|
New homebrew shop opened up a few blocks from my house! Gonna have to check it out and do an inaugural batch. I've been wanting to do some kind of Amber ale/ Chimay dubbel inspired beer (sounds like a lot of nonsense really). I was at a Beer fest a few weeks ago (hopfest put on by Drink Craft Beer), but long story short one of my favorite beers was an amber ale you can only normally get at the brewery (don't remember what it was). But it was really sweet. I think that + something like Chimay Red would be a really awesome beer! -Rough Recipe 3 Gallons- Also limiting myself to only what they have in the shop http://www.bostonhomebrewsupply.com/products-1.html Grains 4Lbs Marris Otter 2Lbs Great Western Pale Malt (no Belgian pale malt, I'll use it if they have that) 1Lb Crystal 120 (haters gonna hate) Hops 1oz Tettnanger / 5% AA Hop 60 Minutes .5oz Citra 5 minutes .5oz Citra Flameout Yeast (says they have Wyeast but not strain specific, so this is in order of preference) EDIT: Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey Wyeast-Bavarian Wheat Wyeast-Belgian Wheat Wyeast-German Wheat With Yeast selection, I'm open to suggestions. What I'm aiming for is fruity, plums, bananas, and clove are fine. I'm trying to avoid that Farmhousey, spicy, saison flavor that so so so many commercial breweries are putting in their Belgian beers of all kinds. Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Apr 28, 2014 |
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 18:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 01:29 |
|
|
If you're aiming at Chimay-ish, use the Chimay yeast - Wyeast 1214 / WLP500.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 18:28
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:If you're aiming at Chimay-ish, use the Chimay yeast - Wyeast 1214 / WLP500. Oh Problem Solved. Thanks! Edit: Oh Also! Bottled a bit under a gallon of my Peppercorn Saison mead. The other half (enough to fill a gallon carboy to the top) went into further bulk aging. So I primed up 6 12oz Bottles and 1 bomber. I'll upload some pics here with tasting notes and blog update probably Friday. Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Apr 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 18:30
|
|
|
fullroundaction posted:In the book "Hops" they interview a ton of brewers and the TLDR is you hit hard diminished returns after 2-2.5oz per 5gal batch. I've done a lot of experimenting and that seems to be more or less true, but I've never tried to hit the extreme end of things like Enjoy By does. Thanks for the other info, I didn't know if homebrewers were comically off in how much dry hop was needed, or if the Enjoy By was comically over the top.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 18:58
|
|
|
We're hating our new corona grill. Anyone have any sites with troubleshooting tips?
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 19:30
|
|
|
BLARGHLE posted:On a related note, how does mixing a couple industrial-sized cans of cherry pie filling with some water sound for a cherry wine? Costco has them for pretty cheap, and that seems like an easy place to start that isn't just buying juice concentrate or a kit. It sounds sort of awful tbqh, it's likely chalk full of preservatives if not loads of petian either way. That is if it's "pie filling" and not "cherries for pie filling in syrup". But, like I always say - everything is worth a shot once if you really want to give it a try. I've done some pretty stupid as poo poo (blending 3# of cranberry for a 10% abv beer).
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 00:17
|
|
|
Jacobey000 posted:It sounds sort of awful tbqh, it's likely chalk full of preservatives if not loads of petian either way. That is if it's "pie filling" and not "cherries for pie filling in syrup". But, like I always say - everything is worth a shot once if you really want to give it a try. I've done some pretty stupid as poo poo (blending 3# of cranberry for a 10% abv beer). I think I hosed up my wine (its still only in primary), but I didn't have a juicer so I put the cherries, blackberries and general summer fruits in a blender with some water, I added the petian enzym and such (aswell as yeast nutrients , grape juice concentrate and other stuff) but after primary I'll filter off the solids and such but I was wondering if my wine no matter if I leave it for 6months in secondary to age, will it still be a milky hazey mess? (First time making wine, rookie mistake?).
