Messages

151

Beer Recipes / Re: Caramel Machiato

« on: November 23, 2011, 08:04:32 am »

For what its worth, the base of the Starbucks caramel machiatto is vanilla syrup. The caramel syrup is put on top of the foam. My wife also loves them and I make them at home for her. You may want to add vanilla beans.

I made a vanilla sweet stout that I added espresso when bottling.   It was probably my favorite espresso stout, not that it tasted like a caramel machiatto.

Edit: Brain cramp

152

Beer Travel / Re: 2012 Oktoberfest

« on: November 18, 2011, 10:16:55 am »

A group of us spent about a week in Munich during Oktoberfest in 2009 and I could have stayed longer, but that always is the case on vacation. We also did other than Oktoberfest things.   Dachau, Deutsches Museum, Bike Tour(which was free). My wife and I would like to go back for 4-5 days when our daughter is older.

You can rent Lederhosen and Dirndls if you don’t want to buy them.  I didn’t rent or buy, but when we go back I will buy one….Lederhosen that is….I don’t have the moobs for a Dirndl.

I went to some of the beer tents (Hippodrom, One of Paulaners, Lowenbrau, Hoffbrau, don’t remember all of them) and the wine tent. The wine tent was more reserved and the beer tents were more rowdy.  Reservations can be tough and ours were made by my friends German friend and it was for the wine tent.  We didn’t drink in all the tents because if you are not seated you may not get served and we didn’t wait to get a seat. All tents we went to were a great time.  In 2010 they were going to ban smoking in the tents and I’m not sure if that happened. 

We actually had better times in some of the bars.  The ones I remember were the Hofbrau house, the Rathskeller and this yodel bar http://www.jodlerwirt-muenchen.net/.  The yodel bar was packed, but we happened to get a table upstairs, which was great. If you go, try to get upstairs. It seemed like more of a local crowd. They were really friendly and probably the best time we had there.

Hope this helps. Cant say Im not jealous. mmmm so much Meat and beer.   Have a great time.

153

All Grain Brewing / Re: All grain brewing in the winter

« on: November 03, 2011, 12:08:01 pm »

I can't use my garden hose in the winter. When the temperatures really drop there is a danger of bursting pipes if I don't shut my outside spigots off. What does the acronym HLT stand for?

Understandable. I have a freeze-proof outdoor faucet that I connect my hose to for brewing. Then disconnect and drain it when I'm done.

Putting it in a tub of cold water and stiring will cool it relatively quickly. Fill the tub well before brewing and the water will be nice and cold.

+1 I have a small garden hose I keep with my brewing equipment for the same type of setup. Its a lot easier than lugging a full length hose around. My outdoor faucet isnt freeze-proof so I set everything up and turn the water on/off from the shutoff valve in our basement. Then I break everything down and bring it inside.  I've tried cooling down a 5 gallon batch in a snow bank in cold weather with no chiller. It takes a lot longer to cool than one would think. It works for me but Im sure our winters in NJ probably arent as cold as where you are. 

154

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Recommended Reading for Intermediates?

« on: November 02, 2011, 08:02:08 am »

Currently subscribed to Zymurgy and BYO, generally find them interesting and informative.  I'm on the forum daily and would say that this site has been the most informative and entertaining (not just for brewing) resource.  It's interesting to hear what other folks are up to and have the opportunity to learn from their struggles and success.

I have read a fair amount of books on brewing and I have subscribed to BYO for the past 4 or 5 years(still good info in it for me). I just joined aha recently and subscribed to Zymurgy and I agree completely. This forum is very informative/entertaining and the back issues of Zymurgy Ive read (now that they are online) have been fantastic.  I wish I joined earlier.

155

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Recommended Reading for Intermediates?

« on: November 01, 2011, 09:28:45 am »

I'm not  a "regular" but have been brewing for a little while(5 years about half all grain). I would say I'm intermediate and my two books I use the most for my recipes are:
Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher and
Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels

156

Beer Recipes / Re: Amber Ale: To Dry Hop or Not to Dryhop?

