Messages

166

Homebrew Clubs / Re: Our club is starting to mature

« on: May 16, 2012, 08:24:10 AM »

This is completely based off of what I have seen in my homebrew club, so it may or may not apply to you.

Our club has dues, but they are small, just 20$ per year. This is what our dues go to.

Food/Cups for the meeting
Food and Materials for club brews
Name tags for members (You would be surprised how important this is)
6 tap Jockey Box

This year, some of our dues went to renting a 4 tap jockey box for NHC, so we can have 10 taps.

I also think that the dues are a small way to filter out people who are just coming for beer.

That is my 2cents.

+1  Collecting dues got rid of a bunch of slugs who frequented the meeting and gave more "ownership" to those who really wanted a useful organization. Dues also cover our monthly commercial styles purchase as we taste our way through the BJCP style guide - 2 style examples per meeting.

167

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: pleasant surprise

« on: May 14, 2012, 02:02:01 PM »

Thanks for the input. I will keep all the caveats in mind when I use this technique.

168

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: pleasant surprise

« on: May 14, 2012, 12:38:23 PM »

Excellent. I will no longer sweat running out of crystal. Yet another technique for the arsenal.

169

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: pleasant surprise

« on: May 14, 2012, 11:06:07 AM »

Typical way of doing this is to pull the first 1/2 gallon - 1 gallon of first runnings and  boil that until reduced by half.

I would do it for an ESB. Ordinary, maybe not.

Thanks Drew. Any styles beside the ESB and Scottish that this might be used for?

You look a lot older in your forum pic than on the BS Podcast. The picture here must be the one off your fake ID.   Enjoyed the podcast and have gotten a lot of ideas from you for stuff to do with our club.

170

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: pleasant surprise

« on: May 14, 2012, 10:12:45 AM »

As Lennie mentioned, boiling wort down to a caramel is a great way to add depth and complexity to beer. That's my SOP for all British styles (even my bitters).

Can you expand on this idea for me. Pull off some first runnings or at the end of boil? Typical quantity pulled off for say a 5 gal. batch..Ordinary vs say an ESB. This is new to me, but I like the possibilities.....and how dark do you typically let it get?

171

Pimp My System / Re: So simple but so nice

« on: May 14, 2012, 09:14:46 AM »

I love stuff I can buy for my husband that he will be ecstatic over (he's a car guy) that I can use for brewing. No more carrying water from the house to the driveway...I'll just fill my keggle and wheel it outside, light the burner and.........  Happy Anniversary hon!!!!!

172

Pimp My System / Re: Mobile Wort Chilling Station

« on: May 14, 2012, 08:23:08 AM »

Tidy, compact and ready to go. Looks good.

173

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Squeezing wort out of hops

« on: May 06, 2012, 09:14:02 AM »

I don't know but I prefer my beer free of any bajeezus. 

-Sent from the future.

LOL

174

All Grain Brewing / Re: Bru'n Water weirdness

« on: May 03, 2012, 08:40:04 AM »

Martin, you rock!  Thanks so much for your work.

+1  I really don't understand water chemistry,  but I had been using every method/program previously available to try and get a handle on it.  Bru'n water has given me the best tasting results and the understanding water portion has given me a lot more confidence about making these adjustments. Thank you Martin for sharing your work on a subject elusive to many of us.

175

Kegging and Bottling / Re: hudge amount of hops (pellets), no bag. its that a problem?

« on: May 02, 2012, 09:33:23 AM »

The hops will settle down by the end of fermentation.  A few days before bottling you can mix up 1.5 grams of unflavored gelatin in a cup of hot water then dump into the fermenter.  This will also help clear it up. 

 http://www.brewing-tips.com/gelatin-finings/

Make sure the water isn't warmer than maybe 150F.  I personally don't bother to let it cool before putting into fermenter but others here may disagree.

If you have temperature control this is a good time to drop the temp to the low 30's.  That will also clear the hops.

-Sent from the future.

+1

10 oz of pellets in last 5 gal batch of IPA ...gelatin, crash cool and presto...jewel clear beer in 24 hrs.
Would just let it sit if I'd had the time, but tried this to make a competition deadline and it worked superb.

176

All Grain Brewing / Re: FauxPils Faceoff

« on: April 29, 2012, 09:49:42 PM »

I would be happy to help.

BJCP National judge, sometime lager brewer.  Big beer lover.

Anyone have a copy from this?  http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue6.4/index.html

I have that issue, what do you need?

177

Zymurgy / Re: Why should I renew my subscription?

« on: April 28, 2012, 09:46:10 AM »

I personally would be a bit embarrassed to frequently use this forum and not contribute something to it's maintenance. The collective wisdom of the longtime AHA members who contribute to and moderate this forum is more than worth the price of membership.  Also, I've lived in 2 states now where the active efforts of AHA and it's members have made it possible to pursue this hobby legally.
 
    “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
    -Aldous Huxley


 

178

Beer Travel / Re: Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago breweries?

« on: April 25, 2012, 10:15:29 PM »

I'll second the comment to visit Surly and Summit Brewing and I recommend adding Town Hall brewery in Minneapolis. 

Third that from an expat Minneapolitan.
Anyone coming to visit from Minnesota is duly instructed to bring at least a sixer of Summit.

179

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Mr Beer has really been good for home brewing

« on: April 24, 2012, 08:32:44 AM »

I have met many people who got started....and stopped with a Mr. Beer kit. One of our club members still uses hers occassionally and makes really acceptable beers with it. Another person who had disastrous results, met me at a local wine tasting. When discussing the wines, I stated that I was really a beer person and if he ever wanted to try brewing again, to get in touch. Fast forward 3 years...he's now a brewing machine, a BJCP judge and integral member of his local home brew club.

Our LHB shop said his sales of new equipment really fell off when the new Costco opened in our town. (They were selling Mr. Beer kits) Now the number of "kit" sales is surprising him. I believe (based on what he's now stocking) that his beer gear & ingred. sales must be way up. Subsequently, our little brew club has grown from about 10 to over 30 members in the past 8 months.

I love finding folks who are trying to brew with a Mr. Beer. I encourage them with stories of how many of us started with little kit beers, share some homebrew and offer to help or answer questions. I'm getting about an 80% conversion rate.....HALELUYAH!

Yes, Mr. Beers have made a lot of stinky beer, but it's also let a lot of people see/taste/experience the magic that is brewing and yearn for more.

180

Pimp My System / Re: More Brewshed Ideas...

« on: April 23, 2012, 06:13:14 PM »

Some great designs...I have one that I custom built from some plans I bought online. Took me a whole summer to build on the weekends with some help here and there.

What are the dimensions? That looks really nice. Any pix of the inside layout?