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 00:58
|
|
|
ieatsoap6 posted:No hops for more than 15 minutes? I'm certainly curious to see the results. The idea was to get flavour and aroma more than anything without a massive amount of bitterness. I tried to group the more similar hops together in additions. It's fermented out, it ended up finishing around 1.020 which I think is around 5% ABV or something. The little bit I tasted from my hydrometer was promising though. I've got it chill clearing at the moment, basically until my kegging setup is finished. I'm actually off to look at a setup this afternoon so all things going well, I'll have it in keg the next few days. The setup I'm looking at has a single tap fridge, 4 kegs, bottle lines and reg for $650
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 01:07
|
|
|
Regarding the batch of beer I made from Maple sap that I wrote about here... It turned out very well. I cracked one at 2 weeks, and it tasted on the hoppy side... I wondered if the sap allowed the hops to express better. But then I started drinking it seriously at week 3, and it had mellowed out quite a bit. I declare this a successful experiment, it turned out very well, and I will be making a maple sap batch every Spring, from here until the end of time. ++++ Also made some maple syrup.... waaaaaay too much work. Took me 15 hours to boil down 12 gallons of sap to end up with 1.5 quarts of syrup. Syrup tastes amazing, but as I said.... too much work. Will stick to just tapping 5-10 gallons of sap for beer, each year. That was easy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 01:20
|
|
|
Fluo posted:I think I hosed up my wine (its still only in primary), but I didn't have a juicer so I put the cherries, blackberries and general summer fruits in a blender with some water, I added the petian enzym and such (aswell as yeast nutrients , grape juice concentrate and other stuff) but after primary I'll filter off the solids and such but I was wondering if my wine no matter if I leave it for 6months in secondary to age, will it still be a milky hazey mess? (First time making wine, rookie mistake?). The pectic enzyme will kick in at some point and leave a clear wine. Youll lose a good chunk of wine to fruit gunk, but itll be good stuff. Ive gone as far as to use full on jam in mead and got clear results with time and enzyme. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 02:42
|
|
|
Marshmallow Blue posted:The pectic enzyme will kick in at some point and leave a clear wine. Youll lose a good chunk of wine to fruit gunk, but itll be good stuff. Ive gone as far as to use full on jam in mead and got clear results with time and enzyme. Oh man that's awesome! After primary with wine, I get a bag to filter off the larger chucks and such as it goes into secondary right?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 02:56
|
|
|
I started up an IPA yesterday. The recipe I followed estimated a 10.67 OG, but I ended up at 10.50. What would cause that, so I know what to do differently in the future? For what it's worth, it was a one gallon batch, and after the boil, I had boiled away from ~6 quarts to 2.5 Would adding in all the water to bring it back to a gallon dilute the wort out, or was my sparge too fast?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 03:13
|
|
|
I just noticed this product at More Beer which is a 200 billion cell count yeast pack. Could save some effort on starters for some people.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 03:29
|
|
|
Fluo posted:Oh man that's awesome! Definately wont hurt you. Going into bulk secondary i shoot for 2 things: 1: As few solids and sediment as i can 2: as little headspace as possible.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 03:42
|
|
|
How many more yeast companies are going to be started before White Labs or Wyeast just release a Conan strain?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 03:43
|
|
|
Jacobey000 posted:It sounds sort of awful tbqh, it's likely chalk full of preservatives if not loads of petian either way. That is if it's "pie filling" and not "cherries for pie filling in syrup". But, like I always say - everything is worth a shot once if you really want to give it a try. I've done some pretty stupid as poo poo (blending 3# of cranberry for a 10% abv beer). I'm definitely thinking of cherries in thick syrup- is there some other kind of canned pie filling I don't know about? I'm also thinking(from the perspective of a man who loves cherries and cherry pie, but has also never made any wine) that it'd be pretty okay, since everything I see online talks about adding a bunch of sugar with the cherries, and that's pretty much already it in can form. Toss some pectic enzyme in, and go to town! Again, assuming it's not riddled with preservatives, which it may well be... If it's not full of potassium sorbate or whatever, then I'm definitely doing this when I get back from vacation in a couple of weeks. I've been holding off on brewing anything until then, and I have six empty fermenters in my spare room...sitting there, all clean and tidy on their shelf, mocking me!
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 06:05
|
|
|
For what it's worth, the pie fillings I have seen online actually don't have anything terrible in them. It's mostly fruit, water, sugars, and colors - no sorbates or anything like that. But definitely check the label before you buy.Comstock brand pie filling posted:Cherries, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Food Starch - Modified, Erythorbic Acid (To Promote Color Retention), Artificial Color (Red 40)
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 06:22
|
|
|
Marshmallow Blue posted:Definately wont hurt you. Going into bulk secondary i shoot for 2 things: If I know I'm gonna have abit of headspace (I wanna get rid of) would mixing grape juice concrete mixed with bottled water to make it up? Edit: I think I'll do that, think 5gallons was abit much to try and do for my first wine lol. Will have a go at elderflower wine sometime soon as its coming up to summer! 
