Messages

1561

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: One man's trash truly is another man's treasure.

« on: March 30, 2012, 12:43:27 PM »

People like to dump their appliances, tires, and mattresses on my land. One time someone dumped a fridge here, and it still worked! I was pretty excited about that. It's holding my yeast and hops now, and bottles I'm cold conditioning.

1562

Equipment and Software / Re: How to use a pH meter

« on: March 30, 2012, 07:48:34 AM »

Unless you contaminated the portion that you removed and returned, e.g. with rinse water from rinsing the pH probe off.

That's what I'm afraid happened. My tap water is really alkaline, so maybe if half a ml of rinse water contaminated it each time I calibrated it, after a long time that could skew the samples. When my new buffers show up I'll compare the results.

1563

Equipment and Software / Re: How to use a pH meter

« on: March 29, 2012, 12:28:35 PM »

I've been getting some odd readings on my Hanna HI 98107 (the 2-point calibration one). I read the label on my buffer solutions, and it said not to pour the used solution back into the bottle. D'oh! I've been doing that for the past year or so.

I've ordered some new buffers, but I wonder which direction the old solution would push the pH, up or down? 

1564

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Unexpected pellicle? I hope I'm wrong

« on: March 29, 2012, 09:05:33 AM »

Probably not a good choice for oak, since the outside of those barrels saw cool slightly humid conditions for quite some time.

One of the less crazy old-timers at HomeBrewTalk swears by them, so I thought I'd try them. I'll probably toast them in the oven for a few hours to take care of any hitchhikers before I use them again. Or maybe I'll just use them for smoking meat, like they're made for.

1565

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Unexpected pellicle? I hope I'm wrong

« on: March 29, 2012, 08:03:59 AM »

The oak chips I'm using are the Jack Daniels barrels shredded up for smoking chips, like this: http://www.jackiesgiftgallery.com/images/P/Wood%20Chips.jpg

I don't usually sanitize my oak chips, but I did briefly (60-90 sec) boil these chips before adding them. So I'm guessing whatever it was could live inside the oak itself, and not just on the surface.

I tasted it when I transferred, and it tasted pretty good. I think I'll ride it out for now, and try sulfite if it's getting too nasty for me. I was planning on carbing with wine yeast anyway, so I'll get a sulfur-tolerant one just to be safe.

1566

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Unexpected pellicle? I hope I'm wrong

« on: March 29, 2012, 06:37:19 AM »

I didn't take any pictures because I had a boil going and didn't have time to go find my camera. I racked from under it. The tartness tasted more lactic than acetic, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. If whatever it is forms again in the carboy I'll post a pic then.

I found this chart on Raj Apte's page:
http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/flemis2.gif

Beer is 8.5% ABV and about 30 IBUs. I thought Lacto was inhibited by IBUs that high, but maybe some strains aren't? The ABV would rule out enterobacteria, right, so I probably won't get sick from it? Could be acetobacter. I started the fermentation in two vessels, then combined when I oaked the first time. I may have gotten some O2 in there accidentally. I'm hoping it's pedio or brett though, those would probably taste pretty good.

If it is some kinda bug I don't want, is there any reason I shouldn't use metabisulfite?

1567

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Possibly the worst homebrewing article ever

« on: March 28, 2012, 02:07:54 PM »

we are kind of a bunch of hippy rednecks.

I wonder what a hippy redneck is. I'm picturing someone flying the Cascadia flag with their Confederate flag at their self-sufficient compound in the woods. I guess that makes sense, now that I think about it. 

1568

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast for a barleywine?

« on: March 28, 2012, 12:28:26 PM »

Fracker: Have you seen Fred's website? It's the best resource for brewing big beers I've found. My big beers sucked before I found it.

http://beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm

1569

General Homebrew Discussion / Unexpected pellicle? I hope I'm wrong

« on: March 28, 2012, 10:19:23 AM »

I added oak to a Belgian Brut a few weeks ago. When I added the oak, fermentation was definitely over, and it was still and clear. I go to rack it off today, and it had a splotchy, sticky, slimy white film on the top. It sure looks like a pellicle, but maybe it's not? I don't know what else it would be.

I tasted the white film, and it didn't taste like much, just kind of chalky and kind of tart. Do I have a Brett infection? It doesn't look like my Berliner Weisses do, so I don't think it's Lacto.

Would adding more oak (and probably whatever bug it is) make it finish faster?

Gravity is 1.010 right now. If it's Brett, how much lower should the gravity drop? I'm planning on bottling in champagne bottles, so I'm not super worried about bottle bombs, but I was really hoping to bottle it before May.

1570

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Buying Beer

« on: March 28, 2012, 06:15:28 AM »

It is interesting how times have changed.

When my wife and I were still dating we brewed extract batches together. Then I got into all grain, and pH adjustment and water chemistry, and she lost interest. She'll still help out if I need it, but it's more technical than she really wants to get.

1571

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: When is too late to top off?

« on: March 27, 2012, 11:00:18 AM »

Put 8 0z. in a metal cocktail shaker and put it in a bowl of ice water.  Swirl it around.  In a minute or so, it will be in the 60s and you can take an accurate reading.

That's a good idea. I'm thinking I could add my -60min hops, boil for 30min, check gravity, if it's low, plan on boiling longer. I don't think you'll get much more bittering at -90min vs -60min. If it's too high, I could add the top-off then. Sound good?

Woops, Major beat me to it.

1572

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: When is too late to top off?

« on: March 27, 2012, 10:51:28 AM »

well, theoretically at least, you are breaking up the colloids which can affect mouth feel if you water down any beer post boil. Maybe it is not a genuine concern. I personally feel that you are best topping off before flame out if ever.

How accurate do you think it'd be to use the temp correction tool in beersmith to measure gravity on the wort during the boil? Or should I cool the sample down before measuring? I usually don't check the gravity until it's chilled and in the fermentor.

1573

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: When is too late to top off?

« on: March 27, 2012, 08:05:35 AM »

+1. Watered down beer sucks.

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I thought I'd add my $0.02 in case anyone reads this later. I've topped off my beers at all the different stages (during primary, during secondary, or at bottling) at one time or another, and never had any ill-effects that I could tell.

I recently made a special bitter with an OG that was too high (1.052, diluted to 1.040), and topped that off with water at bottling. The beer definitely tastes watery now, and it's bumming me out. So I would say use caution when topping off low gravity beers, and don't worry about topping off higher gravity and fuller-flavored beers.

1574

Ingredients / Re: White Table Sugar

« on: March 26, 2012, 12:55:00 PM »

I have found no difference in the end result between using inverted or non inverted sugar.  It seems to be an issue where theory is overwhelming simply tasting the beer and deciding.

The only reason I'll invert my sugar is for ease of handling. I really can't tell a flavor difference between invert and plain. I have noticed a difference between dextrose and sucrose, though. A large amount of dextrose with phenolic yeast (I've only tried it with T-58 so far) gives the beer more clove. This is only apparent in large amounts (like 20% of fermentables). I might be completely wrong and it's just coincidental.

1575

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Table Sugar Starter

« on: March 26, 2012, 12:44:44 PM »

ETA: I did some starter trials a few years ago. All else being equal, using DME grew 93% more yeast than sucrose. http://seanterrill.com/2010/01/14/aeration-and-yeast-starters/

On "another" brewing forum, someone was arguing that pure sucrose would work just as well as a malt-based starter medium. It's nice to see some numbers support my position. My gut told me sucrose wouldn't work as well, but I didn't have any numbers to back it up.