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robotsinmyhead posted:From what I gathered, "Food Grade" CO2 is the same CO2, but it's dispensed through a tap that is different than the ones industrial places might use. At least, that's what the cantankerous guy at Praxis told me. He blamed the change on Obama. Food grade is the exact same CO2. The difference is in the regulator type and standards of purity to meet regulations to avoid potentially getting people sick. Your bike cylinder (inflator/airsoft canister) is the same grade more or less, but isn’t food grade because the manufacture process gives a shitload of oil into the unit. When you blitz out CO2 you get the oil with it - to a level that isn’t approved for “food grade.” In the worst cases, without a good high purity regulator, you might get rust, other particulate, and god knows what in the outgassing. I’m new to the thread and I’m an absolute idiot so I haven’t thoroughly searched the thread, so I’m going to immediately ask the probably answered question of flavor profile of the multihead neomexicana hops. I live in CO, and I grow hops, so this is definitely my jam. It sounds like an aroma strain I’d like, but I’ve been burned before (looking at you citra) by too much polyphenol/thiol content leading to “cat piss,” and I definitely want to avoid that in what I’m growing. So far I’ve been lucky with cascade/centennial, but the centennial isn’t as productive given my growing climate. Cascade I can’t get rid of fast enough. I’m trying out rakau this year and am also curious about multihead - the neomexicana being the most interesting since it’s disease and fraught resistant. Anyone have thoughts on the multihead (or even rakau)?
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Mar 25, 2018 14:38
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robotsinmyhead posted:No thoughts, but we have the same issue here (Northern Indiana). Cascade and Nugget grow like gangbusters and Noble hops do really well, but we couldn't get much going out of our CTZ and they gave up last year. Just the small plot we have right now is more than enough work for a couple of homebrewers. Glad to hear! I'm going through the second year of cascade, so I'm going to be pruning bines for the first time this year, to boost cone production and flavor. Hopefully the centennial will also perk up a bit this year since it was a touch too shady last year for where they are - the difference in plant size was stupendous. If nobody else has grown either the Rakau (nee AlphAroma) or the Multihead, I'm happy to see how they perform this year and post a report. Both sounded like perfect additions for a west coast session IPA/APA in the aroma/dry hop.
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Mar 25, 2018 22:22
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Napoleon Bonaparty posted:I was thinking of growing some Cascade as well, is it too late to start? What are some good tips/references for planting hops? Depending on where you live, no. It's plenty early. Generally, it's best to plant after last frost to avoid potentially shocking the rhizome if you're not planting a field-ready crown. I've always planted my rhizome about 4-6" below the topsoil, and then generously fill in with compost and growing soil that is nitrogen rich. About halfway through the season, towards mid-summer I switch to phosphate rich fertilizer. Mulch over the winter. Most online guides are consistent in information delivered - what changes is whether or not you're in an ideal climate for that strain of hops. In CO where I live, Cascade, Chinook, and Nugget grow very well. Crystal supposedly grows well out here as well. Centennial is not great, but not bad. Teamaker is quite good here, but isn't a great beer hop. I'm trying Rakau and the Multihead neomexicana strain to see how well they do. I live in a fairly arid and dry climate, so I tend to water once a week to make sure the crowns are getting enough water. All my plants are in direct sunlight and are situated on the south side of my house for maximum exposure. If the crown beds in, it will grow like a weed - the crowns can get ridiculously huge so unless you don't care or actually want the crown to be nigh-indestructable, you may want to limit the size of the crown. Some people have made 2'x2' walls that are buried i the ground that the crown "lives in" so that they can easily pull up the crown, trim back the crown, and replant to avoid significant issues over time. Personally, I decided it wasn't worth it since I have plans to essentially cover the south side of my house with hops.
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Mar 26, 2018 04:12
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Jhet posted:I think you'd need something more than a triangle test for this to be significant. Which is unfortunate, but I suspect that you'd end up extracting more of certain compounds with the extended mashing than you would otherwise. Or that this 3 hours mash includes multiple steps and isn't just an infusion mash. I'd think that was more likely as well. I do remember a chapter on mashes and the chemical processes that occur in this Chemistry of Brewing book that I have, but it's late and I won't try to understand chemistry until I'm at least two cups of coffee in tomorrow morning. If I find anything I will report back. Anything past 20 minutes at stepped temperatures for protein or sacch rest is pointless. For my protein, I sit at 120-122 for 10 minutes, beta amylase rest is 140 for 15-20, and alpha is 155-160 for 20. I typically sit at 115 for ferulic acid for 10-15 if I make a weiss. At the brewery we use a 30bbl system and we tend to sit for about 50min in MLT just to ensure full thermal consistency - we typically have the rakes moving super slow to avoid disturbing the vorlauf too much but enough to get even temperature through the mash. Longer contact definitely changes wort composition, particularly with respect to what either hydrolyzes or enzymatically is released; but temperature obviously has a lot to do with this as well. Everyone knows not to sit too long at too high a temperature with really dark malts to reduce tannin (as an example). I’d need to dig up my brewing chem books as well - but I really doubt it becomes much of an issue until you reach levels of scale that cause issues, such as laminar flow issues during vorlauf, etc.
