Messages

46

All Grain Brewing / Re: advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 22, 2013, 12:31:44 PM »

I brewed the 10 gallon batch yesterday and got 71.3% efficiency I think...

My preboil gravity was 1.045 for 13.7 gallons and my post boil gravity was 1.046. I normally compute my post boil volume using the final gravity but that would give me 13.4 gallons which is obviously wrong. One of my readings had to be incorrect but I don't know which one. It's pretty strange because I am pretty sure it was mixed pretty well so I don't know what happened. I ended up with somewhere between 11-12 gallons post boil volume but couldn't accurately measure it.

Other than that everything went pretty well.

47

Ingredients / Re: Christmas Beer

« on: April 18, 2013, 03:35:21 PM »

I have used mint in a beer with interesting results. Once a year I do an asian inspired blonde ale with flaked rice, ginger, mint, and green tea. I don't use enough mint to where it is very noticeable. It probably doesn't sound great to most but it is a decent beer. There is a lot going on in the flavor and I need to reduce the ginger a bit.

Sorry I know this is off the topic of xmas and candy canes...

48

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: yeast recommendation

« on: April 16, 2013, 08:02:03 AM »

Thanks All. I think I will give s-04 a try with a recipe that I would normally use us05 in so that I can get a decent feel for the differences.

49

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: yeast recommendation

« on: April 15, 2013, 04:10:06 PM »

Not sure if your looking to stick with dry yeast but if you are, I like Nottingham by Danstar.

What kind of attenuation do you normally get?

50

Yeast and Fermentation / yeast recommendation

« on: April 15, 2013, 03:41:44 PM »

I exclusively use US05 in all of my beers. I prefer to brew mostly American styles with noticeable but usually not strong hop character. Most of my beers stick in the high 4-6% ABV range. My buddy brews a pale ale using ESB yeast and I am very impressed with how the yeast and the hops mix. I feel like I should experiment a bit with some more yeasts.

Honestly, I am looking for another very versatile yeast that has medium-high attenuation that I can use in a variety of beers from american wheats to porters. Any recommendations or feedback considering the beers that I prefer to brew? I do like dry yeast so I am considering starting with S-04 or nottingham.

51

Commercial Beer Reviews / Deschutes River Ale

« on: April 15, 2013, 03:26:20 PM »

Just got around to picking this up recently. I thought was a pretty good session beer at only 4% abv. I assume most may not want to pay for normal prices for 4% beer but I like it on occassion when I will be drinking for long periods.

The flavor profile reminds me very much of Mirror Pond. I get a very distinct flavor from these two beers that I don't get from their others. Maybe I haven't have enough of their beers recently... The malt profile seems delicate with a very clean taste. I would call it more hop forward due to the light body and lack of malt character. At 28 IBUs, Cascade hops seem to be the dominant force although Nugget and Liberty are also listed in the ingredients. Anyway, I am not much a review writer but I thought this is a pretty good session/summer type beer.

Does anyone know which yeast strain Deschutes uses for most of their beers? It is listed as English Ale so I assume WLP002/007?

52

All Grain Brewing / Re: advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:26:30 PM »

I plan to go to the same LHBS as last time so the crush should be the same. The water will be the same as well. The only thing that is going to be changing will be the equipment/batch size. Like you said if I can hit my temps I should start to move in a better direction. If I get around 63% I would assume it is either related to the crush from this particular LHBS or the water/mash pH.

53

All Grain Brewing / Re: advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 15, 2013, 02:00:09 PM »

Very true. The unpredictability of my efficiency has driven me crazy for a while now but I haven't taken the proper steps to correct it. Getting a grain mill would be the first step for me. Over about 24 batches I average around 70% but it swings anywhere between 64 and 80 depending on the circumstance.

54

All Grain Brewing / Re: Preboil Gravity off

« on: April 15, 2013, 12:44:52 PM »

I take a preboil gravity reading for every batch since I know exactly what my preboil volume is. When I take my post boil gravity I can calculate the exact post boil volume thus getting a more accurate efficiency. My buckets are only calibrated in 1/2 gallon increments so I like to know my post boil volume more accurately...

55

All Grain Brewing / Re: advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 15, 2013, 12:03:14 PM »

Since I am kind of shooting in the dark I chose 70% for my estimated efficiency and adapted the recipe. That will give me a lower OG so I also decreased the IBUs to match the bitterness ratio of the last attempt. I think I will just have to go for it an see what happens.

56

All Grain Brewing / advice for adjusting to different system

« on: April 15, 2013, 11:21:43 AM »

Hey Guys

I am looking for any pointers on getting consistent results when switching systems. I am scaling up a 5 gallon batch to 10 gallons. My 5 gallons setup is a 10 gallon igloo cooler with false bottom and a 30 qt aluminum kettle. For this weekend's 10 gallon batch I will be using a 60 qt stainless steel mash tun/kettle. I batch sparge with both setups.

Unfortunately my efficiency has been all over the place lately due to using different LHBS and a recent move with different water (although I am not sure how different). The last batch at my previous house had 80% efficiency and my first batch at the new house got 63%. The process stayed the same however there were too many variables to know what the cause of the decrease was (different water, different LHBS-grain mill, etc). I am not sure how to estimate my efficiency for this 10 gallon batch so that I can get close to the beer that got 80%. Should I just use 63% and increase the amount of grain? I am afraid I will overshoot that efficiency. I guess I may just have to guess and see what happens?

Any other advice regarding brewing on different systems/sizes would be great.

57

Beer Travel / Re: 2 Nights in San Diego

« on: April 12, 2013, 09:17:16 AM »

San Diego Beer Co - 6th and Broadway - relatively new and very good in my opinion

Mission Brewery - 14th and L - I personally wasn't impressed with the beer but the place was great

Monkey Paw - 16th and F - I wasn't there very long but really liked it. Pretty small and I don't think a tour would be worth it. I think they had some really good guest taps as well and have done some collabs with stone.
 
Coronado Brewing - I think they have a brand new tap room but I am not sure where it is

58

Beer Recipes / Re: Rough Draft

« on: April 11, 2013, 10:01:06 AM »

My OG was 1.063 and Beersmith has my IBU at 140.9 and my bitterness ratio at 2.204.

Oh wow. Yeah I have never done a beer over around 80 IBUs so I can't really related.

59

Beer Recipes / Re: Rough Draft

« on: April 11, 2013, 09:08:57 AM »

So what did your OG and IBUs end up at out of curiousity?

I brewed an all columbus wheat beer last week with similar timing addtions though way smaller. My efficiency was horrible and the hops will have nothing to hide behind so I am afraid the columbus will be too potent for what I was going for. Oh well gonna dry hop with Columbus anyway and just see how it turns out.

60

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Honey - add in boil or at flame out?

« on: April 10, 2013, 01:33:29 PM »

I wrote an email recently to a brewery which does a honey wheat that has a very nice honey flavor. He told me that they added it after flameout during whirlpool which surprised me. He also noted that higher quality honey makes a big difference...they use local wildflower honey. He noted to use enough to raise the OG by 1 point so I am assuming plato not specific gravity.

I was unable to get additional information regarding the grain bill. If I was attempting to brew something similar to their beer I would probably throw some honey malt in as well considering how prevalent the honey flavor is. Oh...looks like you already have some.