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internet celebrity
Jun 23, 2006

College Slice

Cpt.Wacky posted:

I like this MoreBeer guide to off-tastes. Soapy could be letting it sit in primary too long. Were you checking the gravity to see when it finished fermenting, or did you just wait "long enough" before bottling?

I thought my beer was good until I read this. :(

internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Mar 13, 2012

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Scythe
Jan 26, 2004
Seems like my second batch (a Summit pale ale) is finished fermenting. I brewed two weekends ago, got an OG of 1.054, and just took a sample. It's at 1.013 already and I was targeting 1.014. I'll bottle it this weekend, it's lemony, bitter, and probably will be good when it's not warm and flat.

That means this weekend is also brew day for batch 3! I decided to do a cream ale and designed a recipe that I thought looked pretty standard, but: I didn't write it down before I went to the shop, so I got slightly more malt than I called for; I accidentally bought half as much hops as I planned for; and they didn't have flaked corn so I decided why not do flaked rye instead? So here's what I ended up with:

5lb two-row (71%)
1lb flaked rye (14%)
.5lb biscuit (7%)
.5lb honey malt (7%)

.3oz Summit (14.2 %AA) @ 60 min (from leftovers from previous batch)
.5oz US Golding (4.5 %AA) @ 30 min
.5oz US Golding @ 1 min

60 minute infusion mash at 154F, batch sparge, 60 minute boil for 1.059 OG and 37 IBUs in 3 gallons. Ferment with Safale US-05, target FG 1.016 for 5.7% ABV.

I don't know if I would've ever planned it this way, but I can actually see this being good. I like rye beers and some more assertive citrusy hopping to balance the additional malt should be great! Anyone see anything obviously wrong with this or any changes I should make? In particular, I could use less flaked rye because that lb of grain is still separate from the rest of the bill, and I could use more or less Summit (I have around .75 oz leftover) and/or change the hop schedule around.

Now to find a faucet adaptor for my immersion chiller and finish my stainless braid before the weekend...

Docjowles
Apr 9, 2009

I think that sounds like a pretty great rye pale ale! My only thought would be that, IMHO, 30 minute additions are kind of pointless. Bump that up to like 10 minute for more hop flavor which may help balance the maltiness of honey and biscuit. Or reserve it for a dry hop. I just feel like you are getting no bitterness out of a low AA hop at 30 min, and likewise are still boiling it long enough to drive off the flavor and aroma contribution.

Josh Wow
Feb 28, 2005

We need more beer up here!

Docjowles posted:

I think that sounds like a pretty great rye pale ale! My only thought would be that, IMHO, 30 minute additions are kind of pointless. Bump that up to like 10 minute for more hop flavor which may help balance the maltiness of honey and biscuit. Or reserve it for a dry hop. I just feel like you are getting no bitterness out of a low AA hop at 30 min, and likewise are still boiling it long enough to drive off the flavor and aroma contribution.

I'm not disagreeing with you on the recommended change for the recipe he posted at all, but I like a 45 or 30 minute addition if am going for a smoother bitterness than a 60 minute addition might give me. Or if I'm just trying to use up a bunch of hops and don't want to get my IBUs too out of hand, that's generally why I do it. I've still got like 2 lbs of pellet hops from last years crop I need to use up, I'm either gonna be doing a lot of 30 minute additions or just giving some of my hops away so I can get some new ones. Or finally making that fuckoff huge hopbursted beer that only has a 5 minute addition that I've been thinking about making forever.

Butt Soup Barnes
Nov 25, 2008

I have a question about the recipes I'm seeing here. For the hops, are the amounts in the recipe for pellets, plugs, or leaf? Is there a difference in "strength" between 1 oz. of each?

Daedalus Esquire
Mar 30, 2008
The main thing is the alpha acid percentage (AA). There are online calculators that will show how many IBUs you will get at different boil lengths based on a hops AA. I'm pretty sure any difference between pellet, plug, and whole hops are negligible. There are people who claim that pellets aren't as good as whole hops, but a plenty of very good commercial breweries use them so I personally think its just the purist snobbery that tend to show up in most hobbies.
Adding hops late in the boil will dictate the actual hop flavor and aroma displayed by the beer, but as far as I know there aren't any equations or calculators for this, it's just a matter of knowing hop characteristics and your personal experience/taste.

