Messages

166

Kegging and Bottling / Bottles aren't carbonating.

« on: January 30, 2012, 07:08:49 AM »

I bottled my first batch of beer about a week and a half ago. English pale ale-type, had been sitting in the fermenter for 11 days, with no activity in the airlock for a while. Primed with 3/4 cup corn sugar, dissolved/boiled in 12 oz of water (probably too much), then added to the bottling bucket when a bit cooled.  (I did add it after siphoning in the beer, which was a mistake, but I gently stirred and added it slowly, so hopefully it's well-distributed.)

The bottled beer tastes good, if a little green, and has a bit of a sweet flavor.  (It's no sweeter than Goose Island Matilda, so I'm not too worried about explosions.) Some slight carbonation has formed, but disappointingly little.

I've moved the beer from the bathroom where I've done the fermentation to a closet, which has basically brought it from 68F to 69-70F. Is there anything else I can do? I used Munton's Gold dry yeast -- did it flocculate too completely?

167

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Wisconsin Tavern League eqates homebrewing to moonshine

« on: January 30, 2012, 06:58:49 AM »

Wooooooooooo boy. They've got a lot of power there, too (as evidenced by the fact that most municipalities won't sell beer in stores after 9pm).

Appleton native, here.

168

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 1/27 Edition

« on: January 27, 2012, 02:33:39 PM »

Oatmeal stout, perhaps. Considering letting the wort simply cool overnight before pitching yeast rather than messing around with sinks full of cold water, as I'm lazy and I don't own a wort chiller yet.  I won't get the cold break out, but I'm not sure whether I care.  Should I?

During the warmer months, I almost always end up pitching the next day as our tap water isn't cold enough for the chiller to get it all the way down.  As long as you keep things clean, you should have no problem.  The only thing I would wonder is if it would chill enough on it's own overnight.  That's a lot of thermal mass so I don't know how long it might take to get to room temperature much less pitching temperature.

I don't have a sufficiently large kettle for a full boil (and I have an electric stove, though I don't mind the idea of making the apartment management replace burners), so I can chill the water I'll be diluting with. Hopefully that'll get it down far enough that it'll be cool by the next day, especially if I plunk the fermenter in a bin full of water an hour or two before pitching the yeast.  I hope. Last time, evaporation alone had the fermenter staying in the 62-64F range.

169

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry pasteurizing sugar?

« on: January 26, 2012, 04:00:49 PM »

Wow, lots of perspectives to ponder.     But it did get me thinking!

I have heard that honey is pretty resistance to nasties because the high osmotic pressure it exerts on them.  I don't know if that would translate well to dry sugar, but probably wet sugar.  Perhaps if I made a really thick solution with sugar and partially fermented wort and let it sit for a few minutes, at room temp, that would be enough to make the solution pretty inhospitable to life.  Then add that to the fermenter.  No heating required.

.....
Thoughts?

Well, nothing grows in dry sugar or strong sugar solutions because of the low water activity.  The sugar's too concentrated for anything to grow on it.  (This is also why candying things like fruit and ginger works for preservation.)  That doesn't mean it's sterile, which is why you wanted to heat it in the beginning.  Unfortunately, sterilizing dry requires hotter temps than sterilizing with moisture, so heating your dry sugar to 200F probably wouldn't be sufficient for sterilization.

However, you just need things to be sanitary; sterility is unnecessary. (I'm still working on this distinction myself, so I get the "sterilize everything" mentality.  I still want gnotobiotic beer in my fermenter!)  If the experts say you can dump in dry sugar, I'd believe them.  Just pour it slowly and stir as you go so you don't get a big mass of sugar on the bottom of your fermenter.

170

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 1/27 Edition

« on: January 26, 2012, 02:41:18 PM »

Oatmeal stout, perhaps. Considering letting the wort simply cool overnight before pitching yeast rather than messing around with sinks full of cold water, as I'm lazy and I don't own a wort chiller yet.  I won't get the cold break out, but I'm not sure whether I care.  Should I?

171

The Pub / Re: Having fun with sanitation

« on: January 26, 2012, 10:36:29 AM »

Oooh, I haven't seen that one.  (Being a grad student, I'm a bit out of some of those loops.)  I've heard stories in general, though.  Didn't some involve putting liquid oxygen in the grill?

LOX = Liquid OXygen.

Haven't been back to W. Lafayette for much in a long time.

Oops, didn't pay attention while reading that.  Sorry.

172

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry pasteurizing sugar?

« on: January 26, 2012, 10:34:28 AM »

Would scooping some of the wort out of the fermenter, heating it, and dissolving the sugar in that be detrimental to the wort's quality?

173

The Pub / Re: Having fun with sanitation

« on: January 26, 2012, 06:26:35 AM »

Oooh, I haven't seen that one.  (Being a grad student, I'm a bit out of some of those loops.)  I've heard stories in general, though.  Didn't some involve putting liquid oxygen in the grill?

174

The Pub / Re: So you are out in the woods and spot this...

« on: January 25, 2012, 03:58:55 PM »

No way, pushed out bottom would make me worry that it's unsafe.

If the can were properly intact, I might guzzle it if I were thirsty enough. Possibly while holding my nose. (Depends how flavorless it is, I suppose.  Never tried the stuff.)

175

The Pub / Re: What's the Weather Like Where You Are?

« on: January 25, 2012, 12:44:41 PM »

Ewww, it's snowing.  It was doing this sleety thing earlier, so I guess this is an improvement, other than the temperature dropping below freezing now that everything's wet.

Edit: The forecast for the rest of today and tomorrow says "ice pellets."  Double ewww.

176

The Pub / Re: Having fun with sanitation

« on: January 24, 2012, 09:00:29 PM »

Don't think he's around Purdue anymore, though micro's spread across enough departments that it's all a bit nutty.

177

Equipment and Software / Re: condenser as wort chiller

« on: January 24, 2012, 08:40:41 PM »

My first CFC was a coil inside a Home Depot bucket with through wall fittings and a drain valve for the water.  It worked pretty well in fact, dropped a couple blue ice packs in and would only have to switch the water out once for a 10 gallon batch.

Did you run that on gravity, or use a pump?

I'm planning my second batch and coming up with all sorts of fun things I'd like to get.  (This hobby obsession could get expensive...) After a bottle tree, better wort cooling than kettle-in-sink seems to be high on my list.

178

The Pub / Re: Having fun with sanitation

« on: January 24, 2012, 06:56:14 PM »

My boss has seen that gif.  I'm giving it about a week til he tries it in the lab.  (Mind you, those will probably be Kimax carboys, but still...)  

If it's who I think it is he'll probably try it alone the first time and only tell you if it works...

Not sure who you're thinking of.  This is the guy who put all the dud fireworks in a 5 gallon pail in his yard last 4th of July, poured gasoline on them, and lit it.  Gotta love crazy professors!
(Edit: Note that that was a *plastic* 5-gal bucket. The thing melted before the fireworks were half done.)

179

The Pub / Re: Having fun with sanitation

« on: January 24, 2012, 05:17:44 PM »

My boss has seen that gif.  I'm giving it about a week til he tries it in the lab.  (Mind you, those will probably be Kimax carboys, but still...)  

180

Yeast and Fermentation / Quick (dumb?) OG, FG question

« on: January 24, 2012, 03:40:57 PM »

If I read OG and FG at the same temperature, do I have to correct for the variation from 60F? Or will they remain accurate relative to each other?

(And why, exactly, is the temperature for this not the standard 20C?)