|
Fluo posted:Easiest way to do some form of a Scotch Ale is to do your Best Bitter recipe, less hops, slightly more crystal malt and use WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish yeast or the WYeast verison. But I've never really had a proper recipe, someone in this thread I remember had a really good one. unless you're brewing a truly massive amount, or drinking far less than I do, you're going to have a hard time keeping 6 kegs full (I have a 4-keg setup and can barely keep 3 full, and usually not even that). Maybe shoot for a smaller setup? It'll make finding a freezer easier at least. Also, from building the collar for my freezer, don't just jump on the first chest you can find - the inside lips on older ones might not be good for a collar at all.
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 07:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 14:33 |
|
|
JawKnee posted:unless you're brewing a truly massive amount, or drinking far less than I do, you're going to have a hard time keeping 6 kegs full (I have a 4-keg setup and can barely keep 3 full, and usually not even that). Maybe shoot for a smaller setup? It'll make finding a freezer easier at least. I normally do 10 gallon batches (I normally split the batch in after and do different things, yeast wise, hop wise or add one with fruit coffee etc), can do 2 batches in a brew day and brew normally every 2-3 weeks. If sometimes I don't fill the 6th I'm ok with that but its just nice to have it there when I overwhelm myself and end up having to bottle 40 gallons of beer all around the same time and I end up doing  irl.Pro tip about the freezers, thanks! It's little things like that I generally wouldn't think of. 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Oct 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 08:04
|
|
|
I don't know if anyone saw this but but in funny homebrewing Internet  news northern brewer launched a heady topper clone recipe that's almost a complete copy paste job of a recipe on the homebrew forums:http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2jfbyk/new_heady_topper_clone_from_nb/ http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/index262.html The recipe is one of the ones you can tell some serious beer autism went down where people experimented with dozens of batches in collaboration to come up with it. In other news I might try the recipe for my next batch if I think it's not too much of a pain in the dick to get my hands on the hop extract, yeast, and grain. adebisi lives fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Oct 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 12:16
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:It's fun converting to kegs because I did 2 of them a year ago, had A Lot of Life Things happen, then got everything in place before I realized I can't actually keg because I have no CO2 to push a sterilized solution through the pin keg pipes, and then I have no CO2 to push the O2 out of the keg. Guess I have a goal this weekend because this really has to be kegged and unsilted ASAP! This can help you fix part of your problem: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-beer-line-cleaner-226497/
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
ChickenArise posted:This can help you fix part of your problem: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-beer-line-cleaner-226497/ That's pretty radical, I'll have to build one. Grabbing the CO2 tomorrow so I can hopefully get this chilled before Monday.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 17:13
|
|
|
So not exactly a "brewing" thing, but since we've been making a lot of cider lately we thought we'd make some cider vinegar as we use lots of vinegar. We took the smashed apple bits from after pressing and filled one of my 5 gallon plastic fermenters with them, then added water to the five gallon mark (this covered the apple parts by half an inch or so). Then we poured in half a bottle of Bragg's apple cider vinegar to jump start the process, threw a dry airlock on top so that air could move in and out, and put it in the spare room to age for 6 months as per all the instructions from the hippy vinegar makers on the internet. That was Sunday. This morning, I go into the spare room to get a new jar of jam and the lid of the bucket is filled with cider vinegar, the airlock is filled with cider vinegar and bubbling away, and everything smells delicious and vinegary. I'm thinking I should just leave it for the six months and hope for the best, occasionally emptying the airlock since you want oxygen to get into the mixture for the acetobacter to work with. But it's neat that I already seem to have good vingaring going on.
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 17:15
|
|
|
So I'm working on the details of a Dry Irish stout and I'm using Northern Brewer (German) Hops. The recipe I'm working with calls for 18 AAU of bittering hops only. Everything I've ready says you calculate AAU (Alpha Acid Units) by multiplying the number of oz of hops by its AA%. So 2 oz of 9.2% Alpha Acid hops would be 2*9.2=18.4 AAU. Seems straight forward enough, BUT Brewtoad seems to vary the AAU calculation based on when you add it to the boil. What is going on? Are those different AAU?  What the hay? Does anyone have some input on this? Current recipe version is here: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/guinness-clone-v1 This is basically a direct copy of the "GOODNESS STOUT" from 1982 Edition of "The Big Book of Brewing" by David Line. Edit: And thanks for any help!
