Messages

46

Equipment and Software / Re: First kit questions

« on: April 19, 2013, 06:16:14 am »

I would suggest you pick up a rope tub type toy bucket, they sell them at Walmart for, like $7.00. They are definitely large enough to handle an ice bath and the bonus is you can then use it as a swamp cooler to help control fermentation temperatures as a water bath!

47

General Homebrew Discussion / Greetings from Florida

« on: April 17, 2013, 05:21:55 pm »

Welcome! Fun place to be!

48

The Pub / Reinheitsgebot craziness

« on: April 17, 2013, 05:20:58 pm »

Laws or no laws, you have to agree they brew some mighty fine beer:)

49

General Homebrew Discussion / Topping off a fermenter

« on: April 17, 2013, 05:16:45 pm »

Some do, some don't. I never did and never had any issues. I'm not suggesting I'm right, I just never did it.

50

Homebrewer Bios / Re: New Bio: Gary Dubofsky

« on: April 17, 2013, 04:52:43 am »

Welcome to the AHA forum Gary.

Is that Crescent City in New Orleans (riverfront) in the background?

It is! The picture is a few years old, the hair is a lot shorter and a lot grayer these days LOL!! One of my favorite cities!

51

Homebrewer Bios / New Bio: Gary Dubofsky

« on: April 16, 2013, 01:47:41 pm »

Gary Dubofsky
Glenview, IL
Club: The IBU's
Homebrewing since 2010-officially-dabbled prior back in the day.........
Became an AHA member about the same time
Favorite styles are Pales, Belgians and Wheats, both American and German
First Beer Brewed: Midwest Supplies "Black Dog Ale" Turned out surprisingly well and very drinkable but never brewed again
There really is no style I won't brew but I am not a fan of stouts, lambics or Barleywines
My favorite recipes are mostly wheats. I really like the challenge of making a simple beer great and wheat can pose a little challenge to get just right
I brew on a 3 tier gravity system churning out 6 gallon batches and brew outside all year
I generally brew twice per month
I really like Maris Otter and am a big fan of WY1968 for most of my Pales and IPAs
Big fan of Noble hops for most beers and the obvious "c"s for my American styles
My two favorite creations to date are "Andi's a Peach Wheat" and "Addie's Ale"-these took many trials but are finally perfect (at least we all think so)
My most unusual beer to date is my first Gose with Hibiscus flowers but I haven't tasted it yet so this could also become my first brewing disaster

Thanks for letting me share, I love brewing and just about everything beer related and love this forum and all the knowledge out there!

Cheers!

52

Beer Recipes / Citra with Nelson?

« on: April 15, 2013, 04:48:59 pm »

I find Citra to be kind of over powering and it might mask the NS.

53

Ingredients / Re: ACIDULATED MALTS

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:42:43 pm »

not brewing it until mid May. I let you know in June

I brewed my Hibiscus Gose on Saturday using your method of first the traditional mash, then adding the acidulated malt. I used 2lbs of acidulated malt and added it after the 60 minutes, before draining the tun (I batch sparge). I let it rest until the pH dropped to about 3.5 and a little conversion which took about 20 minutes or so.

I'll try and follow up with tastings in a few weeks!

54

All Grain Brewing / Re: stuck fermentation

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:36:34 pm »

Jumping in kind of late but nobody asked-Are you taking the reading with a hydrometer or refractometer?

If the latter, try the former, IME, readings with refractometers are just not reliable, even with proper conversions, once alcohol is present.

Just had to ask but these others that spoke about the grist have far more experience in that department and I have to agree with the issues pointed out with the recipe.

55

All Grain Brewing / Re: Preboil Gravity off

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:31:45 pm »

I always take a pre-boil reading as it only takes a minute but I really don't lose sleep on it.If it's a little low I'll just adjust the boil a bit. Since I started adjusting my water and milling my own grain I have found that I 'm always 80% efficient in the mash/lauter and have been using the same equipment for over two years so I'm pretty dialed in. I guess I just keep doing it out of habit:D

56

Equipment and Software / Re: BeerSmith2

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:26:31 pm »

I have found BS to be a pretty accurate tool once everything is dialed in . Everything that the software does in terms of calculations is determined by the numbers entered in the equipment profile so that is the first thing to look at. If you have actual numbers for things like losses and dead space volumes then be sure they entered in properly as well as actual boil off.  Some of these values can be determined by simply running plain water through your set up.