Cointelprofessional
Jul 2, 2007
Carrots: Make me an offer.
FYI Northern Brewer is having a 15% off sale on all their beer kits right now until the 20th. Use the code: MakeGreatBeer

Splizwarf
Jun 15, 2007
It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

Daedalus Esquire posted:

There are people who claim that pellets aren't as good as whole hops, but a plenty of very good commercial breweries use them so I personally think its just the purist snobbery that tend to show up in most hobbies.

You're probably right about negligible differences (I'm too inexperienced to have an opinion on that), but I disagree with your justification.

In my experience in commercial food production, only occasionally is the reason "because it's the perfect/right thing to use", and that's if the person/people making the recipes got lucky or is a good talker (or because the company is privately held by owners with specific principles). Usually commercial food and drink ingredients are selected by compromises in at least a couple different metrics, even for small-time mom-and-pop operations. For example, in this case maybe whole hops are better overall but cost more per gallon than using a few extra pellets, or pellets are simpler to store or fit better in an automated dispenser. Who knows? There's as many selection patterns as there are people.

Usually one of the underlying elements of purist snobbery is the freedom from rigid recipes and fixed costs, that people making stuff for themselves can choose to get "the good stuff" for every ingredient, and drat the budget (for some, there is no budget). Commercial breweries have to make it work on a per-bottle budget, even the expensive ones. Or, to put that another way, there's probably not a lot of commercial beers made with truffles. :v:

crazyfish
Sep 19, 2002

Cointelprofessional posted:

FYI Northern Brewer is having a 15% off sale on all their beer kits right now until the 20th. Use the code: MakeGreatBeer

Good timing, I was just about to reup anyway. The oatmeal stout and Surly Bender partial mash kits I brewed in January were outstanding (the stout was a particularly big hit).

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


Cointelprofessional posted:

FYI Northern Brewer is having a 15% off sale on all their beer kits right now until the 20th. Use the code: MakeGreatBeer

Thanks for this, but I guess everyone else knows about it too, because their site is totally down. :(

Edit: Welp, now I can get to it. Time to shop!

Edit 2: FYI for anyone interested, the promo code doesn't include the yeast or priming sugar, etc that you can add on with a kit.

Sirotan fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Mar 13, 2012

Darth Goku Jr
Oct 19, 2004

yes yes i see, i understand
:wal::respek::stat:

Butt Soup Barnes posted:

I have a question about the recipes I'm seeing here. For the hops, are the amounts in the recipe for pellets, plugs, or leaf? Is there a difference in "strength" between 1 oz. of each?

The CORRECT answer is due to the nature of concetrating the hops into pellet form, they will contribute about 10% more bitterness than leaf hops with the same AA in the same boil times (at least according to when i fiddle with my recipes in BeerSmith). I wouldn't call that negligible, at least if you want to be able to reproduce results. For myself in the once in a blue moon I post a recipe I would say assume I'm talking pellets.

ChiTownEddie
Mar 26, 2010

Awesome beer, no pants.
Join the Legion.

Cointelprofessional posted:

FYI Northern Brewer is having a 15% off sale on all their beer kits right now until the 20th. Use the code: MakeGreatBeer

Awesome, thanks for the tip! I picked up their chocolate milk stout! Hoping for good stuff :)

Also I bottle my strong pale ale tonight. So excited.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Cointelprofessional posted:

FYI Northern Brewer is having a 15% off sale on all their beer kits right now until the 20th. Use the code: MakeGreatBeer

My first NB kit came out really well, but the second one, has this really weird mecidinal, almost minty flavor that I don't much care for. It also seems kind of exacerbated because the beer ended up rather sweet in the bottle. I think I'll let it sit for quite a while before I try any more of it because so far it's not working out well at all.

Super Rad
Feb 15, 2003
Sir Loin of Beef

Angry Grimace posted:

My first NB kit came out really well, but the second one, has this really weird mecidinal, almost minty flavor that I don't much care for. It also seems kind of exacerbated because the beer ended up rather sweet in the bottle. I think I'll let it sit for quite a while before I try any more of it because so far it's not working out well at all.

What were the hops in the second kit? I've found Hallertauer hops can have that kind of a taste when they're used for flavor/aroma.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Super Rad posted:

What were the hops in the second kit? I've found Hallertauer hops can have that kind of a taste when they're used for flavor/aroma.

All centennial. It's the clone of the Two Hearted Ale, but of course I've never actually *had* Two Hearted Ale to say what it's supposed to taste like since Bell's isn't in CA.

