Topics

61

All Things Food / Food blogs?

« on: May 31, 2012, 07:22:21 PM »

Here are my two favorite:
http://www.seriouseats.com/user/profile/GoodEaterKenji
http://norecipes.com/

62

Commercial Beer Reviews / Massive haul from trip to CO

« on: May 30, 2012, 04:32:07 PM »

Went back to CO for some camping by Redstone. Since the liquor stores in MO are mostly terrible, I picked up some beers on the way back. Some are new to me, others I just missed. I'm not a great reviewer, but I'll  put a little blurb by each as I drink them.

Crooked Stave, Petite Sour - Most disappointing beer ever. Big sweaty horse nose, thin and watery, no real flavor, just sour.
Funkwerks, Brett Dream - Great saison, just a bit of Brett, so don't expect a Brett-bomb.
Great Divide, Oak-aged Yeti - Awesome, maybe my favorite imperial stout
Great Divide, Belgian Yeti - BDS? Really, really dark BDS? That's what it tasted like. Not nearly as much roasted character as the regular Yeti, and much more caramel/raisin flavor.
Great Divide, Hoss - Thick, rich Maerzen. I don't pick up a lot of rye character. Maybe the subtle spiciness is coming from the rye, but it seems more like hops to me.
Great Divide, Colette - Really nice saison. Just the right acidity / yeasty balance.
Avery, Out of Bounds Stout - Solid, hop-forward stout. Roasty with a good amount of bittering.
Odell, Footprint - Really complex and cool.
Arcadia, Cereal Killer 2009 -
Dieu du Ciel, Rigor Mortis - Decent, but wouldn't buy again. It has a strange caramel sweetness I found cloying.
Mikkeler - Monk's Brew - Really nice. Best Quad I've had.
Duchesse de Bourgogne -
De Proefbrouwerij, Reinaert Wild Ale -

63

Beer Recipes / Duchesse de Bourgogne technique?

« on: May 29, 2012, 08:01:47 PM »

My wife is crazy for this beer, and I wanted to make something similar. Any ideas where to start? I can usually get a decent idea of where to start by tasting the beer, but I can't figure out what's going on in this one.

I usually do the fast-lacto, sour wort technique with my sours. I'm generally pleased with the level of sourness and control I have over those, but I'm not sure how to get the subtle funky notes of the Duchesse. Brett is an obvious choice, but I've also heard that Pedio can give funky sourness. I'm thinking of doing an all-Brett ferment on part of it, and doing a fast-lacto ferment on the other part.

Any chance I'll be able to culture the dregs? IIRC they filter the yeast out of this beer, so I guess the junk at the bottom is just the bugs?

64

The Pub / Can I use my pH meter to check soil pH?

« on: May 12, 2012, 08:00:03 PM »

All of my "how do I test my soil pH" googling has just led me to links saying "just send it to your university extension office." Any idea how I'd go about testing my soil using my pH meter? I assume I'd have to add water, maybe distilled?

65

Yeast and Fermentation / Keith was right about WLP380 - weizen success

« on: May 08, 2012, 02:31:50 PM »

On Keith's advice I tried 380 in my latest weizen. I'm not gonna say it's the best weizen yeast, but this weizen is a personal best for me. Freezer was set to 64*. I'm getting a background of clove, with subtle banana up front, mixed with I wanna say stone fruit? Like apricots? Maybe I'm making that up, but whatever it is, it's nice.

My dough-in was too thin, so I didn't hit my temps when I added my psuedo-decoction to the rest of the mash. I spent a couple minutes in the "danger zone" but head retention is adequate. Had a lot of sulfur at bottling, but isn't apparent in the finished beer.

For anyone interested:
1.051
50% Floor-malted Bopils
50% Colorado Red Wheat malt
13 IBUs
Soft water + CaCl to get to 50ppm Ca

Two mashes.
Wheat mash (temp between rests raised ~3-4*F/min)
75 - dough-in 5.4pH
122 - 25min
160 - 15min
boil - 20min

Pils mash
75 - dough-in pH 5.2
128 - 7min
132 - 2min (whoops)
141 - 10min (whoops again)
155 - 60min (there we go)

Carbed to 3.5 and 4 volumes.

66

Other Fermentables / Wheat wine recipes?

« on: May 05, 2012, 08:32:30 AM »

Not a barley-wine type wheat beer. I'm talking more like this:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques79.asp

Has anyone made something like this? Any advice for trying to make one?

67

All Grain Brewing / How does my grist look?

« on: May 01, 2012, 12:19:17 PM »

I've been taking more care to condition my malt lately. I run it through the mill twice, once at 1.5mm (0.060") and the second time at 0.5mm (0.020"). What do you think?

68

All Grain Brewing / Color contribution from decoction mashing?

« on: April 30, 2012, 02:02:22 PM »

Does anyone know of a rule-of-thumb for color contribution from decoction mashing?

I'd guess about 1/4 SRM per 10min boiled, but that's just a WAG. Does anyone have any idea?

