Messages

1

Equipment and Software / Re: carboy handle

« on: June 11, 2013, 09:17:30 am »

I have the two different size carboy handles for my different sized carboys and there is really no play with either. As others have said, you shouldnt be using them with full carboys so a little play shouldnt matter. The only thing I use the handle for is as something to hold the wet empty carboy in place during my cleaning. As far as carrying full carboys, my wife bought me a brew hauler for Christmas this year and it's one of those things I wish I had sooner.

2

Beer Travel / Re: New York City

« on: May 14, 2013, 08:12:36 am »

There are some good recomendations above. I dont think you can go wrong with any of them.  I would aslo add the burp castle to the list.  We went to the Alewife in Long Island city, a quick subway ride from times square, this weekend for the first time.  They have a good selection and decent prices and is more low key. We went to an event with unlimited tastings so we didnt eat their food, but it looked good. We stopped at Rattle and Hum on the way home. They have a good beer selection but the wife wasnt too happy about the $17 burger i had, but I was pretty drunk hungry.

3

All Things Food / Re: Pizza stones

« on: May 08, 2013, 07:40:19 am »

We got a round stone for a wedding present and didn’t use it for probably a year or two.  Once I started using I realized how great it was.  Now I use it all the time.  I just made biscuits on it the other day. I do think a square one would be nice because I could fit more of my non-pizza things on it. and especially my Naan pizzas, which are smaller and I never seem to have enough room to fit them all on.  The stones get hotter than hot and a millisecond of touching it will hurt for quite a while.

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All Things Food / Re: Hot tip

« on: May 08, 2013, 07:07:00 am »

and a sprinkling of Poppy Seeds!

and sesame seeds.
We also will add in toasted almonds...or toasted brown sugar almonds.

5

Ingredients / Re: Blackberry Wheat. How many pounds

« on: April 25, 2013, 08:10:58 am »

I've never brewed with blackberries, but have made other stuff with them. You may want to freeze the berries to break the skins to allow the juice to come out easier. You may also want to bag them to help keep the seeds out of the beer.

by more flavor using 1010 im assuming you mean more pronounced blackberry? It depends on whether you(she) want a plain blackberry wheat or a beer with a hefewiezen's banana and/or clove qualities. I'm not too into fruit beers but I know Long trails balckberry wheat is a big hit with a lot of people.

6

Beer Recipes / Re: Hibiscus Gose

« on: April 16, 2013, 07:36:51 am »

Thanks for posting this. If I brew this it will be in a month or so although it may be scaled down and I may or may not be adding lactic acid in the end of the mash instead of the acidulated malt..depending on if I have it on hand for my cheesemaking endeavor.

7

The Pub / Re: automatic tip

« on: April 16, 2013, 07:11:56 am »

To me 6 people for automatic gratuity is a really low number. Since the automatic gratuity was included in the total price of the bill in the transaction, maybe the servers get screwed by the owner on the bills with automatic gratuity.   There was a restaurant that a group of us had gone to a few times and one time we had extra drinks on the bill.  When it was brought to the server’s attention, she looked pissed off at first and then nicely corrected the bill.  We later found out from someone that used to go there regularly(the place went out of business) that the owner would pick groups that were drinking and would double the number of random drinks on the bill without the wait staff knowing.  Owner seemed nice but obviously he was an a-hole.  At least your credit card number wasn’t stolen.

8

The Pub / Re: Beer-Candied Bacon

« on: April 11, 2013, 11:30:17 am »

I made this the other day.  When I showed it to my wife, I swear she teared up.  I tried to figure out if the tears were from the sheer beauty of candied bacon or from the feeling of jealousy caused by me declaring it the most beautiful thing I have ever seen…but then it really didn’t matter….I had candied bacon to eat.

Seriously, I used Schlenkerla marzen on thick cut bacon and we both loved it.  Thanks for posting! Crappy image from my phone:

9

All Things Food / Re: Hot tip

« on: April 11, 2013, 09:22:43 am »

Spinach salad and strawberries are great together.  We make a spinach and strawberry salad with an apple cider dressing for our summer parties. Everyone loves it.

10

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Bottle Labels

« on: April 11, 2013, 08:32:08 am »

My beer labeling:
My everyday Ghetto - Sharpie pen on cap.
Fancy - laser printed labels on work grade paper* glued with glue stick
Extra fancy – laser printed labels on work grade paper* with a clear coat spray for more protection to keep the labels from running.

*whatever paper we have in the laser printer at work.

I've used the pregummed labels but I switched to using the printer and glue stick method and I've been happy with the results. It's easier and cheaper. For what its worth, they will not run if the beer drips over them after a pour but Ive never put any labeled beers in an ice bath mostly because I don’t know how long they will last submerged in water.   They are all easy to remove if I soak them.

11

Hop Growing / Re: Rhizomes planted on 3/9/13

« on: March 12, 2013, 09:57:35 am »

Spent grains are considered green material because they are a source of nitrogen.  If you add them to the pile, you have to add a lot of brown material to keep the compost from going anaerobic. This can happen pretty easily since spent grain is very wet and will compact down when dumped out.

To the OP, those rhizomes are nice.  Much better than the ones I got years ago. 

12

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: BOTTLES, BOTTLES, BOTTLES

« on: February 21, 2013, 07:54:14 am »

I still bottle most of my beer and my bottles come from bought six packs, friends/coworkers, or Costco cases.   Friends and coworkers get paid back with some of their bottles returned filled with beer. Its a great way for me to keep getting bottles from people.  At Costco its either Sam Adams or Kirkland brand. At one point it cost almost the same for a case of Kirkland beer as it did to buy empty bottles from a homebrew store. 

13

All Grain Brewing / Re: 2 beers, 2 yeasts, same nasty sulfur smell and taste

« on: February 07, 2013, 10:15:21 am »

I used 3068 in a hefe and it had a sulfur smell while fermenting. Without looking at my notes I had it in the primary for about the same time, but probably a little higher temp. I cant remember how strong the sulfur smell was when I bottled it, but after conditioning in the bottle a few weeks it was not there.  As far as the banana goes the lower temp may have not produced as many esters as I did have banana flavor. Also according to their website, overpitching the yeast may reduce the banana flavor.

Also if it was cold outside and you did not have a rigourous boil could the sulfur compounds from the mash not have boiled off?

14

All Grain Brewing / Re: Looking for a good AG recipe book

« on: February 07, 2013, 09:47:52 am »

Are you looking for a book on how to formulate recipes or a book of recipes?

I don’t normally follow recipes completely but a few of my last batches have been straight from Brewing Classic Styles and they were great.  From all the books that I have, BCS is probably the only one I would consider a recipe book and would probably be the only one I would ever buy.   The recipes are reliable which can’t be said about a lot of other sources. This isnt meant to be a sound like a jerk question but what did you not like about the book?   
I have not heard good things about CloneBrews, as others have posted.
“Brew your own” magazine can have some good recipes, but I don’t know anything about the book.  I do know some of the recipes in the magazine have errors in them.

For formulating recipes, the books I use most are Designing Great Beers, Brewing Classic Styles, and Radical Brewing.  If Daniels updates Designing Great Beers I would buy it instantly. Love that book.

15

All Things Food / Re: Mozzarella

« on: February 06, 2013, 09:26:04 am »

The whey is pretty much water with some dissolved sugars. I'm not sure how you'd get ricotta out of it since the proteins and fats are pretty much removed - unless the curd forms badly leaving a lot of that in the whey.

Thats what I was wondering. How much ricotta can you get after making mozzarella. When I finally get around to making it I might try to do both.  I like making things myself too and making both would be great.