Messages

61

All Grain Brewing / Head retention in a raspberry stout

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:28:48 AM »

How much?  10%?

62

All Grain Brewing / What exactly is...

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:27:19 AM »

I also did use gelatin, and yes, it's on all the bottles I had leftover.

63

All Grain Brewing / What exactly is...

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:26:46 AM »

No, they have been stored @ cellar temp.  I do get a weird slight cardboard flavor that wasn't present in the keg version. 

64

All Grain Brewing / What exactly is...

« on: January 06, 2013, 07:47:58 PM »

This?  On the necks of a Cali common I bottled off a keg about a month ago. 

65

All Grain Brewing / Head retention in a raspberry stout

« on: January 06, 2013, 07:37:13 PM »

Had some issues with head retention in my last stout where I added 32oz grade b maple syrup post-fermentation.  Am planning a choc raspberry stout with 4-5lbs of raspberries post-fermentation.  Is it simply a matter of adding some dextrin malt to my mash?  Mash higher to compensate?

66

General Homebrew Discussion / Dry Hopping in a corny keg

« on: January 06, 2013, 07:29:22 PM »

Tasty actually says in the podcast on IIPAs that it drives off any potential oxygen, to which hoppy styles are particularly vulnerable.  I use a 45cent muslin bag and weight (sanitized shot/heavy glass).  Some dispute whether the weight is necessary.  I've had good results w weight and no weight.  Adding while fermentation is still active is what supposedly ensures that the oxygen is removed from the hops and the beer.

67

All Things Food / Beer dinner pairings help

« on: January 05, 2013, 09:02:58 PM »

If its this badass of an experience (and it seems to be), pick up a copy of Brewmasters Table and read the $#!t out of it.  Garrett Oliver, while a bit pompous here and there, breaks it all down beautifully.  Such a great read and reference, and if u are going to have a monumental experience like this, it is a must.

68

General Homebrew Discussion / Dry Hopping in a corny keg

« on: January 05, 2013, 07:01:29 PM »

Having tried many different methods, including racking to Brite tank/'secondary' then dry hopping, hopping in primary after fermentation, hoppng in keg, I have to say my favorite method so far is tasty mcd's method where you add a lot of dry hops (2-3 oz for an apa, 4-5 for an IPA) at the tail end of fermentation in the primary for 2-3 weeks (I don't 'secondary' anymore). I find that the grassy/vegetal flavors are driven off but the good volatile oils remain.  Add  them when the bubbles slow to about every 5 seconds.

69

General Homebrew Discussion / What category to enter Canadian breakfast stout

« on: January 05, 2013, 06:43:41 PM »

Great answer thanks.  It's honestly a pretty balanced beer, so I may go the stout route (mehehhahaah!....only if u use one pronunciation of "route" I guess)....I will ask for a second opinion on taste tho good call..

70

General Homebrew Discussion / cold break

« on: January 05, 2013, 02:40:30 PM »

Do u ever have dms?  I have been doing a 'partial chill' recently, where I get it below 140 for the SMM to drop, then chill to pitching temp in my ferm chamber.  Plus, I'm too lazy to run off out of my kettle, and typically just dump, so I want to avoid problems brought about by aeration prior to reaching pitch temp.

71

General Homebrew Discussion / How to become a better recognizer of flaws

« on: January 05, 2013, 02:21:07 PM »

My problem is that I know that I like it or I don't but like you said detecting those little tasting notes and picking out specific flavors is difficult for me.  I wish more BJCP judges would sign up on my site so I could send them my homebrew without having to enter a contest

Ummm, would you take a provisional judge!?  I will be happy to give you notes!  Iam taking my tasting exam in a month, but passed my online entrance. 

I would echo the sentiments of the others, my wife is a bloodhound, but doesn't necessarily pay attention to descriptors. 

72

General Homebrew Discussion / What category to enter Canadian breakfast stout

« on: January 05, 2013, 02:14:58 PM »

Adjuncts include coffee, chocolate, and yes, maple syrup (eh?).  Basically a foreign x stout recipe/gravity pre-32 oz of maple syrup fermented in secondary. 

Was thinking either 13b, 23a, or 21a.

73

Equipment and Software / Removing keg lube?

« on: January 04, 2013, 08:40:19 PM »

Mineral oil.  That's all keg lubes, just pastified.