Fluo fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Apr 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 07:01
|
|
|
Depending on your equipment you can rack into a 3 gallon to the brim, some 1 gallon carboys to the brim and a growler (just an example). Topping up should work too. If you want to be fancy about it, try to match your current gravity.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 13:57
|
|
|
How much mileage can I expect to get out of an 8oz bottle of Star San?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 14:23
|
|
|
Who Dat posted:How much mileage can I expect to get out of an 8oz bottle of Star San? If you save it and reuse it, it will go very far. I'm about a two ounces into my third bottle since I started brewing about two and a half years ago.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 14:26
|
|
|
Who Dat posted:How much mileage can I expect to get out of an 8oz bottle of Star San? It entirely depends on how you use it, or reuse it for that matter. I usually use an ounce for a 5 gallon batch that I store in a bucket. That will lags me anywhere from 2-5 months. Every time I use it, I'll check the PH to make sure that it's still within range of effectiveness.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 14:32
|
|
|
internet celebrity posted:If you save it and reuse it, it will go very far. I'm about a two ounces into my third bottle since I started brewing about two and a half years ago. I'm on my 10th or so bottle and been brewing for a year. :I (got 15, 10gallon beers in that time) But the water just makes it go cloudy after a day or so, which I'm told is time to throw away. Distilled water and such costs just far too much aswell to make it hard to do a 5gallon bucket full of it for brewday and or bottleday. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 15:53
|
|
|
Fluo posted:a 5gallon bucket full of it for brewday and or bottleday. Wow, you're using way too much. On brewday, I usually use about 16 ounces of prepared Star-San solution. I do use distilled water to make it, but I make it in spray bottles so I can wet specific items rather than making a big tank of it. On kegging day, I use about a gallon (made with tap water), but I could probably get by with half that. That's for ten gallon batches, so I sanitize two fermenters and associated knicknacks on brewday and two Cornies and siphon rigs on kegging day.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:15
|
|
|
Fluo posted:But the water just makes it go cloudy after a day or so, which I'm told is time to throw away. False!
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:15
|
|
|
I'm no chemist, but I've heard that water hardness makes it go cloudy. We have soft water here in Chicago, and mine is cloudy immediately -- I've never seen non-cloudy StarSan solution, I don't think. From the effect it has on my skin, it's definitely acidic, though. I use it until it looks gunky and then dump it, generally. I keep a spray bottle full and keep some more in old liquor bottles. I've been brewing just over a year, I'm about to run out of my second (8oz) bottle. The first one I went through really quickly, though -- I was making up a 5 gallon batch for every 'day' -- brew day, secondary transfer day, bottling day.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:27
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:Wow, you're using way too much. Yeah I think I'll need maybe a gallon at most, I can''t do the spray bottle method for some of my equipment eg tubing, wortchiller (counterflow). So recent 1gallon/5liters is enough right? (I'm gonna go order a 5liter bucket now, as the bigger buckets just won't have that depth that the wort chiller will need). I also will need to try and force myself to try and do the spray bottle technique but wont be able to do it for one or two items. Cointelprofessional posted:False! I've always been told if you have hard water and its super cloudy (it normally goes cloudy in <4hours) then you throw it away. I've tried using it before and it leaves this milky resin stuff. more falafel please posted:I've been brewing just over a year, I'm about to run out of my second (8oz) bottle. The first one I went through really quickly, though -- I was making up a 5 gallon batch for every 'day' -- brew day, secondary transfer day, bottling day.  Same, thats why I'd bottle tons of beer at once to get the best use of it. When(if?) I brew tomorrow, I will try using only 1gallon for things like tubing/wortchiller/fermenter, rest will have spray! Seriously this chat is the best thing I need out of anything, I guess it doesn't help that I had really bad OCD growing up (3 showers a day etc). Weirdly enough, the sanitizer that I put in my spraybottle months ago is still clear and fine, but for some reason whenever I make up a bucket it goes cloudy and weird and I got told "after 24hours if cloudy it has about adays life". So what process do you recommend, note hard water, so if it goes cloudy I can still store it for a hand of months if I kept it sealed? Fluo fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Apr 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:30
|
|
|
I make 1 gallon with distilled water, use it and return it to the jug the water came in. That gallon will last me 4-6 months, for 0.2 oz of Star-San. On brew or bottle day I'll put it in a large bowl and use that for sanitizing pieces and parts, I will use the auto siphon to pump it through tubing and back into the bowl, and I use a vinator for bottles. I also keep a spray bottle around for most surfaces. For carboys and buckets I just pour in a quart or so, get it on all parts of the bottle then return it to the jug. Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Apr 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:34