69

All Grain Brewing / FauxPils Faceoff

« on: April 29, 2012, 02:56:51 PM »

Goal: To determine whether triple-decoction or no-sparge single infusion provides better results in a pale, delicate, malt-centric beer for an average homebrewer.

Who I need: Eight people to drink beer and provide feedback. I'm looking for a mix of certified judges and non-judges who have a good palate.

What you'll get: Three beers each, one of which may or may not be a duplicate of either beer, to be randomly determined.

After tasting: Provide feedback following a standard BJCP-style scoring form format for each beer.

What I ask for: I will keep all feedback anonymous (unless you want credit), but I will upload the results on my crappy blog I never update. It would also be cool if you wanted to fill the bottles back up with some of your own homebrew and mail them back.

I want to keep the recipe details a secret until after the tastings, after which I'll make my detailed brewing notes public. I plan on brewing the beers back-to-back sometime late next month, or early in the following. 

Please leave any comments, concerns, or heckles below. Thank you.


Judges:
1. Denny
2. Ron
3. Tom
4. Jeffy

Non-judges:
1. Don (I know you brew a lot of lagers)
2. Jason
3. Red
4. Garc

70

All Grain Brewing / Stupid high gravity brew

« on: April 28, 2012, 03:07:10 PM »

I'm trying to figure out a way to brew Avery's Mephistopheles. Years ago I talked to one of the brewers about this briefly, and IIRC he said they start at 1.146, and just pitch fresh yeast everyday until it's done. Since I don't have access to tons of free yeast, I'm thinking of dividing the fermentables into three additions:

Step 1: 8L @ 1.080, ferment to 1.020
Step 2: Add 8L @ 1.155, new gravity 1.087
Step 3: Add 2L @ 1.376

Step 1 would be an otherwise "normal" beer, and step 3 would be just dextrose and turbinado. I'm not sure about step 2. I haven't mashed a beer that large before. What efficiency should I expect? I'm planning on a long boil for that one.

My reasoning for doing it this way is to keep the pressure on the yeast as low as possible, and to be able to start out with a reasonably sized initial pitch.

Any thoughts?

71

Zymurgy / "New Rules of Brewing Water" - Same as the old rules?

« on: April 26, 2012, 06:18:32 AM »

I know it's just an excerpt (from the introduction?) of a book, so I'll try to reserve judgement, but a couple things jumped out at me:
"2. Starch conversion in the mash works most efficiently at a mash pH of 5.1-5.5 at mash temperatures." - I'm not sure sticking you pH meter into a hot mash is really 'best practice."

It also sounds like Palmer is still in his "RA color spreadsheet" mode, but maybe I'm reading too much into that, and maybe he discusses the differences between base, crystal and roasted malts' effect on alkalinity in more depth.

Talking about 1:2 of sulfate to chloride seem really outdated too. No sane person would argue that 5ppm:10ppm will taste the same as 50:100 or 500:1000, although they all have the same ratio. IMO the absolute amounts make a bigger difference than the ratios.

Zymurgy should really have Martin write an article about brewing water for them. I think it would be a lot more enlightening.

72

General Homebrew Discussion / Why are 60 and 90 minute boils the norm? Why not longer?

« on: April 25, 2012, 04:59:46 PM »

I brewed a Hefe today following some advice Eric Warner gives in his book on the style. One of his tips is to boil for 120min. I got a lot more hot and cold break with the 120min boil than I usually do with a 90min boil. Is there a reason I shouldn't boil all my worts for 120min?

73

Going Pro / Brewers have all kinds of beliefs

« on: April 22, 2012, 08:53:48 AM »

I really enjoy touring breweries and talking to different brewers. I'm always amazed at how much differing opinion there is about brewing.

The last brewery I went to had a German brewhouse, with a sweet mash agitator in the boil kettle (I assume for decoction mashing? I don't know why else your BK would need a mash agitator.) They didn't do any decoctions though, so I thought it was an odd choice. Maybe they got a good deal on it or something.

They also just used regular municipal water run through a whole-house filter. I asked about their water hardness, since most of the water I've seen in MO is hard as nails. They said their water was really hard, and they tried to brew a Koelsch and it turned out horrible.

I asked if they had tried any softening techniques, like boiling or lime treatment, and the brewer said he doesn't believe in adding any chemicals to his beer. He didn't believe in adding any brewing salts either.

Their beer was OK, not amazing, but above average. They just make the kinds of beer they can with their water, and don't worry trying to make other kinds.

74

Ingredients / Adding oats during the boil?

« on: April 22, 2012, 07:41:48 AM »

Interesting read over at Mike's blog: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/04/adding-oats-to-boil-coffee-stout.html

Has anyone else tried this? I wonder if it'd work with flaked barley?

75

Events / AHA Rally in Rolla, MO at Public House

« on: April 20, 2012, 12:09:50 PM »

Anyone on here going to this? It's tomorrow. I'm taking the afternoon off work to check it out.