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Mar 30, 2018 14:29
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Jhet posted:My saison kicked and now I'm paler beer-less again. I wanted to brew a KY Common next, but I think a standard bitter or APA might be necessary. Honestly, I think I should just buy a new bucket and write 3711 on it in permanent marker and go back to using it. That or just use my sour kit for it. Or maybe I just need to brew about 6 batches to keep in a cellar to drink. Such wonderful problems to have. Honestly, I’ve had zero issues with diastaticus. Caustic and surface sani with acid rinse is fine. Right now is a great time to play with witbier and pretty much all permutations of it. Also, pretty much playing with dry hopping the poo poo out of crisp pale lagers.
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Apr 3, 2018 18:33
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Jhet posted:I wish that were the case. I've had issues with it ruining a stout and a porter while not drinking them quickly enough. I'd worry less after I set up a recirculating system for cleaning, but until I've got that done I'll keep things separate. Any idea where the cross contamination came from? Are you still using buckets and glass carboys? As far as lagering goes, it’s reasonably easy to put together a peltier system to help maintain temperature if you’re space limited. I went with a couple of chest freezers from Costco with probe/cutoff switches for temperature regulation. I’m a pedantic rear end, so I have one that is 45-50 for initial fermentation, then one at 35-40 for cold crash overnight and long term storage (I never manage to keep kegs full for more than a month). Works well, and I’m moving to steel conicals at home for better replication of recipes and fermentation profile. I’m hoping to scale to half bbl soon.    Hops are coming in nicely! Almost time to select the vines I want to keep and send up the twine. 
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Apr 4, 2018 02:22
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Jhet posted:^ Is that a juniper on the ground there too? I can't make out the shape. It might be time to splurge on a temperature controlled conical. I’ve brewed in my fairly consistently since I’ve picked it up - almost entirely IPA/saison with it and it is definitely worth it. Nabbing the sprayball attachment was also a massive plus since I can cycle caustic and acid sani for fifteen minutes, lock it up, and it’s done until next brew day. The new uni tank from Spike it pretty baller. My brew lab at work will be picking some up, so I can probably provide a review of them if people are interested.
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Apr 4, 2018 15:29
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ChiTownEddie posted:I have an 8oz package of Amarillo from renewing my homebrew association membership. I don't really want to use all 8 in 1 beer but don't have any way to vacuum seal a bag. Should I just not worry and use the remaining hops soon or will they get eff'ed from the oxygen exposure? Ghetto O2 purge is to buy some dry ice and then pop small pieces into a ziploc bag that is mostly closed up, but not sealed. The CO2 will purge out if there's enough dry ice in there, then you can squeeze out air space and then seal and shove in the freezer. Works for me, and it's not bad for storing for a month or so, but no longer.
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Apr 7, 2018 19:44
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robotsinmyhead posted:More adventures in Kettle Souring: I kettle sour at 110-115F for 24-48 and have it down to pH 3.2 pretty fast. Brevis or delbrueckii work fine for it.
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May 1, 2018 15:42
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Anyone have experience with using brett. claussenii? I'm looking at a 10gal barrel that used to be a single malt whiskey barrel that I am going to full on dirty-bomb with a combination of a claussenii and lacto to produce a really sour, lightly funk, whiskey sour beer. I don't think I can get my hands on the drie strain unfortunately.
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May 22, 2018 02:38
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robotsinmyhead posted:Getting kinda pissed with my kegging. I've had good luck burst carbing kegs, but I'm starting to realize that almost all my beer is kinda flat. I put this new one on 40psi for like 5 days, offgassed it, hooked it up, repressurized to serving, and it's super foamy, but the beer isn't really carbonated. For this specific beer, I want an effervescent fizzy thing, but after the foam clears, it's pretty dead. Carb stone is a better means of carbing than burst carb in my experience.
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May 26, 2018 04:01
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They're pretty cheap to buy. Amazon sells a few varieties. I think Morebeer or NorthernBrewer sells a combo corni-lid that seals and has a port for carbing as well. You can always throw one onto the CO2 inlet of your corni and go from there.
