Topics

1

Kegging and Bottling / Bottling Frenzy

« on: June 25, 2012, 07:14:07 AM »

So not only are we expecting our first child any day now, but we are in the process of buying a home, set to close July 24.

In hindsight, it wasn't very good planning to have around 100 gallons of beer/mead/cider sitting in the basement at any given time.

I only have 2 kegs and they are full. 

Since June 1st(the first time we looked at the house we are going to buy) I've bottled 38 gallons.  I have 58 gallons to go before moving.
I should take some pictures of the boxes and boxes of bottles.

Do people move full carboys?  I didn't think I wanted to take that risk/hazard.  I figure boxes of bottles are a heck of a lot easier to move.

2

Other Fermentables / Acetic acid curiousity question

« on: March 15, 2012, 06:59:54 AM »

I did some searching around on the webs and didn't find anything (at least to my non-chemisty minded eyes) that answered my thought.

I've been messing around with potassium metabilsulfite and potassium sulfate for mead stabilization and a question popped up in my head and I have a thought on what the answer may be, but was curious if any of you chemistry nuts out there know a more defined answer.

If either of these chemicals are added to a wine/beer/mead/whatever that has an acetobacter infestation, do they stop the conversion of alcohol to acetic acid?

This isn't an issue for me, just a curious thought.

3

Commercial Beer Reviews / Green Flash Rayon Vert

« on: February 22, 2012, 01:06:52 PM »

"If Green Flash were founded in historical Belgium, Rayon Vert would have been our flagship brew. A bold layering of hops finds balance from traditional malts. Bottle conditioning with fresh ale yeast and Brettanomyces finishes the beer, adding a delightful effervescence, dryness and continuously evolving character. Rayon Vert is Green Flash."

Had the first 12oz bottle of the 4 pack last night.  First impression - dang, these bottles are awesome!
Pour carefully - this one has lots of carbonation and will easily fill your glass with stark white fluff.
Smells fantastic.  A combination of sweet pils malt, floral/spicy hop and an almost smack you in the face leather from the brett.  Some tropical fruit hints as well.
Taste is all the aroma and then some.  Brett and hop up front with a lingering bitterness.  Carbonation dances on your tongue.  Brett is much more assertive than orval (the best comparison I've tasted).  Bitterness is in the same range as Orval as well.
Finish is dry.  Real dry.  With a firm bitter linger.
Being that I've never had fresh Orval, I'm not one to say, but it seems like the brettanomyces is much more assertive in this - even at this stage. 
We'll see what the other 3 bottles do with a little bit of age.

The dregs are being cultured as we speak...

4

Other Fermentables / Grape Juice (source request)

« on: February 20, 2012, 11:18:22 AM »

Where do you guys source grape juice?
Wine kits at the lhbs?
online somewhere?
I've found 5 gal frozen pails for around $115 -- that seems pricey, maybe not though?

Thanks

5

Commercial Beer Reviews / Pliny the ...

« on: February 13, 2012, 04:01:52 PM »

Younger that is.

On tap @ Falling Rock taphouse, Denver, 2/12/2012 (ternary day!)

Quite a scene in the bar.  Doors open at 11am, tapping at 1pm.  Get there early to get a ticket.
When I got there around 12:30, my wife and I got 2 of the last 8 blue tickets.  Blue tickets guaranteed a glass, red ticket most likely.

To kill the 30min wait, I get a 2008 Bigfoot on draft in a snifter (still from Barleywine month).  Wow.
Super rich malts.  Some grassiness and indications of hop, but very subdued.  Malt rocks my nose.  Creamy tan head trims down to a fine lace coating the top of this copper beauty.  Bitterness has faded considerably, but provides enough contrast to the sweet malt to procure near perfect balance.
I'm glad I started collecting in 2010... a good sign of greatness to come.

12:55pm:  Manager gets on top of bar and starts talking over the speakers... "The time has come!"  It's an orderly environment.
People start lining up with tickets in hand.  We had met up with friends at a table, so the waitress brings ours to our table.
We sit there, looking at all these beers.  I can smell it just sitting there.  We are all nervous.  This is a beer consistently ranked one of the top in the world afterall...  Hops.  Hops.  Lots of freaking hops.  Smells of citrus oil, pine forest, fresh hay.  Clearer than I had envisioned. 
A hearty "Cheers" from all at the table.
First sip is crisp, clean, BIG hop.  No perceivable alcohol.  Impressive at 10%.  Hop lingers.  Flavor very similar to aroma... pine, citrus, hay, hint of malt.  Dry finish.  Very dry finish -- quite nice for the hops to rain dance in your mouth.  Bitterness lingers but is not harsh.  Very smooth.  Stays on the tongue a long time. 
I think I can drink the rest of the glass..

I'm glad I had the opportunity to try this exclusive, elite beer.  Was it everything that it's hyped up to be?  No.  Was it a fantastic beer?  Yes.  Anything to improve upon?  I think I would like a bit firmer bitterness.  It was pretty soft.

Overall, a great experience and we (my wife and I) ended up drinking 3 glasses.  They sold out eventually, but it was pouring for quite a while.

Satisfied.

6

The Pub / Yet another use for bacon...

« on: February 09, 2012, 12:38:26 PM »

http://www.9news.com/news/sidetracks/248008/337/Fast-food-chain-now-selling-bacon-flavored-milkshakes-


Except they need to step it up a notch and serve it with a slice of bacon as garnish.

7

Equipment and Software / pickup tube not really picking up

« on: January 19, 2012, 02:27:03 PM »

I've pretty much just ignored the problem and have been using my older boil pot rather than my keggle because of the issue, but I'd really rather use the keggle for fairly obvious reasons.