Splizwarf
Jun 15, 2007
It's like there's a soup can in front of me!
Oh dang, Bell's Winter White is my favorite beer of all time, thank you very much for the reminder that I should grab some before it's all gone for Spring. I'd try to clone it but given the wide-open field I'd rather make things that aren't my favorites already. I'm really happy that Clone Brews has a lot of beers I can't get locally.

It'd never be quite as good no matter how well I did. Unless I did too well, and then it'd be ruined from the other direction. :ohdear:

Super Rad
Feb 15, 2003
Sir Loin of Beef

Angry Grimace posted:

All centennial. It's the clone of the Two Hearted Ale, but of course I've never actually *had* Two Hearted Ale to say what it's supposed to taste like since Bell's isn't in CA.

Strange, I've definitely done some all-centennial IPAs that, while not necessarily mind blowing, didn't have that minty/medicine taste. I wonder what else could have cause it? Perhaps chlorine in the water?

Splizwarf
Jun 15, 2007
It's like there's a soup can in front of me!
Hey, speaking of which, I got my Dragon Stout clone into the primary on Sunday night, and it's in the basement bubbling away. The yeast is Wyeast California Lager and the temp listed for it is 50F to 62F. The thing is, while the bubbling is fast and regular (faster than my heartbeat), the crystal thermometer strip on the side of the pail is reading 66F. What's the story? Is the temp range less of a hard rule and more of a guideline to the most vigorous range? I expected that a) the basement was colder, and b) I wouldn't have any activity above 63/64F or so.

My plan is to put the whole thing in a Rubbermaid tub full of water and drop enough ice in the Rubbermaid to get it to 49/50F at the end of each day, since it's only going to be another week at most. I don't have the resources to set up a dedicated fridge/cooler yet.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Super Rad posted:

Strange, I've definitely done some all-centennial IPAs that, while not necessarily mind blowing, didn't have that minty/medicine taste. I wonder what else could have cause it? Perhaps chlorine in the water?

I used nothing but jugs of Arrowhead for that IPA and I used at least some regular old untreated tap water for my latest pale ale and that beer has none of that flavor at all. So I think that's unlikely.

I'm having a little trouble pegging down what exactly that flavor is and I might be describing it wrong.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Splizwarf posted:

Hey, speaking of which, I got my Dragon Stout clone into the primary on Sunday night, and it's in the basement bubbling away. The yeast is Wyeast California Lager and the temp listed for it is 50F to 62F. The thing is, while the bubbling is fast and regular (faster than my heartbeat), the crystal thermometer strip on the side of the pail is reading 66F. What's the story? Is the temp range less of a hard rule and more of a guideline to the most vigorous range? I expected that a) the basement was colder, and b) I wouldn't have any activity above 63/64F or so.

My plan is to put the whole thing in a Rubbermaid tub full of water and drop enough ice in the Rubbermaid to get it to 49/50F at the end of each day, since it's only going to be another week at most. I don't have the resources to set up a dedicated fridge/cooler yet.
Lots of yeast strains can ferment at ranges outside of the recommend temperature range, but they will often produce unwanted flavors at those temps.

Edit: Whoops, meant to edit this into my last post and not double post. My bad.

Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Mar 13, 2012

Super Rad
Feb 15, 2003
Sir Loin of Beef

Splizwarf posted:

Hey, speaking of which, I got my Dragon Stout clone into the primary on Sunday night, and it's in the basement bubbling away. The yeast is Wyeast California Lager and the temp listed for it is 50F to 62F. The thing is, while the bubbling is fast and regular (faster than my heartbeat), the crystal thermometer strip on the side of the pail is reading 66F. What's the story? Is the temp range less of a hard rule and more of a guideline to the most vigorous range? I expected that a) the basement was colder, and b) I wouldn't have any activity above 63/64F or so.

My plan is to put the whole thing in a Rubbermaid tub full of water and drop enough ice in the Rubbermaid to get it to 49/50F at the end of each day, since it's only going to be another week at most. I don't have the resources to set up a dedicated fridge/cooler yet.

Those temp ranges are what you, as the brewer, need to keep the fermenting wort at to keep those yeast producing their expected flavor profile and attenuation. Yeast will get as hot as they like otherwise and although they will ferment more vigorously, the yeast will also produce undesired off flavors.

