Topics

16

Events / Colorado Brewers Festival 2012

« on: June 24, 2012, 10:15:57 PM »

Did anyone else brave the 100+ F weather this weekend and venture to Ft Collins? If so where there new breweries that you you tried. Crabtree Brewing had a Ginger honey blonde ale that was very refreshing and well balanced.

17

General Homebrew Discussion / Pesticide for hops

« on: June 07, 2012, 04:53:14 PM »

Not sure where to post this, but i noticed that there is something eating the leaves on my hops plants. Does anybody know of a good pesticide that will kill the unknown bug but be safe to brew with?

18

Ingredients / how to determine hop plant variety?

« on: May 27, 2012, 10:22:10 PM »

Does anybody have a good source for identifying hop plants. the hops that are currently growing in my backyard are from my cousins new house. the previous owner was a homebrewer. Unfortunately the variety of hops was never discussed.

19

Beer Recipes / Possbile IPA recipe

« on: May 19, 2012, 10:58:32 PM »

So i was pondering a recipe for an ipa. I tend to like high IBU beers
Here is my idea. I know the crystal is not popular, i'm going a caramel color, with caramel taste as well any substitutes are welcome. I believe my O.G. was 1.067 with a final around 1.018, ~6.2ABV%, 15ish SRM, and 87ish IBU's. I also want to keep it a extract/partial mash recipe.


7lbs light LME
½ lb crystal 60l
1 lb caramel malt 40l
2lb victory malt
1 Irish Moss 15min
2oz Cascade -1oz 60min, .5oz 30min, .5oz 10min
1oz Centennial - .5oz 60min, .5oz 45min
1oz Citra – 60min
1oz Chinook- .5oz 60min, .5oz dry hop
1oz Amerillo - .5oz dry hop, .5oz 30min
1oz  Columbus – dry hop
2pks Safale S-04

20

Yeast and Fermentation / is this normal?

« on: May 16, 2012, 05:30:56 PM »

So I recently made a Dunkelweizen extract 3gal batch. I used Safale WB-06 pitched at 68-70F, and the beer has been fermenting since 4/27 at 61-62F. I pitched the whole packet of yeast. I was just curious if it normal for the primary fermentation to take this long. I was planing of racking to secondary fermenter so i could start another beer. The krausen was great early.

* the O.G. was 1.043

21

Beer Recipes / American wheat

« on: April 04, 2012, 04:34:34 PM »

    so i was thinking of making an American Wheat beer, i wanted to make it hoppier than normal. I like the balance between the wheat and hops. Does this recipe look good?

6.6 pounds, wheat malt extract
    1--1/2 pounds, dark dry malt
    1--1/2 pounds, crystal malt
    1 pound, wheat malt
    1/2 pound, wheat flakes
    1/4 pound, chocolate malt
    2 ounces, of Hallertauer hops (Alpha 4.2) for full boil
    1/2 ounce, Saaz hops (Alpha ??) for 20 minutes
    1/2 ounce, Saaz hops to finish
    yeast

22

Commercial Beer Reviews / Favorite Commerical Breweries

« on: March 08, 2012, 04:18:45 PM »

So I was just curious to see everyone's top 10 or so favorite commercial craft breweries?
Here are mine in no certain order
 Odells Brewing (CO)
 Strange Brewing (CO)
Deschutes brewery (OR)
 Firestone Walker Brewing (CA)
 Fort Collins Brewery (CO)
 Big Sky Brewing (MT)
 Mendocino Brewing Company (Select and Legend) (CA)
 Dogfish Head (DE)
 Big Horn Brewing (CB& Potts restaurant) (CO)
 Stone Brewing (CA)

23

Equipment and Software / Stainless steel vs aluminum kettle?

« on: March 05, 2012, 10:38:36 PM »

So i was just curious as to what type of a brew kettle everyone uses? I have seen that many people use a turkey fryer (Al) however, i have also heard the Al can react with the beer and give it off favors. I currently use a 5gal SS kettle and was considering a small kettle (for smaller batches) and was curious if i should buy a turkey fryer or just go to target and pick a SS pot?

24

Ingredients / when to plants hops?

« on: March 02, 2012, 04:25:08 PM »

So my cousins have a some hops (not sure the variety) that they want to get rid of. I wanted to know when i should go their house and transplant the hops to my backyard. I live in Colorado and we can get snow until May most years.

25

General Homebrew Discussion / homebrew shelf life

« on: February 29, 2012, 04:02:38 PM »

So i have pretty simple question. What is the self life of a Homebrew in bottles? I realize that most of the time the beer will be gone long before it spoils, but since there are no preservatives besides the alcohol, does anybody have a rough estimate for the shelf life. I would assume 6months or so not that it would last for six months, but some of my family wants me to save a few bottles of my first beer (bottled 1.22.12) I'm pretty close to finishing the two plus cases.

26

The Pub / Best bar in Fort Collins

« on: February 27, 2012, 06:30:04 PM »

So I'm not sure if anybody has been to Fort Collins, Co lately but they have opened a great new pub. It's called The Mayor of Old town, they have 100 bars on tap (constantly changing) and like 20-30 different bottled beers. they have CO, USA, and international beers. Plus the food is awesome and cheap. I highly recommended visiting here when in town (fyi it's about 1hr away from Denver)

27

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / extract rye ipa

« on: February 21, 2012, 06:46:28 PM »

So I was thinking when i have the time my next beer will be an rye ipa. my question is with an extract batch can use rye grains with light LME or DME? I have seen the new northern brewer rye extract, but i can drive to the LBHS for cheaper than shipping the extract to my house. also with a rye ipa do i need to add more hops?

28

General Homebrew Discussion / IBU calculation error

« on: February 16, 2012, 09:53:28 PM »

so i have checked 3 different websites and i got 3 different IBU's (33.2, 48.9, 40.3)
my recipe was an extract milk stout

3.5 gal boil, 5 gal batch
1oz cascade 8% A.A. 60min
.5oz styrian goldings 3.4% A.A. 60min
.5oz styrian goldings 3.4% A.A. 30min

estimated O.G. is 1.053 (wort is to hot to measure actual right now)

can someone please help

29

Yeast and Fermentation / 1st time using liquid yeast

« on: February 15, 2012, 05:35:50 PM »

So my local homebrew store was out of dry yeast, so i bought some liquid yeast (English ale strain) . this will be my second attempt at homebrewing, i will be making a milk (sweet) stout using a extract recipe i have read/heard that i need to use a starter batch with liquid yeast, however, i'm not sure how to do starter batch? Can i just pitch the yeast into the primary fermenter and go from there or do i need to use a starter?

30

General Homebrew Discussion / becoming a beer judge

« on: February 12, 2012, 11:19:28 PM »

So seeing as I'm newbie to the home brew scene, i was wondering if there were any classes programs to become a judge or at least a class to become a better beer taster? I know about the BJCP, but i was wondering if anybody know of cheaper or free classes (either online or in-person). I'm not necessarily looking to become an official judge but I'm not totally against it either.