Messages

1

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: WLP565 What a monster

« on: May 09, 2013, 04:24:17 AM »

I've got my first saison in primary right now using the Danstar Belle Saison dry yeast.  I have not checked gravity but when it seemed like fermentation was over and I was going to rack it, I looked closely and saw tiny bubbles coming up the side of the carboy.  Then again a week later.  And again a week later.  It's been in the primary for almost 3 weeks and it is still fermenting, very slowly.  Still cloudy, still glugging along.  I guess my advice out of all of this is, if you want a bone dry beer and avoid gushers, patience is key.  Don't think it's over until you know for certain it is over.  Gosh... I won't be at all surprised if I hit an FG of 0.999 on this one or something ungodly low like that.

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Beer Recipes / Re: Vienna Lager Recipe Input

« on: May 05, 2013, 06:28:40 PM »

I agree with a10t2's comments.  Personally for a little color I add an ounce or two of chocolate malt.  Carafa is an even better idea.

3

All Grain Brewing / Re: Negative Bicarbonate in Bru'n Water

« on: May 04, 2013, 08:23:16 AM »

Lower pH, period.  If you wanted your mash pH to hit 5.3, and it does, then you have succeeded.  The only other concern is whether you've used too much acid and the pH is lower, maybe 5.0-5.1 or something.  If that's the case, then obviously the beer might end up with an odd tartness.  All just educated extrapolations, I am not a water expert ala Palmer or Brungard (sp).

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All Grain Brewing / Re: Negative Bicarbonate in Bru'n Water

« on: May 04, 2013, 08:13:02 AM »

Just an educated guess but I think it means all your bicarbonate will be gone, fizzing all of it out as CO2, and then the negative value probably means that even if you added that much more bicarbonate in, it will still fizz out, whereas if you hit zero then there would be an even balance again.  Must be part of that balancing act known as "buffering".

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Ingredients / Re: Dry hop a lager?

« on: April 30, 2013, 09:03:52 PM »

Sacrilege!  I don't like to late hop or dry hop my lagers.  I'm snooty like that.  I figure if you're going to make a hop bomb, it might as well be an ale or it kind of defeats the purpose of lagering to bring out the malt character.  Of course there are other people who love dry hopping their lagers and do it all the time.  It's totally up to you.  But I wouldn't do it.

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All Grain Brewing / Re: I need 120L Crystal

« on: April 25, 2013, 06:17:46 PM »

What you *might* be able to do is to steep some Crystal 60 in a little warm water for 20 minutes, then boil it down to a very thick, caramelized syrup, and then use that in your beer.  Not sure how close this would come to real Crystal 120, but hey, it might make for an interesting experiment.  At the very least, you'll make beer!

7

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brewstrong

« on: April 24, 2013, 03:52:23 PM »

Brew Strong was never a very good show, IMHO.  Jamil and Justin and the crew had other great shows for a lot of years, but then in the past 3 years or thereabouts, the whole BN thing just kind of flopped, at least that's how it felt for me.  I don't listen to any of it anymore, except maybe the occasional episode from 2007-2008 from the good ole days.  I agree with others that the crap-to-quality ratio has swung too far.  10:1 isn't even close.  It's more like 500:1 these days.

As for judges, I might actually have to agree with Jamil (not personally hearing his actual points being made, but anyway...) that there are a surprising number of crap judges out there.  I say this, and I myself am a Recognized judge (and a damn fine one, at that -- just ask me).  Enter a couple of competitions, and you'll find my opinion about crap judges to be true very quickly when you get scoresheets back that don't make any sense and/or provide zero useful feedback.  Happens everyday, all the time, all over the place.

BJCP will never be perfect.  There are too many thousands of judges and we cannot all be policed, nor should we be.  We are all entitled to our own opinions based on our own experiences and knowledge base, which have an extremely broad range, and some of us write a hell of a lot more than others (ha ha).  All I can try to do as a judge is to dish out the same level of feedback that I would expect if I were entering, or better -- go the extra mile and try to make the homebrew world a better place.  That's what I strive for.

Here is a thought: It is possible to be egotistical, AND to be correct, at the same time.  Occasionally somebody gets it right.  Jamil *might* be one of those guys.  Personally I don't always agree with everything he says, far from it in fact.  But undeniably, he is a pretty smart dude, and he's accomplished a lot.  If it's all gone to his head, well... can you really blame him?  I don't know.  I'm not sure what I'd do in his situation.  It's hard for a camel to get through the eye of a needle and all that.  You also need to remember that Jamil is not Jesus.  He is not to be worshipped.  He is human.  Give him a break!  You don't like what he has to say?  Offended?  Fine, go listen to some other podcast, who cares.  If I were him, I'd expect the same response.

