Topics

1

Yeast and Fermentation / Should I trust my slow-to-start starter?

« on: May 22, 2010, 10:25:59 am »

On 5/18/'10 I boiled about 1.5L of leftover (was frozen) wort to about 1.034. Cooled and pitched about 8oz of dense WLP001 slurry from Dec. '09. Nothing happened until this morning but now it is fermenting away on the stir plate with a good krausen.
It seems healthy but is it?
Can I trust my sanitation for those three+ days?
Are there any specific side-effects I might encounter if I use the yeast?

I was hoping to brew tomorrow and I do have a sachet of US-05.

Thanks.
Mike

2

Beer Recipes / Desire a PNW stout. Will this work?

« on: April 09, 2010, 06:41:41 pm »

Amount    Item     Type    % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 53.33 %
4.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 26.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %
0.50 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 % (toasted)
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3.33 %

2.00 oz Feral (floral-suspect cluster) [4.00 %] (20 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 14.6 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (70 min) Hops 15.7 IBU
1.50 oz Willamette [5.60 %] (70 min) Hops 23.8 IBU
1.00 oz Willamette [5.60 %] (10 min) Hops 5.6 IBU

At 68% eff., I am shooting for an OG of 1.065 and about 60 IBU.
My objective is a roasty, slightly burnt, bitter, dryish stout with a strong amerrican hop influence. I really like Deschutes Obsidian Stout and have brewed the clone (which made me happy) but I want to try something slightly different.
I am basically naive as to the contribution and influences of the combination of Chocolate malt, black patent malt and roasted barley, ie:  Is there enough of either to be noticeable(flavor)?,  Will one overpower the other? Plus a few more ?'s I can't dredge up right now.
The hop schedule is tenative also.
Thank you very much for any insight or suggestions.

3

Beer Recipes / Gonna try a Dubbel....

« on: March 25, 2010, 05:35:35 pm »

This is based on a10t2's recipe:
10.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) 70.18 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)  14.04 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)  3.51 %
1.00 lb Table Sugar (0.0 SRM)  7.02 %     (Cane or Beet - does it matter?)                 
0.75 lb D2 Belgian Candy Syrup (160.0 SRM)  5.26 %  (hopefully enough @ $11.75 per bottle )
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) [Starter 6 Cup]

Not sure what hops yet.....suggestions?
Seems like a lot of sugar.?

I was gonna mash at 150-

Any suggestions or insights are greatly appreciated. This will be my first Belgian style brew.
Thnaks

4

Ingredients / Hop pellets imparting color?

« on: March 10, 2010, 05:37:49 pm »

I brewed a batch of Koelsch and used Hallertauer(3%) pellets. I have never seen such a green colored, boil foam - I wish I'd have taken a pic. The beer didn't seem to take on the color so I didn't worry about it.
When I tried to recover the yeast I noticed the green tint again on the bottom of the cake. For the second time in this batch I wondered if the hops were artificially colored (huh?)
None of my other hops have ever exhibited a color close to this but the contrast did make it easier to see the clean yeast vs. the trub / dirty yeast.
This is just as I began to swirl / flip the cake:


They don't color hop pellets, right?

5

All Grain Brewing / Astringency and esters.

« on: February 20, 2010, 11:56:12 pm »

I got my scores back from the local comp. (my first). One of my entries took second (kolsch 34.5) but my others failed.
My other entries (IPA, IPA, Stout) ranged from 26 -29+ and the concensus seems to have been "astringency" and "esters"

I grind my own using a Corona - very tight (but no stuck sparges when batch sparging).
I  think my pH is OK - relying on colorphast strips.
I believe the astringency is due to feral hops I have been using. I've decided to stop using the feral hops.
Efficiency is typically 65-70% consistantly.

I'm looking for suggestions to help eliminate the astringency and explain the esters. I too think I noticed the astringency but I can't figure out if it is from the hops or from the grains - grainyness was mentioned.