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 23:20
|
|
|
block51 posted:Seems straight forward enough, BUT Brewtoad seems to vary the AAU calculation based on when you add it to the boil. What is going on? Are those different AAU? Roughly, the longer they are boiled the more bitterness is extracted. See also: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-5.html
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2014 23:30
|
|
|
Cpt.Wacky posted:Roughly, the longer they are boiled the more bitterness is extracted. See also: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-5.html I'm with you there. Longer boil time leads to more isomerization of the alpha acids into more of the bitter compounds. What I don't quite get is the change in AAU with respect to time. I've not been able to find a definition of AAU that has time as a variable.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:05
|
|
|
block51 posted:I'm with you there. Longer boil time leads to more isomerization of the alpha acids into more of the bitter compounds. What I don't quite get is the change in AAU with respect to time. I've not been able to find a definition of AAU that has time as a variable. I believe AAU assumes an hour of boiling.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:16
|
|
|
wildfire1 posted:I believe AAU assumes an hour of boiling. Hmmm. But all defintions I've found so far are just oz*AA% with no mention of time beyond saying "This is the AAU added at this time in the boil". If oz*AA% assumes an hour, why is the AAU so much higher than 2*9.2=18.4? I'm certain there is an answer! I've been homebrewing for about 2 years now, but this is the first time I've dealt with AAU and the internet is failing me! Not y'all, just my google-fu. No time dependence being used as a reason why AAU has "fallen out of use": http://brewwiki.com/index.php/Alpha_Acid_Units block51 fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Oct 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:29
|
|
|
idk about the calcs, but from How to Brew:quote:Whenever a brewer is using AAUs in a recipe to describe the quantity of hops, it is important to specify how long each addition is boiled. The boiling time has the largest influence on how bitter a hop addition makes the beer. If no times are specified, then the rule of thumb is that bittering hops are boiled for an hour and finishing hops are boiled for the last 10-15 minutes. Many brewers add hops at 15 or 20 minute intervals and usually in multiples of a half ounce (for ease of measurement).
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 00:32
|
|
|
Are Burton water salts appropriate for a Southern Brown ale or are those pretty much exclusively for Northern Browns?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 03:46
|
|
|
wildfire1 posted:Feral is almost certainly Australia's best brewery. Their Hop Hog is also great if you can get it fresh, as is their Watermelon Warhead, an oak fermented watermelon Berliner. fuckin jealous! wishing i could be at ANHC to talk to Vinnie. and Chris! I have to go check out the Feral brew-pub though. I have a friend who's a business owner that just sold up his takeaways and is looking in the next few years to go into a brewpub-style business. It's something he wants to do in SE QLD, Toowoomba or Brisbane but I reckon Toowoomba would do well. He spoke to me about being "head brewer" there, which I wasn't in disagreeance with, but I told him the best idea would be to run trial brews from various brewers in town, pay them a percentage of sales and gauge the feedback on what people are saying about the beers as to what should be on a "permanent" rotation. Or just have a few standards, a few seasonals, and a few experimentals. In brews news, my strawberry BW is coming up nicely. It has quite a nice character to it, as does the Rye Saison. Once I stop loving about, I will go get some more taps, and finally make some progress on setting up my bar's gas system. The Rye Saison is probably not far off ready, so I can keg it up. My Heady clone (not the NB version, a pretty nice recipe though) just went in, so in a couple weeks I should have 2-3 more on tap  I'm also doing an English IPA and a pre-pro lager in the next few weeks. Our local brewing club does comp nights to BJCP styles, so in December we are having our IPA comp. I'm taking in my heady clone, as well as my own English IPA.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 04:40
|
|
|
McSpergin posted:fuckin jealous! wishing i could be at ANHC to talk to Vinnie. and Chris! Vinnie is currently presenting about dry hopping #justsayin
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 05:24
|
|
|
I was wondering when we plan on starting the sign up for the Home Brew secret santa?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 10:55
|
|
|
block51 posted:So I'm working on the details of a Dry Irish stout and I'm using Northern Brewer (German) Hops. The recipe I'm working with calls for 18 AAU of bittering hops only. That's weird. I've always thought of AAUs as exactly what you said -- AA% * weight in oz. That doesn't describe the bitterness, though, unless you're also talking about how it's used. i.e. if I dry-hop a beer with 3 ounces of 14.2% Citra, I'm adding 42.6 AAUs, contributing 0 IBU. Dry Irish Stout shouldn't have any hop character aside from the bitterness, so I would just shoot for about a ~1 IBU/GP ratio (so, for your 1.044 beer, 44 IBU). With 9.2% Northern Brewer at 60', that's about 1.2 oz.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2014 16:39
|
|
|
wildfire1 posted:Vinnie is currently presenting about dry hopping #justsayin 
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 03:35
|
|
|
Here is a cool tip that I have. Don't open your fermentor and take a big whiff to try and smell your beer. That poo poo hurts!