74

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: When Gravity Readings Just Don't Make Sense / Can I blend?

« on: December 20, 2012, 11:43:12 AM »

Yes you can brew a high gravity beer and blend gently. It may be tricky to get what you intend though, so if the beer tastes good I'd recommend sticking with it and learning for the next batch.
Is the OG of this batch much higher than ones that you've been able to get better efficiency from? It is fairly normal to get lower efficiency with larger grain bills.

A 'touch' bigger in OG I suppose.  Maybe 10-20 points at most? 

In any event, I tried this beer last night, after 10 days primary or so and 5-6 days of dry-hopping.  Going to leave the dry hops for a bit longer, but the beer is MUCH better already. 

I suppose I need to just use patience to blend with my beer ;-)

75

General Homebrew Discussion / When Gravity Readings Just Don't Make Sense / Can I blend?

« on: December 14, 2012, 06:20:53 PM »

Brewed the following IPA-borderline-IIPA this past weekend.  I have been brewing in a bag and typically getting around 75% efficiency.  This time I did a superfine double crush through the mill, 75-minute mash (as usual for BIAB) with mash hops, and a single batch sparge in a spare fermenter with 170* water.  The only difference is I didn't do a 10minute mash out.

I am dumbfounded because after my 'lauter', I had 7.5 gallons of wort @ 1.047 pre-boil.  Based on the 90 minute boil I was doing, I figured I would be down to at least 6 gallons as my blichmann burner evaporates like a mofo.  So:

7.5 gallons @ 1.047 = 352 gravity points
6.0 gallons end volume = 1.058 OG PLUS 1# cane sugar, which should have added about 8-9 gravity points.  1.067-68, not the end of the world. 

First off, my efficiency was miserable this time (total grist of 14.75# = 545 possible gravity points, 352/545 = 64% efficiency or ugh.  Have NO IDEA why it was so bad.

Anyway, here is the weirdest part.  I decanted the wort after chilling off the trub, aerated like crazy, and took a small refractometer sample.  15 brix, or about 1.060.  WTF?  Since this was bordering on a IIPA, and most of my hops were late, I went a little nuts with hop additions, bittering to 105.8 calcuated IBUs thinking that a BU:GU ratio of 1.38 was a touch high, but wouldn't TASTE that bitter, as most were late.  Then, when I had this abysmal gravity of 1.060, my BU:GU ratio became more like 1.76.  Ouch.  And bitter. 

I gave this a taste tonight, and it was pretty damned bitter (not terrible but bitter, even for my tastes).  It is super early (pitched 2 packs of US-05 Sunday night @ 10pm), as I was adding 3oz of dry hops per Tasty's method of tail end of fermentation, so maybe its not done fermenting... 

Any thoughts on what could have happened with my gravity?  It makes no sense at all.  Also, could I brew and ferment one gallon of malty, high-gravity beer and blend?

Flight of the Phoenix IIPA
14-C Imperial IPA

Size: 5.5 gal @ 68 °F
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 81.6%
Calories: 251.62 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.076 (1.075 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.020)
Color: 12.33 (8.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 8.17% (7.5% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 105.8 (60.0 - 120.0)

Ingredients:
0.5 ea Campden Tablet - added during boil
12.75 lb (81.0%) American 2-row - added during mash
.5 lb (3.2%) Crystal Malt 20°L - added during mash
.5 lb (3.2%) Crystal 40 - added during mash
1 lb (6.3%) Melanoidin Malt - added during mash
1 lb (6.3%) White Table Sugar (Sucrose) - added during boil
1 oz (8.3%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during mash
1 oz (8.3%) Columbus (15.0%) - added first wort
.75 oz (6.2%) Magnum (14.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Amarillo® (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 20 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Amarillo® (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
.3 oz (2.5%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 m
.5 oz (4.1%) Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil
.5 oz (4.1%) Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil
.5 oz (4.1%) Caliente (17.8%) - added during boil
.5 oz (4.1%) Amarillo® (8.5%) - added during boil
1 oz (8.3%) Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
.5 oz (4.1%) Centennial (10.0%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
.5 oz (4.1%) Caliente (17.8%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1 oz (8.3%) Amarillo® (8.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter



00:03:00 Dough in - Liquor: 6.0 gal; Strike: 162.79 °F; Target: 153 °F