When the liquid gets down to about the level of the ball valve, liquid stops running.  It seems rather obvious that I don't have a good seal in the system, but further inspection says I don't (or it's infinitely small and unobservable)

Any ideas on correcting this issue?  It's really annoying having to use my auto siphon to get the remaining wort out...

8

General Homebrew Discussion / Who knows what lemongrass tastes like?

« on: January 18, 2012, 12:22:18 PM »

So I have a brett golden ale (phase 4 in my 100% brett beer series) that I portioned out.  The portion at hand was dry hopped with ahtanum and dry herbed, if you will, with lemongrass along with the hops.

I can taste the lemongrass in addition to the hops, but it generally tastes fruity.  For a competition, I'm kinda thinking to leave off the note about it having lemongrass.  Agree? 

I know, I know... put down what it tastes like and not what it was supposed to taste like.  But, I know what it tastes like, but am afraid others don't.

9

Beer Travel / Thailand

« on: January 18, 2012, 12:12:25 PM »

Don't go for the beer... 
Choices:
Chang (regular and ooooh, export... 100% malt)
Leo
Singha
Tiger
^^^ All fizzy yellow beer tasting pretty much the same.

After spending the past 3 weeks there, I gladly paid airport beer prices when we landed and had a little layover in Seattle.  Drank a rather tasty Mudshark Porter from Fish Brewing.

10

Commercial Beer Reviews / Saison de Pipaix

« on: November 30, 2011, 11:31:54 AM »

I drink a lot of saisons.  This one really stood out to me.  Very complex aroma and flavors ranging from slightly tart green apple to soft sweet light maltiness.  A lot of spice character, but not picking one thing up over the next.  Fantastic balance.

From the Brasserie à Vapeur website:

Saison de Pipaix

SAISON DE PIPAIX 6 %vol. 75cl a traditional Wallonian saison beer, born with the brewery in 1785. Dry, normally hopped, slightly acidic, very spicy (black pepper, ginger, sweet orange peel, curaçao, star anise...)

11

Wood/Casks / Restoring a very old barrel -- feasible?

« on: November 17, 2011, 09:29:11 AM »

At my grandparents farm, there is an old oak barrel that's been sitting around for who knows how long.  When my dad was a kid, his mom made wine in it, then eventually it turned sour and then to vinegar.  After that, they stopped using it, and it's been sitting in one of the outbuildings since (empyty, and out of the elements besides heat/cold).

Would it be feasible to take the barrel home and re-cooper it (if that's even a term)?  If I take it apart and scrape the staves and heads down, re-band it and more-or-less overhaul it, is there a chance that it's usable?  The last time I looked at it, it didn't appear badly warped or anything.

I'll be going up there for Thanksgiving as usual, so I'll need to decide to take it home or not then.

I don't have a barrel, but would love one, and if I could turn this into a bit of an heirloom project -- WAY better than buying one in my mind.

Thanks
Ryan

12

Beer Travel / Portland Oregon, near convention center

« on: November 09, 2011, 10:04:57 AM »

My wife will be in Portland for a conference at the convention center through Saturday.  She is staying just a couple blocks north on Multnomah.  She does not have a rental car.

She flew Southwest, purely for the fact that she can check a bag for free and bring me back some beer since I unfortunately could not make the trip with her to drink beer.

Are there any good liquor stores to get a good selection of Portland beers that I can't get in Colorado near the convention center?  I'd love to get some Cascade, Hair of the Dog, etc.  Any other recommendations welcome!

Also, any solid, local eateries close by would be a big help.  She will be rather busy during the event, so free time is limited, and she is about 7 weeks pregnant, so she can't do too much drinking.

Thanks guys(and girls!)

13

Other Fermentables / List of killer yeast strains?

« on: November 01, 2011, 07:42:12 AM »

Is there a list anywhere that shows what strains of yeast will kill off other strains?  I've done some looking around and didn't find anything other than a listing of real killer yeasts, as in ones that will/could kill you.

The reason being... I'm making the (in?)famous apple butter cyser and was thinking of fermenting initially with lalvin d47 and/or 71b-1122 and then finishing off with k1-v1116 since it has a higher alcohol tolerance than d47 and 71b.

Are these yeasts compatible with one another?  Or will they kill each other?  The epic battle begins...


Thanks for your help!

14

Ingredients / Hops Direct has new pellet hops

« on: October 24, 2011, 09:30:51 AM »

Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, etc...

One pound limit on all the big names.

I've got 6lbs coming my way.

15

All Things Food / Green Chili

« on: October 14, 2011, 09:04:13 AM »

I love my green chili recipe, and it just won 1st place at my work's 10th annual chili cookoff, judged by the local fire dept.  Just thought I'd share. 


Love Tank Green Chili

Ingredients:
2 pounds pork, diced & trimmed of fat

1-2 cup white or yellow onion, chopped
14 oz. chicken broth (I use my own made from scratch, but use something without a lot of artificial crap)

1½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon green chili powder (I get green chili powder from Chimayo, NM every year)
1 teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cumin (I use crushed Indian cumin seed)

16oz green enchilada sauce
½ bottle of fresh microbrew/homebrew beer (light lager, pilsner, helles, maibock, etc)
¼ - ½  cup freshly chopped cilantro
1-3  freshly chopped jalapeños

32oz fire roasted green chili, chopped  (preferably fresh, but canned works fine)

jalapeño hot sauce as needed


Directions:

Brown pork and drain

Add onion & chicken broth
Simmer 1 hour, stirring often

Add dry spices
Simmer 1 hour stirring often to avoid sticking

Add green enchilada sauce, cilantro, beer, and jalapeño
Simmer ½ hour

Add chopped green chili
Simmer 15 minutes

Adjust with a liberal dose of jalapeño hot sauce

Serve over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro and an optional sqeeze of fresh lime