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thotsky posted:The name might not be great, but neither is the name IPA and that caught on. Yeah, it's probably more accurate to say it defines a method of lager conditioning (and arguably serving) but what I'm talking about specifically is a beer in the style of the amber lagers you might find brewed in the many small breweries of Franconia, and increasingly by American brewers inspired by those very same beers. That probably is a pretty wide net, you're right, but from my reading it seems to trend towards a smaller, lighter, slightly cloudy and more hoppy Märzen, unfortunately small brewpubs in Germany don't really share many details about their beers so I might be wrong. May actually just be what you've described it as and it's a Märzen with some extra hops and smaller grain bill? I've not seen anything labeled as Kellerbier in the wild, but I'll look next time I'm at a bottle shop. Vienna Lager 1.051 sg, finished at 1.013 Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) 98% Black Patent Malt 2% 1 oz Mt Hood for 22 IBU at 60 minutes Wyeast #2278 Czech Pilsner Lager yeast I'd absolutely brew this one again and gave it a nice long boil, it was nice and crisp and had a great silky mouthfeel, but I'd leave out the black patent. It came out a little darker than necessary. I was hoping I had a picture, but I do not.
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Apr 13, 2021 01:13
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Jhet posted:I've not seen anything labeled as Kellerbier in the wild, but I'll look next time I'm at a bottle shop. Something like this, I was thinking: https://untappd.com/b/brauerei-zehendner-monchsambacher-lagerbier/30638/photos https://untappd.com/b/steinbach-brau-storchenbier/71007/photos At least some of the color pickup is from haze, and the American examples below seem to be brewed a bit darker, maybe to imitate that. https://untappd.com/b/fox-farm-brewery-fohn/3275612/photos https://untappd.com/b/suarez-family-brewery-ms-frank/1646419/photos Thanks for the recipe.
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Apr 13, 2021 01:48
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thotsky posted:Something like this, I was thinking: That does compound the issue. Franconian lagers are terribly difficult to even nail down as their own styles. They seem to borrow a lot from all the styles, so if I were aiming for it, I might just take a favorite lager recipe and turn it up with hops and down in gravity and aim for something really crisp. And also then lager for a little less time so it doesn't clear as well. It almost defies logic that you'd leave it for less time to lager and get a cellar beer, but every time I drink a non-flocculated lager sample I'm still regularly pleased.
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Apr 13, 2021 02:20
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Alright thanks for all the help, I kegged my saison a while back and I've been able to successfully pour some glasses from it, and I haven't lost all my CO2 yet! Beer turned out pretty good but it's really hazy, like neipa hazy. Not sure if the yeast is just refusing to drop, or it's proteins somehow (I used only golden light DME though), or I'm just picking up sediment from the dip tube. I wasn't sure if it's the latter since I'm not getting yeast chunks, it's just a fine haze without sediment in the glass. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to clear up very much as it warms in the glass which indicates that it's probably yeast. I don't know much about hops, I did about 30 IBU worth of sterling at various points in the boil, and gave it 0.4 oz per gallon (so like 3g/L) of crystal as a dry hop, just threw it in with the yeast. I liked the description of crystal so I figured I'd go with it. It's not super strong in the finished beer, definitely dry hopped but not super loud. It seems to have a little bit of a sharp edge on the aroma, which I remember picking up when I smelled the package after opening it. Anyway, another question: I used a silicone tube for a blowoff this time, which I put in a growler filled with a bit of starsan (originally mixed with distilled water). When I took it out of the starsan, the silicone that was under the starsan turned a chalky opaque white color rather than the ordinary translucent white. Is it ok to use again after cleaning? An alkaline brewery wash soak didn't clean it up. I was hoping silicone tubing would hold up better to starsan than vinyl tubing, but apparently not.