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May 26, 2018 15:21
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hot cocoa on the couch posted:I’ve tried my own invert sugar and reducing a portion of the wort into a syrup on the stove top during brew day but I find it can be a hassle and inconsistent. I’ve brewed probably 10-15 quads/dubbels now and I find the predictable results from just dumping in the syrup to bring me less stress on brew day, especially now that I have a house quad recipe I want to turn out the same every time now This. I don’t have the time or patience to do it myself. It’s easier to blow a few bucks on a pound of 5L candi syrup instead.
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May 27, 2018 21:16
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Jhet posted:Yet, the BJCP will define NEIPA as a style... NOT YET. 
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May 30, 2018 04:42
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robotsinmyhead posted:I bought one of those carb stone corny lids and followed the directions to a T - even left it longer than it wanted in the final "stage". Almost no carbonation present. I could definitely hear the gas going through it, but still nothing. Harsh. I assume you had a blowout set to 15psi?
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Jun 18, 2018 16:36
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Jhet posted:Seems like a similar concept to the carb stone, but you're moving the beer more so that the CO2 gets dissolved into solution faster. An hour is still 55 minutes longer than the quick carb method in the OP, and I'd expect unless it's crystal clear you're waiting for solids to settle in either case. I think the Blichmann system is a homebrew sized version of something you'd use in a large production brewery, so it should work fine. I know you can do the same thing to oxygenate your wort on the way from chiller to fermenter too. 5 microns SS stones are easy to clean - just drop in hot caustic and sani with PAA. Easy enough and then just let it air dry. Purge with gas before drying just to make sure the PAA doesn't accidentally pit the pores.
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Jun 18, 2018 19:02
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rockcity posted:I'm looking at it for that reason too. I just picked up a Grainfather to see how I like it instead of a cooler mash tun and propane burner. Having used one a bit, it's not really that much better or worse. Just different.  It definitely has the advantage of being easy to store - it suffers from being a one and done kind of kit. Not modular, and doesn't have a lot of flexibility.
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Jun 18, 2018 21:58
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Jo3sh posted:Agreed with the KISS rule. I'd add that good beer comes from good ingredients. Nearly all of my beer recipes begin as either a preprohibition lager, helles, cream ale, or imperial milk stout and then I adjust to what I need. Seems to work well. I am slowly making a transition to RootShoot malting for their Genie and Odyssey malt. It’s ridiculously good if you can find it. Genie works as a great light toast 2-row with better extraction and fermentation efficiency. Odyssey is a superior version Weyerman pils with a fresher and crisper flavor. Highly recommend both.
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Jun 25, 2018 15:20
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Jo3sh posted:Cool. I just sent them a message asking if they have any distributors in SoCal. Barring that, I may have to find a reason to make a trip to NE Colorado. Not yet, but we're in the process of securing a contract, so I may be able to ask the rep to send over a 50# bag to play with.
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Jun 26, 2018 03:03
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Anyone built out a jockey box? I'm trying to determine if it's better to go with a Yeti cooler (lots of recommendations of Yetis) or something cheaper. I'm not looking for more than a full day (~5 hours) of pouring, so I figure the mega insulation of the Yetis is a bit overkill, but I have no experience with actually running a jockey box much. 
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Jul 9, 2018 02:56
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Belgian saison, but not typical of spec. You can adjust by using a ferulic acid rest. Edit: for the goon asking about the root shoot metcalfe pale malt - it is loving delicious. Not as good as genie, but definitely a crisp pale malting that would probably be best as a neutral base malt. I liked that genie had a bit more sweetness and snap, somewhere in between odyssey and metcalfe. gamera009 fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jul 12, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2018 05:44
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Jo3sh posted:Awesome, thanks for the update. I never did hear back re: SoCal distros, though. Maybe if you get a chance you could ask your contact over there just as idle conversation. Otherwise, I may have to take a trip up to Colorado one of these days. Feel free to come crash at my place. You can come brew on the pilot system at the homebrew store I brew for. It’d be fun to do something dumb and hilarious for a brew day. ALBUNO STOUT.
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Jul 12, 2018 23:13
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Having used pretty much every chiller, short of a counterflow peltier system, I’ve come to appreciate and rely on a counterflow chiller. I dislike the amount of poo poo that gets caught in plate chillers (even with whirlpool and edge-pinned drain tubes), and heat exchangers are really only good once you’re at commercial and have a dedicated HLT to keep full. I like that I can get wort to 65 reliably, and I consistently can get a good clean/sanitized unit at the end of the day without worrying there might be something still stuck in the chiller that could impact flavor. Just my personal preference though.
