Messages

301

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Anyone here stock up on hops this time of year...

« on: October 20, 2011, 12:55:02 PM »

buy amarillo and simcoe while you can...

8oz (max limit) amarillo
16oz simcoe  (32oz max limit)

from freshops today...

Thanks for the tip.  I've already got 2+ lb. of Amarillo, but I grabbed some Simcoe.

Didn't realize they were going that quickly. I got some Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial, and Zues from FH today.

I was wondering what was going on with HD. I kept checking their site for Amarillo and never showed up. Turns out, I was too late. Did they ever have Simcoe or Citra?

302

All Things Food / Re: Making Hot Sauce

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:22:00 PM »

Thanks E. Not really trying to clone anything. I just have some peppers available in the garden and I like hot sauce.

303

All Things Food / Making Hot Sauce

« on: September 27, 2011, 12:53:46 PM »

Has anyone ever done this here? I have a whole plant of orange thai chiles that would probably make an awesome hot sauce.

I was thinking of just grinding them up in a blender with a tablespoon or two or vinegar, can always add more if needed, and some salt and garlic. I might add a cayenne or two to fill it out since the thai chiles are small. I was then going to strain the mixture, or not, into a glass jar for spooning onto my favorite foods or some chili.

How about it, sound good?

304

Ingredients / Re: Experimental Hop X-369?

« on: September 12, 2011, 12:24:56 PM »

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the pound? Were these 2011 hops or last years?

305

All Grain Brewing / Re: My first Saison

« on: September 02, 2011, 07:36:25 AM »

I too have used 3711. That yeast is a monster!! I've had my saisons finish anywhere from 1.002 to 1.005 so 1.000 is not unheard of.

This yeast gives it a more peppery character which is apparently not right on with the BJCP style of saison. I got dinged in the latest comp for having a delicious beer but not quite to style. Still makes good beer though.

306

All Things Food / Re: What's For Dinner?

« on: September 01, 2011, 10:22:25 AM »

I roasted a bunch of Hatch chilies last night and got some supercharged ones I think...not only did my eyes burn when I rubbed my eyes...when I put in my contacts this morning they inflicted inscrutable pain!  Had to replace them.  My thought is that the capsaicin just soaked through overnight from the outside of the lens, to permeate the whole thing.  Ouch!

Been there... Done that. Consider yourself lucky, just last week I cut up one jalapeno during lunch for some soup. I thought I did well in not touching the insides. I didn't realize how bad of a job I did until I was half way back from work and the last thing I did before leaving the house was go to the bathroom... You do that math 

307

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 01:03:32 PM »

I think you need to back off on the gypsum.  My own water is 100ppm sulfate and I could never get a really good malty flavor even with a generous chloride addition to balance the sulfate.  I've since gone to RO water and keep my sulfate down to 50ppm and with 50-100ppm chloride I'm getting much better malt flavors.

What about having the sulfate levels stay where they are and increase the chloride levels? I've never messed with chloride levels, I usually just rely on the gypsum to adjust my calcium levels.

308

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 11:28:47 AM »

But truly, like I said, you're done.  You're really just splitting hairs at this point, if it's that awesome already.

I don't want to say it's "awesome" already. I understand that once you hit a certain point you just start nit picking but I really do feel like I have some work to do on it to get it to the awesome level.

I like ideas of more munich and I have also been given the idea of trying aromatic malt in place of or with the munich to amp up the malt.

309

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 10:56:51 AM »

bittering level - In this particular bee, the IBUs were in the 50's so not overly high. And remember, this beer was the latest of many I have made where I have received these comments. I have received them on both very bitter beers, and what I would call, mildly bitter IPAs and Pale Ales.

Water profile - I have a high carbonate water so when I make and IPA I dilute 50/50 with RO water. My carbonates range in the 95-105ppm range during the seasons so I dilute down to <50ppm. I also add sulfate because my water ranges from 30-40ppm during the seasons. I add a few teaspoons of gypsum to the mash to try and bring the sulfate over 100ppm up to 150ppm. I have used the water spreadsheet provided by you Martin.

Malt - I have used many different types over the years. I find pils gives me the least amount of "maltiness" and I don't use it in IPAs meant for a competition just for that reason. I also use a lot of Canada Pale Ale malt and Breiss Pale Ale malt as my base malt for IPAs. I have also tweaked my recipes over the years to use less and less crystal malts. I usually end up with and IPA around 6-8 SRM now. I find I prefer this flavor profile better.