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Apr 17, 2021 02:36
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 Hop rizhomes just arrived! Planting 2 of centennial, fingers crossed.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:06
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Making a Piwo grodziskie today should be great.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:34
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calandryll posted:The only concern about basement brewing is condensation from the boil. My father and uncle are working on my basement setup over the next few days. I've seen a lot of people use high end kitchen hoods to remove the moisture but I'm wondering about using a shower fan. Can pull about 110 CFM and pretty quiet. Worst case is I get it installed and doesn't work out I can always put in a larger system. This is from a bit ago, and the exact fan I bought doesn't seem available, but I solved the humidity problem with a robust grow house fan at the window, and a bucket under it to catch the drips. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07GB8PD7M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_EPNDM5Y777T0XQ00B4TC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 
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Apr 18, 2021 00:50
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I also learned that you can mill too small. I stated milling my own and my efficiency suuuucked. After 2 bad brews I asked my lhbs what they set their mill at. He said go bigger and mill at .85 then at .5 got dead on efficiency.
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Apr 18, 2021 01:25
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honda whisperer posted:
Good luck! Mine took about 2 years to really produce, but now in year 3 I have to drastically cut the thing back as it tried to overtake my garden.
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Apr 18, 2021 13:48
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BaseballPCHiker posted:Good luck! Mine took about 2 years to really produce, but now in year 3 I have to drastically cut the thing back as it tried to overtake my garden. Make sure to cut back the early shoots too. They'll be hollow and won't grow as vigorously as the next set.
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Apr 18, 2021 15:19
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Jhet posted:Make sure to cut back the early shoots too. They'll be hollow and won't grow as vigorously as the next set. I have a friend that was interested in growing some hops. Can I give him the shoots I cut to plant? Or do I need to dig out around the base of them and get some roots with the shoots?
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Apr 18, 2021 16:35
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BaseballPCHiker posted:I have a friend that was interested in growing some hops. Can I give him the shoots I cut to plant? Or do I need to dig out around the base of them and get some roots with the shoots? You need to cut the rhizome from under the soil level and in the crown. Nows a good time to do it if the ground is thawed. Just grab a clean shears and cut off a couple 3-4” sections from where it’s undoubtedly tried to expand last year.
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Apr 18, 2021 16:51
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honda whisperer posted:
I was just looking into this! I'd love to know a bit more... What growing zone are you in? What are you using to trellis? Where did you buy them from? I was looking to buy a few rhizomes and see if I could horizontally train them along a clothesline pole or string between t-posts, or bracket out some twine along my fenceline. Knowing that really takes a few years to produce has me thinking I should hop on that here sooner rather than later. I was thinking about getting a cascade and a centennial... are there any issues with planting different varieties next to each other, or are they pretty well genetically pre-determined by the rhizome?
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Apr 18, 2021 17:05
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OSU_Matthew posted:I was just looking into this! I'd love to know a bit more... What growing zone are you in? What are you using to trellis? Where did you buy them from? It's determined by the rhizome that you plant. You can get 2nd year starts, but they're more expensive. 1st year the rhizome will be growing root structure and getting ready to be large the second year. Third year you're going to wish you'd planted them farther apart. They would love to grow on a fence line, but if you do twine, get the good coir cord as they get really heavy. Cascade and Centennial will grow pretty much most places, so they're good choices. Hops do love long days, but they'll grow fine in almost any zone between 2-9. You may not get good production if you live on the equator as the days aren't long enough. Do spread them out if you want to use them as the bines will grow together if they're within 10-15 feet and then you'll be annoyed when you want to use them.
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Apr 18, 2021 17:28
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I planted hop rhizomes at my parents' place in Vermont about 10 years ago. My dad made an extension for the second story deck, and runs twine down that. They cover the whole deck from about 4 original rhizomes, and he usually gets 1-3 pounds of dried hops per year, depending on conditions. Whenever they sell that house, I hope the buyers like hops, because they're going to have them FOREVER.
