Messages

31

Equipment and Software / Re: Mesh bags for hops?

« on: May 10, 2013, 10:41:13 am »

I have a question about bagging hops for the boil. I typically use hop pellets and just drop them into the boil kettle. Recently at big brew I noticed a lot of brewers using mesh bags to contain the hops for the boil. I also saw someone using a hop "spider" which was basically a large mesh bag attached to a PVC collar with posts to the edge of the kettle. The hops were just dropped into the bag and later the whole bag removed and the wort drained. My question is there any loss of efficiency or extraction by bagging the hops?

I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in my kettle, clipped to the side.  The hops are about as free to circulate in the pot as if you just dumped them in. So I don't notice or expect any real utilization loss. However some of the small nylon hop bags would pack the pellets fairly closely together, so I'm sure there would be some loss there. Put it this way - I don't add extra hops into my recipe for using the paint strainer bag. They circulate pretty loosely.

32

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Saison help

« on: May 10, 2013, 09:08:52 am »

3724 is very finicky in my experience.  It's been years since I've used it simply because I've always had a hard time getting it to finish.  I don't have a reliable way to warm the fermenter to bring the temp up at the end, which may be my problem with this yeast.  Once it stalls, it takes forever to finish.

+1.  I had to wrap a heating pad around the fermenter and get it to 85F before it would finish out.  Quite a hassle....

Dave

+1.  Thought I'd pass on a little recent experiment with 3724.  I love the flavor of 3724 the best of all the saisons, but I hadn't been able to get it under 1.008 or 9.  So this time I gave the 3724 ten days, and then added a little 3711 which we know to be a voracious eater. Five days later and it was 1.002, like I wanted. It's still in the fermenter, so I haven't had it in final form, but I love the sample I had. Tastes mostly DuPont with a little of the 3711 character. I think it's a good way to get the character of 3724, with a shorter time window.

33

Equipment and Software / Re: IC Water Waste

« on: May 10, 2013, 06:55:43 am »

+1 to the world's only IC water slip and slide. A thing of beauty!

34

Equipment and Software / Re: Canner

« on: May 10, 2013, 04:20:24 am »

a fund to facilitate shipping beers home from belgium when i'm there in two weeks.

That's a great idea. One of those expenses that always ends up being larger than budgeted.

+1.  I'm gonna take a beer vacation to Belgium some day, and that's exactly what I want to do.

35

Equipment and Software / Re: PBW

« on: May 09, 2013, 03:45:00 pm »

Yikes, since this post is turning into a glass vs. plastic carboy post, I'll keep it going...

1) is there any health issues with using plastic fermentors? Any discernible tastes of plastic in the beer?
2) Would plastic be a tougher material vs. glass to maintain temps in my Igloo fermentor? (water and ice in an Igloo cooler)

1/  No health issues if you use food grade,ie. LHBS fermenters.  However, a scratch in your bucket can harbor bacteria since plastic is porous. If the plastic takes on a smell that cannot be cleaned away, replace it. I replace a bucket after ~ 8 or 9 batches usually, not always.  I buy 8 gallon plastic wine fermenter buckets for ~ $17(love 'em), and better bottles for beers where I occasionally use a secondary (barleywine, fruit beer,etc).
2/   Not at all.

36

Equipment and Software / Re: PBW

« on: May 09, 2013, 03:32:35 pm »

Well said corky. Good reminder that big shards of flying glass is not good.

My friend broke one while holding it upside down and draining it.  A rather large, sharp piece of the glass sliced into his wrist and he lost a lot of blood.  This makes me think twice every time I drain a carboy.

+1.   I've seen one break and got cut cleaning it up fairly badly.  Having kids, SWMBO is happier when I use buckets and better bottles. Don't blame her. And my beer quality is certainly not suffering either.

37

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Is it just me?

« on: May 09, 2013, 02:58:04 pm »

I was thinking of making a looping video of an airlock bubbling and watching it on christmas in place of the yule log.

Awesome idea !  A bubbling airlock is always a happy sight for a homebrewer.

38

The Pub / Re: Best TV theme song

« on: May 09, 2013, 12:57:59 pm »

I can't either from work.  But I vote for "Sanford and Son".  Nice and cheesy.

39

Homebrewer Bios / Re: Brewer BIO...

« on: May 09, 2013, 11:55:09 am »

Welcome Matt !  You came to the right forum.

40

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Sticky taps

« on: May 09, 2013, 09:44:51 am »

Why do taps stick closed after a few days of no pouring? How do you cure it?

Exactly why I make sure to use mine every day!   
An even better option!

Dave

41

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Sticky taps

« on: May 09, 2013, 09:39:56 am »

Amazon sells a faucet plug.  Just bought one recently.  It's like they use in bars. Mine has a short little bristle brush thing on the end of it to scrub the inside. At the end of the day after pouring pints I dip the thing in isopropyl alcohol, scrub out the inside, and put the plug in the faucet. Works pretty well.

42

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: An observation...

« on: May 09, 2013, 08:50:40 am »

I was at the gym this morning, and I realized, I haven't had a six pack since I started kegging 

Nice Mort!  I tend to agree.....

Dave

+1.  I resemble that.

43

The Pub / Re: A bomber is rarely a good deal

« on: May 09, 2013, 08:41:46 am »

This harkens back to the discuss a month or two ago stemming from the NYT article about bottle sizes and prices. I've yet to be convinced why a large format is superior to a 12oz (or less) bottle size other than it's more profitable for the brewer.

Exactly.  You get less than twice the beer of a 12oz in one bottle for 3 or 4 times the price.  And they know how much in demand some of these high gravity, really good beers are.  So they almost all come out in bombers.

44

The Pub / Re: A bomber is rarely a good deal

« on: May 09, 2013, 08:03:28 am »

Alcohol and gun stories usually end with  "Hey y'all watch this........".

45

The Pub / Re: A bomber is rarely a good deal

« on: May 09, 2013, 06:08:22 am »

What I have been preaching for years!

http://mashbang.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/i-told-ya-so/

+1.  I totally agree.  I try to avoid it whenever possible, but some of the killer high gravity beers (RIS, etc.) only get bottled in bombers.