1066
The Pub / Re: song title game
« on: June 08, 2012, 10:00:58 pm »
Holy Mountain - Sleep
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1067
Yeast and Fermentation / Dregs harvesting
« on: June 08, 2012, 09:08:19 pm »
I have 2 quick questions on harvesting yeast from the dregs of a commercial beer:
1) I know you would typically brew a lower gravity beer if you're planning on pitching on its yeast cake to avoid stressing the yeast. Do you run into this issue with commercial beers? Am I better off using the lowest ABV beer from a brewery if I want to ranch their yeast?
2) I'm a huge Unibroue fan and I'd like to harvest their yeast. Their website mentions that they add yeast at bottling. Does anyone know if they use their house strain for this? I don't want to harvest the dregs from some Maudite or Trois Pistoles only to find that it is actually champagne yeast they bottle with (or something of that sort)
1) I know you would typically brew a lower gravity beer if you're planning on pitching on its yeast cake to avoid stressing the yeast. Do you run into this issue with commercial beers? Am I better off using the lowest ABV beer from a brewery if I want to ranch their yeast?
2) I'm a huge Unibroue fan and I'd like to harvest their yeast. Their website mentions that they add yeast at bottling. Does anyone know if they use their house strain for this? I don't want to harvest the dregs from some Maudite or Trois Pistoles only to find that it is actually champagne yeast they bottle with (or something of that sort)
1068
Ingredients / Re: Citra, Amarillo & Simcoe
« on: June 08, 2012, 06:32:48 pm »I was just at my LHBS to get the additional specialty grains. Not going back before I brew. I'll see if a friend of mine has some bittering hops like Columbus or Chinook I can use. I don't think I have anything like that at home. Otherwise, I'll use the Simcoe for bittering.
Columbus and Chinook are my personal preference for bittering, but there are plenty of other options too. Nugget, Magnum, Galena will all do a fine job as well.
I can't confirm through my own brewing experience, but the only time I've ever tasted "cat pee" from Simcoe was in an all-Simcoe beer. A common opinion is that using Simcoe as a 60-minute bittering addition is what leads to the whole cat pee thing (I've heard the same about Citra as well). Others have reported using Simcoe at 60 minutes with no pee, so YMMV.
I just know that I haven't had the stones to try Simcoe as a bittering addition, since every beer I've used it in has had at least 20 bucks worth of hops in it and I haven't wanted to risk it. Whatever you end up doing, please keep us posted on your results.
1069
Ingredients / Re: Citra, Amarillo & Simcoe
« on: June 08, 2012, 09:18:10 am »It took a while for the flavors to mesh and come together, but now they are very floral and tropical fruit. Very smooth, no cat piss
I get the same exact thing here. I'm loving the Amarillo and Citra combo in the dry hops. Next time I think I'm going to swap out the Simcoe for some NZ aroma hops like Nelson, Motueka and/or Rakau and really push the tropical fruit.
1070
Ingredients / Re: Citra, Amarillo & Simcoe
« on: June 08, 2012, 09:13:52 am »
I'm really enjoying an IPA I just brewed using these three hops in combination for flavor/aroma. I used 1/2 oz of Chinook at 60 minutes for my bittering charge, then I used 1/2 oz each of Simcoe, Amarillo and Citra at 15, 10, 5, and flameout. I did a 30-minute hot steep/whirlpool. Then I dry-hopped with 3/4 oz of each. The main notes are the tropical fruit from the Citra highlighted by some floral notes from the Amarillo. The Simcoe gives a nice resiny bite and adds some real nice complexity.
My recommendation is to get rid of your 30 and 40 minute additions (and maybe even the 20-minute one). Add those at flameout and do a long whirlpool before chilling. At 30 and 40 minutes you aren't getting much flavor or aroma contribution from those hops, since most of the hop oils will boil off. You really want to add them as late as possible. I'd also dry hop with at least an ounce of each of the hops.
The more hoppy beers I brew, the more simple I keep my hop schedule. For my next hop bomb, my hop schedule is probably going to be something like this:
60 min - 0.5 oz of Columbus or Chinook
10 min - massive addition of a blend of all my flavor/aroma hops
Flameout - another massive addition of the hop blend
Dry hop - split the remaining hops in 3 batches and add them each 3 days apart. Bottle 3 days after the last addition.