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 06:22
|
|
|
Harminoff posted:Here is a cool tip that I have. Don't open your fermentor and take a big whiff to try and smell your beer. That poo poo hurts! Yeah, made that mistake on our weird witbier once. Like breathing in ammonia and bleach and pepper spray.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 16:43
|
|
|
Urban chickens chowing down on some spent beer grain:
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 17:17
|
|
|
So I brewed this Midwest Supplies Irish Red Ale and I got a final gravity of 1.018 should be in 1.010-1.012 range. I'm about to bottle it and it tastes fine so I'm not worried about it but what kind of things could cause this to be so off?
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 23:34
|
|
|
Anybody have some tips on reducing the amount of trub that gets transferred over to my carboy? As I start to brew higher ABV beers, it seems to be more and more prevalent. I did pick up some Whirfloc (Irish Moss) tablets.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 23:39
|
|
|
Pour through a strainer. Empty the strainer as necessary.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2014 23:43
|
|
|
Harminoff posted:So I brewed this Midwest Supplies Irish Red Ale and I got a final gravity of 1.018 should be in 1.010-1.012 range. I'm about to bottle it and it tastes fine so I'm not worried about it but what kind of things could cause this to be so off? First, how long did you let it ferment, and did you get the same gravity a couple days apart? It's possible that it's still fermenting. Second, how's the volume you actually got compared to the stated volume? Or how did the OG compare to the design OG? If you had less volume in the fermenter than the kit intended, you might have gotten higher gravities both at the start and the end. Third, it's possible that there was a mistake in calculation, or that you got a heavy package of extract or a tired batch of yeast or something. If the gravity is stable, go ahead and package it, it will be fine.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 01:05
|
|
|
Yeah gravity is fine and og was at top of range (1.048) Volume was a bit above 5 gallons. I did check and it was stable. This was ordered a year ago and kept in someones house so it might just be a yeast issue. Fermentation was very active though for the first 3 days. Guess we'll see in a few weeks! Would temp matter? Was kept at around 75 degrees but probably wasn't stable and changed between 70 and 75 throughout the day.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 01:10
|
|
|
I'm assuming it was a five-gallon kit, so gravity at the high end of the range, combined with a little excess volume, kinda points to more extract than the recipe called for. I'm betting you got a heavy package. Bottle it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 01:38
|
|
|
Harminoff posted:This was ordered a year ago and kept in someones house so it might just be a yeast issue. Guaranteed this is your issue.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 03:06
|
|
|
withak posted:Pour through a strainer. Empty the strainer as necessary. this
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 04:27
|
|
|
No pics available but my friend and I just finished several large scale jobs: 1 - finished building the majority of the Keezer. Just needs the STC mounted, gas regulator put in and gas lines run to it, then kegs in. We have one tap on, centred, but the plan is for another 5 normal Perlicks and a stout tap, maybe a hand pump/beer engine later down the line (they are stupidly expensive, $700ish from the UK IIRC. My local shop gets really good ones. 2 - Wired up the majority of the BCS-460! We finally got around to wiring all the wall plugs in, and test ran everything. Needless to say, I'm currently programming all my mash profiles! Everything runs perfectly, the BCS is hooked up to a wifi thing so I can move it around the house/onto friend's networks if we have a collabo day. Last step in the puzzle on the 1V Herms is to actually wire up the SSR to the HX element, and test run everything to see if it works and doesn't leak!
