point or two higher in every category then they were crossed out and marked lower at some point. It was a 36 point beer marked to a 30.
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Apr 11, 2013 17:00
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I dunno, judging is pretty subjective. The other lesson I've learned the hard way is that BJCP judging--unless you're entering in one of the Do Whatever The gently caress You Want specialty categories--is by definition all about brewing to style. I actually also brewed a wit that I thought was the best thing I'd ever done, but it got poo poo on in competition, I think it scored like a 29. It had a large dose of rye malt and over-the-top citrus. It was super refreshing and we drank the keg in like a week, but it got dinged hard by the judges. It was too citrusy/spicy for style and they noted diacetyl ( ) which I attribute to the slickness of rye (my wife and I are both super sensitive to diacetyl even in trace amounts and we hate it) or possibly an infected bottle I guess.And yeah you always get really disappointingly terse score sheets like that one. "Good beer! 25/50 lolumad?". edit: vvvv I think Midorka said this was a buddy of his, so the lack of contact info makes sense and presumably he was just doing this as a favor/for fun. But I agree the score sheet is garbage. Docjowles fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Apr 11, 2013 |
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Apr 11, 2013 17:28
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Midorka posted:I said I would post the BCJP score sheet I received for my Wit. Here it is and it has me scratching my head as to what the hell they drank for this sheet when I brewed this. The coriander is on the low side. The beer was fermenting at 68*f. The peel additions were on the low side. What the gently caress? I'm not sure what they drank, but they didn't drink my beer and I will send a bottle of my wit to anyone who would like to try it because it's pretty loving good. Side by side with this I thought it came out very similar in every regard. This leaves me really questioning the judge, especially after he did similar to my Winter Warmer in a contest we had in December. My scores were originally a point or two higher in every category then they were crossed out and marked lower at some point. It was a 36 point beer marked to a 30. That sheet could be used as an example for "everything not to do when judging a beer", lets check some off: 1) He didn't fill out a single check box 2) He wrote in pen and scratched poo poo out 3) He used very generic and subjective terms like "good" 4) He wasn't specific about which way it should be balanced, or specific about anything really 5) He put things in the wrong category, why the gently caress is he discussing "off-flavors" in the mouthfeel box? 6) He nicked points without explanation, why did you get a 2 in appearance when he says it was the right color, clarity and head retention? 7) He used pointless filler lines like "no hops". If there isn't any hop aroma in a non-hoppy style then why point it out? I don't put "no roast" when judging a hefeweizen. 8) He didn't put his name, email or ranking which really sucks because you could send him an email and tell him how useless his feedback was and plead with him to never judge another competition. 9) Worst of all, he didn't even fill any of the boxes up. People pay to have their beer judged, and if you can't find enough to say about it to fill up each and every line on that sheet then you have no business judging beer. My guess is he wasn't a BJCP judge and this competition was low on judges so they couldn't be picky. That's not a valid excuse but unfortunately seems to be the case all too often. If I had organized this competition I would have given him that sheet back and told him to fill it out right or to leave.
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Apr 11, 2013 17:28
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Midorka posted:I said I would post the BCJP score sheet I received for my Wit. Here it is and it has me scratching my head as to what the hell they drank for this sheet when I brewed this. Wow, that's a pretty awful sheet right there. I don't know official ways of beer judging but I did take a class in it, and if I had turned in a sheet like that I would have failed the assignment, and it was pass fail. The assignments were "enjoy the beer and fill out the sheet properly, make good comments, and get full points" or "don't fill out a sheet and get 0 points." That right there would be considered 0 points.
