Messages

16

All Grain Brewing / Re: Does mashing for a light or full body beer affect the efficiency?

« on: February 09, 2013, 12:39:47 PM »

Don't go out and buy blue spray paint for your boil kettle to try to up your "efficiency".

True, spray paint doesn't work.  It has to be blue naturally.


An important distinction - Thank's for having my back

17

All Grain Brewing / Re: Does mashing for a light or full body beer affect the efficiency?

« on: February 09, 2013, 12:09:26 PM »

Depends on what "efficiency" you are talking about.  There are multiple enzymes in barley, and each as an optimal temperature range.

If your goal is strictly to maximize your alcohol production, then you would indeed want to mash at a slightly lower temperature that favors those enzymes that produce fermentable sugars.  Other enzymes convert starches to non-fermentable sugars.

There are a lot of efficiency claims thrown out on this board.

Don't go out and buy blue spray paint for your boil kettle to try to up your "efficiency".

18

Equipment and Software / Re: I am not sure where to post this but...

« on: February 09, 2013, 11:16:34 AM »

on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Czechvar-Figural-Beer-Tap-Handle-Large-Castle-or-Rook-NIB-/370712170995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item56502ad1f3

It's almost a foot tall.  You could tighten it w/the brand facing the fridge if it's not your favorite beer (like it is mine!).

19

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Looking for a Good Online Supply Store

« on: January 21, 2013, 05:56:09 PM »

For ingredients I'd try to get something close to home to minimize shipping time to keep freshness.  Here in the SF Bay Area I like: http://www.breworganic.com/.  For equipment I'd say shop around.  I bought a Blichmann floor burner at: http://www.kettletokeg.com/ and the total came to over $20 less than if I bought it from Williams or even more than "More" - mostly just the CA state tax (NH doesn't have any).

20

Ingredients / Re: Hops storage

« on: January 11, 2013, 10:37:14 AM »

You are screwed.  They are a lost cause.  Send them to me.

21

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Hop production in North Carolina

« on: January 11, 2013, 10:30:48 AM »

You'd be surprised. I have had great luck with Cascade here in Los Angeles, 34 degrees North. My first year I harvested about 12 oz. off one plant, and last year it yielded about 2 pounds. The other varieties I have tried were failures, so this year i am going to do maybe 5 Casacde plants, with one being my 2 year old plant.

That'll be some hoppy brew! 12 oz. x 4 new plants plus 32 oz. from mature plant = 80 oz.  Divide your 200 gallon limit by that & you'll get "only" 2 oz for every 5 gallon batch the first year.  But then...
If you get 10 lbs. a year from your five plants?  Hope you like Cascade!

22

Equipment and Software / Re: Building a Coleman Xtreme mashtun, advice?

« on: January 07, 2013, 11:08:05 AM »

I took a two inch piece of copper tubing and put it in the end of the PVC hose.  That was enough to expand the outer diameter of the pvc tubing to make a good seal on the bulkhead.  The only issue was having it creep back into the tun and begin to leak.  After a couple of mashes where the duct tape was a waste of time, I put another piece of larger tubing on the exterior (about eight inches).  That produced enough friction to keep the whole thing secure for a whole mash.  It disassembles reasonably for periodic cleaning and cost me nothing as it was all scrap.

23

Equipment and Software / Re: Larger Decoction Mashes

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:58:57 AM »

I've only done a couple of decotion mashes - both were ten gallons (so I don't know any better).  That said my answer would be "man up".  You can handle it.

24

All Grain Brewing / Re: Fly Sparging

« on: January 05, 2013, 11:49:45 AM »

I think it would be system dependent.  Adding the water fast would approach batch sparging.  Adding it slow could require a mashout, or you might change the character of your brew.

I don't think it's a matter or preference, not that there's an optimum.

25

Kegging and Bottling / Re: co2 tank filling

« on: January 02, 2013, 10:41:14 AM »

I've done both.  A local welding shop will trade the tank.  The homebrew shop fills by the pound.  I'm not sure who they wholesale with.

The homebrew shop requires that you leave the tank overnight.  They put it in their freezer so that they have it real cold and can fit the gas into the tank.  If it is an old tank, they'll send it out to be hydro-tested.

The owner quoted me one price (w/the hydro-test including the CO₂) and the cellar-boy adding the cost of the CO₂ to the hydro-test price.  After informing him that the boss had quoted me differently, he gave me the lower price.

I get my propane refilled @ a local gas station.  That's much cheaper than the tank exchanges because you get a full tank.

When the tank approaches the need for retesting, I exchange it.  I suppose it's gaming the system, but I'm not going to loose sleep over it.

It wasn't cheap, I paid over $75 for three tanks (a 5,a 10, and a 20#), but now I have enough CO₂ to last a while.

The local hardware store fills paintball tanks for $7.  A handy profit for them.

26

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 13 Years of Zymurgy Now Online!

« on: December 22, 2012, 11:26:32 AM »

Lemme pile on another Thank You!

27

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Hops

« on: December 17, 2012, 04:15:20 PM »

Home grown hops are usually whole. 

28

Ingredients / Re: When and how to store rhizomes for the winter in warm climates

« on: December 14, 2012, 12:43:50 PM »

Interesting topic.  If it were me, I'd probably split the plant leaving some of it in the ground and refrigerating some of it.

I was under the belief that the reason hops preferred a higher latitude was that they needed the sunshine longer summer days provide.  Not so much the temperature fluctuation.

My personal experience has been that my plants that are in sunny locations perform much better than those that get shaded.

29

All Grain Brewing / Re: 5-gallon vs. 10-gallon cooler?

« on: November 28, 2012, 12:37:10 PM »

Yup, once you go blue there's no going back!

30

All Grain Brewing / Re: Pests in brew house/ Need storage suggestions!

« on: November 28, 2012, 12:58:07 AM »

I get pails at work.  I've never had mice that were tough enough to get through 'em, but if I thought there were that possibility, I'd probably nest the sealed bucket inside another one, making the barrier twice as thick.

My grain is in the garage w/a lot of the food for the kitchen, so I usually have some baits out as soon as I see any droppings.