There probably isn't much that can be done at the moment to change what is going on in your current batch - likely there will be some off flavors from fermenting a little too hot. Most of the fermentation is already taking place so whatever character is being imparted by the yeast being outside of their ideal range will be more or less set in stone, though it does soften with age. Fortunately you're using a "steam ale" style lager yeast so it's not like a real lager where you'd probably have a buttery tasting mess. I think the California Lager can still produce it's clean flavor profile at up to 65*F so you haven't been too far off, though the temp outside the fermenter is usually also a few degrees colder than what's going on inside.

Whatever you do, don't just drop it in some ice water - yeast doesn't like sudden temperature changes so if you must cool it down, do so by dropping the temperature 2-3 degrees a day.

Splizwarf
Jun 15, 2007
It's like there's a soup can in front of me!
Well, dang; I sort of expected as much. Better get on that tub of water, then! I figured on trying to drop it casually over several hours, looks like I should go more slowly.

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


Splizwarf posted:

Well, dang; I sort of expected as much. Better get on that tub of water, then! I figured on trying to drop it casually over several hours, looks like I should go more slowly.

Good luck with that, I had a hell of a time keeping a constant temp on a hefeweizen I was making, and I was only trying to keep it around 62. I just opened my first one the other day, and while it was good, it didn't taste quite like I had expected. I need to drink another one to know for sure if there are "off" flavors, but my temps were fluctuating all over the place so I probably hosed it up a little.

I bought two kits from the NB sale and both are ok for fermentation up to 72, I don't think I'll be able to make anything that ideally ferments at a lower-than-room temperature until I get a minifridge and convert it into a fermentation cooler/kegerator.

wattershed
Dec 27, 2002

Radio got his free iPod, did you get yours???
I wanted to see how my farmhouse/saison (this) was coming along in secondary - I've been dry-hopping it for the last 9 days and wanted to get a gravity reading plus see how things are coming together.

At first, I get a blast of lemon, which makes sense given the sorachi ace I used & am dry-hopping with, in addition to the lemon rind I put in at the end of the boil. So, there, mission loving accomplished. Also, the smell is this ridiculous fresh lemon/orange/tart yeast/star anise mix - if we judged beers on smell alone this has to be an all-star.

That said, I keep equating this beer with music, and this is a beer that's all treble-y highs with not much of anything in the mid or bottom end. Plus, for using White Labs' American Farmhouse yeast (670), which is supposed to bring some bretty character to the palate, I'm not getting it.

Is there any hope that the bitterness of the lemon will ease off a bit the longer I let it sit, or is bitterness not really a characteristic that fades in time? In addition, could the brett still 'come alive' or is that window closed? I've been fermenting at around 63-67 degrees, with some variance on both sides of that depending on our weather.

Also, is there anything at this point I might be able to introduce to curb the bitterness a bit without it tasting artificially sweet? This has been a great lesson in balance and adding malt profiles which round out a beer, so I'm not unhappy with the current status at the expense of learning a lesson, but I'm hoping this can be my go-to spring beer of choice and I want to make it as awesome as I can.

Darth Goku Jr
Oct 19, 2004

yes yes i see, i understand
:wal::respek::stat:

wattershed posted:


Is there any hope that the bitterness of the lemon will ease off a bit the longer I let it sit, or is bitterness not really a characteristic that fades in time? In addition, could the brett still 'come alive' or is that window closed? I've been fermenting at around 63-67 degrees, with some variance on both sides of that depending on our weather.

Also, is there anything at this point I might be able to introduce to curb the bitterness a bit without it tasting artificially sweet? This has been a great lesson in balance and adding malt profiles which round out a beer, so I'm not unhappy with the current status at the expense of learning a lesson, but I'm hoping this can be my go-to spring beer of choice and I want to make it as awesome as I can.

I am not familiar with that particular strain, but brett is a slow mover as far as developing taste. Spring beers to me at least need a certain freshness so those two ideas are at odds though.

Next time, look into some Special "B" to round it out. care to post the recipe?

Edit, also a thing to remember, saison yeast is the champagne yeast of the beer world. poo poo will eat sugar it can and will easily end up in the 1.000-1.005 range. unfermentables are your friend for adding body to a saison

Darth Goku Jr fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Mar 13, 2012

wattershed
Dec 27, 2002

Radio got his free iPod, did you get yours???

Darth Goku Jr posted:

I am not familiar with that particular strain, but brett is a slow mover as far as developing taste. Spring beers to me at least need a certain freshness so those two ideas are at odds though.

