781
All Grain Brewing / Re: First AG batch......
« on: January 13, 2011, 03:31:38 PM »
What efficiency did you end up getting? And what's your grain bill? Any wheat or anything else sticky in there?
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782
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: I is a STAR!
« on: January 13, 2011, 03:27:44 PM »
Very nice. Better get that 2nd AG batch started now!
783
All Grain Brewing / Re: Schematic
« on: January 12, 2011, 10:25:53 AM »
Boil water in the pot for an hour and it will leave an oxide layer on the surface of the aluminum. Then just never scrub hard enough in subsequent uses to remove the oxide layer. Stainless is nice, but aluminum is so much cheaper. I use a 10 gallon aluminum pot for my BK. I think I paid 40 bucks for it at an online restaurant supply store. And it is thick and solid. I'm pretty sure I could drop it from the roof of my house and it might dent, but I doubt it.
784
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Yeast Starter
« on: January 12, 2011, 10:19:52 AM »I'm going to have to try this. I had no idea that the theory was disproved. Thanks! Now that I think about it, I just finished reading Yeast by Chris White and Jamil, and I don't recall them ever mentioning bringing the yeast up to pitching temps.The reason I do it is to slowly introduce the yeast to the temp of the beer to avoid shocking it. Read it somewhere and have adopted it into my brewing practice. I have never pitched straight from the fridge so I can't say if it works or not. YMMV. Cheers!!!
FWIW, I've done it both ways and now I'm straight form the fridge and into the beer. The temp shock theory is outdated and has been disproved. The current theory is that the yeast will start using up their glycogen reserves once they warm up and become active and you want that to happen in the beer, not before the yeast gets there. I find I get far better yeast performance by pitching cold. I'd encourage you to try it a few times and compare for yourself. At the very least, there's no downside.
785
Equipment and Software / Re: Hop Pellets clogging fermenter dip tube
« on: January 12, 2011, 09:22:21 AM »I have a prototype item that I am still perfecting that I use in this application. In essence, what I have done to my 10 gallon fermenting keg is took the beer out tube out, put in another gas in tube, attached 4 feet of plastic line to the replaced tube, and put a float on the end of the tube with a screen.Nice. And instead of seeing brilliantly clear beer for the last few pints out of the keg, now you get it to start. When you see cloudy beer... start carbing the next keg!
In essence what this does is pulls liquid out of the keg from the top layer of the liquid in the keg and gradually goes down as the level in the keg is emptied. I have a few issues to work out so its fool proof, but it works for the most part. If I get it all perfected I will sell them as beerbobbers.
Here is a crude paint picture of what I am doing.
786
Ingredients / Re: hop subs for JZ's American IPA
« on: January 12, 2011, 08:56:53 AM »
If it were me, I'd keep it simple and add 1 oz each of Cent and Cascade at 10 min and then another oz of each at flame-out. That gives you 28.9 IBU's. Then the balance of your bittering would come from adding 0.54 oz of Magnum at 60 min for another 35.3 IBU's. Total IBU's = 64.2.
787
Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: First attempt.....
« on: January 12, 2011, 08:43:52 AM »
Sounds like it went pretty well. Keep us up to date on the progress. You'll probably start seeing signs of active fermentation this afternoon sometime.
788
Ingredients / Re: hop subs for JZ's American IPA
« on: January 12, 2011, 08:27:22 AM »
Definitely add the Cascade. Combining Centennial and Cascade is one of my favorite hop combos in IPA's and APA's. Subbing out Simcoe and Amarillo for them will give you a much different beer, but still very tasty. And I agree, the other hops you mentioned probably wouldn't mesh well.
789
All Grain Brewing / Re: Found a red cooler for mash-tun
« on: January 12, 2011, 08:20:54 AM »Well I really wanted to get a blue rectangular cooler to convert to a mash-tun but unfortunately I found a red one tucked away in my barn. I think I'm going to spray paint it so i can get that 110% efficiency that I keep reading about.Don't worry. You can compensate by boiling longer to get to 110%.
790
Equipment and Software / Re: Replace High pressure gage with shut-off
« on: January 06, 2011, 07:59:34 AM »It would be much easier to just connect the low pressure gauge from the primary regulator to the input on the secondary regulator bank. Dial the primary low pressure gauge up to whatever is higher than you want from your secondary regulators, and you're done. Easy peasy.This is the way to go. Also, check the max psi for the secondary regulators. I have one that says don't exceed 200 psi, so it wouldn't work being hooked up to the high pressure side. Ask me how I know that...
791
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: How much did you brew in 2010?
« on: January 02, 2011, 07:17:58 AM »
21 batches for 115.5 gallons
792
General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's your first brew for 2011?
« on: January 01, 2011, 02:45:12 PM »
Foreign extra stout
793
All Grain Brewing / Re: Some basic knowledge help, please.
« on: December 31, 2010, 01:21:39 PM »
I mill my grains directly into the mash tun, so I add the water to the grains. Yes, I get some dough balls, but nothing that doesn't break up with a couple minutes of stirring.
794
All Grain Brewing / Re: Some basic knowledge help, please.
« on: December 29, 2010, 10:11:15 AM »
I've gotten more consistent results since I stopped preheating my mashtun and letting Beersmith take the temperature of the grains and my mashtun into account when calculating strike temps. Now I always seem to be within 1-2 degrees F (I know I just jinxed myself for my next brew).
795
Kegging and Bottling / Re: Co2 Pressure/Temperature Question
« on: December 28, 2010, 06:51:26 PM »
I doubt the temp drop is the cause of your undercarbonation. If the pressure stays the same, and your beer temp drops, you'd get more carbonation, not less. The beer can hold more co2 at the lower temperatures. I'd guess your problem is that you're serving at 5 psi instead of the 12 psi you finished carbonating at. So eventually the beer will reach equilibrium at 5 psi, resulting in an undercarbed keg. Why not just serve at 12 psi and use longer lines to balance the system?