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Apr 11, 2013 18:25
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@docjowels, thanks for the thoughts. I just drank one and I can see some of his points, to an extent, but definitely not anywhere near the low scores he gave. I've noticed, though, that judging homebrew is pretty hard due to the batch changing rather quickly, so it seems. I've had a beer, at least in my mind, go from being poo poo to pretty great in 2 weeks of just waiting. I'm guessing I would need to pasteurize to lock in the flavor better? Does anyone know how I could accomplish this at home? @tonedef, it was just a BCJP buddy who did me a favor to share some thoughts on it via scoresheet. It wasn't a competition or anything. As for some of your concerns though, I agree. Why didn't it get a 3 in appearance when it had a perfect look? @saint, I agree. I was hoping for more constructive feedback, but I guess it's too hard to take 10 minutes to give a detailed sheet.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:01
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It's also not unheard of to get the wrong sheet back. The one competition I did try, I got three sheets back, two for my beer and one for something completely different. Not just possibly the wrong beer; it had a different guy's name on it and everything. Judging is 1) at least somewhat subjective (how much is "too much" spice and fruit?), and 2) drinking. Hell, it's hard to judge nonalcoholic foods - your palate gets saturated and fatigued pretty darn fast, in my limited experience. All of this is why my main rule of brewing is to brew what you like, regardless of where it falls in relation to the style guidelines.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:02
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Jo3sh posted:All of this is why my main rule of brewing is to brew what you like, regardless of where it falls in relation to the style guidelines. Oh yeah  ! I was also wondering how your scores might be affected based on how far down the line your beer is. Sometimes harsher flavors can be hidden by the amount of alcohol you've already consumed.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:10
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It has to be a factor, especially in the higher-gravity categories. The judges who get Russian Imperial Stouts have to be completely saturated (that is to say, palates wrecked) very fast.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:12
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Oh yeah Every so often the Brewing Network does a segment on competitions or judging and that comes up. To some extent your are definitely subject to luck; if you're the 10th Double IPA out of 12 a guy is judging, his palate is going to be a wreck and good luck standing out from the pack. Or yeah, like you said your beer that's too powerful for style or has subtle off flavors might score higher than it should. Don't think there's anything you can do about it but send in your best beer and hope it works out.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:17
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fullroundaction posted:Or it's possible you bottled before it was done fermenting. Did you make sure the gravity was stable? Going just by time / visible activity is That is fantastic, I wasn't even aware of them. They've got pretty decent prices and they're only a one day ship from me. Are they good with getting orders out on time?
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Apr 11, 2013 21:28
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Emerson Cod posted:That is fantastic, I wasn't even aware of them. They've got pretty decent prices and they're only a one day ship from me. Are they good with getting orders out on time? I order almost exclusively from them now that Northern Brewer's shipping is out of control. Even when they're not doing free shipping I still only pay 4.99 for a 40-50 pound package  My orders have always been fulfilled same or next day, and in-hand 3-4 business days later. With a free shipping weekend I would give them an extra day to fulfill just incase they get slammed. But yeah their customer service is awesome (replaced a 15lb bag of grain that ripped during shipping no questions asked) and I've been very happy with all of their products so far. e: My favorite thing about them is you can do fractional amounts of grain, and put everything in the same "grain bill"/recipe bag. SO CONVENIENT! fullroundaction fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Apr 11, 2013 |
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Apr 11, 2013 23:16
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Has anyone here ever made Skeeter Pee fermented lemon beverage? http://skeeterpee.com/?page_id=17 I am thinking of making up a batch for my wife and for making shandys.
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Apr 12, 2013 01:16
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PBCrunch posted:Has anyone here ever made Skeeter Pee fermented lemon beverage? That looks really alarming. It reminds me of the fermented Mt. Dew I read about a while ago. Here is the thing I was thinking of: http://www.byo.com/component/k2/item/1167-mountain-brew Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 01:23
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PBCrunch posted:Has anyone here ever made Skeeter Pee fermented lemon beverage?
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Apr 12, 2013 01:28
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That bottled lemon juice tastes awful and with table sugar being your only fermentable you're going to have something thin and hot. When I do hard lemonade I do 50/50 DME and corn sugar to give it a softer mouth feel/more body and make it more like Mikes, just with a lot less residual sweetness. Also use real lemons  And start with a small batch.
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Apr 12, 2013 01:29
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We're brewing our second kit this weekend - the first was a Northern Brewer Irish Red, and this second is a Brewers Best Cream Ale. The Irish Red was fairly successful but lacked any real substance - the alcohol was there, but it compared more to something like a PBR or something similar, no real flavor. Since then, I've done some more reading, and actually acquired a brew pot and burner that should help the process. Any suggestions on how to impart some more flavor and character to the beer, or should I just try and follow the instructions again and hope for a better result with some experience? We didn't use a secondary fermenter with the first batch, just went straight into the bottle after about 10-12 days, is that something that would impact the flavor of the beer?
