Messages

16

General Homebrew Discussion / A simple way to organize boil additions

« on: May 07, 2013, 10:20:27 am »

I just fly by the seat of my pants and measure them out right before I need them. Surely I can't be the only one!

Me too! Plenty of time between additions to weigh them out and BeerSmith's brew day timer function keeps me on track

17

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Hydrometer reading for first extract

« on: May 05, 2013, 04:47:29 pm »

Ideally  you want the reading taken at the calibrated temp of the hydrometer-usually 60F

If the reading is off which 1.10 is its because you got a poor mix of wort and top off water which is common.

See above post: with extract its pretty impossible to miss the OG unless you really mess up the volumes:)

18

Beer Recipes / Hibiscus Gose

« on: May 05, 2013, 01:08:11 pm »

Here it is and it's really great! The floral aroma and slight crisp and tart finish are exactly what I was shooting for!

19

General Homebrew Discussion / Happy Big Brew Day!

« on: May 04, 2013, 01:08:38 pm »

Happy Big brew Day to all, just got back from my LHBS that hosted a nice day. Not a lot of brewers but we brewed up about 85 gallons and had a great time sampling lots of delicious home brew!

20

Yeast and Fermentation / Cold Crashing Question

« on: May 02, 2013, 05:58:27 pm »

Cold crashing is done when the beer has completed fermentation so the yeast is ready to flocculate((drop) anyways, all crashing does is speed up the process and help clear the beer faster

21

Yeast and Fermentation / Fermentation temp question

« on: May 02, 2013, 05:55:08 pm »

Nobody mentioned the type of beer. If you choose to brew Belgians or Saisons your higher temperatures will work well.

He said he's using US05. You can't make a Belgian beer with US05 no matter how warm you ferment.

I get that, I was just trying to point out that if you consider different types of beer you can tailor what you brew to what you have available for process.

Sorry I wasn't clear....

22

Yeast and Fermentation / Fermentation temp question

« on: May 02, 2013, 03:54:16 pm »

Nobody mentioned the type of beer. If you choose to brew Belgians or Saisons your higher temperatures will work well.

Investigate style and yeast and try to brew beer that enjoys those higher temperatures and you won't have any problems;)

Really any other style will really prefer mid 60's so as you move forward you can find something that works.

I use a swamp cooler in the summer and IME need 2-4 2L frozen water bottles twice a day to maintain 62-65 degrees during active fermentation

23

Events / Big Brew (celebrated one week early)

« on: April 30, 2013, 04:03:23 pm »

Wow! That's awesome!

24

Beer Recipes / Hibiscus Gose

« on: April 28, 2013, 03:10:42 pm »

So to update-bottled this up today and it came in at 5.8%. The sample was delicious, just slightly sour as predicted and the color was sort of a pale pink lemonade from the flowers. Crisp taste but not overly dry and well balanced. This should be great when conditioned and carbonated in a week or two. I see this going fast

25

Yeast and Fermentation / Calculator Confusion/Curiosity

« on: April 26, 2013, 03:45:55 pm »

Ironically. Shortly after I posted this I found a conversion on this exact subject on HBT under the yeast/fermentation forum titled Yeastcalc-now there are 2 stir plates....

Kai has offered up quite a bit as well as Woodland Brewer with a LOT of interesting information

26

Going Pro / Logo Feedback

« on: April 24, 2013, 06:39:37 pm »

Personally I keep seeing a lady bug and they just don't convey big bug in my world.

I liked #1 best for visual appeal and transfer to marketing products but I just don't see big bug at all.....maybe that's what will make it work,)

27

General Homebrew Discussion / Look what the stork droped off...

« on: April 23, 2013, 05:41:05 pm »

Osmotic pressure only exists across a semi-permeable membrane, so RO water does not have more osmotic pressure than any other water.  It is water.  Osmotic pressure is better understood as the tendency of water to move across the membrane in order to balance both sides.  When there is something that can NOT move through on only one side of the membrane and not on the other it creates physical water pressure on the membrane from things like water that CAN move across the membrane - water will do so until the pressure on both sides of the membrane is in equilibrium.  In reverse osmosis, pressure is added to one side to force the water across the semi-permeable membrane, leaving the other stuff behind.  I'm sure you can google much better explanations.

Yeast in RO water experience higher osmotic pressure than non-RO water, but not higher than distilled water.  Adding extract to the water before adding yeast will relieve the osmotic pressure.

And while there is some osmotic pressure created by using distilled water, it is the best media for long term storage of yeast.

Started this post before all of these other replies.  Bah.

Thanks for this concise explanation! I was scratching my head a bit since I know plenty of brewers that use R/O, build it up to the desired profile and brew some amazing beer!

28

Yeast and Fermentation / Calculator Confusion/Curiosity

« on: April 22, 2013, 06:04:33 am »

I only use Wyeast Smack Packs and I always make starters and have been ever since I got into this hobby. I have always used Yeastcalc for my calculations and have noticed the last several times that there are now two stir plate calculators- one is Jamil's and the other is Troester and they calculate differently. So out of curiosity I also visited MrMalty and used the slider to make the growth factor the same as the two represented on Yeast calc and am looking for some continuity and not finding it. I'm hoping someone can give me an explanation as to where the differences are coming from.

Example:
Package date: 3/13/2013
Viability: Yeastcalc-81%, Mr. Malty 69%
Batch size: 6.25g
Og: 1.054
YeastCalc
Stir Plate: Jamil-growth factor 2.01 requires 244B cells, 1.5L starter
Stir Plate: Troester-growth factor 2.6, 292B cells, 1.5 L starter
MrMalty:
Stir Plate: 236B cells, 1L starter-sliding of growth factor made no changes

I realize, on average the difference in cells is not huge and all of my beer as attenuated well with no issues and I have always used Yeastcalc as I like the ability to calculate stepped starters so easily and I am not losing sleep over this but my curiosity has been peaked so my inquiring mind wants to know if one is more accurate than another and why the differences?

29

Kegging and Bottling / Extending the life of chest freezers question

« on: April 20, 2013, 05:03:47 pm »

How do you control the freezer temperature?

You need an external temperature controller that over rides the the built in thermostat

30

Equipment and Software / Nat. gas stove boiling times

« on: April 20, 2013, 03:44:31 pm »

It's hard to say as every stove is going to put out different BTUs like if you have a big Viking Range versus a everyday GE.

Try boiling the volume of water and see how long it takes to get going and assume that heavier wort will take a bit longer and make your decision from there