Next time, look into some Special "B" to round it out. care to post the recipe?

click on the 'this' link in my post

Also, I'd be more than happy to lose the chance at the brett developing if it meant the bitterness faded from its current state.

I guess my number one question would be if bitterness in beer fades or remains relatively constant. I know overly alcoholic, boozy beers tend to lose their sharpness or tend to gain phenolic qualities. I didn't know if there was an expected constant with bitterness from hops/additions or not.

And yeah, I realize I only have so long to sit on this given the ingredient profile. Worst case scenario, I have a bright and sharp spring beer that, coming in around 7.6%, should keep me decently inebriated through the next few months.

an edited response to your edit: if I want to add body to a beer like this in secondary (or, hell, the bottle/keg), what sort of unfermentables would you suggest?

wattershed fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Mar 13, 2012

R2Brew
Oct 15, 2006

Got Sedin?

wattershed posted:

click on the 'this' link in my post

Also, I'd be more than happy to lose the chance at the brett developing if it meant the bitterness faded from its current state.

I guess my number one question would be if bitterness in beer fades or remains relatively constant. I know overly alcoholic, boozy beers tend to lose their sharpness or tend to gain phenolic qualities. I didn't know if there was an expected constant with bitterness from hops/additions or not.

And yeah, I realize I only have so long to sit on this given the ingredient profile. Worst case scenario, I have a bright and sharp spring beer that, coming in around 7.6%, should keep me decently inebriated through the next few months.

an edited response to your edit: if I want to add body to a beer like this in secondary (or, hell, the bottle/keg), what sort of unfermentables would you suggest?

Thanks for posting. We just bottled/kegged a batch of IPA that we tried Sorachi Ace hops with for the first time. The initial taste sample echos what you found with those hops - a very noticeable and delicious lemon flavor. I'm not a big fan of farmhouse yeasts or saisons, so I can't speak on that particular yeast, but I found ours was balanced pretty nicely with our grains (I'll have to post the recipe if you're interested later as I'm at work).

Hops will lose bitterness over time, although I can't speak specifically about Sorachi Ace since this is our first use of them. I'd be really curious to get a whiff/taste of yours in comparison especially with the lemon rind you added.

wattershed
Dec 27, 2002

Radio got his free iPod, did you get yours???

Trane posted:

Thanks for posting. We just bottled/kegged a batch of IPA that we tried Sorachi Ace hops with for the first time. The initial taste sample echos what you found with those hops - a very noticeable and delicious lemon flavor. I'm not a big fan of farmhouse yeasts or saisons, so I can't speak on that particular yeast, but I found ours was balanced pretty nicely with our grains (I'll have to post the recipe if you're interested later as I'm at work).

Hops will lose bitterness over time, although I can't speak specifically about Sorachi Ace since this is our first use of them. I'd be really curious to get a whiff/taste of yours in comparison especially with the lemon rind you added.

Yeah, definitely interested...the scent profile on Sorachi Ace is kinda crazy compared to other hops I've been exposed to, but since I also included lemon rind straight off a lemon from our tree, I can't necessarily separate the two flavors on my palate at this point.

As for a whiff/taste of mine, literally take some lemon zest from the rind, take the yeast from the bottom of a good bottled saison, crack off a tiny piece of star anise, and put them in your mouth together. It's really overwhelming and direct, hence why I'm hoping for some miracle body-builder that won't create a weird unbalanced bitter & sugary beer with nothing in the middle. Fat chance, I know, but I figured I'd ask in case someone's been in this boat before.

Cpt.Wacky
Apr 17, 2005

Angry Grimace posted:

I used nothing but jugs of Arrowhead for that IPA and I used at least some regular old untreated tap water for my latest pale ale and that beer has none of that flavor at all. So I think that's unlikely.

I'm having a little trouble pegging down what exactly that flavor is and I might be describing it wrong.

Pimping the MoreBeer Off Flavors guide again: http://morebeer.com/public/pdf/off_flavor.pdf

From your description it sounds like phenols, maybe from bleach or iodophor? I had a plastic taste in an early mead that was probably caused by the chlorine in the tap water I used to top it up to 1 gallon before I knew what I was doing.

Daedalus Esquire
Mar 30, 2008

Splizwarf posted:

You're probably right about negligible differences (I'm too inexperienced to have an opinion on that), but I disagree with your justification.