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Apr 18, 2021 21:17
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Can I get some advice on upgrading my brewing system? My in laws are rebuilding house that was destroyed in a tornado last year and my father in law is enough of a beer guy that he wants to build part of the basement specifically for a brewery. Gonna make sure it has a nice utility sink, drainage, ventilation, etc, but I am not sure about the actual brewing system itself. Currently I just do BIAB with a cooler mash tun, propane burner, a 30 gal kettle i got from a neighbor but I want to eventually do electric heating and all the nice pumps and stuff so I don't have to lug water around. I see that the 3 kettle systems seem to be the standard, and then I'll need to decide HERMS or RIMS but I saw on YouTube people doing 2 kettle BIAB RIMS, and I think I would prefer only having to buy one additional kettle...any thoughts/opinions?
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Apr 25, 2021 18:10
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If you're building out a real mini brewery I'd move away from BIAB and just do the more robust 3 pot system. I saw a fully automated setup at a brew class I went to and it was sick as hell.
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Apr 25, 2021 18:28
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Run a 220v drop, and a separate 110v line, and use gfci breakers. Then you can easily do electric inside. I use a 3500w induction plate, but you could do an electric 3 pot setup too. Think about it a bit because the breaker/wiring needed for 20a vs 50a is pretty different, and important!
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Apr 25, 2021 20:07
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I have an electrician friend who I already provide with free beer so I am definitely going to consult with him as well. I hadn't considered induction plates, I'll check that out too.
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Apr 25, 2021 23:00
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I think I've posted this before, or at least other angles of it. I bought the induction plate and sink from webstaruantstore. Not too fond of my pump, but the sink and sprayer are AMAZING.
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Apr 26, 2021 00:31
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Brew updates: 1. Meyer Lemon with Coriander Kolsch-ish thing came out delicious. 2. I did a mead experiment with golden delicious vs braeburn apples pressed into some of the liquid. Unsurprisingly, the golden delcious dont really add much, and maybe make it more sulfury? The Braeburn apples are a nice lil hint of appley-ness.
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Apr 26, 2021 16:28
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I'm trying to do a leak check of the keg I posted earlier. I think it might be fine, but I keep getting confused by what's happening. What I was doing was connecting everything, letting it get to 20 psi, and turning off the main CO2 valve; if the upstream pressure on the regulator went down I know I have a leak. But the pressure does come down a little bit on that section. I'm pretty sure the upstream connections don't leak based on some earlier testing. However, I've now just turned the regulator down a bunch, and the downstream pressure isn't dropping, which seems to indicate that there isn't a leak. Can a regulator wander a bit? Like was it just using up a bit of gas on the inlet side to creep the pressure up a bit? I also think I over-tightened the gasket on the CO2 tank fitting, hopefully it will continue to seal ok. I took it off at one point and it was a little smushed, oops.
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Apr 26, 2021 18:21
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I'm alittle over 3 weeks into my stout fermenting, and I believe it might have paused. Its stuck around 0.025 gravity and and ought to finish around 0.016. I threw some yeast nutrients in last night, and it looked like they were still alive at the top. is there anything else I can do to help it finish off?
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Apr 28, 2021 01:53
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:I'm alittle over 3 weeks into my stout fermenting, and I believe it might have paused. Its stuck around 0.025 gravity and and ought to finish around 0.016. I threw some yeast nutrients in last night, and it looked like they were still alive at the top. is there anything else I can do to help it finish off? How high did it start and how much unfermentable sugars are rocking in there (what was your grist)? I've had big stouts finish around 1.025 and there was just no budging them. They weren't super chewy, but they were silky smooth. They were not dry, but did not produce bottle bombs at all.
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Apr 28, 2021 05:34
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Been living in my current house for 3+ years - but have finally got around to putting in the hop garden behind our detached garage. It's Houston and it's humid AF, so I had to go with varieties that stood a chance (already had two Centennials). So now I have: 2 Centennials, 2 Cascade, 1 Chinook, 1 Sterling, and 1 Willamette. Not sure about how those last two will go, but there was some mention of them working in warmer/humid climates. I've had success with Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook before. Pictures to come.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:14
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Normally when I make an imperial stout, I toss it on a porter or similar. I was chilling said imperial stout when I discovered that my porter didn't finish fermenting yet. Whoops. Plan B: Grab the packet of (dried) Voss Kveik that has a best by of last month and pitch it. "The Internet" says this works fine. 20 minutes later and it's burbling. Eight hours later I had to clean the blowoff. Eight hours after that we still had this:  I guess straight dry yeast into 1.090 is just fine. I keep feeding it maple syrup. It's enthusiastic.