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Apr 12, 2013 01:29
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 Yeast go home, you're drunk! Take care of yourself. Drink some water. I worry about you, girl.
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Apr 12, 2013 02:29
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Help I am trying to mash the "like" button but nothing is happening.
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Apr 12, 2013 02:57
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An important thing to keep in mind is that when you are amateur(and don't get me wrong, i'm a brewing amateur), it's very easy to say "judging is subjective": and this is of course true for amateur judges (which your judge clearly was). But when you really become an expert at something, art, poetry, cooking, classical music, wine, etc..., you know that it's anything but "arbitrary", and that "arbitrary" is the crutch of the uniformed and untalented. A poem, or a wine, may not fit your personal preference, but it's not all just wishy-washy feelings: there really is some objectivity and the more expert you are at something the clearer this is.
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Apr 12, 2013 04:42
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Gonna make some plum wine this weekend. Not gonna give any fucks about judging.
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Apr 12, 2013 04:51
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Gonna make some plum wine this weekend. Not gonna give any fucks about judging. I'll make you a deal: Send me $20, a couple bottles of it (you pay for the shipping by the way) and I'll Objectively tell you when I pass out on my lawn. I might also tell you how much I (don't) like it.
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Apr 12, 2013 04:59
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Better yet, you show up here, we'll slaughter a goat, drink all of the wine with some Basques, and forget about everything in the morning.
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Apr 12, 2013 05:17
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Turds in magma posted:An important thing to keep in mind is that when you are amateur(and don't get me wrong, i'm a brewing amateur), it's very easy to say "judging is subjective": and this is of course true for amateur judges (which your judge clearly was). But when you really become an expert at something, art, poetry, cooking, classical music, wine, etc..., you know that it's anything but "arbitrary", and that "arbitrary" is the crutch of the uniformed and untalented. A poem, or a wine, may not fit your personal preference, but it's not all just wishy-washy feelings: there really is some objectivity and the more expert you are at something the clearer this is. I actually really love French regionals, new world varietals, and free jazz but half the allure is that quantitative efforts end up falling short due to personal influences and the incredibly pliable human mind. Or maybe I am just a gigantic hippy who enjoyed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance too much. Mr. Wiggles posted:Better yet, you show up here, we'll slaughter a goat, drink all of the wine with some Basques, and forget about everything in the morning.
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Apr 12, 2013 05:27
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Better yet, you show up here, we'll slaughter a goat, drink all of the wine with some Basques, and forget about everything in the morning. Deal. Where/when
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Apr 12, 2013 05:50
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Better yet, you show up here, we'll slaughter a goat, drink all of the wine with some Basques, and forget about everything in the morning. Sir we may disagree a lot in this forum but I would be honored to drink way too much alcohol (that we made) and eat a goat (that we killed and cooked) with you and other GWC goons. edit: When I become rich and powerful I will pay for goon meets for the few subforums I visit.
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Apr 12, 2013 06:06
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I pulled the trigger on a 10 gallon cooler from Lowe's. I also picked up a bunch of brass hardware for the spigot and whatnot, but after I did the math on what I found it turns out I'm spending something like $35 for an amalgamation of parts that's still missing a few key things (like stainless washers for the inside and high temperature o-rings). Given that Lowe's has a generous return policy I'm thinking of just returning those parts and spending $26 for the brass spigot assembly from Northern Brewer, especially since it still has stainless steel parts for the interior. Has anyone priced out the parts and found them cheaper elsewhere?
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Apr 12, 2013 13:41
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I'm thinking of tossing together a cider in a spare Better Bottle I have lying around. The recipes I found say to use 5 gallons of pasteurized preservative-free cider, 2 lb of brown sugar, and yeast. I have the yeast, but my local grocery isn't selling cider this time of year. Would using apple juice (still benzoate/sorbate free) instead still make a good cider for a first-timer? I'd be sharing it with a ciliac friend, so it would be an introduction to homebrew and I don't want to turn her off on it.
