Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Hello homebrew thread.

I've been a hardcore beer nerd for years. About a month ago I got around to finally trying homebrew. I got a starter kit and a Brewers Best box (Munich Helles) and cooked it up about 3 weeks ago. I didn't have anywhere to lager it so I let it ferment at ale temps in a closet and waited very impatiently for my beer to get done.

As the wait went on I read more and more about homebrewing and the more stuff I started to want. I had yesterday off, and it was hardcore homebrew equipment acquisition day. I stumbled onto a cheap full size fridge on craigslist, so I got a thermostat for that and now have a proper fermentation chamber. I also lucked into a lightly used mini fridge and got the remaining kegerator plumbing I needed yesterday. I'd ordered a couple of corny kegs and a tower last week; the kegs got here Thursday but the tower wasn't supposed to arrive until next Wednesday. Instead when I got home from breakfast this morning, there was my tower!

So, I just spent the last few hours building my kegerator. It was surprisingly easy to do even considering my fairly lightweight building poo poo skills. My helles lager isn't done yet (I hooked it up for forced carbonation last night) but I couldn't wait to try it...it was very cloudy, mostly flat, and totally delicious. That I pulled it from a tap in my dining room made it that much better.

My main purpose in posting this is to express excitement to people who I don't know but who participate in this hobby, so here, have some enthusiasm! I now have an APA I cooked last night in my fridge doing its thing. I can't wait to try it.

(I must have spent $7-800 on this already)

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

LaserWash posted:

Bewbies,

Let me know how that helles goes. My wife and I love Münchner styled beers and I'd really like to do something like that w/o cold fermenting.

So far, fantastic. It actually tastes a bit more like a marzen than a helles but I'd hardly complain about that. I kegged it too early so it is pretty cloudy...not sure if that will clear up or not. It definitely doesn't look like a typical helles (it is a little ugly to look at) but it tastes fantastic.

FYI it spent most of its fermentation time at 76-78 degrees (we keep our house pretty warm) and it didn't seem to phase it at all.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
My first brew was ready to go yesterday. Kegerator is working like a champ and the beer is genuinely good. I am a little shocked at how well it went.

So right now I have a batch of APA fermenting. It should be done in 3 weeks or so. That will be the second keg in the kegerator. Have some questions:

1. Is there any issue with force carbonating in the kegerator? I only have one tank and regulator so I am planning on just hooking up the APA and carbonating it there.

2. What is a good choice for my third batch? I can age/lager this one for a while as Ive got 10 gallons done currently. My favorite styles are quads, BSPA, marzen, RIS, DIPA, and american amber if done well. I figure to have months before I will be cracking this next one. I can lager if necessary.

3. Am I stupid to consider trying all grain so soon? I think I can build a mash tun from a picnic cooler pretty easily. Should I try it or hold off until I get more experience?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Angry Grimace posted:

I went all-grain on my third batch and its gone perfectly fine. It is, however, very expensive and requires a lot of overhead to convert since you need bigger pots and burners unless you want to do AG through BIAB or something, in which case you'll be just fine.

This is what the guy at the HB store said (about the batch size, I mean). At present though I'm pretty much locked into 5 gal. batches, so I went looking for alternatives and came up with this. It seems to be ideal for 5 gallon batches (at least according to the internet) and I could get it done for probably less than $50. Anyone tried one of these?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Another weekend filled with homebrew stuff. This is addicting.

Yesterday I made an immersion chiller with a pre-chiller out of copper and vinyl tubing plus a mash tun from a 48 qt cooler with a manifold of PVC pipe. I was pretty surprised at how easy both projects were. The chiller took about 45 minutes to make and cost about $50, the tun was also about $50 and took maybe half an hour plus the time needed to let the silicon sealant cure.

