Messages

211

Beer Travel / Re: My kingdom for a Wisconsin IPA

« on: January 09, 2012, 02:26:24 PM »

While neither would class as an IPA, neither New Glarus' Moon Man and Ale Asylum's Hopalicious will disappoint you.  Ale Asylum does make Ballistic, Satisfaction Jacksin, and Bedlam, but I haven't had the opportunity to try any of these yet. 

If there's one within any sort of reasonable driving distance, find yourself a Woodman's grocery store.  Very decent selection, and not just of cold beer.

212

General Homebrew Discussion / Strange question -- Lambics.

« on: January 09, 2012, 01:50:38 PM »

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

My PI is looking for lambics from which we can recover the bacteria for educational purposes. We're hoping to do some 16S sequencing on them and identify the species for a food fermentations class he teaches.

A year or two ago, we attempted this with Lindemans and had no luck.  I'm not certain if they have a pasteurization step in their process, if the bacteria were simply dead, or if it was something wrong with the class' process or media choice.  (We did some of the steps with anaerobic plates and MRS media, as I recall.)

I would appreciate any suggestions for varieties of lambics that would be available or could be shipped to my department at Purdue in Indiana.  (We have a liquor license, though I don't know the details of it.)  Ideally, these would be actual open-fermented products, not recreations of them.

Thanks in advance!

213

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Beer in Motortrend

« on: January 09, 2012, 01:28:21 PM »

Getting New Glarus in WI is generally easy.  Getting it outside of WI, not so much...  For me, this generally involves hitting the Woodman's at the Highway 50 exit in Kenosha right before heading into Chicagoland.   

214

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 09, 2012, 11:06:37 AM »

New question: What is the advantage of doing a full boil over a partial boil?

Note that this is purely academic (for now). My brew pot is too small for a full boil, and I doubt my electric stove could handle it. 

215

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Paint Strainer Bags...Effective?...

« on: January 09, 2012, 11:00:18 AM »

The "myth" (?) is that wringing the bag will extract tannins from the hops.  I've never found that to be true personally.

What about wringing/squeezing the bag after steeping malts?  I've seen that cautioned against as well.

216

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 08, 2012, 02:39:31 PM »

I pitched the yeast dry. 

It's bubbling now, so I'm happy.  Now for the extended impatient period....

217

The Pub / Re: What were your first and second favorite beers, chronologically?

« on: January 08, 2012, 09:23:45 AM »

Actually, I can totally see this being a "what beer did you like/typically buy before you knew any better" sort of thead. I just happened to start out early with some not-quite-so-macros (this is easier in Wisconsin than in some parts of the US), helped by the fact that I was married to someone older whose then-favorite was Sprecher's Black Bavarian.

218

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 08, 2012, 09:12:03 AM »

Still haven't seen the airlock move, though it hasn't been 24 hours yet.  It's sitting in a Rubbermaid of water up to about the 3 gallon mark, no ice added, and I'd say the temp is about 62F.  (Fishtank thermometer only goes down to 64.)  I pitched the yeast (Muntons Gold dry yeast, one packet) at about 69F, so I know they're not scalded.

Should I take some water out of the Rubbermaid bin so the temperature can come up closer to the ~67F room temp, or just not worry about it and accept that everything will happen a little slower due to lower temperatures?

219

The Pub / What were your first and second favorite beers, chronologically?

« on: January 07, 2012, 07:44:55 PM »

When you first began drinking beer, what was the first one that became your favorite? 
What then superceded it?

____

Born a Wisconsinite, I started out liking Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss.
Somewhere thereafter, I switched to Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock.

220

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 07, 2012, 07:36:57 PM »

It's a 3-piece. I've since refilled it with vodka, but since the yeast probably isn't really going yet, I'm a bit concerned about having insufficient microbial competition. If it were later in the brewing process, I wouldn't be so concerned, but I dislike the idea of introducing *anything* when the ecological niches are still unoccupied.  (Yeah, you're dealing with a microbiologist here who's too used to needing total sterility to relax...)

221

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 07, 2012, 07:10:34 PM »

No, the water level is a bit below the level of the wort (so thermometer #2, courtesy of Petsmart and only able to go down to 64F) can be un-submerged.  I'm just worried about the airlock running backward if my swamp cooler methods cool the wort too much past the temp it was when I sealed everything up.

222

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 07, 2012, 06:25:47 PM »

Rats.  Should have mounted it horizontally instead of vertically.  Wonder if I can pry it off?
EDIT: Nope, can't do that!  Guess I'm going to have to visit a pet shop tomorrow if I want to monitor brewing temp....

I'm paranoid that it's cooling and sucking water in through my 3-piece airlock.  Should I be?  Along the same lines, how do I open the contraption without the same thing happening?  

223

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: My new favorite beer bottle opener

« on: January 07, 2012, 04:57:48 PM »

Nail puller looks like it'd beat the Leatherman pliers I've been using. 

224

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few newbie questions

« on: January 07, 2012, 04:53:05 PM »

Well, I finished doing my part earlier this afternoon, am waiting on the yeast now. I've got the fermenter in a Rubbermaid bin (thanks for that suggestion, by the way; uses a lot less water than filling the bathtub would have) and I haven't added any ice yet because the temperature is sitting at 63F according to the LCD thermometer on the side of the bucket.  I may not add ice if the temperature hasn't risen by the time I go to bed.  It seems possible that simply sitting in a water bath may keep the temperature sufficiently low due to evaporation that I don't need to add ice, but we'll see.

Cheba420 -- I'm in an apartment, so I don't have a basement or concrete floor indoors to put the fermenter in.  Wish I did....

225

Ingredients / Re: Post your water report

« on: January 06, 2012, 06:09:41 PM »

Lafayette, Indiana municipal water.

pH              7.3
Alkalinity      225 mg/L (as CaCO3)
Fluoride        1.1 mg/L
Orthophosphate  0.6 mg/L
Total phosphate 1.5 mg/L
Chloramines     1.1 mg/L
Lead            undetectable
Copper          undetectable
Iron            0.189 mg/L
Manganese       0.210 mg/L
Chlorides       39 mg/L
Sulfates        61 mg/L
Conductivity    670 µm HOS/cm
Total bacteria  0 (per what???)
Total hardness  350 mg/L as CaCO3
Grains hardness 21 grains/gal

The city uses chloramine to treat the water, so I'm a bit hesitant to use it at all, though I do now have a faucet filter.  Brewing suggestions for this water?  (And yes, I agree that my city certainly didn't give me much to go on here.)