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Jul 19, 2018 06:14
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calandryll posted:Alright let's talk balancing a draft system. I bought a 3 connector manifold with all the parts and pieces from Keg Connection. I've hit a point now where I actually have all 3 taps connected with beer but I'm experiencing some issues with carbonation. I have a Wit, Kolsch and Brown ale, 1, 2, 3 respectively, set up. What is happening is my middle tap is over carbonated but the other 2 taps barely carbonate the beer. I keep my kegerator about 50 F with the regulator at 12 psi. If I remember correctly the keg connection tubes are 5ft at whatever the common ID is. I just can't figure out why my middle one overcarbonates and the other two are undercarbonated. Suggestions on what to look for or mess around with? Is the manifold regulated? 3-stage manifold or just gas in, and a 3-way splitter? Generally speaking, unless all 3 can be carbonated to the same level, I’m not a fan of the splitter with no regulation. That being said, I still have the same kind of setup, but have needle valves to be able to manually turn ports on and off, etc. I’ve found that as one beer gets consumed faster than the others, headspace changes affect carbonation levels if I’ve got two on that are being consumed, but one that I’m trying to carb. I’ll turn off all but the carbonating port and blitz about half to 3/4 of the volumes I need and then let it go overnight. Ports all go on afterwards.
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Aug 24, 2018 15:05
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rockcity posted:Any source written in the last 5 years. You will not find a book written in this time that recommends a secondary for any purpose other than aging or adding some sort of actual secondary fermentation ingredients. Yeast are what clean up a lot of off flavor so moving your beer off of it isn't always a good idea. Beer can be left in primary for up to a couple months with no real ill effect. Also, by transferring you are also adding another step that could introduce oxygen to your beer post fermentation, which is a bad thing, especially in hoppy beers. This isn’t really applicable in conicals. Best practices is to move the trub after diAc rest to avoid autolytic flavors that come from overexposure to lysate. In a bucket there’s less compaction, but in conicals (even 6-7gallon jobs) you’ll want to dump things if you’re running a fairly big yeast load.
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Sep 1, 2018 06:25
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rockcity posted:Sure, if you have a true conical with a valve. Otherwise you have to rack the beer and increase your odds of oxidation. I would be shocked if more than 5% of homebrewers own a conical with a dump valve. Plastic conicals are fairly cheap and pretty well built nowadays. I haven’t used any of the newer ones but people in he local club like them quite a bit. Most have figured out a way to adapt butterfly valves and TC fittings to them. Sorry about the space though. I wouldn’t say that autolysis is a bogeyman nowadays. May be for different reasons, but autolysis in the brewery is absolutely real and everyone takes steps to avoid it. Conditions are less likely for most homebrewers (hydrostatic pressure is a big part of it) but use of high temp yeasts and mixed fermentation can and do cause autolysis much more frequently than typical ale or lager yeasts. gamera009 fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Sep 2, 2018 |
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Sep 2, 2018 14:58
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DISCO KING posted:Something I'd like to try is timed fwh additions. I'd be curious how different a boiled vs fwh schedule would be; same time in the heat, but at different temperature ranges. Has anyone done a beer that was fwh only? I live and brew at altitude. FWH makes a difference for me since my boil is fully 10+ degrees colder.
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Sep 18, 2018 01:09
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DISCO KING posted:Okay, so I swapped out the darker malts for some Vienna, but my efficiency sucked hard. Beersmith estimates my efficiency is down at 42%, and I literally could not put more grain in my kettle. Maybe I just suck at sparging? DME is always a fast and reliable life saver. Adding candisyrup/sugar tends to thin everything out depending on the dosing. On the other hand, my best tripel recipe had about 20% invert sugar in the form of honey and candi sugar so who knows?
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Oct 19, 2018 14:32
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This is what our lab and program is engaging in. The visceral response we get from people I’ve spoken to regarding some things (“whirpooling is critical for flavor!”) makes it seem like I’m murdering a family member. Also, autolysis is a thing and secondary or krausening does actually help. It’s just dependent on the beer and fermentation approach. Most people brewing at home below 20P won’t know the difference.
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Oct 29, 2018 04:00
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robotsinmyhead posted:loving burned through another bottle of gas overnight. I'm going through these wild ups-and-downs with kegging and I'm loving tired of it. I rebuilt that keg the other day, new o-rings, new poppets, leak tested, put a beer in it yesterday morning, went on gas. I checked it all day with no change - I get up this morning and it's loving dead. Time to fill the tub and submerge the keg. There’s always spraying the poo poo out of the top with starsan. If you’ve replaced all the gaskets, you might want to double check the gas inlet fitting as well. Is the gas inlet fitting using a check valve?