Personally I have found it best to NOT check any boxes that tell BS to do the calculations for you like adjusting volumes or boil off rates as find them to screw everything up.

It is also important that as you enter ingredients you look at the default values as those in BS may differ from your actual ingredients and these can be changed using the ingredients tab, especially AA values in hops.

Once all these things are tweaked the software should do a pretty good job getting things right and the rest is up to you and the process. If you are consistently missing your OG then there could be issues with your crush, mash, pH, meeting the proper volumes, rate of boil off and volumes into primary.

BS will help you calculate both mash efficiency and total brewhouse efficiency to help you win down where in your process things are going astray.

57

General Homebrew Discussion / Want to help me name a beer?

« on: April 14, 2013, 07:21:04 am »

Call it Augustine of Hippo

"Augustine of Hippo, now part of Tunisia (born 354 AD, died 430 AD) was known for wild living and significant alcoholic beverage consumption prior to his conversion. His complete turnaround and life of moderation contributed to his becoming a patron saint of brewers."

58

Ingredients / Gose-How much Salt?

« on: April 12, 2013, 01:38:56 pm »

Not sure what happened but somehow this original thread was deleted or disappeared as I can no longer find it
Confused..............

Anyway, someone asked that I post the final recipe I put together for my Hibiscus Gose so I posted it in the recipe forum.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15426.0

If someone out there knows where this original thread went to please restore it if possible:)

59

Beer Recipes / Hibiscus Gose

« on: April 12, 2013, 07:55:15 am »

I had discussion on this recipe in the ingredients section and have finalized the recipe. I was asked to share so here it is. I am planning on brewing this up over the weekend and will try to remember to follow up once packaged and tasted. If you brew this up let me know what you think.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hibiscus Gose
Brewer: Commune Brewing Company
Asst Brewer:
Style: Weizen/Weissbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 9.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.25 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.25 gal   
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 5.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 12.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.2 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
6.25 gal              Chicago, IL                              Water         1        -             
12.00 g               Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -             
5 lbs 8.5 oz          Wheat (3.0 SRM)                          Grain         3        47.9 %       
2 lbs                 Acidulated (Weyermann) (1.8 SRM)         Grain         4        17.3 %       
2 lbs                 Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                    Grain         5        17.4 %       
2 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         6        17.4 %       
1.00 oz               Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil  Hop           7        12.9 IBUs     
0.31 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        8        -             
0.50 tbsp             Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins)          Other         9        -             
20.00 g               Sea Salt (Boil 5.0 mins)                 Other         10       -             
2.00 g                Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)           Spice         11       -             
45.00 g               Hibiscus Flower-Dried (Boil 0.0 mins)    Spice         12       -             
1.0 pkg               German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) [124.21 m Yeast         13       -             


Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 8.5 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Protein Rest      Add 2.84 gal of water at 131.2 F        122.0 F       30 min       
Saccharification  Add 2.31 gal of water at 186.0 F        148.0 F       30 min       
Mash Out          Add 2.59 gal of water at 211.8 F        168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Fly sparge with 2.89 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------
Conduct First Mash traditionally for conversion then add Acidulated Malt and perform second mash for 30 minutes or until pH drops to 3.75-3.8, sparge and boil

Gravity without Acidulated Malt=1.046 (anticipated)

Boulevard Amounts:
199g Hibiscus/31.5gallons
300g Coriander/33bbls
100g Sea Salt/31.5 gallons

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

60

Hop Growing / Second Year Hops

« on: April 10, 2013, 06:42:23 pm »

I'd prune those back to just a few shoots per plant and train them up your string, trellis, etc. You should start to see a harvest your second year.

Duboman... They're on their way. Mine all started breaking through the ground in the last few days. That's about a month behind last year.

I know it's coming but today was 37 and rain, soil temps haven't reached 40 here yet, it's like freakin' November!