Messages

1

Equipment and Software / Re: Those little red cans of Oxygen

« on: May 21, 2013, 12:48:39 PM »

For me, dropping in a stone attached to an O2 tank for a minute is way less effort than shaking, pouring back-and-forth, getting out the whisk or hooking up the drill with a whip on it.  The O2 tank is a convenience thing for me.

2

Questions about the forum? / Missing avatars

« on: May 21, 2013, 08:08:12 AM »

This is just an observation, but I've noticed lately (within the last week, probably) that some people's avatars are missing.  The pictures are replaced with a broken image icon.  As an example, in a recent post (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15826.0), the avatars for poobah85, mabrunguard, and davidgzach are missing, while they are there for hopfenundmalz, HoosierBrew, and brewmasternpb.

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Re: Most and Least

« on: May 17, 2013, 07:22:15 AM »

Yup! Another trick I started doing a couple batches back. I toss my yeast in there two so yeast and wort are same temp at pitch.

I've recently started doing the final chilling in the freezer as well, and I really like the technique.

I've thought about putting my yeast in the fridge as well, but I'm worried that because the carboy has a huge thermal mass as compared to the starter, that at some point my starter would get much colder than the carboy every time the freezer kicked on.  I figured this would particularly be the case when I first put the carboy in the freezer because the freezer is running all-out until the wort gets down to temp.

4

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Over Attenuating Yeast - How is it Possible?

« on: May 17, 2013, 07:13:30 AM »

I would be very reluctant to compare numbers directly with a big brewer.  I would not be surprised if the yeast in my carboy acts much different than that in a large fermenter:  much different pressure on the yeast, much different temperature gradient, unless you got the yeast from the brewery, the strains are probably evolved differently, etc.  I also wonder what variability Rogue gets batch-to-batch.  I presume they would blend batches together to average out variability.

5

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Beers for the non-craft drinker

« on: May 15, 2013, 07:33:58 AM »

older people (40+)

HEY!!!!  40+ isn't "older"!

Absolutely.  And get off my lawn!

I did a California Common once that went over real well.  I brought that and a blonde ale over to a company summer picnic, which also had Coronas and another BMC-type beer, and I was pleased to find that my beers were much preferred over the others.

6

Equipment and Software / Re: PBW

« on: May 10, 2013, 06:04:33 AM »

Better Bottles ... will not shatter.

No but they will stress and crack at the most inopportune times spilling precious homebrew everywhere.  If I do plastic, its a nice thick walled bucket...

My LHBS has a Better Bottle on display with a crack at the bottom where the wall meets the bottom.  The crack apparently was due to chemical stress or some other environmental stress fracture.  It has a sign on it reminding you not to store chemicals (PBW, StarSan, etc.) for extended amounts of time; just clean and sanitize and get the chemicals out and let it dry.  Always put water in first, then the chemicals, etc.  I know I get lazy and let my carboy sit for days with PBW until I get around to cleaning it.  I guess if I ever replace them with Better Bottles I will have to make sure I am careful about that.

7

All Grain Brewing / Re: SG OG BG FG,... why is my post boil reading lower than pre boil?

« on: May 09, 2013, 06:51:36 AM »

I'm not certain, but I bet the relationship between density and temperature is not linear.

It isn't.  I've coded up my own hydrometer correction and I've done a fit to the water density vs temperature data out of the CRC Handbook.  I'd put up a plot if I could figure out how to post it, but by eye it looks linear out around 100C, but it rolls off as you drop in temp.

8

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Room Temperature after Bottling

« on: May 08, 2013, 05:57:03 AM »

The warmer room will carbonate faster.  75 F isn't too warm to bottle condition.  The 65-75 F temperature swing shouldn't be a big deal because you shouldn't be in a situation where the yeast want to go dormant. 

Wherever you put your bottles, just make sure they are in the dark.  Some of the breweries that bottle condition have special storage rooms kept at 80F or higher so that the bottles carbonate quick.  However, when your bottles are fully carbonated, you'll want to move them to a better cellaring temperature so that they'll hold up better over time.

9

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Outdoor draft system

« on: May 07, 2013, 02:39:01 PM »

Assuming perhaps convection would help keep things circulating.

If I recall my fluid dynamics correctly, with a container with the geometry your describing (something like a 4-in diameter and a 12-ft length), you'll get no natural fluid movement short of having a huge temperature difference between the bottom and top.  Temperature transport will be dominated by conduction, and most of that will come through the PVC walls and not the fluid.  You'll need to move the fluid somehow, like with a pump, but then you're back to something like a glycol system again.

10

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: sanitation questions

« on: May 01, 2013, 08:54:45 AM »

Hope my two cents helps :-)

Well said.

FWIW, StarSan is really good at putting the shine back on those two cents as well.

11

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brewstrong

« on: April 28, 2013, 03:49:20 PM »

The problem with homebrew podcasts in general is that in many of them the hosts are drinking.  And just as it is true in the pub, when people are drinking they usually are not as funny or clever as they think they are.  The early (2006-2007) Jamil Shows seemed like they were recorded early in the morning before work.  The info was much more straightforward.  Even with a show like Basic Brewing, when James and Andy are drinking when doing it, there is a lot more giggling and off-topic jokes.

12

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Observation

« on: April 26, 2013, 08:22:06 AM »

I always look at making beer to be like any other cooking.  I see this issue to be a lot like grandmother's cooking.  For some people, there is no store-bought pie that is better than the one their grandmother makes from scratch.  Whatever the reason, freshness of ingredients, choice of ingredients, the recipe itself, etc., whatever it is there are some things that bring that intangible quality to it that gets written up as that touch of love.  Perhaps in some cases the preference is influenced by a sentimental attachment.  The Mrs. Smith's company makes fine pies, but they have to make allowances for mass production that grandma doesn't.

On the other hand, there are a lot of grandmothers out there who can't make a decent pie to save their life, or maybe their pies aren't as hand-crafted because they use store-bought pie shells and store-bought pie filling.

I wouldn't put any random homebrew up to any craft brew, but I would stack any "decent" homebrew (defining decent here being someone who is adept at it) up against any craftbrew.  I certainly believe it to be true that it is easily withing the scope of anyone who wants, that they can, in general, make beer at home that is as good  or better than most commercial made beer.  There are some possible exceptions that have been mentioned, such as those requiring very special techniques or rely heavily upon local flora, but you run the same challenge trying to make San Francisco sourdough outside of San  Francisco.

13

Equipment and Software / Re: SOURCES FOR BREWING ELECTRONIC

« on: April 25, 2013, 07:12:51 AM »

What is your anticipated level of involvement?  Do you want to buy an off-the-shelf system, or are you willing to build your own?  If you want to be more on the build-your-own end of things, check out BrewPi (http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2129, http://brewpi.com/), which is software that runs on a raspberry pi or an arduino.

14

All Grain Brewing / Re: Whirlpooling

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:17:43 AM »

The kettle height to diameter is important.  I use a turkey fryer kettle and I cannot get any kind of a cone to form.

15

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: PH adjustments

« on: April 10, 2013, 11:51:48 AM »

I was thinking more along the lines of the case where I wanted/needed to adjust the mash pH after the water has been added.