Topics

1

Yeast and Fermentation / Old yeast as yeast nutrient?

« on: March 24, 2013, 05:31:14 PM »

I have a six week old, homebrew sized pitch of yeast from a local brewery that didn't get used as quickly as I had planned.  I can get a fresh pitch to use for my next batch, so is there any benefit from adding the old yeast to the boil as a nutrient?

2

All Grain Brewing / Mashing cystal malts

« on: November 18, 2012, 02:09:32 PM »

I have always understood that using crystal/caramel malts will add non-fermentables to a recipe. I know that the enzymes have been denatured but I have started to wonder if the active enzymes in the two-row will act upon the crystal's long-chain sugars anyway.  I have been ending up with a lower FG than I expected recently.  Should I steep the crystals separately like with extract brewing or maybe add them just before sparging?

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Feral Yeast (or Yeast Gone Wild)

« on: September 23, 2012, 07:03:10 PM »

 After every batch that I brew, I dump the yeast and trub onto the ground behind my house.  It is mostly redwood and other conifer needles over dirt and moss.  Is it possible for that yeast to survive and maybe even interbreed with other strains of dumped yeast?  In particular, might that be a possible spot for spontaneous fermentation?

4

Ingredients / Dry hop-cigaring?

« on: September 06, 2012, 07:18:59 AM »

At last years Christmas party I got a Centennial Hops Cigar which I really don't think I will ever smoke.  I was wondering about shredding it and dry-hopping a batch of something (suggestions?) with it.  Would this be an interesting flavor addition or would the tobacco just make it nasty? I don't know the ratio of hops to tobacco.  Could be hops mixed with tobacco in the filler or maybe just hops in a tobacco leaf cigar roll-up.

5

Ingredients / Fennel rye saison?

« on: April 14, 2012, 07:38:16 PM »

Anybody ever brewed with fennel? I am putting together a recipe for a spiced rye saison, but am not sure just how or when to use the fennel that I am tasting on my mind's tongue. Seeds in the boil? Fresh green leaves in the keg?

6

Yeast and Fermentation / making a bug blend

« on: January 18, 2012, 08:17:10 AM »

My local club is going to fill a 55 wine barrel with a Belgian Brown Ale after we have each done our own primary fermentations.  What I am wondering is: if we make starters of each of the individual bacteria and brett., what is a good ratio to add to the barrel.  I have heard that making a starter (or using 2nd generations) of a commercial blend might result in a change in the original ratio.  (Or do we even need to build up a starter?)

7

Yeast and Fermentation / Hope I didn't ruin this batch

« on: July 31, 2011, 12:03:18 PM »

I put a glug of bleach into the bucket that I run my blow-off hoses into.  I have done this quite a few times before so that the standing water won't grow things.  (I've tried to use Starsan before but it bubbled into foam and ran out of the bucket.)  What is different this time is that I have a new chest freezer and I didn't think about the confined space for the bleach vapors.  Even without spilling liquid, it bleached the color out of the towel the bucket was sitting on.  I don't have a very tight seal on my plastic fermentation buckets, so I am hoping the positive CO2 pressure would have kept out any chlorine.  Does anyone think that this batch stands a chance of  survival?

8

Equipment and Software / Vented silicone stoppers

« on: April 20, 2011, 06:21:35 AM »

I like this idea, but are they hard to keep clean and sanitized?  I'm envisioning all sorts of crud getting gunked up in the flaps.  Maybe they disassemble for cleaning?  Does anybody have experience with them?

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/10-VENTED-SILICONE-STOPPER-P2667C94.aspx

9

All Grain Brewing / Great Western 2-row vs. Pale Ale

« on: March 31, 2011, 07:11:18 PM »

 My local supplier substituted GW NW Pale Ale for the Premium 2-Row that I wanted.  What would be the difference as far as recipe building?  I see that the Pale Ale is a bit darker...anything else?

10

Equipment and Software / Travel Taps on the cheap

« on: February 13, 2011, 08:40:21 PM »

...if you have a kegerator that you can temporarily cannibalize.  This cost me about $15 for the shelves and $5 for the hinge.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80921&id=1180967853&l=185bc41d28

11

Equipment and Software / Dropped my Barley Crusher

« on: December 05, 2010, 02:20:44 PM »

I dropped my Barley Crusher. It landed on its hand-crank arm.  Now the shaft is bent between the handle and the knurls.  I'm going to use the table vise at work and see if I can bend it back straight, but if I can't, is there a replacement part readily available?

12

Ingredients / Weizenbock Vs.Wheatwine

« on: November 18, 2010, 06:55:03 PM »

What, if any, is the difference?...The yeast?

13

General Homebrew Discussion / my starter is green

« on: October 19, 2010, 06:39:30 AM »

I tried to make a 1 1/8 gallon starter with 1 # of DME and 2 slightly expired vials of WLP380 (Hefe). For some reason it all turned out a muddy green.  It looks like a back-yard swimming pool a month after it is shut down for the season.  I used my copper coil immersion chiller the way I always do: put it into the boil for the last 15 minutes to sanitize.  It didn't look like it had any obvious patina, at least I didn' notice anything out of the ordinary.  Could the fact that it was in a gallon+ instead of 11 gallons result in a high enough concentration of copper to turn it green (and apparently kill the starter)?

14

Beer Recipes / Fruit and OG

« on: October 08, 2010, 07:19:29 PM »

I am trying to put together a recipe for a batch of Raspberry Wheat Ale.  Well, half of it anyway.  The other half will be a Ginger Honey Wheat.  What I haven't been able to figure out is how to estimate (theoretical) OG if I were to add the raspberry into the secondary fermenter.  For the other half, I think the honey calculation for adding post primary fermentation would be the same as if it were in the primary.

P.S.  Would you "dry-hop" the ginger in the keg?

15

Ingredients / re-using dryhops

« on: September 29, 2010, 07:02:10 AM »

I know that dry-hopping does not isomerize (is that the right word?) the alpha acids in the hops.  My question is: are the alpha acids still in the hops afterward or are they extracted.  I have once in the past pulled the hop sack from the empty keg and put it into the freezer.  I used it as part of the bittering addition for my next batch.  I figured that the flavor and aroma were gone from the dry-hopping (but I would lose them anyway in an hour boil) while the bittering might still be available.  Any thoughts?