Messages

1171

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Do I need a rest?

« on: January 27, 2011, 02:17:16 PM »

Based on your recipe and you OG reading, it seems to me that you did pretty well for your first all-grain brew.  Your efficiency was a little low but that will get better as you get more comfortable with the process.  If the beer lacks body after it's carbonated and aged a bit you can do one or two simple things to adjust body and mouth feel.

1) Mash at a little higher temp, 156 to 158.
2) Add some additional Crystal to the recipe to add more unfementable sugar to the wort.

If you haven't checked you thermometer yet you should.  My first thermometer was off by -9 degrees so I was always mashing 9 to 10 degrees lower than I thought.

Good luck with it, it's already beer and that makes it good.  If no one has said it yet, relax, don't worry and have a homebrew (or at least a beer until your homebrew is done).  Don't sweat the small stuff until you feel confident about the big stuff, you drive yourself nuts.

Paul

1172

The Pub / Re: Mom, have you seen Dad lately? No, but stay out of the freezer in the garage.

« on: January 27, 2011, 09:52:45 AM »

At least she kept him frozen.

A women in Des Moines, several years ago, put her husband's body in the back bedroom and opened the window about 2 inches.  Then she sealed the bedroom door and told everyone he had run away.  10 years later someone looked in the bedroom and called the police.  She did it to keep collecting his social security checks too.

Another women buried her husband beside the garage to keep the checks coming.

Seems all to common in this day and age.

Of course you could name your new kegerator "the old guys keeper".  8^)

Paul

1173

All Things Food / Re: A culinary abortion!

« on: January 26, 2011, 01:18:08 PM »

I had skipped over this thread until today.  That may have a been a good thing or a bad thing.

You're all making me happy my kids haven't come up with any to gross they just have to have yet (except anything with peanut butter in, on or around it.  I know people really like, I've never been able to stand it.  I don't know why).

We used to eat squirrel.  It was better than starving (the other option we had at the time) and Mom simmered it in a milk/cream sauce to pull out most of the gamy "rat" flavor.  We tried to only use the .22 to kill squirrels though, Mom hated to dig out pellets.

The big delicacy in our house was beef brains.  Breaded and fried in lard/butter.  Smother a piece of bread with fresh butter and fill with brains like a taco.  It was delicious!!

The amazingness of brains was soon offset by plates full of chicken livers.  They are better fresh (never frozen) but that doesn't mean they are ever very good.

Mom was half English-Irish/half German.  It lead to a few strange meal customs.  I don't ever remember a meal without potatoes, ever... to this day and I just turned 46.   

Paul

1174

The Pub / Re: They're ALIVE!

« on: January 25, 2011, 09:19:12 AM »

Very neat!

Paul

1175

Equipment and Software / Re: How automated is your system

« on: January 24, 2011, 02:49:24 PM »

My system is as automated as The Olive Garden is Italian.  So, not at all.

Paul

1176

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: totally random

« on: January 24, 2011, 10:03:39 AM »

Welcome to our world.  I've been at it for 13 years and 149 (or so) batches.

Planning is the hardest part for me.  I tend to be a bit scatter brained and it it bites now and then.

This hobby did lead to a yearly Oktoberfest at our house.  Close 100 people last fall.

Have fun with it.

Paul

Wow how does one get an invite?

As one of my friends tells people "you have to know a guy, who knows a guy..."  

It's a mixture of people from work and friends we've made over the years (many, many years) through our kids classes and the whole neighborhood of course.  You can't have that big of a party and not invite the neighbors.

Let me know if you're ever going to be in Des Moines at the end of September, I'll PM you the details.

Paul

1177

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: totally random

« on: January 24, 2011, 08:05:14 AM »

Welcome to our world.  I've been at it for 13 years and 149 (or so) batches.

Planning is the hardest part for me.  I tend to be a bit scatter brained and it it bites now and then.

This hobby did lead to a yearly Oktoberfest at our house.  Close 100 people last fall.

Have fun with it.

Paul

1178

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Frigid Weather Brewing

« on: January 22, 2011, 02:21:55 PM »

But that's coming from me in Colorado where it's 40+ 

You must be in the part of Colorado that's basically Kansas.

Maybe 40+ degrees is a nice trade off for being "basically Kansas".

Sorry, I couldn't stop myself.

Paul

1179

The Pub / Re: Need some engineering help

« on: January 22, 2011, 02:18:14 PM »

I agree there are better fuels we could be using.  The first deisel engine was desinged to run on vegie oil not petrol deisel but you have to compare apples to apples when using MPG to evaluate fuel economy.  

Yes, cars 30 years ago could get 40 to 50 MPG but... most of them didn't have AC, power steering, electric windows and doors.  None of them had airbags or TV's or satelite radio.  They were also the size of the spare tire in today's SUVs.  We can do better but we have to be realistic with our expectations.

Sorry to be a wet blanket (but it's whatI do best).

Paul

Edited to correct some really stupid spelling errors.