All-in-all I am pleased with the results and the feedback, though I'd like to have known how I fared, comparatively, in the categories in which I didn't place.

Fun stuff!

6

General Homebrew Discussion / Most difficult / easiest styles to get right?

« on: February 15, 2010, 09:50:03 pm »

Too many variables for a simple answer?  I don't know.

7

Equipment and Software / Mash tun cooler deal

« on: February 12, 2010, 06:59:48 am »

52qt Xtreme cooler $25 @ Sears.
Pick up in store or it's $10 for shipping.

8

Yeast and Fermentation / When to ramp up ferm. temp?

« on: January 22, 2010, 07:45:42 pm »

It appears that raising the temp. near the end of fermentation is considered good practice.
How should I determine when the time is right to start raising the temp.?
In my mind, I think it would be better to do it later than earlier, but can doing it too late be a problem?

9

Yeast and Fermentation / "healthy fermentation" defined.....

« on: January 21, 2010, 09:27:55 pm »

Is it as simple as good attentuation through ideal temperatures?
Is it particular to the style of beer and yeast?
Is there and ideal pattern that dertemines a healthy fermentation? Maybe a range of ideals?

I searched, but mostly I found statements like "as long as you have a healthy fermentation" but I found no specific comments as to what constitutes a "healthy fermentation".

FTR I am satisfied that my fermentations have been healthy but they all seem to be slightly different; different start times, longer/shorter activity, less/more vigorous, krausen size.
Mostly curious. Thanks for any help.

10

Commercial Beer Reviews / Floaties aren't bad!

« on: January 20, 2010, 09:02:31 pm »

My buddy left me a couple of these.
I was trying to save them but he said he had more.  It's probably better I drank them as it appears they have been through some less than ideal ageing. The beer was/is very good though it does seem as if something is slightly 'off'.
So what are those floaties? After some research , it appears they are protien coagulations which do little more than effect the appearance of the beer. So don't be afraid! drink that funky looking beer.....or at least try it.
And always remember Google is your friend.
 

11

Yeast and Fermentation / Failed at harvesting pacman.

« on: January 19, 2010, 09:23:50 pm »

I took the dregs from a couple of Rogue imperial 750ml's and tried to build them in a quart of wort
It doesn't seem to have worked. It's been about 36hrs on the stirplate with no signs of life. I plan to let it spin for another 24-36hrs just to see what happens.
If it doesn't work - no worries, but could I still use the starter wort for another, more viable yeast? I can't imagine the wort went bad but it must be terribly oxidized.

12

Kegging and Bottling / Speeding up bottle priming?

« on: January 17, 2010, 02:36:28 pm »

Could I condition my bottles at a higher temperature to achieve faster carbonation?
Is there any advantage/disadvantage to conditioning cooler and slower versus warmer and faster?
Are there temp. limits?

13

Beer Recipes / 2-row, vienna, c40, 1968 and a bunch of hops........OK?

« on: January 16, 2010, 10:49:13 pm »

I don't see too many IPA's with Vienna and am wondering if I went overboard, or even if this mix seems reasonable.

7.5# GW 2-row
6.5# GW Vienna
1.0# Crystal 40L
1oz Nugget at 60min
Some Chinook & Willamette near flameout.
Lots of feral hops throughout.
Wyeast 1968
1.067 OG
~68 IBU

14

General Homebrew Discussion / Recipe ownership?

« on: January 11, 2010, 08:15:05 pm »

If I take someone else's a recipe and tweak it by changing the hop schedule or the yeast type or something else, could I ethically claim it as MY recipe? How much do I need to change it to claim it as mine.

15

Yeast and Fermentation / Effects of too high starter gravity?

« on: January 09, 2010, 09:33:50 am »

I suspect my last starter gravity was higher than 1.040. It fermented out and grew nicely so I pitched it, but now I am curious about high gravity starters and what effects they have on the yeast / beer. Thanks