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Apr 28, 2021 16:52
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I think Voss can pretty much ferment a dry bag of flour down to 1.002 in three days.
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Apr 28, 2021 17:10
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LaserWash posted:Been living in my current house for 3+ years - but have finally got around to putting in the hop garden behind our detached garage. It's Houston and it's humid AF, so I had to go with varieties that stood a chance (already had two Centennials). The Yakima Valley and Columbia River valley in WA/OR are hotter than most people expect in the summer. They’re mostly the wrong side of the Cascades, so they get lots of sun and heat, and none of temperature moderation that comes from the ocean. So it gets hot af where most of the hops in the US are grown. It does get dry, but hops are thirsty buggers, so they’re happy with lots of water as long as they aren’t drowning in it constantly. All those varieties should be good for Houston, but you have less sunlight hours than they do and your plants will be a little smaller and have a little less yield. Not that you’ll notice with all of those. Sterling would be the one I’d worry about the most, but you’ll have gotten it from a US vendor, so it should be acclimated okay to what you’ll have for weather. Those C hops are going to try to take over so make sure to take pictures. There’s a few people in the gardening thread starting their hop gardens right now too and are posting their pictures. Very jealous, I don’t have the room for lots of hops anymore, but I should be able to get them from people in the area no problem.
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Apr 28, 2021 17:35
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Jhet posted:The Yakima Valley and Columbia River valley in WA/OR are hotter than most people expect in the summer. They’re mostly the wrong side of the Cascades, so they get lots of sun and heat, and none of temperature moderation that comes from the ocean. So it gets hot af where most of the hops in the US are grown. Buddy I'm gonna have to stop you right there... Joking aside, yeah, I grew up in the Columbia River valley and had relatives in Yakima. Summer days frequently hit the 90s or 100s, and clear & sunny pretty much every day. We actually used to feed pellets of spent hops to the cattle, and drat they smelled good (the hop pellets, not the cattle).
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Apr 28, 2021 17:46
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Pham Nuwen posted:Buddy I'm gonna have to stop you right there... Haha, yeah it gets brutal with that rain shadow. Wrong side of the cascades for regular rain at least. I’m hoping to get over for Fresh Hop fest, but I doubt it’ll be this year. It’s a really pretty part of the state too. And the beer is really good.
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Apr 28, 2021 17:54
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Jhet posted:Haha, yeah it gets brutal with that rain shadow. Wrong side of the cascades for regular rain at least. I’m hoping to get over for Fresh Hop fest, but I doubt it’ll be this year. It’s a really pretty part of the state too. Check out Ellensburg when you're on that side. It's got a neat little downtown with several tap rooms including Iron Horse and Whipsaw. My dad, a Coors Light man for decades, is now a confirmed beer snob with a preference for Iron Horse's Irish Death.
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Apr 28, 2021 18:03
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Pham Nuwen posted:Check out Ellensburg when you're on that side. It's got a neat little downtown with several tap rooms including Iron Horse and Whipsaw. My dad, a Coors Light man for decades, is now a confirmed beer snob with a preference for Iron Horse's Irish Death. I've bought that a few times, it's pretty good. I've never managed to stop in Ellensburg, but it's on the list of places to go hang out for a weekend or something when it's not a sort of terrible idea still. I want to say Varietal Brewing in Sunnyside is also really good, and Single Hill in Yakima was pretty good when they opened, and have probably gotten better. Those are hop forward places though, so maybe not perfect for your dad. Very good though if you're over there for any reason. And while looking for my notes, Berchman's in Yakima was really good, but it appears to be permanently closed. That's unfortunate.