I did an all-grain oatmeal stout recipe as my third batch today and I think it went really well. I wound up with a ton of wort (about 9 gallons) at just over 80% efficiency, which I think is pretty decent for my first mash (the extra wort was due, I think, to the "expert" guy at the brewshop modifying my recipe). The boil was a a pretty simple 90 minutes, and the chill took right about 25 mins. This is pretty amazing as the tap water here (Oklahoma City) comes out at 80+ degrees, so I think the chiller was working like a champ. I started at 2:30 and was all cleaned up by 6:30...not nearly as long as the other expert at the brewshop said it would take.

The only problem I ran into was in the chill. I was doing it on my back porch (needed the hose) and the outside air temp was in the upper 80s. As I mentioned, the tap water here is in the low 80s. Our thermostat in the house we keep at around 80 also. So, I got the wort down to ~85 in about 10 mins, then the last 15 mins I was trying to get it down the last 15 degrees with a lot of ice and a lot more water. I simply couldn't do it. Eventually I got it to around 80, said screw it, and went back inside to siphon. When I pitched the yeast it was ~78, and I immediately put it in my fermenting fridge which was at 75. The yeast was WLP004, which calls for 70-75, preferably 75.

I'm wondering how critical those last few degrees are. The bucket was in a chilled fridge within minutes of pitching the yeast, but the wort temp at the time I pitched was a few degrees higher than optimal. Should I make the effort to lower it those last few degrees? This will probably mean cranking the AC down to 70-something and using a lot more ice with the chiller.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I've had a request to bring some beer to a wedding in a few weeks. I'm only kegging my beer. The wedding is way out of town for us. Is there a simple solution that I'm not aware of for transporting/cooling/tapping a corny keg for one day use?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I was asked to brew a keg for a fishing trip. Me and my father in law are serious beer drinkers, everyone else there (I think) is more the bud light type. I'd like to give them an accessible beer that is still good. I threw together this amber recipe this morning: want a nice red color and a good balance.


HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Amber Ale

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Amber Ale
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 5.85%
IBU (tinseth): 36.74
SRM (daniels): 16.53

FERMENTABLES:
8 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (64%)
2 lb - American - Vienna (16%)
0.5 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (4%)
2 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 90L (16%)

HOPS:
1 oz - cluster for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 28.68)
0.5 oz - Cascade for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 5.2)
0.5 oz - Cascade for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 2.86)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temperature, Temp: 153 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 15.6 qt, Water Temp: 170
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Amount: 23.5 qt, Water Temp: 183

YEAST:
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 76.5%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temperature: 68 F - 73 F

NOTES:
Ferment at 67

Dry hop in secondary with 1 oz cascade

Secondary for 12-14 days at 67, move to 34 degrees for 3-5 days




thoughts? another style I should try? back off a bit on this one?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

global tetrahedron posted:

Why are you doing a 90 minute boil? And your hop additions don't start until 60 min. Not hating on it, just curious, because I've never seen a recipe like that.

actually that was something I forgot to change from the recipe I copied it from. will do this for 60.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Jo3sh posted:

Seems like a lot of crystal malt for 5 gallons to me. I usually stay more in the 1 pound/5 gallons range, myself. I'd do a little 40L crystal or something, maybe 8 ounces, and maybe 1 or 2 ounces of black patent for color - but dink around with the amount of patent malt to get a color you like as it is easy to overshoot.

Lots of amber or red beers are just pale beers with sinamar or black malt added.

Thanks for the feedback; I was trying to get a stronger caramel flavor. Would it do well to move a pound of crystal to Vienna, or should I just make it 2 row?

bewbies fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jan 8, 2013

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Also have a question about calculating brewhouse efficiency. I did a rye PA (Founder's rye clone) last weekend with Brewer's Friend as my software. Recipe:

quote:

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Rye PA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Wheat or Rye Beer
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.076
Final Gravity: 1.021
ABV (standard): 7.22%
IBU (tinseth): 74.91
SRM (morey): 17.51

