Topics

1

Kegging and Bottling / Bottle pressure limits

« on: April 07, 2013, 03:34:02 AM »

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?

2

General Homebrew Discussion / Brett Saison and bottle conditioning

« on: April 02, 2013, 02:55:14 AM »

I'm fermenting a clean Saison and will put a few mL of brettaonmyces starter into each bottle before capping (same thing that RR and SN did with Brux).

OG 1.055
Mostly pilsner and a little wheat and munich
34 IBU Rager, Magnum at 60 and some Hallertau at 10 min.
Primary Wyeast 3724
Secondary Wyeast 3711

I'm using two different yeasts because 3724 is very finicky and 3711 will tear through anything and get down to 1.002 in 10 days. Being that this will be a very dry beer to begin with and that I will be adding brettanomyces I want to avoid bottle bombs. I'm going to carbonate to around 3.2 volumes of CO2. Being that the FG will be around 1.002 will there be anything else for the brett to eat besides the priming sugar? And if the brett will possibly eat more sugars than just the priming sugar should I shoot for a lower volume of CO2. Let's say I want 3.2 but to shoot for 2.7 or 2.8 because the brett may eat other sugars?

3

All Grain Brewing / BIAB efficiency

« on: November 03, 2012, 02:30:56 AM »

I'm curious what type of efficiency people are getting with BIAB? I'm especially curious about anyone that is measuring mash pH.

4

General Homebrew Discussion / Opinion about posting Jamil's recipes

« on: February 08, 2012, 03:45:32 AM »

I'm having a debate right now with someone that posted Jamil's recipes from Brewing Classic Styles onto their website. I told the guy that I think he shouldn't post it as Jamil probably wouldn't like it and that people should just buy his book. He says that the recipes are public domain. What does everyone else think?

5

Yeast and Fermentation / San Francisco lager yeast in other types of lagers

« on: July 29, 2011, 01:23:11 PM »

Has anyone ever used San Francisco Lager yeast (WLP 810) in any other types of lagers like a German pilsner, Helles, etc? Any issues with esters or other off flavors? Can it ferment at 50F?

6

Equipment and Software / Stir plate issue

« on: July 17, 2011, 09:22:00 PM »

The fan won't start when I plug it in. If I give the fan a little spin it will turn on and keep going. The stir bar rattles on the outside of the flask and when I get it to the middle it stops the fan dead in it's tracks. There is enough spacing between the fan magnet and the top of the box, so that isn't the issue.

This is a homemade stir plate with these items:
12v ac/cd converter
12v computer fan
rare earth magnet (the half moon kind like you find in a computer hard drive)
25 ohm rheostat
1 inch stir bar


The rare earth magnet is glued to the middle of the fan.

7

Yeast and Fermentation / WLP brett strains (cell count and viability)

« on: June 29, 2011, 08:01:47 PM »

With regular WLP vials a brand new vial has 100 billion cells. How many does a Brett (brett only) vial have? I ask because the vial doesn't have the regular yeast cake in the bottom of the vial like their regular sacch. strains do. Their packaging date is four months before the best by date for sacch. strains. What is it with brett vials? It clearly isn't 4 months because I just picked up a vial that has a best before date of 12/08/11.

8

Equipment and Software / Canister vs. Plate filter

« on: June 22, 2011, 10:46:32 PM »

Has anyone both used canister and plate filters? If so how do you think they compare?

Right now I have a plate filter but find the whole construction and use a pain. I watched a youtube video of someone using a canister filter and it looked much easier.

9

All Grain Brewing / Lactic acid dilution storage

« on: June 03, 2011, 04:29:09 AM »

I've been acidifying my sparge water (RO) with very small lactic acid additions (0.1mL for 5 gallons). To get his small amount I have been putting 1mL in 5 cups of water and using a 1/2cup of the solution to achieve 0.1mL. Will keeping a lactic acid/water dilution like this for a while cause any issues (such as making the solution and then using it over a couple month period)?

I'm using Bru'n water calculations for my sparge water dilutions.

10

Beer Recipes / Orange creamsicle beer

« on: March 26, 2011, 08:48:13 PM »

My fiancee wants me to brew her an orange creamsicle beer. Here is a quick recipe I came up with. I'm going with a higher mash temperature and oats to give a a big creamy mouthfeel and the lactose to add some sweetness.

7.5 lbs 2-row
0.5 lb crystal 40
1.0 lb lactose
1.0 lb flaked oats
0.75oz Magnum (10%)(60)
2oz orange zest (5)
2oz orange zest (dry hop)
vanilla extract to taste after kegging
Chico yeast

mash @ 156F
OG 1.050
27 IBU

11

All Grain Brewing / Acidifying sparge water

« on: March 14, 2011, 02:17:19 PM »

How can I calculate how much lactic acid I need to use for acidifying my sparge water. I use RO water that has 6.7pH (measured by Ward Labs). I usually use 5 gallons of sparge water.

12

All Grain Brewing / Coleman Extreme 70qt cooler, how do I take out the spigot?

« on: February 17, 2011, 07:11:44 PM »

I just got a Coleman Extreme 70qt cooler and can't figure out how to remove the spigot that came with the cooler. It isn't like most coolers that are pretty easily taken apart. Is there some tool I need?

13

All Grain Brewing / How much lactic acid or acid malt is too much?

« on: February 08, 2011, 02:16:54 AM »

I've been using the EZ water calculator for a while and noticed that it has recently been updated to include an estimated mash pH. After inputing some beers I've made in the past it showed a higher than desirable pH. So I've been adjusting the calculations with lactic acid additions. At first I tried adjusting the pH by adding more gypsum, CaCl or espom salt but adding 1g  only changed the pH by about 0.01. On my next beer the calculation said I should add 4 mL of lactic acid to the mash or 6oz of acid malt. This seems high to me but I don't have much experience with lactic acid or acid malt. So how much is too much?