My recommendation is to get rid of your 30 and 40 minute additions (and maybe even the 20-minute one). Add those at flameout and do a long whirlpool before chilling. At 30 and 40 minutes you aren't getting much flavor or aroma contribution from those hops, since most of the hop oils will boil off. You really want to add them as late as possible. I'd also dry hop with at least an ounce of each of the hops.
The more hoppy beers I brew, the more simple I keep my hop schedule. For my next hop bomb, my hop schedule is probably going to be something like this:
60 min - 0.5 oz of Columbus or Chinook
10 min - massive addition of a blend of all my flavor/aroma hops
Flameout - another massive addition of the hop blend
Dry hop - split the remaining hops in 3 batches and add them each 3 days apart. Bottle 3 days after the last addition.
1071
The Pub / Re: Whatcha all want for Father's day??
« on: June 07, 2012, 08:49:14 am »I want to sleep until at least 8AM. Anything above and beyond that will just be gravy.
Hells yeah.
Unless there's one specific thing I really need, I like to keep the gift requests to gift cards. Gift certificate to NB, Midwest, Rebel Brewer or Austin Homebrew Supply would be great.
1072
All Grain Brewing / Re: oxidation risk with batch sparging
« on: June 07, 2012, 08:39:12 am »I've found anything that man has to say about brewing is worth listening to. A wealth of information and he's entertaining as hell. I downloaded an audiobook of his from audible that was great. He's done a couple of Beersmith podcasts as well, mashing and beerfoam if I remember.
He did the podcast on diacetyl, too. Didn't realize he was on the Beerfoam one. I'll be downloading that one to listen to on the ride home.
1073
The Pub / Re: song title game
« on: June 06, 2012, 08:11:51 pm »
Fool for Your Loving - Whitesnake
1074
The Pub / Re: song title game
« on: June 06, 2012, 06:04:19 pm »
Silent Night Fever - Dimension Zero
1075
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 6/8 Edition
« on: June 06, 2012, 05:56:52 pm »
Just racked half of my weizen over 2 lbs of blackberries. Hoping to bottle the non-blackberry half early next week.
1076
The Pub / Re: song title game
« on: June 06, 2012, 12:13:37 pm »
Through the Fire and the Flames - Dragonforce
1078
Other Fermentables / Re: Melomel - low OG
« on: June 06, 2012, 08:17:34 am »What yeast are you using? Typically a wine yeast (71B, D47 et:al) will ferment down 100 points. You should end up with a semi-sweet if it finishes at 1.012. If not, you can always backsweeten. You will also get some sugar from the blackberries. Watch the PH since you have added the lemon upfront. It could drop too low and affect fermentation.
I'm using 71B. As far as the lemon goes, I only added zest to the fermenter. I held off on the juice for now for exactly the reason you mentioned. I was going to wait and use lemon juice if I need to adjust the acidity after fermentation. I think I'll wait on the honey and use it to backsweeten if needed. That will give me time to score some more of the honey I used in the mead (a killer local wildflower honey that has a fantastic cinnamon spice note), instead of just using the orange blossom honey I have on hand.
1079
Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Found A Decent Laid Back Summer Beer
« on: June 06, 2012, 05:45:33 am »QuoteTheir Sunset Wheat is easily the worst beer I've ever had, including every infected beer I've ever tasted.
+1
I take it you guys don't like Fruity Pebbles? That's exactly what the Sunset Wheat reminds me of. I'm not a huge fan, but it's not awful to me, and at least it's beer. I'd rather serve Sunset Wheat than wine coolers at a summer cookout.
1080
Other Fermentables / Melomel - low OG
« on: June 05, 2012, 09:30:58 pm »
I started my first mead last night (a Blackberry-Lemon melomel). My OG came in quite a bit lower than I was expecting. I was modeling this after a recipe that had a projected OG of 1.158, and I ended up at 1.120. According to the recipe, the FG should end up between 1.030 and 1.040. I am a little concerned that this will end up fermenting down way too dry. Should I add some more honey now while fermentation is just starting to ramp up, or am I better off waiting until fermentation is done and I rack it to secondary?