Thanks

You call that high?  Man, I wish I had that water!  Flint's water comes from Lake Huron IIRC.

WIth Bru'nwater, I have been within 0.1 pH most times, once was within 0.2.  Always good to check, though.

Yeah, Flint's water comes from lake Huron through the Detroit system. I called last month to shore up my numbers with the guys at the water plant and he gave me all the ranges through the year for our water.

310

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 10:46:08 AM »

Water profile - I have a high carbonate water so when I make and IPA I dilute 50/50 with RO water. My carbonates range in the 95-105ppm range during the seasons so I dilute down to <50ppm. I also add sulfate because my water ranges from 30-40ppm during the seasons. I add a few teaspoons of gypsum to the mash to try and bring the sulfate over 100ppm up to 150ppm. I have used the water spreadsheet provided by you Martin.

Do you check your pH after adding the gypsuum?  I add gypsum to the kettle for hoppy beers so it won't effect my pH.  I don't need it any lower, which adding gypsum to the mash would do.

I do Denny but I need new ph strips because my old ones don't register very well. I need to buy some colorphast strips. Would the ph affect the "maltiness" of the finished beer that much?

Also, because I know my water profile to start, and I use the water spreadsheet provided by Martin, I figure I'm very close to the ph that I should be. Am I making a bad assumption here since I cannot effectively test the ph?

311

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 10:19:19 AM »

Try it with the base malt switched to Maris Otter - I use that as my house ale malt and I usually score very well in the IPA category (40+)

I like Marris Otter but can't shell out over 20 dollars more per bag routinely. I might try that to make an IPA for competitions only though.

312

All Grain Brewing / Re: Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 10:18:24 AM »

bittering level - In this particular bee, the IBUs were in the 50's so not overly high. And remember, this beer was the latest of many I have made where I have received these comments. I have received them on both very bitter beers, and what I would call, mildly bitter IPAs and Pale Ales.

Water profile - I have a high carbonate water so when I make and IPA I dilute 50/50 with RO water. My carbonates range in the 95-105ppm range during the seasons so I dilute down to <50ppm. I also add sulfate because my water ranges from 30-40ppm during the seasons. I add a few teaspoons of gypsum to the mash to try and bring the sulfate over 100ppm up to 150ppm. I have used the water spreadsheet provided by you Martin.

Malt - I have used many different types over the years. I find pils gives me the least amount of "maltiness" and I don't use it in IPAs meant for a competition just for that reason. I also use a lot of Canada Pale Ale malt and Breiss Pale Ale malt as my base malt for IPAs. I have also tweaked my recipes over the years to use less and less crystal malts. I usually end up with and IPA around 6-8 SRM now. I find I prefer this flavor profile better.

Thanks

313

All Grain Brewing / Hops and malt.... a delicate balance

« on: August 22, 2011, 08:25:54 AM »

Okay friends and brewers, I need some help. I just got back my score sheets from the Michigan Beer Cup this year and once again my IPA received high honors (41.5 this year) but lacked one quality, balance. I hear this time and time again with my beers, IPAs especially. I need some hints, tips, tricks, or ideas on how to take my beer to next level.

What I hear from judges who blindly taste my beer in comps and from people who know me and are willing to give me honest feedback is that I have a clean tasting beer with no off-flavors and tastes great. There's just one thing missing, the malt. I hear many comments about the hoppiness is great and the flavors and aromas are good-great for and IPA but there isn't any malt to balance the beer.

A little background on my setup. I batch sparge using a cooler (bluish-grey color since that matters) and I do single infusion mashes. I usually boil everything for 90 minutes and will routinely do a 2 hour boil if necessary. I like to add 5-10% Munich malt in my IPAs to try and achieve that "maltiness" I am looking for but never really seem to get there. I have tried mashing anywhere from 149-156 degrees to vary my final gravity. I usually reach 1.008 to 1.014 for a final gravity on my IPAs.

If you need any more info before you'd like to critique my process or recipes just let me know. Thanks for all the help!!

314

All Things Food / Re: Jerky

« on: August 18, 2011, 07:00:55 AM »

You could also try Alton Brown's method. He puts the meat on furnace filters and bungies those to the front side of a box fan and turns in out and leaves it for a few days. The curing of the meat in a salty solution will drive off any harmful bacteria that would have been present in the meat.

That's the theory anyways....

315

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: REally? A sweet IPA? please help

« on: July 26, 2011, 11:46:01 AM »

OG:  1.070
FG:   1.013

That doesn't seem like it should be overly sweet too me even if you only had 30-40 ibus.