Topics

1

Equipment and Software / Motorized whirlpool?

« on: February 02, 2013, 09:33:23 am »

I've never been able to get a very effective whirlpool in my kettle (10 gal polarware kettle).  I don't have a pump to recirculate the wort.  I use an immersion chiller which makes it difficult for me to whirlpool with a spoon.  I was wondering if anyone had ever attached a small paddle to a motor to sit over the top of the kettle and stir/form a whirlpool while chilling?

2

Yeast and Fermentation / Fun fermentions!

« on: January 26, 2013, 01:44:58 pm »

Some fermentations just make me smile    Love using my stone fermenter!

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Yeast for English Barleywine?

« on: January 26, 2013, 01:36:18 pm »

What yeast strains do people out there like for an English style Barleywine with and OG >1.100?

4

Beer Recipes / Malt bill for an English style Barleywine?

« on: January 26, 2013, 01:31:53 pm »

I'm thinking it is about time I brewed an English style barleywine.  The last time I brewed one was about 20 years ago and it was an extract batch at that time (BTW I still have some and last time I tasted it was incredible!)

I would like to do an all grain batch with an OG >1.100.  Does anyone have any thoughts about malt bills?  I was thinking about doing about 25 pounds (~5 gallon batch size) of grain.  My thought was to use 100% good maris otter malt.  My thought was that this beer will be big enough that there will be enough depth and sweetness of malt without anything else like crystal malts.  Does anyone out there have any thoughts?

5

Ingredients / Prefered base malt for brewing?

« on: January 22, 2013, 03:32:08 pm »

I typically by 50 pound sacks of malt for my brewing so I always have some on hand when I want to brew.  I have a limited selection where I live (Fairbanks, Alaska) and tend to have to get whatever is available (frequently gambrinus or great western 2 row).  I just found a source with a selection of malts that has inexpensive shipping for me and I was wondering what people liked. 

I tend to brew a variety of ales ranging from blondes, red ales, IPA's, Stouts, Belgians, you name it...but I do tend to like malty beers.  This survey has a list of some of the malts I have to choose from and I just wanted to see what people liked

6

Ingredients / Spruce Tips

« on: December 10, 2012, 07:29:40 pm »

I have some spruce tips I collected this spring and have stored in the freezer (probably 1/2 to 1 quarts).  I've brewed with spruce tips before and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about how much to use, what time in boil, etc.  I think what I have is mostly white spruce.  I was thinking about an amber type ale to put these in.   

7

General Homebrew Discussion / Hop bags

« on: April 03, 2011, 06:36:46 pm »

Does using hop bags have much of an impact on hop utilization?  My last IPA really didn't come out as hoppy as I was expecting.  I typically use pellet hops and until recently just threw them in when I brewed but have tried switching to keeping my hops in hopbags because I was having problems with the hop debris clogging up my manifold.....

8

Other Fermentables / Blueberries

« on: February 25, 2011, 07:58:15 pm »

Does anyone have any thoughts about what I might do with 15 pounds of blueberries?

9

All Grain Brewing / Decotion in a strong dark Belgian?

« on: February 19, 2011, 12:43:32 pm »

I'm doing a strong dark Belgian and I want to do my mash in the mid 140's F to help get keep the FG from being too high.  Would it be inappropriate at the end of a long mash to do a decoction to raise the temp up enough for a mashout and to help get everything flowing better when I sparge?

I batch sparge and last time I did a mash like this I had a lot of trouble draining my first runnings.  I think the problem was my fairly low temp because it ran a lot better when I warmed the mash up with my batch sparge water

10

Yeast and Fermentation / How much yeast to add for refermentation in a high gravity beer?

« on: February 18, 2011, 07:10:25 pm »

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations about how much fresh yeast to add to a high gravity Belgian to help ensure good bottle carbonation and conditioning?

11

Equipment and Software / Building a new mashtun!

« on: February 08, 2011, 07:11:41 pm »

Can't wait!  I just ordered a 70 qt coleman xtreme cooler to upgrade my mash tun.  I've been using a 10 gallon round cooler for years now with reasonable success but have always had problems getting the efficiency up as high as I'd like.  I think a big part of the problem is that I end up leaving too much of the wort in the bottom of my tun when I drain it off.  I really like the channel in the bottom of coleman cooler that lets everything drain out instead of leaving a bunch of wort behind.  Plus I love all the extra space I'm going to have for making really big beers 

12

Kegging and Bottling / Breakfast time bottling

« on: February 05, 2011, 11:03:45 am »

I love bottling beer in the morning.  Great excuse to have a fresh beer with breakfast!   

13

Kegging and Bottling / How many volumes of CO2 can a standard brown bottle safely hold?

« on: February 05, 2011, 09:01:36 am »

I have a Dubbel that I want to bottle with lots of carbonation.  I don't have any champagne bottles, just lots of standard 12 ounce bottles.  How many volumes of CO2 can safely go into a 12 ounce crown top bottle and what are people out there recommending for carbonation for a dubbel?

14

General Homebrew Discussion / What's your first brew for 2011?

« on: January 01, 2011, 02:04:37 pm »

What does everyone out there have planned for their first brew of 2011?  I'm planning to kick off 2011 with a big Tripel and hoping to use the yeast cake from that to brew a quad

Happy New Year!

15

Yeast and Fermentation / WL 550 Belgian Ale vs WYEAST 3787 Trappist High Gravity for a tripel?

« on: December 21, 2010, 09:24:25 pm »

I have two belgian yeasts in my stable, WL 550 Belgian Ale and WYEAST 3787 Trappist High Gravity.  I am thinking about brewing a tripel and wonder if anyone has an opinion about which would be a better yeast for a tripel.  I'm might brew a dark quadrupel off the yeast cake of the tripel