Messages

1

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Kegerator Issues - Dump Cup!

« on: April 09, 2013, 01:14:34 PM »

There are some good solutions mentioned here.  So far, for my dual twin-tower setup I'm sticking to simple.  I have a copper pipe running the interior height of each tower, to provide a clear air channel as well as the metal itself to conduct "cool" into the towers.  It's nestled between the shanks at the top and sticks out an inch or two below the ceiling of the fridge, well out of the way of the kegs.

With nearly all setups, lines running up through towers lose their chill the higher and more cut-off they are from the fridge.  There shouldn't be a dramatic temperature difference though.  Has anyone who is experiencing this problem measured the temperature inside the tower at the top compared to the base/fridge?

Also, what 3/16" ID line length are people using here?  For each of my tower taps, I went 10 feet.  Even before I added the copper pipe, I was getting no initial foaming.  I'm wondering how much line length might be playing a role here.

With warmer beer can come foaming, but temperature alone should not be producing dump-worthy beer.  Perhaps there is a microbiological issue with deposits in the lines or with the beer itself that accelerates in the warmer line environment.

Beer in warm lines should taste warm, not off.

2

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Bottle pressure limits

« on: April 09, 2013, 12:29:52 PM »

Can you tell what the bottle pressure limit is by what its weight per oz is. Here are some different bottles and what they weigh per oz:

Sierra Nevada, 16.7g/oz
RR Pliny, 21.7g/oz
Green Flash, 25.8g/oz
Logsdon, 27.5g/oz
RR Temptation, 31.5g/oz
Orval, 31.6g/oz

The Green Flash bottles are 9.1g/oz heavier than Sierra Nevada. The Green Flash are only 1.7g/oz lighter than the Logsdon bottles which are usually very highly carbonated. I want to bottle some Saison at around 3.5 volumes of CO2. Do you think the Green Flash bottles will be fine?

I like the chart.  I've also noticed the substantial heft of Green Flash bottles and kept some for use because of that.  You're good with higher pressure in those GF'ers.

I tend to avoid embossed (Green Flash, New Belgium) and silk-screened (Stone) bottles when my mind is too much on acquiring a bottle that I can re-brand as mine.  But I couldn't bring myself to drop those GF heavies into the recycle bin.

3

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Why do YOU keg?

« on: April 05, 2013, 01:40:41 PM »

All good reasons given so far, but I didn't see anyone mention oxidation. A standard crown cap lets in about 200-500 ppb O2 per month, and 500 or so is pretty much the maximum allowable level for long-term storage.

C'mon now.  You can't just roll stats like that without sharing a source.  I'm staring at some precious bottled HB approaching the four year mark now with visions of oxygen ingress dancing in my head.

4

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What were your gateway beers?

« on: January 21, 2013, 10:18:04 PM »

For me, the gateway to Belgian beers was a separate and delayed entry compared to that of general craft beer.  For years, I had an unfortunate impression of Belgian-style ale as unreasonably yeasty and harsh.

I can attribute my ignorance to one badly-treated Trader Joe's-stocked Chimay in the early-mid 90's.  Why that was the one and only Belgian brew I tried I can't say.  Unfortunately, with a glut of quality non-Belgian craft to try and a lack of spirit to explore further the Belgian side, so it was that my appreciation of Belgian-style brews was much delayed.

It took a new friend from Rochester to bring down the hammer of Unibroue upon my head.  His insistence that I forgo my old prejudices and learn the wisdom of his favorite La Fin Du Monde was what push me though that gate.

That was only the beginning.  Cheers to you Chad.

5

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Shipping Beer

« on: January 21, 2013, 09:45:43 PM »

It is a bit sad that there seems no technically legit way to ship home-made alcohol in the United States.  This means that each time we do so, we are prepared to lie about it.

Like esheppy, I'd like to know of a way to ship homebrew without having to tell a lie.  This brings to mind something that's easy to forget.  It really wasn't that long ago that homebrewing was illegal in the US.

I don't know if that realization should make me feel grateful or pissed off.  Appreciation of the merits of homebrewing has come a long way in public consciousness, but unfortunately we still have to ship in secret.

6

Ingredients / Re: Amounts

« on: January 20, 2013, 01:08:10 AM »

My initial impression of the recipe poses the question, how will the judges think that is a saison rather than something like an american pale, etc.?

In any case, I would strongly suggest splitting your batch into a few different carboys.  That way, you could parallel-ferment a portion with say WLP565 (the Dupont strain) or WLP550 (pretty spicy) to accompany and perhaps counterbalance your uniquely fruity hopload.

I would also recommend portioning when you do your spice addition.  As you probably know, both lemon and ginger are dominant spices and can easily be overdone.  Adding your spices to only a portion of your total batch would lend great flexibility as well as insurance.  If you found the additions excessive, you could blend in a portion of the unspiced beer, or simply try a different level of spice addition to an unadulterated portion.

7

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What were your gateway beers? Let us honor them.

« on: January 17, 2013, 03:39:28 PM »

I guess we all owe a heap of thanks to these life transition brews.  Some are long extinct but a number are still around in some form or another.  These gateway brews are not necessarily remarkable in themselves, but more so in the way they helped us embark on a never-ending quest for flavor, both subtle and over-the-top.

Whether or not we ever go back, even once, is not a decision to take lightly.  Are there some people and some beers that can pull it off?  Maybe there really are people out there that can--with a sip--relive the glorious memory of those brews that began to hone their unseasoned palates.