FERMENTABLES:
9 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (56.3%)
2 lb - Flaked Rye (12.5%)
3 lb - American - Pilsner (18.8%)
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 150L (6.3%)
1 lb - American - Vienna (6.3%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Perle for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 8.2, IBU: 30.01)
1 oz - Amarillo for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 8.6, IBU: 24.18)
1 oz - Amarillo for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 8.6, IBU: 15.61)
1 oz - Cascade for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 5.11)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temperature, Temp: 153 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 20 qt, Heat to 170
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 30 min, Amount: 20 qt

YEAST:
White Labs - California Ale V Yeast WLP051
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 72.5%
Flocculation: Med-High
Optimum Temperature: 66 F - 70 F

NOTES:
Primary @ 68
Secondary @ 68
3 days @ 34

Dry hop after primary:
1 oz Amarillo
1 oz Cascade


Results as follows, per brewer's friend's software:

Mash: 40 Qts. Conversion rate was 116%
Into kettle: 30 qts @ 1.061 (78%)
Boil complete: 22 qts @ 1.071 (67%)
Fermentor: 19 qts @ 1.071 (58%)

Can someone explain where the software is getting those efficiency numbers from? How did I wind up with a conversion rate of over 100%, but only 58% into the fermentor? Is there a way I could do better from kettle to fermentor?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
bill for marzen: half pilsner and half light Munich a good setup? bit of dark crystal for color.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

ScaerCroe posted:

I need a Rye IPA recipe, probably on the lighter side of the style in terms of ABV. I made a red rye-IPA recipe I found on HBT before that was very good, but I seem to have lost the link to the recipe. Any suggestions?

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3437782&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=235#post411319556

This is an attempt at a Founder's Rye clone. I have it in primary right now so I can't vouch for it personally but the internet seemed to like it.

Josh Wow posted:

If you want a traditional one then no crystal malt. Use Vienna and Munich to get the color, you don't need any pilsner malt. If you want a lighter version you can do a portion pilsner malt. If you're going for a more American Sam Adams-esque version then your original plan is what you want.

All KINDS of variations on this. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what "traditional" means.

What do you think of this?

6 lbs Munich 10
6 lbs Vienna
.5 lbs Biscuit
.5 lbs Carapils


edit - I should add that the biscuit is me chasing after the flavor in Ayinger's marzen, which I think has biscuit. Tell me if I'm off here...

bewbies fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jan 11, 2013

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Any thoughts on this quad recipe are greatly appreciated. Going to cook it tomorrow.






HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Quadrupel

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Belgian Specialty Ale
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5.5 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.095
Final Gravity: 1.021
ABV (standard): 9.72%
IBU (tinseth): 24.82
SRM (morey): 34.91

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (41.4%)
5 lb - Belgian - Pilsner (34.5%)
1 lb - Belgian Candi Sugar - Dark (6.9%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Biscuit (3.4%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Cara 45L (3.4%)
0.5 lb - Belgian - Special B (3.4%)
0.5 lb - Belgian Candi Sugar - Clear/Blond (3.4%)
0.5 lb - Honey (3.4%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - East Kent Goldings for 90 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 10.7)
1 oz - Styrian Goldings for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5.5, IBU: 10.92)
1 oz - Hersbrucker for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 4, IBU: 3.19)

MASH STEPS:
1) Infusion, Temp: 133 F, Time: 30 min, Amount: 15.5 qt, Water Temp: 147
2) Temperature, Temp: 152 F, Time: 45 min, Amount: 5.5 qt, Water Temp: boiling
3) Temperature, Temp: 158 F, Time: 20 min, Amount: 2.5 qt, Water Temp: boiling
4) Sparge, Temp: 167 F, Amount: 11.5 qt, Water Temp: 188

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.2 oz - Coriander seed, Time: 10 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
0.25 g - Grains of Paradise, Time: 10 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil

YEAST:
White Labs - Abbey IV Ale Yeast WLP540
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 78%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 66 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 68 F
Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)

NOTES:
2L starter required

Primary Fermentation: 10 Days @ 68-70f

Secondary Fermentation: 45 Days @ 68f, 14 days @ 36f

Bottle condition, cellar forever

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Changed Candi sugars to 2 lbs of 180 syrup. Thanks for the input!

