Messages

1

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Drinking while brewing

« on: May 08, 2013, 11:06:37 AM »

I'll wait well into the boil to pop the top on a bottle of homebrew; and then it's usually only one with a sandwhich for lunch. I figure the hardest part is the mash, that requires the most attention from me and now that's in the past.
By the time I get to the boil it's lunch time on a Saturday and if the weather's nice it seems a shame not to partake of a previous brewing effort. I find that if I have more than just 1 or 2, then clean-up gets put off until the next day and I hate cleaning up hops and junk that have dried on the sides of the kettle.

+1 to that!

I write a Brew Day Sheet every time I brew so every step is clear including timing, amounts, etc., I actually include the following instruction: "When it comes to a boil, start the xx-min timer and have a homebrew!"

P.S. - That Brew Day Sheet has saved my butt a few times after a pint or two -

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Yeast and Fermentation / Re: starter volume

« on: May 02, 2013, 10:38:39 AM »

Yeastcalc mentions an "ideal gravity" of 1.037 for a starter - perhaps that was done to keep the grams of DME to milliliters of water ratio at a nice comfortable 10:100.

I'll assume the growth rate calculators were set up based on that OG, but does it really make that much of a difference in the growth rate or overall yeast health between a liter at 1.037 and a liter at 1.030?

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Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Step vs Batch

« on: April 11, 2013, 04:31:12 AM »

The advantage of stepping if you need a large pitch is that one can achieve an optimal growth rate if the starter pitch rate is within certain limits (also discussed in the book "Yeast"). Within that pitch rate the yeast will grow at their highest rate while maintaining a healthy growth environment.

The disadvantage of stepping is vessel size limitations (for some, myself included), time, and risk of infection. If sanitation is at the forefront of your brewing operations, infection should not be a problem. Stepping does require crashing and decanting to remove the spent wort leaving only the healthy slurry, and a significant increase in the volume is usually a good idea, 10 times is recommended but I've had good success with much smaller second steps.

Making a starter is as much about increasing the cell count as it is about creating the healthiest pitch possible. Starting with a large volume such as 4 liters will grow yeast, just not as much as a 2 liter starter, assuming one vial or smack-pack is used.

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Ingredients / Re: Post your water report

« on: February 18, 2013, 08:49:43 AM »

Sugar Hill, GA (North Gwinnett County), Tap Water sent to Ward Labs, February 2013

pH                                                         7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm          59
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm                0.10
Cations / Anions, me/L                              0.9 / 0.9

                                                            ppm
Sodium, Na                                             6
Potassium, K                                           2
Calcium, Ca                                            8
Magnesium, Mg                                       2
Total Hardness, CaCO3                             28
Nitrate, NO3-N                                        0.4 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S                                       2
Chloride, Cl                                            11
Carbonate, CO3                                     < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3                                  26
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3                             22
Total Phosphorus, P                                 0.69
Total Iron, Fe                                        < 0.01

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Ingredients / Re: Mosaic Hops?

« on: November 06, 2012, 04:29:20 AM »

Any idea if this years crop was large enough for some to be pelletized? I've never used whole hops before but if they're not going to go pellets for a while, I guess this'll be my chance to break into whole hops.

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All Grain Brewing / Re: Will Double Crush Improve Efficiency?

« on: November 05, 2012, 07:23:47 PM »

Improving efficiency can be done by adjusting the crush or double-crushing, sure, but do be mindful the tighter you go or if you double-crush, the more chance of damaging the husks to the extent you'll start extracting tannin.

I invoke shenanigans. Tannin extraction is a function of pH and, to a lesser extent, temperature. A super-fine crush doesn't change either.

Crush shouldn't affect tannin extraction in any way, so I recommend crushing as finely as you can get away with without sticking the sparge.

The only risk I can see is that you might increase the chance of shredding the husks, which has the potential of increasing polyphenol solubilization.

You are right - heavily damaged husk material would simply be more soluble, but at the small amounts any of this matter would make it into the boil - as Denny said; it wouldn't matter.

Do you mean suspended husks?  I meant solubilized, or dissolved.  All dissolved tannins will make it to the boil.  I suppose you might see this as chill haze before you notice the astringency.

What I'm thinking is that any such material that makes its way into solution would likely be precipitated out in either the hot or cold break, or could be fined out later. Please correct me if I am wrong; polyphenols or tannins bind to proteins which help them fall out of suspension, right? Those that don't fall out naturally can be forced out with finings, if I am understanding this correctly. This should reduce the chance of chill haze.

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All Grain Brewing / Re: Will Double Crush Improve Efficiency?

