Messages

136

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Poured out that old Belgian

« on: July 21, 2011, 10:48:22 am »

I agree with what most people are saying: 15-20% sugar, mostly Dingeman's Pilsener malt, long, low mash temp (145-149F), oxygenate well, bottle condition with double the recommended 3/4 cup for those fine, lacy, effervescent bubbles. Only thing I'm not sure about is the temp. We use Wyeast Ardennes (AChouffe), Trappist and Belgian Saison (DuPont) and we cook the suckers! We start out low around 65F but ramp them up either in the sweltering heat of an upstairs room or in the winter in a small room with a heater. 80F+ I have found is the only way to get that awesome Belgian attenuation that makes them dry and not cloying. We also let them condition in a bottle in 70F+ temps for at least a week.

137

Beer Recipes / Re: Does rye/wheat affect mash efficiency?

« on: July 20, 2011, 04:42:27 pm »

Thanks guys, solves that problem.

138

Beer Recipes / Re: Does rye/wheat affect mash efficiency?

« on: July 20, 2011, 03:34:53 pm »

It's funny that you mention that. We actually talked to our homebrew store guys about what we thought were uncrushed grain in these beers. They said that they keep the mill updated to their normal crush size and we've made over 35 beers with them. We knew that they don't have husks and are smaller but for some reason didn't realize that. So I guess the answer is to crush them separately, get them home and crush them again yourself (light blows with a blunt object in our case)? That makes sense. Sorry for the redundancy.

139

Beer Recipes / Does rye/wheat affect mash efficiency?

« on: July 20, 2011, 02:59:26 pm »

My last 3 beers have been rye/wheat (about 50%) based and I have been getting lower mash efficiency. I haven't changed anything in my system and even did a protein rest at 122F. Anyone have any issues with these grains?

140

Beer Recipes / Re: DFH 90 Minute Clone

« on: July 17, 2011, 09:32:51 am »

I don't have my recipe on me right now as it is at my brew partners house but that hop bill looked right, but I agree about the grain bill being 2 row and not pilsner. Here's a 2005 quote from an interview with dogfish head brewer Andy Tveekrem: Interviewer: The DFH 90 Min. BYO recipe listed the grain bill as Pilsner and amber malt, whereas a recent Zymurgy 90 min. recipe listed it as pale 2-row and Munich. Which is more accurate? Andy: "Right now it is a bit of both-- 2 row and amber malt." from this page: http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/interview.php?id=2. So we used 2 row and amber in our clone and it was excellent (amber we toasted 2-row ourselves via Daniels "Designing Great Beers" to get a little darker, although be careful if you toast too much you'll need to let it sit for a couple weeks to mellow.) Also we used the good ol' Wyeast 1056 American Ale. It's super clean so as to allow the hops to own the beer. Whitbread is an interesting choice but isn't that kind of tangy, English Ale yeast?

141

All Grain Brewing / Re: Saison Brew Day

« on: July 07, 2011, 02:09:59 pm »

I agree, the Wyeast Belgian Saison is the Dupont strain and it loves temps in the 80's. It does get stuck though, so patience is necessary. Also definitely a low mash temp to get more fermentable sugars that will get you a dry beer (rather than a non-fermentable sugar, full bodied beer 150F+). My only addition here is if you have time, buy and read Phil Markowski's book "Farmhouse Ales". It was one of the most informative books on Saison, Grisette and Bier de Gaurde I have ever read. If you want to skip the first half "history" section you can and get right to the brewing and recipes chapters. DuPont is in there along with Fantome, Ommengang and many more.

142

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Opinions on aeration system

« on: July 07, 2011, 02:04:36 pm »

I love my O2 wand system from Williams Brewing: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-OXYGEN-AERATION-SYSTEM-P699.aspx. Ok, it may be $50 (maybe you could find cheaper?) and O2 tanks are around $8 for about 5-7, 5 gallon brews but I oxygenate for 45 seconds - let me repeat that - 45 seconds and I'm done! No shaking the thing for 10 minutes or waiting for an aquarium pump to oxygenate the wort. My fermentation start times have been considerably quicker and I get far, far more attenuation especially with my Belgian strains. And I have never, ever had any negative effects like no/low fermentation or off flavors, so I think that might just be a rumor.   

143

All Grain Brewing / Dissatisfied with my wort chilling and hop/trub filtering into primary fermenter

« on: June 28, 2011, 08:10:44 am »

I am an all grain brewer who is dissatisfied with my wort chilling and hop/trub filtering into the primary fermenter. I use a copper immersion chiller that usually takes 20-30minutes, but in the summer I still have to use ice on the outside of the kettle to chill below 70F. I have a plate chiller but found, obviously, that it only chills to temp of water going in and I guess you have to recirculate or something to get it all down to 60-65F. Secondly the way I filter trub/hops from my primary is by putting an elastic mesh covering over my primary bucket and pouring the wort into the bucket. I have to remove this mesh cover 4-5 times and clean off all the trub/hops clogging it to reuse it to finish filtering the 5 gallon batch (can't imagine doing 10gal with this). Both processes I feel are time consuming and have possible sanitation issues (although I've yet to have a sanitation issue). Any experiences out there that would help?

144

All Grain Brewing / Re: Tell me about Kolsch please

« on: June 28, 2011, 06:57:03 am »

Kolsch is a fantastic style and much better homebrewed as a lot of commercial varieties just use house yeast strains that don't give that fantastic flavor. I definitely agree with everyone here that the Kolsch yeast is super important. It adds this beautiful malty almost honeyed quality much like real Czech pilsner to the beer that is so smooth and drinkable. Also it's so easy to make 90% pilsner malt, 10% wheat, 1 hop addition of german hops like Spalt or Hallertau for an IBU of around 20. Definitely keep the IBU's in check as you don't want to out compete the delicious yeast flavor.

My only new addition to this post is what to eat with a keg of kolsch. Bring a couple bottles of "junk" beer that's been sitting in your fridge since December up to a boil. Put in some raw bratwurst. Take off heat and leave for 5 or more minutes. Grill at lowest heat for 20-25 minutes. Toast some buns. Add sauerkraut and a spicy mustard. Drink kolsch.