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Apr 28, 2021 18:47
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Jhet posted:How high did it start and how much unfermentable sugars are rocking in there (what was your grist)? I've had big stouts finish around 1.025 and there was just no budging them. They weren't super chewy, but they were silky smooth. They were not dry, but did not produce bottle bombs at all. The original gravity was 1.059. The grains were 8 oz of Honey Biscuit, Chocolate Wheat, and Black Barley each, with 6.6 lb of Amber LME, and Dark DME. Lastly there is a lb of unfementable Lactose.
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Apr 28, 2021 21:22
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:The original gravity was 1.059. The grains were 8 oz of Honey Biscuit, Chocolate Wheat, and Black Barley each, with 6.6 lb of Amber LME, and Dark DME. Lastly there is a lb of unfementable Lactose. The lactose alone is going to raise it a few points. Extract also doesn’t ferment quite as fully as other things, and I’d add a point or two for the amber and dark extracts which will have more long chains than just pale extract, so a little bit higher there too. Even doing all grain and getting great efficiency and conversion my stouts don’t get much below 1.020, so if it’s been stable for a few days, it’s probably as far as it’s going to go. You could try rocking it and moving it somewhere warm (68-70F) to see if it wants to move a couple more points, but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t.
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Apr 28, 2021 21:36
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These days most people care more about getting their stouts to ferment less than more, so just roll with it. If you're adding lactose to your stout this should not be a worry for you. Jhet is right though, if you end up wanting to make changes that will get you better attenuation next batch.
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Apr 28, 2021 21:50
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LaserWash posted:Been living in my current house for 3+ years - but have finally got around to putting in the hop garden behind our detached garage. It's Houston and it's humid AF, so I had to go with varieties that stood a chance (already had two Centennials). Care to post a quick rundown on how you landscaped for hops? I've been daydreaming about growing one or two plants from rhizomes for a few months now.
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Apr 28, 2021 22:17
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Final gravity isn't nearly as important to how a beer tastes/feels as people assume it does. Bitterness, water chemistry, carbonation, and grist composition all have more effect, IMO, so a beer that's 1.008 can easily taste sweeter and fuller bodied than a beer that's 1.016.
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Apr 28, 2021 23:09
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Pham Nuwen posted:Check out Ellensburg when you're on that side. It's got a neat little downtown with several tap rooms including Iron Horse and Whipsaw. My dad, a Coors Light man for decades, is now a confirmed beer snob with a preference for Iron Horse's Irish Death. Ellensburg hosts "winterhop" usually which is a great beer festival that takes place all over town. Its great
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Apr 28, 2021 23:16
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 Here’s my 2.5 yo showing me the garden. Excuse the mess - the pecan trees at our house are currently pollinating in full force. Blocks can be found at Home Depot/Lowes, drive rebar through the middle, and connect with 2x6’s cut to length with a miter saw (because I’m fancy). Got some crappy loamy soil from a neighbor that was putting in fresh topsoil and mixed it with some good raised bed soil. Built some mounds and put the rhizomes in. Re: Weather in eastern Washington: yes hot and more sunlight during day, buuuuuuut….. the humidity. Totally different story. I’ve grown chinook, Cascade, and Centennial with success - just want a little variety by bringing an “Englishy” and a “Saazy” hop to the game. I do a yearly Celebration Clone every fall. Can’t wait to try it out with this crop of hops (probably next season).
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Apr 29, 2021 01:46
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Humidity yes, but England. It’s less wet in the summer sure, but there’s still plenty of wet there. Hops will care less about it than a lot of other plants. Just don’t sit them in standing water and you’ll be fine. Those are some great raised beds, and you running coir twine off the garage roof?PokeJoe posted:Ellensburg hosts "winterhop" usually which is a great beer festival that takes place all over town. Its great I will try to remember this the next time I’m being asked if we can go to Leavenworth around the holidays.
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Apr 29, 2021 02:09
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