All that crap was like 70 bucks, this had be one hell of a beer....in August, when it is finished.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
One of the things I love about this hobby is how I manage to do something different (read: wrong) every single time I brew. The awesome thing is I haven't had a bad beer yet and I've even managed to make some really exceptional ones!

Also I just finished that quadrupel I asked about earlier; it is siphoning into the bucket as we speak. Got my best efficiency yet into the kettle (preboil gravity was 1.060, and that was before 2# of candi syrup...yikes) and the wort looks more or less like motor oil. I'm pretty excited.

Thanks for the help w/ the recipe; I went to the dark syrup and cut the grain boil in half and at least as of right now it looks like both of those were excellent pieces of advice.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I just racked a rye IPA to secondary; FG reading gave an attenuation of 84.5% (1.071 to 1.011) with WLP's California Ale Yeast. Previously with an IPA and the same yeast I had an attenuation over 90% (1.063 to 1.006). Both of them were fermented at a really consistent 68*, both were temp adjusted, the previous IPA was outstanding and the rye one I just did is very promising based on how it tastes today.

So...why is the yeast going so crazy? WLP001's range is supposed to be 73 to 80% in apparently the same conditions I'm fermenting at (68-72). Am I doing anything wrong or am I missing something? The beer in both cases seems fine. Should I not care, or should I try something different?


internet celebrity posted:

I usually chill and decant my starters (because starter wort is :barf:) but on Saturday I pitched a whole 2L starter at high krausen into my bavarian hefeweizen and it was bubbling like mad in an hour. Am I going to get more off flavors from pitching the entire starter or is decanting the way to go?

I stumbled into a decent idea with this yesterday (I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this): I did a 3L starter, decanted, had the yeast sitting out on my table. I wound up with a little bit of wort left over from my mash (maybe a half quart?), so I figured I'd throw it in there and let it get started, and this wouldn't affect the flavor or anything much as the wort is the same. It was going crazy by the time I pitched a few hours later, today (12 hours on) it has almost filled the bucket.

bewbies fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jan 21, 2013

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I just kegged the rye IPA I got some help on some weeks ago. Had a small glass out of the bucket. It is...amazing. It is the best beer I've done yet and I think it holds up really well against Founders red. The feeling you get from really nailing a batch is tough to beat. Its like winning a sporting event or something.

It is going to be torture waiting for this thing to carb up....


Also I just got two pin cornys from eBay (beverage elements) for $84 shipped. They are in great shape. Seems like a tough deal to beat.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Anyone have any thoughts on this recipe? It is an attempt at a Zombie Dust clone that I found on one of the forums. Only change that I made was to add the chocolate to darken it just a tad, plus I had to back off the hops a bit because the Citra I just ordered had a little higher AA. Big question I have is on the fermentation temp: I've never used that yeast before so I'm not really sure where to go with it. It seems like people like to let it go a little bit cooler than the stuff I usually use on PAs (ie WLP001) but I wasn't totally sure about that.


Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 4.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.059
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 5.55%
IBU (tinseth): 44.52
SRM (morey): 12.27

FERMENTABLES:
9.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (85.4%)
6 oz - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (3.4%)
6 oz - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (3.4%)
6 oz - American - Munich - Light 10L (3.4%)
6 oz - German - Melanoidin (3.4%)
2 oz - American - Chocolate (1.1%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Citra for 45 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13.8, IBU: 28.22)
0.5 oz - Citra for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13.8, IBU: 11.15)
0.5 oz - Citra for 3 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13.8, IBU: 3.82)
0.5 oz - Citra for 1 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13.8, IBU: 1.33)
2 oz - Citra for 14 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 13.8)

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: Yes


NOTES:
2L starter

Ferment at 62 until complete.

Secondary, dry hop 14 days

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Midorka posted:

14 days of dry hopping is far too long from everything I've read. You're going to get a lot of vegetive aromas from the hops, not the tropical aromas.