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2014 11:42
|
|
|
Out of curiosity, has anyone else here had issues with Northern Brewing QC on shipping? This is my third order in a row they've hosed up, either missing items completely or sending similar items in place of another (i.e. different hop packets than ordered) and I'm pretty fed up with it. Each time they've resolved my order eventually, but there was an instance where they basically said "nah, these other hops we sent by mistake are totally fine bro, don't worry about whatever it was you actually ordered." I just received this latest order and am in the process of e-mailing their support again. I'm being polite, but I think this might be my last order from them. Just looking to compare experiences.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 00:42
|
|
|
Fluo posted:I was wondering when we plan on starting the sign up for the Home Brew secret santa? I was also thinking about this the other day. Finally getting around the bottling my berry wine and the mead from last year's HBSS tomorrow. Between those and the stout I bottled a few weeks ago, I'll have a few things to send to a santee this year! I've been debating brewing up some more stuff, but the basement is still a disaster from the ongoing floor replacement, and that's kinda where I keep all of my fermenters.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 03:33
|
|
|
Hauki posted:Out of curiosity, has anyone else here had issues with Northern Brewing QC on shipping? At least I got a free fermenter and some other extra stuff for my problems, but that's not good business.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 03:45
|
|
|
So for those of you Aus-brew-goons, I would be interested in having something of a case swap/Secret Santa kind of deal. Ideally case swaps would be something I would put toward being a regional/state thing, because shipping cases of beer to one person to organise, then shipping them again out to each other starts becoming quite pricey. Like $15 each postage pricey, if not more. I know my last order through Beer Cartel was $15 shipped, so you are essentially paying $30 to do a case swap. Not a terrible idea, but it could be easier doing a case swap or secret santa thing. Send 1 case of mixed bottles to someone. I could start a thread if there's enough interest? I'd be keen to see what happens anyway
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 03:55
|
|
|
McSpergin posted:So for those of you Aus-brew-goons, I would be interested in having something of a case swap/Secret Santa kind of deal. Ideally case swaps would be something I would put toward being a regional/state thing, because shipping cases of beer to one person to organise, then shipping them again out to each other starts becoming quite pricey. Like $15 each postage pricey, if not more. I know my last order through Beer Cartel was $15 shipped, so you are essentially paying $30 to do a case swap. Not a terrible idea, but it could be easier doing a case swap or secret santa thing. Send 1 case of mixed bottles to someone. I could start a thread if there's enough interest? I'd be keen to see what happens anyway I'm in WA but would be keen to swap couple of bottles with other WA peeps that are interested? In other news my bourbon barrel IRS came 10th in the category at the AABC on the weekend (2nd in category for state comp). Pretty happy for my first time ever entering a competition.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 04:03
|
|
|
McSpergin posted:So for those of you Aus-brew-goons, I would be interested in having something of a case swap/Secret Santa kind of deal. Ideally case swaps would be something I would put toward being a regional/state thing, because shipping cases of beer to one person to organise, then shipping them again out to each other starts becoming quite pricey. Like $15 each postage pricey, if not more. I know my last order through Beer Cartel was $15 shipped, so you are essentially paying $30 to do a case swap. Not a terrible idea, but it could be easier doing a case swap or secret santa thing. Send 1 case of mixed bottles to someone. I could start a thread if there's enough interest? I'd be keen to see what happens anyway I'm down for swaps.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 06:42
|
|
|
A friend of mine has been making cider with the apples from the trees around her farm so I've been aiding with homebrew knowledge were I can. She came across something that said cider fermentation was best between 3.1-3.5 pH and I scoffed, knowing that my mash pH was around 5.4 so surely 3 is way off base. Welp, shut my mouth. This is just regular grocery store apple juice fermented with a packet of US-05. Gravity here is 0.999. I just found this interesting and thought I'd share it. Turns out apple juice to begin with is around a pH of 3. I never thought of it as acidic or so close to vinegar (an acid commonly used to clean with!) which is pH 2.2.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 13:42
|
|
|
Bobsledboy posted:I'm in WA but would be keen to swap couple of bottles with other WA peeps that are interested? Bobsled and wildfire added to the list. I have a feeling we should try include Vrykuza (Barleyman) in this, I have a feeling that my friend in town Mustard Snobbery may be interested as well. I'm definitely interested if you have those Russian stouts Bobsled!!
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 14:08
|
|
|
Leopold Stotch posted:F1 has WLP-720 Sweet Mead Yeast, and I added 4lbs brown sugar to get an SG of 1.078. Added pectic enzyme on the cool down between 80-100 degs. Pitched yeast on Sunday at 74 degs F with 5 tsp yeast nutrient. I didn't make a yeast starter, which I am a bit worried about after reading about impact of high gravity on yeast. Gravity sample taken yesterday: 1.011 when temp corrected. 8.9% abv in 6 days. Not bad for what I thought was a slow start. It tasted sweet and yeasty, better than I thought it would (but not necessarily what i would call good). Did not taste like 9% abv to me. Looks very cloudy with yeast, although the pectic enzyme has lightened the color overall. I strongly doubt this fermentation is done and I will check it again in a week or two. Leopold Stotch posted:F2 has WLP-775 English Cider Yeast, no sugar added, SG of 1.056. Added pectic enzyme on the cool down between 80-100 degs F. Pitched on Monday at 74 degs F with 4 tsp yeast nutrient. Again, no starter. I took this gravity sample Wednesday night, and it was 1.038. 2.5% in about two days. Going to check again tonight and give it a taste too. I get nervous about checking two batches at once, I want to clean all my equipment so I don't somehow cross contaminate. Very happy with mead/cider progress so far.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 14:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 14:33 |
|
|
Leopold Stotch posted:Gravity sample taken yesterday: 1.011 when temp corrected. 8.9% abv in 6 days. That's p good. My current IIPA is down from 1.080 to 1.020 in 3 days. Normally I don't check so early but the krausen is already gone. The Yeast Bay Vermont Ale! Hell of a strain
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2014 14:22
|
|