« on: October 27, 2011, 09:48:35 am »

I'm not a huge fan of Ambers or Reds.  Rogue Saint Red is dry hopped and I think that is a good amber. I would say go for it.

157

Zymurgy / Re: Zymurgy online?!?!

« on: October 21, 2011, 12:00:52 pm »

I recently joined AHA and I've never seen a copy of Zymurgy.  I just checked out the eZymurgy...Wow...so much information....as if I'm not distracted at work already.

158

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: You know you're a home brewer when.......

« on: October 19, 2011, 07:45:24 am »

...you can swaddle your carboy better than you can your baby.

159

All Grain Brewing / Re: First Batch Question

« on: October 13, 2011, 09:41:57 am »

I've done both without any problems.

I used to do water into grain until fairly recently when I switched from using a cooler to a pot. A mix of being able to add heat to the tun and kind of the whole hot water/plastic BPA thing. Now I do grains into water and I dont see much of a difference.

Two tips I wish I knew before I started all grain was to heat the mash tun first(if using water into grains method) and make sure the grains are room temperature. Its amazing how much that can affect the temp and playing catch up in a cooler is not fun.

160

The Pub / Re: Ken Burns' Prohibition

« on: October 05, 2011, 08:59:33 am »

I recorded this too, I was hoping to hear some feedback. There were some mixed critic reviews, but I really dont pay too much attention to them.

161

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Mini Kegs

« on: September 29, 2011, 12:47:55 pm »

I've purchased them from alternative beverage in north carolina a long time ago.  they still sell them but the Costco by me has Hofbräuhaus Oktoberfest in minikegs for the same price, so thats what I buy.

162

Ingredients / Re: Acid Malt in a Saison

« on: September 29, 2011, 10:38:49 am »

 Re: Acid Malt in a Saison
« Reply #12 on: Today at 10:01:27 AM » Quote 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, there are quite a few "letters to the editors" that got published in this month's BYO about the gose recipe.

It is always a good idea to check the subsequent issues for "corrections" and "comments from readers" about recipes from previous issues.  A significant percentage of recipes have errors or typos.


Now that you mention it I do remember that there was a letter about a problem with the extract recipe.  From previous comments I assumed the original post was about an all grain batch...you know what they say about assuming.  There was another letter that was a question about the recommended amount of acidulated malt in the all grain recipe, which was correct. I should have specified that my friend brewed the all grain.

163

Ingredients / Re: Acid Malt in a Saison

« on: September 29, 2011, 09:16:04 am »

Acid malt is sometimes used for a Gose instead of adding lactobacillus or lactid acid to produce the sour/tart taste you may be looking for. Only add the acid malt after conversion has taken place so not to change the pH.   A "Brew your own" magazine had a Gose recipe last month that used acid malt. My friend brewed it with good results(he said).  I am new to this forum so I dont know what can be posted as far as links, products, etc.

164

Equipment and Software / Re: Propane burners and soot

« on: September 20, 2011, 09:15:10 am »

I would guess a lot less btus.
A friend I know was looking into buying the sp10 a while ago and had noticed the photo didnt match the description.
If you look at thephoto here http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp10_propane_burner.htm there is not a braided steel hose like the description says. He wound up buying a burner from a garage sale so neither of us checked on it.  I just checked and found there are some complaints from people on amazon.  It looks like they either changed the regulator assembly and still advertise as braided steel hose with 20 psi regulator or the wrong regulator is being sent with the burner. 

165

Equipment and Software / Re: Propane burners and soot

« on: September 20, 2011, 08:28:58 am »

Two things to consider about the SP10.
1) The regulator(from 20psi to 10 psi) and hose(length and material)  have changed so be aware of that. You may not get what the description says on the box.
2) The sp10 will smoke when you first use is because it is painted. You may want to burn the paint off before you brew.  It took a couple of times before the paint burned off completely.
BTW I'm very happy with my sp10, but I have the older version.