Messages

31

Ingredients / Re: spice amounts?

« on: October 24, 2012, 02:46:11 PM »

When are you planning on putting the spices in? I suggest as late in the boil as possible.

I agree with this. The last spiced beer I did I added all the spices, including whole cinnamon stick, at flame out. Turned out great. Kept the spice aroma.

32

All Grain Brewing / Re: Mashtun's give me problems

« on: October 14, 2012, 06:06:10 AM »

I tried several combinations of o-rings and washers with no luck. I bought food safe aquarium silicone and that has sealed it up. Apply to the inside of the tun.

33

Beer Recipes / Re: Saison de Noel

« on: October 13, 2012, 07:00:22 AM »

Northern Brewer has Strisselspalt in stock.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/hops/pellet-hops/french-strisselspalt-pellets-1-oz.html
I've not brewed with Aramis, but would think that it has to be quite different with an AA% more than twice as high. When I have used Strisselspalt I found the flavor to be extremely delicate. If the Aramis can keep that quality, I'd say go for it. Makes me want to combine the 2 in a French IPA.

34

Ingredients / Re: Hopp Identifcaiton

« on: October 10, 2012, 08:06:51 PM »

You can't attach pics on this forum- what you can do is link to a picture so that the post downloads and displays the images from another site such as picasa.

Code: [Select]

Clicking the little button with the Mona Lisa will result in this: [img][/img]

[img]image URL goes here[/img]


Hope that helps!

It didn't help me identify the hops, but your example gave me a good laugh!

35

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Very quick high krausen with S-04

« on: September 20, 2012, 03:02:22 PM »

I don't top crop, but yes I've seen a full krausen drop out completely in a 12 hour timeframe. I should note it took 3 days to form a krausen, but then it was done super quick. I used a ton of sugar in that beer and was not using s-04. Not sure if the sugar was part of the result or not.

36

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: First Christmas Beer - Got questions!

« on: September 11, 2012, 07:34:31 PM »

Find out the breakdown of your extract. It may contain crystal. If so, you may want to dramatically reduce your 2.25lb of additional crystal.

Good idea but I want to get the ABV up to 10% so if I reduce the Crystal wouldn't I have to increase the extract?

If the extract has too much crystal + the amount of additional crystal you're planning to add, you may not get your final gravity as low as you'd like. Therefore, the ABV will be lower than planned and the beer will finish with a sweeter taste, as The Professor points out. Not a bad thing with this style of beer, but not sure if you're going for that.
Also, make sure to use lots of healthy yeast for this big of a beer. I did a large winter warmer a couple years back and used lots of amber and dark extract. The beer finished over 7% ABV, but was awful wine like. Not good in a beer. Too much crystal and unfermentables in the extract and poor yeast management. I now keep my extract batches fairly simple and low ABV and do all grain batches for anything creative.

37

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: First Christmas Beer - Got questions!

« on: September 11, 2012, 04:18:30 PM »

Find out the breakdown of your extract. It may contain crystal. If so, you may want to dramatically reduce your 2.25lb of additional crystal.

38

All Grain Brewing / Re: SMaSH for my first AG batch

« on: September 06, 2012, 10:33:20 AM »

I think the half ounce at 60 is good for what I think you're going for.  You could do additions at 10 minutes and five minutes instead of one at 7.  Maybe an ounce at 10 and half an ounce at 5.

+1
The hops I had were about 5.5% AA if I remember correctly. I wanted the bitterness so I'd definitely skip a 30 minute addition like I did, if you want to avoid it.

39

Questions about the forum? / Re: Avatars

« on: September 05, 2012, 08:15:00 PM »

I just figured that red Xs are the new chic.

(my avatar has disappeared from my profile page too, it will not re-upload either)

No red X's for me. I only see blue question marks. Its this way from my phone and kindle fire.

40

All Grain Brewing / Re: SMaSH for my first AG batch

« on: September 05, 2012, 08:08:32 PM »

I did a beer very similar to your recipe using all Willamette hops very recently. Turned out great. I did use a 60 minute, large 30 minute, and flame out additions. I think you may want to add at least 1 bittering addition. Otherwise, I think it'll work fine.

41

The Pub / Re: Are you a beer snob?

« on: September 02, 2012, 01:58:32 PM »

That is hilarious!

42

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Open air fermentation

« on: August 30, 2012, 10:39:05 AM »

I don't think you're going to get the result you want using the carboy. With what little experience I have with open fermentation, I like using a bucket. More air can get in around the krauzen. I think fermenting as low as 60 with 3068, you'll probably kill off much banana anyway. I always ferment at 68 to get more banana with that strain.

43

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: WLP029 for wheatwine

« on: August 25, 2012, 07:46:04 PM »

I love it! Great name for a beer!

44

Beer Recipes / Re: Recipe suggestions for wet-hop Cascades

« on: August 25, 2012, 07:11:18 AM »

I think you may be surprised at how much wort the fresh hops will suck up. I recently did a 5 gallon batch with only 2.5oz of leaf hops and lost nearly half a gallon. With as many as you're adding, you may lose quite a bit. You could of course squeeze the crap out of the bag of hops, but I wonder what kind of off flavors may come out of whole hops.

Let us know how yours turns out. I have a bunch of Chinooks ready to pick and will have a bunch of Nuggets too.

45

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Lightening extract?

« on: August 19, 2012, 05:54:58 AM »

Is this a Northern Brewer kit? If so, they will state in their instructions if you should add part of the extract at the last 15 minutes. That could help with color.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that beers tend to look darker in a large amount, but when poured into a 12 ounce glass it may be spot on. I do think it will lighten some as it sits and more haze falls out.