Messages

31

All Grain Brewing / Re: Decocotion mash

« on: December 04, 2010, 03:07:44 PM »

I love doing decoction mashes.  I brew with another guy so it makes the labor easy.

We bought a 2-quart pyrex measuring bowl and use that to extract the mash.  "Thickest part" is an ambiguous term but there's a reason behind it.  The grist holds temperature better than the liquid.  So in order to increase the temperature of your mash, you want to extract as much solid material as possible; hence "thickest part".  Too much liquid and you won't be able to hit your target temperature.  Too much grist and you run the risk of scorching what you are trying to boil.

Have a calculator or brewing program handy when you decoct.  You'll find that sometimes your temp will drop between phases and that will affect the volume you need to pull from the mash.

I also love decoctions. You can't get a really complex malt profile any other way. There is another reason for using the "thickest part". Once you dough in, most of the enzymes are extracted to the liquid. By boiling the thicker portion, you avoid denaturing the enzymes and keep a higher diastatic power in your mash.

32

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Recipe software for MACs

« on: December 04, 2010, 02:51:16 PM »

I've been very happy with Beer Tools Pro.

33

Wood/Casks / Re: Souring in a Whiskey Cured Barrel???

« on: December 04, 2010, 02:47:51 PM »

How big is your barrel? I just kegged a Belgian Dark strong that spent 2 months in a new 5 gallon whiskey barrel and it has TONS of whiskey flavor. A year would likely be too much. A 50 gallon? Maybe OK. I would echo the above recommendation of getting a few non-sour beers through the barrel before souring. My plan all along is to sour my barrel as well, but I've got a Tripel in there now, and I'm going to put a RIS in it for about 6 months and hope the whiskey character is tamed enough to go sour after that. Good luck!

34

Equipment and Software / Re: Cleaning immersion chillers

« on: November 12, 2010, 08:42:17 PM »

spray it off with the hose after every use, put in boiling wort with 15 left to go, never been an issue 

This works for me, too.

The only time I used PBW is when it was new, and and the copper coil straight from the box still a little oily after I formed/made it into a chiller. 

Other than that, rinse, boil, repeat.

Ditto here. Once or twice a year I pull out a Brillo pad and give it a good scrubbing, but I doubt it really accomplishes much, other than briefly restoring that shiny, new look.

35

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Mix & match?

« on: November 12, 2010, 08:20:11 PM »

What's wrong with the wedge valves? I have kegs with both kinds, and am happy with either one.

36

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Priming/Bottle Conditioning with Molassas

« on: November 10, 2010, 07:12:23 AM »

I had the same issue with a smoked maple barleywine. Added maple syrup at the end of the boil, but at racking to the secondary, the maple was barely detectable. I primed with maple syrup at my usual corn sugar rate plus 25%. The carbonation level is ideal, although the flavor contribution was barely noticeable.

37

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Kegging and CO2 refills/purchase

« on: November 08, 2010, 11:20:27 AM »

That sucks man. 

Since I prime and carbonate the beer in the keg now and just use the tank to push the beer my usage has gone way down. I filled my #5 tank back February and still have about 700psi in it. 

FYI as long as there is any liquid CO2 in the tank, the tank pressure will not change. Once the gauge pressure begins to drop, you're "running on fumes". It may still last awhile, but there is NOT a gradual drop in tank pressure as CO2 is consumed from a full tank.

38

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 11/5 Edition

« on: November 05, 2010, 05:44:37 AM »

Belgian Tripel for future aging in a bourbon barrel. I'll be brewing it at our club's Teach a Friend to Homebrew event.

39

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Dextrose (Corn Sugar) vs. Malt (DME) for Priming

« on: November 04, 2010, 09:40:27 AM »

Well for heavensakes..... what you really need to do is to use regular everyday common household white sugar.  Yes, sugar of the cane or beet variety.  Use 5/8 cup for 5 gallons and you're golden.  No need to buy extra DME, and no need for corn sugar, never ever again.  You've got a pound of sugar in your pantry at all times, right?  Right.

I use whatever I have available, often table sugar. Since sucrose (table sugar) is a disaccharide, the yeast must produce invertase enzyme to break it down before it can be metabolized. For this reason, I use dextrose in high alcohol beers when the yeast are already stressed. FWIW, DME for priming allows a beer to be considered up to Reinheitsgebot standards.

40

All Grain Brewing / Re: Mash temps for a Flanders Red style???

« on: September 14, 2010, 09:39:30 AM »

As far as how long to wait... Once the bugs are in, leave it until the gravity doesn't change over several weeks and the beer has your desired sourness. Once you rack it, consider it done. I rarely take a Flanders of the bugs before 9 months. When you decide it's time, be ready to put your next sour beer onto the bugs!

41

All Grain Brewing / Re: Crazy Attenuation!!!

« on: September 14, 2010, 09:32:40 AM »

3711 is a vigorous attenuator. With a 147 mash temp, I'm surprised it didn't finish lower...

42

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: All Brettanomyces Ferment

« on: July 04, 2010, 07:20:40 PM »

Today I opened my first bottle of an all-Brett Saison made with the Wyeast 5151 (carbed for two weeks). I did make a starter. I pitched to 1.5 liters of ~1.040 made with 80% DME and 20% dextrose. It dropped clear after 5 days, and I decanted and repeated the 1.5 liter starter. I vigorously aerated both starters, and the starter had a clean, fruity, pineapple heavy aroma, with little Brett funk. I did a limited aeration of the 5 gallon Saison (splashed while siphoning from kettle to fermenter, nothing else), and the finished beer has less fruit and more funk, but is nicely balanced. It's vaguely reminiscent of a young Orval. It took three days to see any noticeable fermentation activity, and you will (probably) have less visual evidence of fermentation. The brew dropped its krausen after a couple of days, but there was still plenty of bubbling through the blow-off tube. Total fermentation took 4 weeks, and finished at 1.003 (1.058 O.G.). It did drop pretty clear, and formed a nice cake, although it took longer than a typical ale yeast. I'd say the Bretts are very unpredictable, no two beers will ever be alike, and no matter what you do (starter or no starter, aerate or no aerate) you'll get an interesting brew in the end. Good luck and have fun!

43

All Grain Brewing / Re: Looking for a foolproof sour beer recipe/instructions

« on: June 29, 2010, 06:34:12 AM »

Another option and a good first sour beer is to consider a Berliner Weiss. Since they (generally) just use Lacto for souring, they're done in weeks instead of a year or more. Also a great refreshing beer for summer.

44

All Grain Brewing / Re: How do you handle the very last of the runnings?

« on: March 11, 2010, 11:26:00 AM »

You really shouldn't collect runnings once the gravity is below 1.010. Doing so greatly increases the extraction of tannins from the grain husks, potentially leading to astingency in the finished beer. If I'm too lazy to take a reading, I always stop collecting wort as soon as the first particles show up in the runoff.

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Kegging and Bottling / Re: Any advice on priming with Maple Syrup?

« on: March 11, 2010, 11:00:48 AM »

It's not liquid sucrose.  It's mostly water in fact so 3/4 cup maple syrup is not just like 3/4 cup table sugar.  The truth is that to get enough maple flavor to even taste will take a tremendous amount of syrup.  Thai may work for adding to secondary, but not for priming. Priming sugars should only be used to carbonate beer, not add flavors. If you want maple flavor use extract.

I recently brewed a smoked maple barleywine. I used maple syrup at the end of the boil, but was not happy with the level of maple flavor at the end of fermentation. Primed 5 gallons with 1 1/4 cups maple syrup. Carbonated nicely and added noticeably to the maple flavor.