I was going off of this article and handful of other threads that suggest around two weeks. In the past I've just thrown hops in the keg and left them there until it floated. I've never gotten any off flavors I could taste. To be honest I had no idea the length of time was a concern.

quote:

Edit: Why are you using chocolate malt? I personally would only use a pale malt with 5%-10% crystal 40. At least that's similar to what is in Brewing Classic Styles.

Just to darken the color a tad. I didn't think such a small amount would affect the flavor any, am I wrong in that assumption?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I'm doing an RIS today that I plan to molest with coffee, bourbon, and oak. I have two probably stupid questions:


My local HBS has several choices for oak: french (from cognac barrels), some sort of super-fancy Hungarian oak something that are lightly toasted; they are supposed to be the latest thing for wine, and regular local white oak. The French and Hungarian stuff are $5 for 3 oz, the local stuff is 1$ or something. Would I get anything out of either of the fancy chips, especially since I'm planning to soak them in bourbon? Or rather, would the cognac or toasted chips do anything unexpected to the beer?

Also, would adding a vanilla bean to the bourbon soak add anything, or would that just mirror the oak flavor?

bewbies fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Feb 17, 2013

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

ZIGfried posted:

I've been reading up on kegging out of curiosity and there's one thing I can't find a good answer on. What do people who keg do about conditioning? The nice part of bottling is each bottle you have is better than the last. I imagine that if you rack to a keg and begin refrigerating immediately that you would greatly slow the rate at which the beer's taste evolves. How do people work around this? Do you let the keg sit at room temp for a month or two before tapping it? Do you just drink your beer before it's fully matured? Or is kegging more for the hoppy beers with tastes that diminish over time?

Right now I have two batches in kegs that are lagering at their appropriate lagering temperature. I haven't carbed either of them yet. I'll probably draw a couple of bottles from each and carb those in the bottle so's I can share them with people more easily, but the rest of it will just get carbed in the keg and tapped whenever they're ready.

I do not know if this has answered your question because I don't really understand the question but this is how I've been doing things.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

ZIGfried posted:

My question revolves around the "tapped when ready" part of your post and I'm starting to realize there is no right answer for this. I was reading stories of people racking to their keg, putting it in their keezer attached to the co2 and enjoying their beer by the end of the week. This seems odd to me because in my (limited) experience my beer just gets better and better the longer it sits at room temp. When I crack one open a week after bottling it's not undrinkable but it is a shadow of the beer it eventually turns out to be. I can't imagine its taste will develop at the same pace while chilled. I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle and was hoping someone who kegs could fill me in.


I guess an ideal set up in my mind would be a keezer with three beers on tap and two more filled kegs sitting at room temp, conditioning, waiting for a spot in the keezer. I'm interested in kegging and I'm just trying to learn as much as I can before I decide to make the financial investment.

Remember if you're wanting to condition a beer at a certain temperature you can always just do it in the fermentor. This is what I'm doing right now with a quad batch as I only have 4 kegs and I don't want to tie one up for 2 months while this beer does its aging thing. Also remember if you want to condition in the keg you can do that too, it isn't like there's a rule that you have to refrigerate a filled keg right away.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Has anyone ever used sugar cubes for priming? I was just reading a couple of forums that suggested using two sugar cubes for a 22 oz bottle.

I'm bottling just two or three 22oz's from a keg, so I'm not adding sugar straight into the fermentor. Any reason not to do it this way? The beer is a Munich Helles done with an ale yeast if that changes anything.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Bad Munki posted:

If you're bottling from a keg, you shouldn't need to prime the bottles. Carb your keg of beer as usual. Put your bottling gear and bottles in the fridge or freezer for an hour or two before you bottle, and then bottle it and cap. If you want, you can give the filled bottle a good rap on the counter to knock just enough CO2 out prior to capping to get some foam to cap on if you're going to be storing the bottles for a while. The process doesn't cause anywhere near a significant amount of CO2 to be lost.

