Topics

1

Homebrew Competitions / East West Rivalry?

« on: April 20, 2013, 12:10:33 PM »

Anybody on the forum a member of Oregon Brew Crew?  Denny?
We have a throw down between them and my local club, the Tampa Bay Brewing Enthusiasts Enjoying Real Suds (BEERS), to see who can brew the best IPA.
The way it works is they picked a neutral competition, 8 Seconds of Froth in Wyoming, and we each send as many as a dozen IPA entries.  Points go to the club with the most points, assuming at least one of those clubs' entries wins some points.
Later in the year our club will pick a different style and another neutral cometition for the second challenge.
Seems like a fun thing to do.  I am bottling my IPA today.

2

Events / ARRRR, Mateys

« on: September 19, 2012, 05:59:37 AM »

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Today's a holiday and I didn't even realize it.

3

General Homebrew Discussion / On the Radio

« on: September 10, 2012, 06:05:49 PM »

We're gonna try out a radio show tomorrow afternoon on the local community radio station in Tampa, WMNF 88.5 fm.  I think you can listen in on the web at wmnf.org or catch it later in a podcast.  Listen to "The Beer Curmudgeons" at 2pm EST and hope that Bob of St. Somewhere, JB of Mr. Dunderbaks and I don't make fools of ourselves more than we deserve.

4

Events / Pilsner Urquell Masters Chicago finals

« on: July 26, 2012, 08:21:52 PM »

I brewed up a Czech Pils for this competition and it won the Florida "regionals" for which the prize was a trip for two to Chicago for the finals.  This is probably the best prize I've ever earned from a homebrew competition. 
But wait, it gets better.  Here we are in Chicago and my beer made it to second place!  I was one beer away from a trip for two to the Czech Republic!
I'm pretty stoked.

5

The Pub / Today is Towel Day

« on: May 25, 2012, 04:36:06 AM »

http://towelday.org/
I forgot to bring my towel to work.

6

Commercial Beer Reviews / S.A. Dark Depths

« on: May 12, 2012, 02:15:51 PM »

Here's an interesting concept from Sam Adams.  It says it's a Baltic IPA with Saaz, Zeus, Ahtanum and Simcoe, fermented with lager yeast and that it's 7.6 abv.
I'm enjoying it.  Perhaps too much roast malt flavors for the amount of American hops (see the thread on Cross Dressing Amateurs), but still it is nothing like I've ever tried before.
I like the fact that they're bottling strange things like this.  Next up is a bottle of Cinder Bock.

7

Equipment and Software / plastic auto siphon conversion

« on: March 18, 2012, 09:44:10 AM »

I like the auto-siphon http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/auto-siphon-5-16.html  but the plastic racking cane tends to get brittle and break over time.  I know this because I have 2 working ones and 3 broken ones which I use for parts.
I just found out that a stainless 3/8 inch racking cane fits snugly into the cut off portion of the bigger, plastic racking cane.  I cut off the bottom 1.5 inches of a broken plastic cane (the end with the rubber plunger) and stuffed the stainless cane right into it.  Better than new.

8

Yeast and Fermentation / Bottling a Berliner Weisse

« on: March 04, 2012, 06:10:46 AM »

I have 5 gallons of fermented Berliner Weisse that is not as sour as I like.  I syphoned off some into a few 12 ounce bottles, added 4 of those little Munton's carb tabs to each and let them rest about 7 weeks.  (This is starting to sound like one of those math word problems, but it's not, really.)
I tried a bottle yesterday and found the lactic sourness almost perfect, but the carbonation almost flat.
My question is whether increasing the amount of priming sugar will eventually carbonate the beer or will it only contribute to the lactic production. 
My other plan (instead of priming and bottling) would be to prime and keg it with a bit of head pressure.  If it is still flat in a few weeks I can then force carbonate it.

9

Other Fermentables / Yeast choices

« on: December 08, 2011, 11:18:25 AM »

I "used up" the last of my key lime mead at the AHA ralley last night (it was quite popular - Charlie said he liked it) and want to make more this weekend.
I had used Thames Valley ale yeast for last year's batch, but I was thinking of other options this time.  I have Bock lager yeast and Belgian Ardennes yeast on hand.  Which do ya'll think I should try in a fairly dry, sparkling, standard melomel?

10

The Pub / German American brewer's diary

« on: October 31, 2011, 05:48:27 AM »

http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/schneider_diary.shtml

I enjoyed reading this diary from the life an immigrant 19th Century brewer.

11

General Homebrew Discussion / Remember that key lime mead from the "travel in SW Florida" topic?

« on: October 16, 2011, 11:28:58 AM »

The key lime mead I made last December that blatz, Gordon, tschmidlin and I were talking about a while back didn't score as well in the last competition - good score (35 points) but no cigar.  So I added a bit of lemon grass to it and entered it at the Commander SAAZ competition in Coco Beach.  It evidently was better this way, 'cause it took first in the category and went on to take best of show for mead and cider.  The senior judge on that panel said it was the best dry mead he'd ever had.

So I'm pretty happy about that.

12

The Pub / beer trading

« on: October 12, 2011, 06:22:38 PM »

Have you guys seen this beer trading video yet?
http://www.ticketsarasota.com/2011-10-12/section/nightlife/funny-video-on-beer-trading-and-beer-geeks/

13

The Pub / A new country for Cross Dressing Amateurs

« on: September 08, 2011, 08:29:59 AM »

http://zapatopi.net/cascadia/

14

The Pub / drunken elk

« on: September 08, 2011, 04:16:09 AM »

Too many fermented apples and got stuck in a tree.  Evidently it's pretty common in those parts.
http://www.thelocal.se/36002/

15

Beer Recipes / Split batch D-180 and Cane sugar

« on: August 03, 2011, 06:16:40 PM »

On Denny's recommendation I bought two pounds of D-180 from Candi Syrup, Inc.
I am thinking of making ten gallons of wort with all pils malt to a gravity of 1.070 and pitching 1388 into each five gallon fermenter.  After they both get a nice start I want to add the D-180 to half and the same amount of cane sugar to the other half.
I made a nice Tripel this way at the end of last year.  
Will the D-180 darken the other half enough or add enough dark fruit/malt flavors to make it taste like a Double?