1180

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Frigid Weather Brewing

« on: January 21, 2011, 02:42:01 PM »

I do almost all my brewing in this kind of weather.  I have a great setup since we put on an addition a few years back.  I have a workshop in the new basement with a walkout to a patio.  I mash and sparge in the shop and only cook outside.  For Christmas 2010 my wife gave me a Green Egg Remote Thermometer so I don't even go outside to check water temps.   

I bring the kettle into the basement and hook my IC to the old laundry cold water spigot.

The biggest problem I've had was last Monday (MLK Jr. Day) when it started raining.  Luckily I have a portable awning that my son and I setup over the kettle.

I made wind shields out of 8" flashing and pop rivets that sit on the ground around the cooker stand to stop my flame from going out.

Paul

1181

Zymurgy / Re: Charlie's gluten free recipe....

« on: January 21, 2011, 10:47:36 AM »

Anyone home? 

No experience on this topic but I think a single infusion in the lower end of the temp range should work reasonably well.

My concern would be the fact that it isn't really a gluten free beer but rather a it's a very low gluten beer.  One of my sisters-in-law (sister-in-laws ?, I can't remember today) has celiacs, as do her 2 kids.  She runs a gluten free bakery in Colorado and is adamant that any gluten is too much gluten.  Before you go through the effort to brew it you probably want to make sure your friend is willing to drink it.

If you do and your friend doesn't have any issues with it, please let us know.  My brother has been looking for a good recipe for a few years now.

Paul

1182

The Pub / Re: Need some engineering help

« on: January 21, 2011, 10:20:23 AM »

My plan as far as all this green stuff goes, is to buy an EV (chevy volt or Tesla model S) and then get a wind turbine to charge it. We don't do much driving because we have VERY good public transit, even out here in the boonies, so I figure it'd be a pretty good thing.

Re energy, most of France is nuclear, and our energy company is one of those that buys wind power somehow. I dunno how that works exactly...

The problem of course with all this 'green' stuff is that a lot of it (especially EVs, etc) rely on petroleum-based manufacturing. So nothing is every going to be truly green, but at least it's a start.

Sometimes I wonder how much of my current lifestyle I'd be able to maintain should there be some sort of global event that would end our ability to use current manufacturing, economic, and transportation processes. I think an investment in an EV would be good in this sort of situation, but the problem is getting replacement parts.

Sorry to ramble, it's Friday alright.

My plan on this going green stuff is to keep my 10 year old truck tuned up and drive it till it falls apart from old age.  I figure it's got 8 to 10 more years in it and nothing has had to be mined, milled, refined (except gas, lubricants and tires) to make a new one in 10 years.

Paul

1183

The Pub / Re: Need some engineering help

« on: January 21, 2011, 10:16:16 AM »

You want heat? Set some magnesium on fire.

 One of the best output vs. input ratios is sugar cane to make ethanol.

 Brazil makes ethanol from sugar cane sap and then uses the leftover cane stalks to fire the boilers to run generators to power the fermenting and distillation apparatus and sells the leftover electricity back to the grid. In Brazil ethanol is basically free plus the gain.

 This crazy corn/ethanol thing in the US is STOOPID. Anyone who has used corn mash as a distillation wash ( ) will tell you that it is very low yield and takes more energy to produce than it produces...if that makes sense.

The biggest absolute waste of energy is the electric vehicle. Got to plug that thing into the grid. You telling me that my gasoline powered truck burns more fuel than the power plant that has to run full capacity just in case I might want to plug my car in?

Solar and/or nuke. That's the way to go.

 This is just the Tubercle's observation. If you want his opinion on any of the preceding subjects, just ask.
 

+100!!

I grew up on a corn/soybean/livestock farm and still have relatives out on the farm.  I have said for years that ethanol in the US is a boondoggle.  It started out as a few farmers trying to see if they could make it work and now it's just a pyramid scheme to suck money out of farmers who are trying to make a few more cents per bushel for their corn.  Once farmers stop being willing to form coops and the government stops the subsidies the ethanol industry is dead.  

Iowa will become the biggest source for used stainless steal and/or the largest producer of cheap whiskey in the world.  All they need to do is age the ethanol in oak barrels and stop adding gasoline to the storage tanks as they do this now to make it undrinkable.  Maybe they should call it Hawkeye Fire Water.

I've also been supporting nuclear and solar since the 70's during "the energy crisis".

Paul

1184

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Advise on dry hopping

« on: January 18, 2011, 09:52:46 AM »

I recommend using a cheese cloth grain bag.  I dry hopped a pilsner last fall using the "just throw the pellets in" method and every beer out of the keg has little pieces of hop floating in it.  It's kind of annoying.

You will want to weight the bag down with a stainless steel washer or something keep the hops from just floating on the surface too.

The grain bags are cheap and readily available at your LHBS.

Paul

1185

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Glass or Plastic

« on: January 16, 2011, 11:55:00 AM »

I have both glass and better bottles.  I use both because I have them and am really quite a cheapskate.  I primary in 6.5g glass and typically secondary in better bottles.  If I have more than 2 beers in play I secondary  in my 5g glass bottles.  Both work with no issues so far.  Now if I drop a glass carboy and lose a hand I might change my mind.   

Paul