Forgot to mention, keg isn't carbed yet. I wanted to prime these in the bottle, I've done bottling from a primed keg before.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I'm getting ready to rack an RIS to secondary and I wanted to add some coffee to it. Should I brew the coffee and just dump it in there, or should I put the grounds straight into the beer?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
So I'll go ahead and brew it; I guess 1 oz for 3 gallons? Should I use drip, press or espresso? Any specific roast?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Docjowles posted:

Avoid really dark roasts like French or espresso.

I just meant actual espresso, not the roast. For whatever its worth I roast my own coffee so I have pretty much any permutation of roast and bean immediately available. I think I'll try a lightly roasted Costa Rica to a shot of espresso.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Shifty Pony posted:

I have been considering just clearing out my entire kegging and kegerator setup. I just don't drink that much to justify it, it takes up a ton of space, is fiddly about proper carbonation, and going back to bottles would let me have a good mix on hand instead of the 5 gallon kegs.

Am I just getting too rosy eyed about how much of a pain in the rear end bottling is?

If variety is important you can always get a couple more kegs, fill/charge them, and then just disconnect and store them. I have 4 filled now (2 taps) and it is really easy to just swap one out when someone wants something different.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
So my LBS is doing this:

https://www.facebook.com/events/276308405834978/

I'm pretty interested but I don't know if I'm $20 worth of interested. Would this be worthwhile for a new brewer?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Crunkjuice posted:

So, wort chillers. All of the copper coil style chillers i've seen are just bent copper and some fittings to attach a garden hose. Any reason I can't just buy a coil myself (buddy has access to a 25 ft 3/8in OD coil for 25 bucks) and just bend it myself to save like 40 bucks? Is there something i'm missing or is it just some coiled copper and hose attachments. Also, does it really matter the wall thickness of the copper? We obviously won't have it up to any real pressure, but would we want thicker or thinner copper for better cooling?

I made my own. It took about 30 mins and it works great. I am profoundly unhandy too so it must be easy.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Any thoughts on this recipe? I'm sort of going for a halfassed clone of Heady Topper. Trying all late hop additions for the first time, going for a grapefruit-heavy hop character. Maris Otter is a stand-in for Pearl malt, would use all MO but my LBS only sells it in 10 lbs bags and I'm just that lazy.



HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: DIPA II

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.088
Final Gravity: 1.025
ABV (standard): 8.34%
IBU (tinseth): 94.34
SRM (morey): 7.7

FERMENTABLES:
10 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (71.4%)
3 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (21.4%)
8 oz - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (3.6%)
8 oz - Cane Sugar (3.6%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Simcoe for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 12.7, IBU: 24.89)
1 oz - Columbus for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 15, IBU: 29.39)
1 oz - Chinook for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13, IBU: 18.61)
1 oz - Cascade for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 10.02)
1 oz - Chinook for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13, IBU: 10.23)
1 oz - Cascade for 1 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 1.19)
1 oz - Chinook for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 13)
1 oz - Cascade for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 7)

MASH STEPS:
1) Infusion, Temp: 149 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 15.5 qt, Water Temp: 165
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Amount: 17.5 qt, Water Temp: 192

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Starter: Yes
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 68 F
Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)

NOTES:
2 L Starter

Primary @ 68
Secondary @ 68 for 1 week, 34 for 1 week

Dry hop in secondary

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Docjowles posted:

Is the desired FG really 1.025? That seems extremely high for a DIPA, maybe even high for a barleywine / imperial stout. Though I've never had Heady Topper so maybe it's real syrupy, I dunno.

You know I didn't even look at that, I'm not sure why brewersfriend thinks it will be that high. The S-05 yeast is listed at 72% which I guess is why, but it seems like every fermentation I do I wind up well over 80%. Should I back off on the OG a little?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Jo3sh posted:

At very least I would mash on the low end to make a nice fermentable wort. And I might ditch the Carapils also - it's not adding much color, and you don't need the dextrins at that OG.

I've been putting it in all my recipes for head purposes, what OG does it become unnecessary at?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Acceptableloss posted:

"try samples at different blends and see what tastes good".