But because we as craft drinkers are constantly evolving, it's just as easy to wreck a memory as it is to confirm and affirm it.  Many times we don't really know if it was the beer that changed or if it was us, and I think it's dangerous to make assumptions so easily shattered.

There are so many things that get better in memory.  It is often best to leave a cherished drinking history just as we remember it.  Respect the past by moving forward I say.

8

Ingredients / Re: Home-oaking a commercial keg of Arrogant Bastard

« on: January 17, 2013, 02:14:22 PM »

Any reason why it wouldn't be more advantageous to just soak some oak chips in vodka or whiskey and make oak additions in your glass from the liquor?

Yeah, I see the advantages of what you're saying.  That would afford the most flexibility and opportunity to taste-test a range of oakiness.

And if I do settle on a level I really like, I could transfer the last couple gallons to a 3-gallon keg and oak it there, and return the commercial keg.

Thanks!

9

General Homebrew Discussion / What were your gateway beers?

« on: January 11, 2013, 03:05:54 PM »

I'm not going to call craftbrew drinkers enlightened, or aleightened rather, but we're on our way.  It's a journey, not a destination.

So, what were the gateway beers that helped to get you to a higher plane of flavor?

For me, it was Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve that lifted me from my collegiate-era 40oz King Cobra dabblings (the Cobra being traditionally consumed with a loaf of french bread to provide that maltiness lacking in the beer).

Adding Samuel Adams Stock Ale into the mix helped me understand the appeal of bittered ales.  Took an unfortunate, but thankfully brief detour with Rolling Rock after college before coming around to the Trader Joe's line of Fat Weasel and Black Toad ales.

Learned a bit about oxidation from the many dusty brews stocked at TJ's at the time (circa 1995).  Fell in love with ales of oh-so-dark color via the sweet and rich Mackeson Triple XXX Stout.

Around the same time, I was lucky enough to taste Blind Pig IPA at Vinnie's Temecula brewery and at that point I knew there was no going back.  A true wortshed moment for me.

10

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Soapy off flavor

« on: January 11, 2013, 01:08:39 PM »

When I have tasted the soapy flavor it is almost exactly like ivory liquid dish soap.  I have smelled and tasted strong autolysis before when I left some starter wort rest for several months and it is nothing like this.

That triggers it.  The soapy brew flavor I encountered in Avery IPA was as close to Ivory as anything.  The opportunity to do a very occasional Ivory tasting in childhood (bar soap, courtesy of my grandma) has me certain of that.

I know Ivory is perfumed/scented, but it has such a mild floral subtly many still associate with "pure" soap, in contrast to numerous heavy-handed, fake-smelling, modern soap scent formulations.

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Ingredients / Re: Home-oaking a commercial keg of Arrogant Bastard

« on: January 11, 2013, 12:43:50 PM »

Never though about the possibility of doing a keg transfer.  This will be my first commercial tapping.  I'm probably going to stop by the Stone store today to order one of those 5 gal Bastards.

I'll do a floss suspension then, to get more oak over time--stronger and I hope more complex.  According to Stone's labeling, Oaked Arrogant is made with an American oak "tea".  It is not aged on oak.  I'll see how the two oaked AB's differ over time.

12

Ingredients / Re: Rum Ball Bock?

« on: January 11, 2013, 12:32:35 PM »

Just bottled 3 gal of a richly malty, belgianized wee heavy that had sat on nibs since April 2012.  I used 3 oz in 3 gal and it was not too much.  The nibs add a nice subtle chocolate-toast flavor and somewhat drying character that helps to offset the tremendous malt sweetness of the ale.

I recommend Theo organic roasted nibs if you can find them.  Theo in Seattle is the only organic and fair trade chocolate factory in the U.S. that does the entire process in house, from raw beans to finished chocolate.

Sanitizing in rum and then adding both the rum and nibs to the brew would be a great way to go.  If you don't want to wait too long before enjoying the results, go 1.5 to 2 oz per gal.  This will help cut through the wall of malt sweetness.

13

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Soapy off flavor

« on: January 10, 2013, 11:10:45 PM »

The only truly soapy commercial beer I've encountered was a very soap-tasting sixer of Avery IPA a few years back--a first and last purchase of that.

Tried the second bottle the next day to make sure it wasn't just my dirty mouth needing some soap.  Had to give the last four to that guy at work who will drink anything.

I wondered (and still do) how such an obvious flaw could see commercial release.  Guess it could have been mistreated severely before I purchased it.

14

Ingredients / Home-oaking a commercial keg of Arrogant Bastard

« on: January 10, 2013, 10:42:21 PM »

I'm wondering if anybody out there has experience oaking a commercial beer in keg--specifically, adding oak flavor to a keg of Arrogant Bastard to make…Oaked Arrogant Bastard?

Oaked Arrogant is not available in 5 gallon kegs.  So my plan is to pay for a regular bastard keg, pop the top and pour in the 4 or so ounces of vodka I've kept surrounding 2 dry ounces of first-use, medium-toast American oak.

Anyone used a different technique or have any standout results?

15

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Change for the worse in Star San longevity? At least in my new bottle...

« on: January 05, 2013, 06:46:09 PM »

Thanks everyone for the input, especially ajk for that link to the thread with the additional Star San info.

In this case of an immediate, drastic change in the time-to-clouding observed from one bottle of SS to the next, all I can suppose there is some appreciable difference between the two batches of Star San that I own.  How and why they came to be different is unknown.

What I do know now is that I need to change my usage practices.  I'll immediately start with the suggestion of using distilled water to mix up solutions that go into my spray bottles or in any situation in which I wish to keep the mix beyond a day.

Cheers and happy sanitizing!