Messages

16

Ingredients / Re: Chai Tea Honey Amber

« on: May 08, 2013, 12:20:08 PM »

Is the tea detectable in the final product?

17

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: blending beers

« on: May 08, 2013, 09:48:34 AM »

I got past the "I don't want to dump any of my beer" stage pretty quick, and I'm much better for it. Sure, you could try to blend it, and you might even make a decent beer. But, wouldn't you rather brew 5 gallons of something you want to brew instead of trying to fix something that's broken? Otherwise you've just dedicated 2 brew days and batches to an iffy beer. Sounds like throwing good money after bad to me.

If you really want to try to "fix" that beer, I say dump the batch you have and rebrew a new version of the recipe that is closer to what you want. You'll get a lot more out of it in the end.

You are right. I won't waste the money/time in trying to brew something to blend it with. Blending with some commercial beer may be an option just to have 5 gallons around if I run low.

18

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: blending beers

« on: May 08, 2013, 09:45:46 AM »

Definitely not being entered in a comp...haha. Thanks guys. I think buying a six pack of commercial beer and mixing it is probably the best/easiest idea. If it is still pretty bad at least the investiment is cheap and quick.

I think I will either need to choke down a few pints or dump a few to make space in the keg.

19

General Homebrew Discussion / blending beers

« on: May 08, 2013, 08:09:53 AM »

Hey Guys. I brewed a pretty bad 5 gallon batch of beer and it has just been sitting in the keg. I may have to dump it but am trying to avoid that. The issue with the beer it that it is overly hoppy/bitter. It is an American Wheat beer brewed entirely with columbus hops including dryhop. I thought it might mellow out with some conditioning time but not so much.

Could I brew another 5 gallon batch with the same grain bill and very little hops in attempt to blend with the bad batch? I honestly don't know if I will make the effort to do this but was curious about others experience and advice.

Current kegged batch
50% Vienna / 50% Wheat
1.043
33 IBUs
4.7% ABV

20

All Grain Brewing / Re: SG OG BG FG,... why is my post boil reading lower than pre boil?

« on: May 07, 2013, 04:59:35 PM »

When taking preboil gravity, I put my sample in the freezer until it is below 80F

21

Beer Recipes / Re: Pilsner Malt for hoppy blonde?

« on: May 07, 2013, 02:33:00 PM »

You mention that you are out of base malt except for pilsner but then mention you have Munich and MO. I assume you don't have enough of those to use as the main base? Depending on how much you have of all the varieties you mentioned, I would think you should be able to formulate a good IPA grain bill.

As Mort mentioned, using a large portion of Munich will require more hops to cut through. I found this out too late...

22

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Wyeast 3711 French Saison

« on: May 03, 2013, 08:37:46 AM »

One week in the fermenter. It is down from 1.054 to 1.006. Had to transfer it to a carboy to make space for upcoming batches. Hoping it may drop another couple of points...

Sample tastest great! Very spicy and citrusy. This batch had sweet orange peel, bitter orange peel, and coriander which is contributing as well. Hops are Magnum, Centennial, and Goldings

23

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Fermentation temp question

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:55:51 AM »

What yeast are you going to be using? If you can't get the temp below 70, I recommend WLP001/WY1056/US05. They will be the most forgiving at higher temps. I usually hear that fermentation temp is usually about 5 degrees higher than ambient temp depending on the vigor and initial conditions.

24

All Grain Brewing / Re: % of Munich for light summer ale

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:18:33 AM »

looks good.

Think about mashing fairly high (158ish) so it doesn't attenuate too much. I think that's a big key for session beers.

Thanks Mort. Mashing higher is something I probably would not have considered. I use US-05 exclusively and thought I would switch it up to S-04 this time around as well. I am not liking my lighter bodied beers with US-05 lately for some reason. I have been getting cidery flavors which could have something to do with the carb I suppose.

25

All Grain Brewing / Re: % of Munich for light summer ale

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:03:20 AM »

Thanks everyone. I have done a 100% Weyermann Munich I beer to learn exactly what it imparts. As someone mentioned I was going for an APA and the hops kind of got lost. It has turned out to be really good and I have learned a lot from doing that beer.

Recently I have been going overoboard with some of my ingredients even though my recipes have remained pretty simple. My all Columbus wheat completely backfired... I mainly just don't want to overdo it so I am being extra cautious. It seems like for the beer I have in my head I will probably go with 20-30% Munich.

Off the top of my head I am thinking

70% two row
20% munich
5% light crystal/carapils
5% flaked oats

Magnum bittering
Amarillo flavor
Cascade flavor/aroma

OG ~1.048
IBUs 25

26

All Grain Brewing / Re: % of Munich for light summer ale

« on: May 01, 2013, 11:03:42 AM »

I just did a light hoppy sort of summer ale with IIRC 30% munich 10L to 78% 2 row and 2% crystal 45 it turned out well. still malty but just enough to balance the hops.

og was 1.040 pitched wlp001 in 5 gallons and wlp545 in the other 5

001 Fg 1.008 545 fg 1.004

Can you confirm your percentages? I am a little confused. Should it be 20% munich instead of 30%?

27

All Grain Brewing / % of Munich for light summer ale

« on: May 01, 2013, 10:47:49 AM »

Hey Guys. Any advice on how much munich to use in a light bodied "summer" type ale. I plan to use some crystal as well but was thinking about subbing about half of it with munich. Definitely don't want to overdo it but would like to add some complexity and light malt characteristics. I was thinking maybe 5% crystal, 5% munich.

My other thought would be to use Marris Otter as the base malt instead of basic two row to maybe achieve the same result.

28

Beer Recipes / Re: I am dreaming of a hoppy white wheat beer

« on: May 01, 2013, 08:17:27 AM »

Should be good and hoppy.

I am still hoping my all columbus wheat will mellow out because it is currently barely drinkable at 33 IBUs. I should have used another hop type but really wanted to try an all columbus beer. Oh well, you brew and you learn.

29

Beer Recipes / Re: Meyer lemon wit

« on: April 30, 2013, 04:18:23 PM »

I have never used them but I think it is a great idea. I love using citrus zest so much that I actually used some lime recently.

30

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: cold conditioning

« on: April 30, 2013, 04:14:45 PM »

In my opinion cold conditioning will help to improve the beer overall whether it's appearance or taste. I never had the ability to really cold condition when I was bottling. I definitely notice an improvement after two weeks of cold conditioning in the keg before drinking.