...Usually commercial food and drink ingredients are selected by compromises in at least a couple different metrics, even for small-time mom-and-pop operations. For example, in this case maybe whole hops are better overall but cost more per gallon than using a few extra pellets, or pellets are simpler to store or fit better in an automated dispenser. Who knows? There's as many selection patterns as there are people.

Usually one of the underlying elements of purist snobbery is the freedom from rigid recipes and fixed costs, that people making stuff for themselves can choose to get "the good stuff" for every ingredient, and drat the budget (for some, there is no budget). Commercial breweries have to make it work on a per-bottle budget, even the expensive ones. Or, to put that another way, there's probably not a lot of commercial beers made with truffles. :v:

A hop pellet is literally just a whole hops shredded and pulverized, blended into a homogeneous state and then pressed/extruded and chopped up into pellets using the natural lipulin oils in the hop to bind the pellet. The only difference, as Darth Goku Jr pointed out is hop utilization, which is due to the surface area increase because they dissolve.

I wasn't talking utilization however, (as I kind of misread the question,) instead I was talking about quality. The differences in quality between pellet, plug, or whole leaf hops are negligible, and I still think the "whole hops are better" thing is really just purist snobbery. I brought up commercial breweries as evidence because they are fairly unique case in this country. The majority of craft/micro breweries in the USA are privately owned and the only competitive advantage they have against the national/international brands is through differentiation and a focus on quality. There is a reason that when you go to the grocery store or beverage center the bud/miller/coors will be the cheapest on the shelf (barring their own non-"premium brands" like keystone, natty, and busch) and constitute the entire low-end selection. Brewers don't have the same level of selection or price variability that a restaurant can have, compromises are weighed much more heavily towards quality instead of costs and prices of the final bottles reflect that, just look at the beer tasting thread and the prices some people are willing to pay for a premium craft beer.

Sorry, I'm a business student and kind of derailed there into an examination of the industry, but my point is that small breweries are more focused on quality then cost, the design of the industry pretty much demands they choose the better ingredients and price their product accordingly since they can't take advantage of economies of scale like the national and international breweries. Lucky for us homebrewers and the craft brew masters, pellets are usually around the same price, easier to use, store longer, take up less space, and have less wort loss, all at no cost to quality.

Though once again, Darth Goku Jr is totally right and I misread the first question, pellets do have a better utilization rate, though that isn't always a plus depending on what you are trying to do.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Cpt.Wacky posted:

Pimping the MoreBeer Off Flavors guide again: http://morebeer.com/public/pdf/off_flavor.pdf

From your description it sounds like phenols, maybe from bleach or iodophor? I had a plastic taste in an early mead that was probably caused by the chlorine in the tap water I used to top it up to 1 gallon before I knew what I was doing.

I don't use bleach or iodophor, just Star San (and I'm 95% sure I did it at the correct dilution) and I didn't use tap water in this batch - just filtered spring water. I think it's just a funky off-flavor that I'm just having trouble describing. My wife thinks the taste is interesting, though, so maybe I just don't like the flavor combination of the hops plus the residual sweetness (FG was like 1.020.)

Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Mar 14, 2012

R2Brew
Oct 15, 2006

Got Sedin?

wattershed posted:

Yeah, definitely interested...the scent profile on Sorachi Ace is kinda crazy compared to other hops I've been exposed to, but since I also included lemon rind straight off a lemon from our tree, I can't necessarily separate the two flavors on my palate at this point.

Here's what we used for our Sorachi Ace IPA (10 gallon batch). My wife has most of the input for our recipes, but I'm not complaining.

20 lbs 2-row
2 lbs wheat
1 lb Carapils
.5 lb Crystal 20
.5 lb Caramunich
.25 lb Honey Malt
25.4 AAU Chinook - 60min
15.1 AAU Sorachi Ace - 60min
28.1 AAU Simcoe - 30min
20.8 AAU Amarillo - 15min
15.1 AAU Sorachi Ace - 5min
Dryhops: 1oz Sorachi Ace, 1oz Amarillo
Wyeast 1272
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.013

Agreed, I've never tasted a hop like Sorachi Ace, it's very distinctive. Our previous IPA was brewed with lots of Citra hops, so I think these will be interesting to compare.

digitalhifi
Jun 5, 2004
In life I have encountered much, but nothing as profound as the statement "all we ever do is do stuff."
Maybe a little bit late on this one, but the White Labs Farmhouse strain only has a small colony of Brett in its mix. Its designed to be pitched into primary where the Saison yeast will do the bulk of the fermenting. The Brett will then continue to munch away for the next 6 months or so. From everything I've heard about this yeast, you should be in for a real neat treat as you sample the beer throughout its aging process. Also, be careful when you bottle it. It will likely produce more C02 than a normal beer on account of the secondary Brett fermentation.