« on: November 05, 2012, 11:09:38 AM »

Improving efficiency can be done by adjusting the crush or double-crushing, sure, but do be mindful the tighter you go or if you double-crush, the more chance of damaging the husks to the extent you'll start extracting tannin.

I invoke shenanigans. Tannin extraction is a function of pH and, to a lesser extent, temperature. A super-fine crush doesn't change either.

Crush shouldn't affect tannin extraction in any way, so I recommend crushing as finely as you can get away with without sticking the sparge.

The only risk I can see is that you might increase the chance of shredding the husks, which has the potential of increasing polyphenol solubilization.

You are right - heavily damaged husk material would simply be more soluble, but at the small amounts any of this matter would make it into the boil - as Denny said; it wouldn't matter.

8

All Grain Brewing / Re: Will Double Crush Improve Efficiency?

« on: November 01, 2012, 04:15:43 AM »

Improving efficiency can be done by adjusting the crush or double-crushing, sure, but do be mindful the tighter you go or if you double-crush, the more chance of damaging the husks to the extent you'll start extracting tannin.

You may also want to explore "conditioning" your grains - lay the whole grains out on a large flat surface like a counter top, and spritz them lightly with distilled water the night before you crush. This will soften the husks such that when you crush, the husks will slip off more readily and be in better shape should you choose a tighter gap on your mill.

I also do my mini-mashes in a 5-gallon paint strainer bag when I partial-mash, and upon measuring my extract efficiency, I'm hitting the upper 80's to mid-90's regularly BUT - I am pouring my sparge water slowly over the bag suspended in a strainer over the kettle I did the mini-mash in (I do this using 3 or 4 quarts of sparge water from the larger (boil) pot), and then dunking the bag in the remainder of the water in the bigger boil pot - sort of a two-step sparge process that has yielded a terrific efficiency for me thus far. I dunk until the runnings are below 1.015 SG. I crush at the factory setting (0.039) and only crush once.

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Ask the Experts / Re: Ask the Experts: Mitch Steele on IPA

« on: October 28, 2012, 05:46:21 PM »

I just brewed a Black Double IPA using Carafa III at 5.4% of grist; a base of Maris Otter, some crystal and what-not, and what I deemed to be a ridiculous hop schedule (over half a pound spread out over 5 minute intervals for a 60-minute boil). It'll get 2 dry-hop charges over a 10-day period as well.

Thinking that this should first be a double IPA, then it should be black, I tried to keep the dark malt at a level where it would just make the beer dark, but not too "roasty" so as not to compete with the hops.

When I was done collecting the wort, it was quite dark and it smelled a bit more roasty than I thought it would, but not too roasty (not quite stout-like), in my opinion.

With enough hops and what I hope turns out to be a balanced malt background and considering the dark malt was only 5.4% of grist; will the slight roasty character I smell now mellow in the fermenter or otherwise fall to the background where it should be?

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Ingredients / Mosaic Hops?

« on: October 28, 2012, 04:44:18 PM »

Where can I buy the new Mosaic hops? I've looked around on-line and have yet to find anyone selling them.

Anyone?

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Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Briess lme/dme sodium content

« on: October 01, 2012, 03:32:33 PM »

Is there an easy way to learn what the sodium content is in other brands' DME and LME? And if Briess knows about this (and I have to think they do...) do they plan on doing something about it? I'd think this could impact their business a bit.

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Equipment and Software / Re: Fermentation Immersion Chiller

« on: September 26, 2012, 10:53:12 AM »

To support what Kai said; I would also not recommend using copper in the fermenter b/c as the beer ferments, the pH drops down into the 4.4 - 4.7 range - low enough to leach copper into your beer. I'd avoid this by going with AISI 304 or 316 stainless steel to avoid corrosion.

13

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: CO2 bottle in the fridge?

« on: September 26, 2012, 07:44:43 AM »

Thanks for all of the clarification. I'm not too concerned about the temperature of the CO2, per se, I'm more concerned that the entire carbonating process works equally well from an equipment stance with the bottle at 70F or 40F which seems to be the case.

Oh, and interesting bit on finding the hot gas lines before drilling holes through them - good stuff!

14

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: White Labs vials?

« on: September 24, 2012, 04:30:58 PM »

Shot glasses? I feel some tequila coming on...

15

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: CO2 bottle in the fridge?

« on: September 22, 2012, 02:41:42 PM »

Cool, thanks!

So; does this "drop" apply to all gauges or just the one that correlates to the pressure coming from the bottle? How about the regulated gauge to the cornie? Will that one drop also, and if so; is there a correction factor I should be aware of to know I am putting, say, 12 psi to my keg?