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Apr 12, 2013 14:42
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I pulled the trigger on a 10 gallon cooler from Lowe's. I also picked up a bunch of brass hardware for the spigot and whatnot, but after I did the math on what I found it turns out I'm spending something like $35 for an amalgamation of parts that's still missing a few key things (like stainless washers for the inside and high temperature o-rings). Given that Lowe's has a generous return policy I'm thinking of just returning those parts and spending $26 for the brass spigot assembly from Northern Brewer, especially since it still has stainless steel parts for the interior. Has anyone priced out the parts and found them cheaper elsewhere? I am also curious about this. e: Though it might be cheaper from Austin Homebrew with their free shipping today and tomorrow? http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_82_89&products_id=11639 Thufir fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 14:54
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I pulled the trigger on a 10 gallon cooler from Lowe's. I also picked up a bunch of brass hardware for the spigot and whatnot, but after I did the math on what I found it turns out I'm spending something like $35 for an amalgamation of parts that's still missing a few key things (like stainless washers for the inside and high temperature o-rings). Given that Lowe's has a generous return policy I'm thinking of just returning those parts and spending $26 for the brass spigot assembly from Northern Brewer, especially since it still has stainless steel parts for the interior. Has anyone priced out the parts and found them cheaper elsewhere? I think all of the parts for my tun, to include the copper pipe I used for the manifold (but not the cooler) cost about $25 at Lowes. I used a generic valve, two heat resistant rubber washers, a 4" bit of copper pipe to go from manifold to valve, and a couple of couplings. It has worked like a champ so far. I used a 48 quart rectangular cooler by the way. edit - I forgot the silicon sealant, that was another $5 or so but I'd imagine you're going to be buying that regardless.
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Apr 12, 2013 14:55
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Anyone have any cheesy names for wedding themed beers? I'm serving three different beers, a raspberry hefeweizen, an extra pale ale, and an Irish red at a wedding later this month and everything is done except for the names. I've looked around a bit and all I've found is "Hoppily Ever After" and "Ball and chain ______"
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Apr 12, 2013 15:08
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I'm reading up on finally starting all grain, but I'm really concerned about temperature precision. Last batch I did I was having a hell of a time keeping it under 170. Even at the absolute lowest stove setting (gas, by the way) it would constantly rise, so I'd kill all heat just before 170 and move it to a cool burner and walk away for 10 minutes. Come back and it's at 160, strike that burner and do it again. It sucked and was nerve wracking and I'm sure it exceeded 170 so we'll see if I blew this batch. But yeh, anyone have tips as to the best way to control this stuff on a gas stove? A full boil looks like it won't be possible on this stove, hopefully a bigger outdoor setup will work better. Adult Sword Owner fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 15:14
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fullroundaction posted:That bottled lemon juice tastes awful and with table sugar being your only fermentable you're going to have something thin and hot. So for a gallon I am roughly assuming you do ~0.7 pounds table sugar, ~0.7 pounds DME, and then a scaled down version of lemon juice/water combo. How many lemons do you usually buy? Especially for a 5 gallon batch you would be juicing all day, preferably to Led Zeps Lemon Song
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Apr 12, 2013 15:14
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internet celebrity posted:Anyone have any cheesy names for wedding themed beers? I'm serving three different beers, a raspberry hefeweizen, an extra pale ale, and an Irish red at a wedding later this month and everything is done except for the names. I've looked around a bit and all I've found is "Hoppily Ever After" and "Ball and chain ______" Name the raspberry hefe "Consumation Night."
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Apr 12, 2013 15:18
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Turbo Lover's Raspberry Hef. Speaking of Turbo things, My  Turbo Juice has been carbing up for a bit, and I'll be cracking the first bottle of 4 (32oz bombers) tonight during Beer Effect (Mass effect with friends + Beer). Pictures to come! I tasted a hydrometer sample of this still and it was actually pretty good despite all things. Certainly better than that extra sweet commercial stuff. This is dry at 1.000 with just a bit of sweetness and 12%!
Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 15:24
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internet celebrity posted:Anyone have any cheesy names for wedding themed beers? I'm serving three different beers, a raspberry hefeweizen, an extra pale ale, and an Irish red at a wedding later this month and everything is done except for the names. I've looked around a bit and all I've found is "Hoppily Ever After" and "Ball and chain ______" Droit brew seigneur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_du_seigneur
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Apr 12, 2013 15:25
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