Angry Grimace
Jul 29, 2010

ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.
It turned out that weird taste was probably just something in my mouth before I had it because I pulled another one of those IPAs and they taste fine, if a bit thick in mouthfeel.

wattershed
Dec 27, 2002

Radio got his free iPod, did you get yours???
Trane, be careful with that SA, that's all I can say...I like what you included, the smaller additions. Those things seem like what can really make a decent beer a great beer - if in a few months the saison I'm making tastes 'okay' but nothing more, I'll likely redo it with more body, ease off the lemon and SA, and see where it gets me.

digitalhifi, thanks for the detail on the yeast - I've read of some pretty great attenuation numbers on it, and if it continues to develop and change flavors I might have to sit on it for longer than I was planning to see it fully actualize its potential. My friends aren't really big beer drinkers, so I should have plenty to sample for myself over time and watch it evolve. It's as much about enjoying the final product as it is understanding what happens in a batch over time, and this sounds like a fun first batch to gradually taste over the course of the summer.

ChiTownEddie
Mar 26, 2010

Awesome beer, no pants.
Join the Legion.
Just bottled my strong pale ale...
It legitimately tasted good after fermenting! I am so excited. My first batch definitely had some off flavors at that point (a lot of them have been conditioned out over time in the bottle luckily).
mmmmmm.

Now I just need to get a secondary fermenter carboy for this milk chocolate stout I am getting!

Scythe
Jan 26, 2004

Docjowles posted:

I think that sounds like a pretty great rye pale ale! My only thought would be that, IMHO, 30 minute additions are kind of pointless. Bump that up to like 10 minute for more hop flavor which may help balance the maltiness of honey and biscuit. Or reserve it for a dry hop. I just feel like you are getting no bitterness out of a low AA hop at 30 min, and likewise are still boiling it long enough to drive off the flavor and aroma contribution.

That makes sense. I think I'll move it to 10, and maybe split the Summit up. Thanks for the advice!

Josh Wow
Feb 28, 2005

We need more beer up here!

Daedalus Esquire posted:

Sorry, I'm a business student and kind of derailed there into an examination of the industry, but my point is that small breweries are more focused on quality then cost, the design of the industry pretty much demands they choose the better ingredients and price their product accordingly since they can't take advantage of economies of scale like the national and international breweries. Lucky for us homebrewers and the craft brew masters, pellets are usually around the same price, easier to use, store longer, take up less space, and have less wort loss, all at no cost to quality.

This is only half true. There isn't a whole hell of a lot of profit margin in craft beer if you try and keep your costs on the lower end of the craft beer range ($9-10 six packs and $6-8 bombers), so small breweries that want to stay in this range definitely have to consider ingredient costs. While any decent craft brewery won't use poo poo ingredients just to save money, you do have to make compromises. Pellet hops are one of those compromises.

You've already listed the advantages of them, and they're high enough quality that you can get a great product you're proud of with them. I think if given the chance most brewers would choose to use whole hops over pellets though. There's a reason Sierra Nevada does it, they're insane over quality control there (in a good way) and they chose using the finest ingredients over more profit. Unfortunately most breweries don't have that luxury.

Pellet hops are great and can make amazing beer, but in my experience whole hops just have a little more aromatics and flavor in them, and they seem fresher for lack of a better term. I hadn't extensively used whole hops until about 3 months ago, when I got about 2.5-3 oz of a bunch of different varieties to try out. Since then all my beers have used only whole hops and I'm loving them. I'm probably going to switch exclusively to whole hops from now on.

Splizwarf
Jun 15, 2007
It's like there's a soup can in front of me!

Josh Wow posted:

Pellet hops are great and can make amazing beer, but in my experience whole hops just have a little more aromatics and flavor in them, and they seem fresher for lack of a better term.

This would make sense if for no other reason than oxidative exposure. I wonder if they're processed by metal equipment?

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Jo3sh
Oct 19, 2002

Like all girls I love unicorns!
http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/120314.html

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