|
|
|
Fluo posted:I can''t do the spray bottle method for some of my equipment eg tubing There are only two pieces of tubing that I have to sanitize on brewday. I hold both ends in my hand and spray some SS in the tube, then cap the ends with my thumbs and shake it back and forth to wet/foam the entire inside. Fluo posted:wortchiller (counterflow). You probably really only need enough to fill the beer-side coil, rather than enough to immerse and fill the whole thing. There's probably a way to just fill it with a cup or so of SS and then let it sit until needed. Fluo posted:So recent 1gallon/5liters is enough right? (I'm gonna go order a 5liter bucket now, as the bigger buckets just won't have that depth that the wort chiller will need). Yes, 5L is probably enough for a brew day even if you do end up immersing the CF chiller. Fluo posted:I've always been told if you have hard water and its super cloudy (it normally goes cloudy in <4hours) then you throw it away. I've tried using it before and it leaves this milky resin stuff. Cloudy is the ballpark way to tell, but the "real" way is to measure the pH. If it's under 3, it's still sanitizing your stuff. If you don't have a good pH meter (I don't), cloudy is the next best way to tell, but it's heavily dependent on the water you use to make the solution and is not definitive.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:39
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:There are only two pieces of tubing that I have to sanitize on brewday. I hold both ends in my hand and spray some SS in the tube, then cap the ends with my thumbs and shake it back and forth to wet/foam the entire inside. Seriously, this is the best advice I'd ever had.  Thanks guys, I can't believe I've been doing that amount for so long. I don't have a pH meter yet, but I got some pH papers so I guess I could check that way! Syrinxx posted:I make 1 gallon with distilled water, use it and return it to the jug the water came in. That gallon will last me 4-6 months, for 0.2 oz of Star-San. If it lasts 4-6months, I think I'm gonna need to get around to getting my hands on 5liters of distilled water sometime!
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:53
|
|
|
Racked our "2.5%" witbier today and it cleared up from gray nicely, when you smell close it smells like citrus and coriander. When you smell really close you cough from the burning in your nose and lungs. Tasted it and it is super thin and has a raw wheat taste. Made it from second runnings of a wheat ipa with the hoegarden yeast. It's been going for 2 weeks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 16:54
|
|
|
CapnBry posted:I read a quote about Stone's "Enjoy By IPA" That seemed really high, so I back checked your math. 1 BBL = 31 US Gallons. 1Lb = 16 Oz. so that works out to 2.58 Oz/gallon which while still extreme seems closer to reasonability. That being said, I am a fan of Hopbursting myself but heavy handed dry hopping can certainly work nicely as well. The only detriment here is that you're likely to lose quite a bit of beer into the hop sludge.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 22:55
|
|
|
Well, I just got a little nuts and bought 100 grams of CO2 hop extract (This stuff). I also grabbed some 10cc syringes off eBay, so I figure I'll make my own ersatz Hop Shots and use them in a few experimental beers. Anyone here used this stuff? Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Apr 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 23:05
|
|
|
Wait poo poo I should have been using distilled water for sanitation this whole time?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 23:15
|
|
|
pugnax posted:Wait poo poo I should have been using distilled water for sanitation this whole time? You don't have to, but it makes the StarSan solution last longer so you can keep it around. If you use tap water, the minerals in it will tend to buffer the acidity that makes SS work. I use distilled water for solution I am going to keep around for a while, e.g., in spray bottles, but tap water for stuff I am going to throw away the same day.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 23:20
|
|
|
I've always made star san fresh everytime with tap water. When I do have some sitting around, I always use wine pH strips like these to check if it's still good. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/ph-test-strips-wine-range.html These have given me plenty of reassurance that even old star san still has sanitizing capacity. One vial has 100 strips, and that's been enough for the past four years.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 23:34
|
|
|
I'm pretty economical with the stuff - I think I've gotten 30-40 batches out of a couple of bottles. Great idea about the spray bottle though. Not a bad idea though to just keep a few gallons handy. I always thought that somehow the hot water made it better, but that's obviously silly.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2014 00:05
|
|
|
God damnit...I'm trying to upload what I think may be a picture of a pellicle on my mead, but imgur isn't working on my phone for the second time today... Ill just have to wait until I get home later to ask if this looks infected to you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2014 01:03
|
|
|
BLARGHLE posted:Ill just have to wait until I get home later to ask if this looks infected to you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2014 01:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 01:29 |
|
|
Zaepho posted:That seemed really high, so I back checked your math. 1 BBL = 31 US Gallons. 1Lb = 16 Oz. so that works out to 2.58 Oz/gallon which while still extreme seems closer to reasonability.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2014 02:08
|
|