I've only done this once, blending a pils and an IPA. I tried three permutations and one was clearly better so that's how I went obviously. It worked really well. I think there are just too many variables to really put any science to this sort of thing.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
I did an ESB recipe today, can use some feedback. It is a style I'm not all that familiar with. Could also use some guidance on fermentation temps.




HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: ESB

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5 gallons
Efficiency: 60% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.017
ABV (standard): 5.71%
IBU (tinseth): 37.67
SRM (morey): 11.93

FERMENTABLES:
10 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (93.6%)
8 oz - United Kingdom - Crystal 90L (4.7%)
3 oz - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (1.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 24.12)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 8.74)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 4.81)

MASH STEPS:
1) Infusion, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 13 qt, Water Temp: 171
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Amount: 14 qt, Water Temp: 187

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P 

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

internet celebrity posted:

Take this with a grain of salt but S-04 has ruined just about every beer I've used it in. If you like it that's cool but it never seems to work for me.

Could it be that it does best at lower temps? I was planning a zombie dust clone that used S04 also and it called for ferm temps around 62.

Is there another yeast I should use in the ESB? I only have access to White Labs stuff locally.

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

hellfaucet posted:

If you're trying to do a Three Floyd's Zombie Dust clone, their house yeast is Wyeast 1968, which is also WLP002. Take that for what it's worth.

This is the Zombie Dust recipe I was planning to try. Should I ditch the S-04 and just go with WLP002 for it?

Also here's my translation of it for my setup.

bewbies fucked around with this message at 13:27 on Mar 26, 2013

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
Couple of questions that I'm sure are retreads:

I have a pilsner that I racked to secondary earlier this week. It in primary @ 50 degrees for 3 weeks, then @ 34 for a week before I moved it to secondary. Two questions on this: is "autolysis" from leaving beer on the yeast actually a thing, or has that been pretty much debunked? Also, how long should I lager this for? It tasted really, really good when I tried it during racking.

Next, I feel like an IPA of mine that is getting a bit older (5 months) tastes...salty. I googled this and there were suggestions it could be hard water or minerals from a water heater, neither of which would apply. No other beers of mine have tasted like this. It is a pretty hoppy (~70 IBU) beer...is my palate just tasting bitter as salty for some reason? Is it because it is getting older?

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe
One more question:

Every beer that I've brewed so far (I've done 13 batches) has ended up finishing with an FG below 1.010. This includes a couple of IPAs that both had healthy amounts of crystal/dextrine, a heavy holiday ale, and a marzen (among others). All of the beers I've brewed have the taste/mouthfeel appropriate to their style, but the FG ALWAYS comes out low. This has been the case over 3 different hydrometers also. Fermentation temps are generally where they should be, it just winds up being really high attenuation.

Could I be doing something wrong in taking the gravity readings? Is the hydrometer wrong? It reads water as 1.000 and it is calibrated for 60*; I always adjust for temp and whatnot.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

bewbies
Sep 23, 2003

Fun Shoe

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

I pulled the trigger on a 10 gallon cooler from Lowe's. I also picked up a bunch of brass hardware for the spigot and whatnot, but after I did the math on what I found it turns out I'm spending something like $35 for an amalgamation of parts that's still missing a few key things (like stainless washers for the inside and high temperature o-rings). Given that Lowe's has a generous return policy I'm thinking of just returning those parts and spending $26 for the brass spigot assembly from Northern Brewer, especially since it still has stainless steel parts for the interior. Has anyone priced out the parts and found them cheaper elsewhere?

I think all of the parts for my tun, to include the copper pipe I used for the manifold (but not the cooler) cost about $25 at Lowes. I used a generic valve, two heat resistant rubber washers, a 4" bit of copper pipe to go from manifold to valve, and a couple of couplings. It has worked like a champ so far.

I used a 48 quart rectangular cooler by the way.

edit - I forgot the silicon sealant, that was another $5 or so but I'd imagine you're going to be buying that regardless.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply