Topics

16

All Things Food / Goose Breast Prosciutto

« on: January 10, 2013, 10:07:42 AM »

Anyone made Ruhlman's Duck Breast Prosciutto recipe or any other dried/cured meat product?
I'm trying 8 goose breasts but I need some advice on drying temps.  I did a 36 hr salt cure on 1/2 and 48 hr on the larger ones and now they are in my cold garage hanging in cheese cloth.  I weighed them all and we'll see how long it takes to get down by 30%.  I don't have his book yet so these directions came from his internet site. Given that goose breasts are a bit bigger than duck, I went for longer salt times and the larger ones still felt pretty soft after 36 so that's why I went for 48. 
This is my first attempt so who knows how they will turn out so if anyone has tried this sort of thing, give my your advice.
Thanks

17

Kegging and Bottling / Keezer of...well not death but certainly unpleasantness

« on: January 08, 2013, 03:35:06 PM »

So I opened my keg freezer yesterday and I noticed that some yeast I had in there had fallen to the bottom.  I bent down to get it and suddenly my eyes started burning and breathing felt very odd, hard to describe.  It seems that I've had a slow leak for a while and my freezer was completely full of CO2 so I was bobbing for yeast in a big tub of gas.  Obviously CO2 isn't going to kill me right away or anything but it wasn't the most pleasurable experience. 

18

Homebrew Competitions / BJCP tasting score

« on: January 07, 2013, 08:28:00 PM »

Just got my tasting score from Sept.  Scored 80. If I read the BJCP site correctly, this would qualify me for National rank if I had more experience points?  Am I reading this right? 

19

The Pub / Happy New Year

« on: December 31, 2012, 05:34:12 PM »

Happy New Year Everyone. 

Since it's New Year's Eve and I'm sitting here perusing the beer forum, maybe I'll resolve to be a bit less boring next year.  Either way, here's wishing you all the best and I hope 2013 brings you your best beers ever.

Graham

20

Ingredients / 6-row and rice - how much can I use?

« on: December 20, 2012, 03:49:26 PM »

I've been asked to make a full keg (15 gals or so) of crappy beer for an event.  The request was for a BMC style beer.  Not my sort of beer but it is what it is.
I made a first attempt using 80% pilsner malt and 20% rice with a single addition of Hallertau hops and it's still too flavourful for my testers.  So, I'm wondering if I should go to six row and more rice.  But, I don't really know how much rice I could use with six row. 
I'll likely be using Mexican Lager yeast.
Any help would be appreciated.  It's actually sort of interesting to see that making flavourless beer is harder than you'd think because its so unforgiving with nothing to hide behind. 

21

Beer Recipes / Hopping levels to balance a big milk stout

« on: December 05, 2012, 09:29:44 AM »

I'm gonna try my first big beer.  I wanna do a big Imperial milk stout but I'm getting caught up in the amount of hops to use.
Here's the grain bill:
12 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb C120
8 oz Roasted Barley
8 oz Pale Chocolate
4 oz Black Patent
1 lb lactose
1 lb sucrose (caramelized before adding to boil kettle).
Vanilla bean added after initial fermentation subsides.

Beersmith says about 1.100 for a 5 gal batch.  I was going to just use Magnum instead of EKG because there is no flavour addition and if I just want bitter, Magnum would be easier.  I'm thinking 1 oz of 13.5% AA US Magnum for an anticipated 33 IBU but is that enough to balance that much malt?  I know it's supposed to be sweet, I just don't want syrup.

It's going onto a large pitch of WLP007 that I have ready.  Beersmith is telling me estimated FG of 1.013 which I don't believe for a second with that much malt and lactose.  I do not yet have a way to oxygenate this wort besides the shaking method.  I know that probably won't be sufficient but I've been unsuccessful finding an affordable O2 option (I haven't found those little tanks in the hardware store that you guys all seem to be able to get).

22

Equipment and Software / Variations in temp while lagering

« on: December 04, 2012, 03:35:49 PM »

Right now, I have some beer lagering in a chest freezer set at about 34 F.  But, as winter approaches (slowly), I'm thinking of pulling the beer out of the freezer and just letting it lager in my garage.  I need the freezer to be a freezer again.
So, would variations in lagering temperature have a detrimental impact on finished beer?  The garage has not yet gotten cold enough to freeze inside although it certainly might if the temperature really drops.  But, in general I'd say it's likely to stay in the mid-30's with some swings depending on daytime temps.

Will these swings have a negative impact on the beer?

If a keg froze, is this a bad thing?  I don't think that they would get to the point of freezing solid, probably just get slushy and if they were going to get any colder, they could be put in the basement for a few days until the cold snap passes.

It's pretty warm right now so I'm gonna try to get another 10 gal batch of lager made tomorrow while the garage is still in the 50's during the day but soon I expect winter to finally arrive and lager brewing will end until spring.  But, my basement will be sitting at about 65F so ales will continue as usual.

23

Beer Travel / New York

« on: November 26, 2012, 07:35:57 PM »

A friends going to NY city and wanted some suggestions on beer to have while there.
Thanks.

24

Yeast and Fermentation / Mould - should I dump?

« on: November 19, 2012, 08:59:25 AM »

I've got a sour beer that's been in a carboy for about 5 months now.  I thought it was forming a pellicle a while ago but now I think it's just getting mouldy.  I looked at it yesterday and I think it has a penicillium infection of some sort.  The mould is sort of blue/green and looks very similar to bread mould.  It's forming bubble which look quite dry and powdery on top.  I tried to get a picture but through the carboy all I got was reflections.

So, do I dump this or just leave and let it keep chugging away?  I've been asking questions about this one for a while now, first attempt so I'm not sure what to do.  I really haven't opened this much so I think the mould, if that's what it is, has taken a long time to get going.  Obviously I don't want to be drinking mycotoxins but if it's harmless and won't hurt anything, I'll just leave it alone.
Thanks

25

Ingredients / Munich and Wheat

« on: November 14, 2012, 03:08:22 PM »

I wanna make a wheat beer but I'm out of Pils. How do you think 50/50 wheat and Weyerman Munich 1 would work?

26

All Things Food / 2 briskets on the BGE cooking time?

« on: November 07, 2012, 07:19:36 AM »

We're having a party this weekend and I'm gonna do a brisket on the egg.  But, I think I'm gonna have to do two for the number of people that are expected so I'm asking.  Does the final cooking time matter if you do two versus one?  I know a single 20 lb piece of meat would take much longer than a 10 lb piece but in this case, it's 2 - 10 lbs pieces laid side by side.  My thoughts are that it wouldn't matter but does anyone have experience to the contrary?

My plan is to put them on at 11 pm Friday at 225-250 and plan for about an hour per lb.  That gives me a lot of extra time in case I need more plus time to rest.  I've heard everything from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours per lb depending on the source but I've never done this much meat at once before.

Thanks

27

Beer Recipes / Pils malt : rice ratio

« on: November 05, 2012, 11:45:25 AM »

I am going to do a beer for the neighbours.  I've put this off long enough but I guess I need to do a BMC style just to get it done.
So, my question is simply this.  Is there a ratio of how much rice a lb of pils malt would convert?

My first (and hopefully last) recipe attempt is just.
7 lbs pils malt
2 lb minute rice
1 oz Hallertau (5.6% AA) at 60 mins
WLP Mexican Lager yeast.

Any problem with this converting over a 1 hour mash at 150?  I don't really want to get 6 row just for this.
Thanks

28

Zymurgy / Address Change

« on: November 02, 2012, 03:25:53 PM »

Is there a way to change my delivery address on-line?
Thanks

29

Equipment and Software / Went Shopping - there's pictures...

« on: November 01, 2012, 03:28:53 PM »

I mentioned in a kegging question that I bought a bunch of stuff from a restaurant that was going out of business.  Based on the lack of response, I'm guessing no one knew what I was describing so here are some pictures of the stuff I bought. 

First thing I bought was this large kegerator.  I'm guessing it will hold at least 6 cornies.  I think it held two 1/2 barrel kegs and 3 1/4 barrel kegs.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it cause it's too big for my house.  Paid $350 for it - good deal or not?


Here's a close-up of the taps, there is a 3 tap tower and a 2 tap tower with creamer taps.


I also got some kegs and the fittings I was asking about are these.  I may convert these to cornie fittings if I can't get these to work (love having a friend with a machine shop...)


Also got a mixed bag of kegs that have been in the restaurant for at least 2 years (since it closed).  Mostly wanted the gas tank.


The last buy (and by far the heaviest) was this bottle cooler that I plan to yank the racks out of and make into a sweet cornie lagering cooler.  Not sure how many cornies it will fit but I'm betting I can get 10 in there easily.  Paid $400 for it which was too much but I got a stainless steel sink thrown into the deal for nothing so I'm ok with that.  Also got another stainless wash sink, back splash, side table and spray head for $50.


So, I'm done my Christmas shopping early this year (well, except for that charcuterie book I want)...

30

Beer Recipes / Not sure what to brew

« on: October 31, 2012, 07:42:17 PM »

I've got a decent amount of WLP007 ready for a re-pitch (from an APA) and I just can't decide what to brew.  I was thinking of 10 gals of porter and doing 5 as a coffee porter but then I saw that old thread on English IPA's and that got me thinking EIPA.  Or, a bitter.  Or even a wheat.  Now I don't know what to do and I have to brew tomorrow if I want to do it this week. 

What to do...what to do?