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Nov 24, 2018 16:21
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triple clutcher posted:It's amazing how true this is. Tonight I opened a bottle of homebrew that'd been sitting in my fridge for at least two months, and after pouring it was clear enough to read through, whereas when fresh it was completely opaque. If only because I have access to huge amounts of it, I tend to toss in a bit of clarex and biofine when I want it super clear right away.
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Jan 4, 2019 04:27
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Jhet posted:Biofine is pretty cheap and is a decent thing to keep in the cabinet. It's about $3 over at morebeer for homebrew sizes for multiple batches. Clarity Firm/Clarex is more expensive that I'd keep on hand as it's $4 per batch. Honestly, if you don't share with vegans, gelatin fining is probably the cheapest option I can think of after just using time. I'll do gelatin for beers that I'm trying to turn quickly because I have a ton of it in my kitchen anyway. The second advantage of clarex is that gluten-free people can drink it when dosed correctly. Gave it to two people with Celiac with no problems!
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Jan 5, 2019 02:13
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hot cocoa on the couch posted:Wait wait wait, there's a product out there that reduces gluten content of regular (barley/wheat) beer to under 20ppm and doesn't affect flavour? Am I reading this right? This is pretty fuckin revolutionary if so, what with the current gluten-free trend. ClareX reduces chill haze by cleaving proteins at proline(?) apart. Most people testing lighter ales and lager report down to 10ppm of gluten based on the immunoassay available.
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Jan 5, 2019 22:05
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robotsinmyhead posted:I'm aware of that o-ring and it's on my list to get a new one on my next fill. That part seems to be fine, but I can't tell. Might as well just get a new one. It’s fairly critical to get a good one that isn’t pitted and mates well.
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Jan 7, 2019 20:34
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Heer98 posted:Hmm, my beer is bubbling away amiably, but I just noticed a poopy kind of smell when I walked into the closet I put the fermenter in. Is it possible that my beer could be infected and still producing co2? It is the same fermenter I had a lacto infection in last month Poopy as in sulfurous, or poopy as in literal sewage and poo poo? Sewage and poo poo is common for enterobacter in terms of aroma, but you should t have any unless you didn’t properly sanitize your work area - and you were brewing next to a floor drain.
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Jan 28, 2019 06:17
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mehall posted:It's been 3 weeks in the fermenter, so it's not that young. If I were to put on my QC hat, id need to know what the ingredients were. Water and hops can do this when combined with yeast that are stressed. Wet hops or poor sanitation might do it, but less likely if you used pellets and made sure everything was sanitary. How long did the hops sit in there, and at what temp?
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Feb 3, 2019 05:25
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robotsinmyhead posted:I've had a Lavatools pen for like 3 years and never changed the battery. I really need to verify the temp reading on it though. A friend has one just like mine and there's a noticeable difference in readings. Do the thermapens have 2-point calibration? I typically just use an IR thermometer, but it’d be nice to have a javelin for quick batches now and again, for more accurate reads than surface temp.
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Feb 19, 2019 15:32
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Voss kveik yeast looking good. 1.086 SG torn down to 1.014 in six days. At 77F ferm temp. No DiAc. No acetaldehyde. Slight sulfur. All orange soda flavors. Still churning out CO2. Still smelling great and alive. I plan on krausening with WLP01 to force flocc everything and fine the sulfur and any residual off flavors out. I’m mildly terrified. Kveik yeast is insanity.
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Feb 24, 2019 03:31
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Jhet posted:Commercial pitch of Voss or the traded culture? Imperial Loki is supposedly Voss. Omega sells hothead, which is supposed to be hornindal. I have a pitch of the hothead to try next.
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Feb 25, 2019 00:36
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Jhet posted:It's delicious. I've used it quite a few times. It used to be called HBC438, but released widely this year. It makes some amazing stuff. I may use some of the Pekko in the IPA too. See what sort of herbal and fruit I can get out of a whirlpool. Sabro is a fantastic hop. I don’t know why it’s being discontinued. It could be that the cotton candy finish is unsettling for some people. We’ve used it in braggots and ipas successfully. It’s not a great dual use, but for broad dry hopping schedules, it’s fantastic. As far as going pro, once you’re doing it for a living your life is basically a nonstop whirlwind of activity. I do mostly QC work and R&D for a brewery, and that’s already 10-12 hrs of my day. Add on the free beers and that’s a solid 11-13 hour day.
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Mar 1, 2019 04:34
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