Personally my favorite podcast of all time was Craft Brewer Radio with Graham Sanders.  He was wrong.  A lot.  A ton of technical errors.  But a lot of good tidbits in there too.  And entertaining to listen to.  For educational podcasts, Basic Brewing all the way baby.  Love that one.  It's very dry, but chock full of good info and minimal fluff.  If you don't like Brew Strong, rest assured -- there are many great podcasts out there.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Making sure it carbonates?

« on: April 23, 2013, 06:56:26 AM »

I am a very lazy brewer and I let my beer sit for a month a LOT.  Like, most of the time.  If/when you rack it to the bottling bucket, just carry over an ounce or two of the yeast cake from the bottom of the fermenter, and everything will turn out great.  Now, if you'd have let your beer sit there for two or three months, well then you need to add fresh yeast.  But one month?  No problem at all, no worries whatsoever.  The yeast is still alive down there and ready to eat your priming sugar, guaranteed.

9

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 2 week Diacetyl rest?

« on: April 18, 2013, 07:26:27 PM »

I do this a lot.  I think it will be fine.  If you have any cool part of your house to keep the fermenter cool after several days d-rest, it might be better, but don't sweat it if you can't, the beer will turn out fine anyway.

10

Beer Recipes / Re: Hopping a Kolsch

« on: April 18, 2013, 08:47:12 AM »

Hopping is totally up to you, obviously.  Personally, I only do 60 and 10 minute additions, and the 10-minute for flavor is small.  I don't see any advantage to 30 or 1 minute additions for this style, nor even FWH.  Just wastes of hops IMHO.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: budweiser yes, but kind of cool

« on: April 17, 2013, 10:27:02 AM »

Hmm... let's do the math here... assuming they'll charge the same price for these packages compared with 12-ounce packaging, they will bring in revenues of 12/11.3 what they did before... this is a 6.2% return.  Surely the average Bud drinker knows and cares that this is the real reason for the "bow tie" design.  Ha.  Worthless gimmick.  Anything to make more money.

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Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Acetaldehyde

« on: April 12, 2013, 02:04:19 PM »

If you find some acetaldehyde you can sometimes mitigate it with an even warmer rest than your diacetyl rest. Acetaldehyde has a boiling temp of around 72f IIRC. so it will gas out if you keep the finished beer there for a couple days.

^^^ This ^^^

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: My "house" bug is taking over! Sanitation help needed

« on: April 09, 2013, 10:03:07 AM »

Don't mix vinegar & bleach.  While each has its merits, they deactivate each other.  You'd be better off using them sequentially w/a water rinse between.

not true. 

Bleach is sold at a pH that "stabilizes" it.  If you reduce the pH (via vinegar) it becomes one of the most effective surface sanitizers you can buy (or make in this case).  However, the life of acidified bleach is reduced.

just make sure you never confuse vinegar with ammonia.

Not true.  Mixture of bleach and any acid generates toxic chlorine gas, which can kill more than just the bugs in your plastic -- it can kill YOU.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Vinegar.htm

Regarding the OP's dilemma... if it makes you feel any better (ha ha), I too have had a lot of unintentionally soured batches over the years due to permanent plastic and hose contam issues, to the point that I have recently converted 100% to glass carboys for all my fermentations.  Never a plastic bucket again for me.  Hoses are stored in sanitizer solution and will just need to be replaced every so often.  You might want to consider the same, at least for your non-sour batches.  Thankfully they do make 3-gallon carboys for the smaller batch dudes such as myself.

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Hop Growing / Re: Thoughts on hops in pots

« on: April 05, 2013, 11:21:01 AM »

I would think right about now would be the time to repot, just before significant growth begins for the season.  I wouldn't use potting soil on its own.  I think a blend of three different kinds of soil is a good idea.  In my garden I often do sort of a random blend of my native soil (perhaps 50%) with additional commercially packaged humus, compost, topsoil, potting mix, etc. (10 to 25% each), and I have had good results with all different sorts of fruits and veggies doing this.  Diversity seems to be the key in successful gardening.  After your plants have been growing for 4 to 6 weeks, you can start feeding nitrogen fertilizers, which will help keep the plants very green and vigorous.  Then once late summer / early autumn hits, cut off the fertilizer to allow the plants to fruit and then go dormant.

15

Hop Growing / Re: Thoughts on hops in pots

« on: April 05, 2013, 06:32:43 AM »

I bet they will be fine in barrels.  My concern would be a big enough pot, but a barrel should work.  At least for a few years.  You will want to fertilize and compost every season or even repot them after a few years to replace depleted soil nutrients.  They like nitrogen, and they need a butt-ton of water, especially in pots.  Just take care not to drown them or they will rot -- ensure you have drainage holes at the bottom of the pots.