Messages

61

Equipment and Software / Re: Best chiller for summer brewing

« on: April 02, 2013, 09:33:30 AM »

as my kettle is all of a whopping 4 gallons. i will just throw it in the fridge at night.  i feel like i get a good cold break that way and then transfer to the bucket.  let it warm up a bit if it has gotten too cold for the yeast but it does not take long as i usually will do a lager anyhoo

62

Ingredients / Re: What's the strangest ingredient you've ever used?

« on: March 15, 2013, 03:07:06 PM »

two years ago i tried to make a rhubarb and strawberry rye.  i screwed it up a bit as i think my rhubarb was a bit dirty. i am going to try again this summer.  the idea came from a rhubarb and strawberry jelly sandwhich i had on rye bread.  i used my own strawberries and friend that grows rhubarb.  the farm stand down the street though sells big jars of rhubarb and strawberry that is canned for pies.  i know it will have some sugar in there too but otherwise....

63

All Grain Brewing / Re: Switching to All Grain

« on: March 15, 2013, 01:50:20 PM »

BTW Denny is our resident hippy. You may have to armwrestle him for the privilege.

yes, but he said sexy hippy...

64

All Grain Brewing / Re: Switching to All Grain

« on: March 15, 2013, 10:55:53 AM »

 ingesting chemicals that mimic estrogen and cause breast cancer among other nasty things.
 

then i hope you don't eat soy.  more than one guy has shown up in my practice with man boobs because of this.

65

All Grain Brewing / Re: Emphasize pilsner?

« on: March 14, 2013, 03:02:07 PM »

at least they both agreed
i take a lot of comments with a big lump of salt now.  when i was a young naval officer going through engineer quals on my final watch board we did a back emergency drill.  two of the instructors said it was the best back emergency drill they had seen.  the third said i had no control of the throttleman and failed me.  go figure.

66

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Imperial Side Car

« on: March 14, 2013, 02:55:47 PM »

instead of using a growler. do it in a 2liter pepsi bottle. first it is more likely to hold pressure, second if it fails it will not likely be catastophic in that it will not likely shatter.  and if so it is not glass going all over.  yes it is clear, but to protect it from light but just throw it in a bag, under a crate and in a manhole...

67

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Need barrels?

« on: March 12, 2013, 12:36:56 PM »

must be quite the cooper

68

All Grain Brewing / Re: Starter All Grain Equipment

« on: March 12, 2013, 12:09:02 PM »

i do more of a mash in a bag now.again i only brew 2-3 gallon batches.  i mill fine and keep the grain in a grain bag in an igloo cooler.  collect the runoff like normal.  i boil in a 4g electric kettle.  i do have a new kettle i will be making this summer. it is an 8 gallon IMUSA seafood steamer, which i will turn in to an electric kettle if there is room for the element. it has a tray for seafood that will also hold the grain bag on if i were to boil directly. 

one of the reasons for the mash in a bag is that it makes it easy to use the grains for bread and dog treats over the next week.  i just pull the bag and put it in tupperware

69

Equipment and Software / Re: promash vs beersmith vs others

« on: March 08, 2013, 01:27:37 PM »

this is why i like having it on my phone. (ibrewmaster) it is not online. i like to play with recipes when i am supposed to be paying attention in meetings, events....

70

Equipment and Software / Re: promash vs beersmith vs others

« on: March 06, 2013, 03:58:44 PM »

i run into other brewers and it is kind of nice to pull up a picture, recipe, batch etc right away.

I use Brewer's Friend and it added a label generation option that includes a QR code to the on-line recipe (only for public recipes). Pretty neat for club meetings:

now that is cool

71

Equipment and Software / Re: promash vs beersmith vs others

« on: March 06, 2013, 02:20:05 PM »

i use ibrewmaster on my iphone and ipad.  i love it.  i tinkered with many of the other online systems, promash and beer smith, but i like having everything on my phone.  i run into other brewers and it is kind of nice to pull up a picture, recipe, batch etc right away.

72

Equipment and Software / Re: Chiller to pond pump question

« on: March 06, 2013, 01:38:03 PM »

really, not linear  relationship between horsepower and flow rate. double speed doubles flow rate, increases differential pressure by four and power demands by 8.  hence why cars with twice as much horsepower in the same car are not twice as fast.

73

Hop Growing / Re: Hop trellis options and a few other questions

« on: March 06, 2013, 01:33:54 PM »

i am also out in the burbs of chicago.  i grow my hops up the side of my house with a 10 foot high support made out of about 10 dollars worth of 1/2 inch conduit



i grow santiem, magnum, and sterling. last year i was able to cut out a few rhizomes for a neighbor. if you live out this way i should be able to give a few

I like this option personally.  my friend and i just ordered 4 rhizomes from our LHBS and we will propably adopt something similiar to this, but instead of the conduit i will probably hang a piece of PVC pipe from the edge of the roof and run strings tot he ground for the hops to run on.  Ive read this on multiple piece of literature and it seems to work very well, you just need to teach the hop to loop around the string as i understand it.
Jeff

i previously did just that with pvc hung from the fascia.  however i replaced that siding, fascia and gutters while the hops were just coming up last spring.  there are 4 10' pieces of conduit.  the two bottom ones slide over a piece of rebar that is angled out about 15 degrees.  there is a 15 degree bend in the top of the lower conduits and 90 degree bends in the horizontal ones.  i then guy the corners to my fence and concrete block

74

Hop Growing / Re: Hop trellis options and a few other questions

« on: March 06, 2013, 08:44:51 AM »

i am also out in the burbs of chicago.  i grow my hops up the side of my house with a 10 foot high support made out of about 10 dollars worth of 1/2 inch conduit



i grow santiem, magnum, and sterling. last year i was able to cut out a few rhizomes for a neighbor. if you live out this way i should be able to give a few

75

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: a10t2 - Sean, why don't you like Chico?

« on: February 28, 2013, 04:08:24 PM »

i guess that makes sense., as long as the package is not mislabeled.  Is there a thing as trojan yeast?