Topics

31

The Pub / Rogue Beard Beer

« on: June 20, 2012, 11:38:19 AM »

Gross...

http://rogue.com/rogue-wire-service/blog/2012/06/20/beard-beer/

What's next, cultivating a yeast infection?

Yeah, I know, it's all fungus but I need a few generations between my beer and his beard! 

32

Kegging and Bottling / Oxygen absorbing caps...

« on: June 13, 2012, 07:54:48 AM »

Should they look different underneath than normal caps?  I bought some online and they arrived in an unmarked bag and don't seem any different.  Feel like I bought the Emporer's New Caps.

-Sent from the future.

33

Beer Recipes / American Brown ale with Zythos hops

« on: June 10, 2012, 08:15:43 AM »

I'll be trying a parti-gyle brew next weekend and want to make a brown ale with my second runnings. I'm not mashing any of the dark or crystal grains. So the mash will only include Marris Otter, flaked oats, and victory (see Brewing Classic Styles Oatmeal Stout for the ratios). The OG of the base malts for second runnings is estimated to be 1.055.

I'll cold steep the following for the brown ale:
10 oz chocolate malt (350L)
8 oz crystal 40
8 oz crystal 120

For hops I thought about this:
9 grams Summit first wort hops at about 19.5 IBU
9 grams Zythos at 30 minutes for 8.5 IBU
9 grams Zythos at 15 minutes for 5.5 IBU
27 grams Zythos at 1 minute

Since I won't be boiling this for several hours probably since I'll be doing a 90 minute boil on the first runnings, should I not try to use FWH on this?

Will the zythos give a complex enough flavor that I should just use magnum at 60 minutes for most of my IBUs?

Or should I skip the 60 minute addition and increase the 30 and 15 minute additions to get the total IBUs I need?

34

All Grain Brewing / Quick parti-gyle question

« on: June 10, 2012, 07:10:16 AM »

Since the grains have already soaked up water from the mash, if I need 7 gallons from second runnings then I only need to put in 7 gallons (plus dead space)?

35

Ingredients / I think my hops are drowning

« on: June 07, 2012, 05:42:06 AM »

Are yellowing leaves a symptom of over-watering? We've had an ark-load of rain in the last few weeks and the bottom leaves on my zeus hops are yellow now.

36

All Things Food / Hops in a smoker water pan

« on: June 05, 2012, 07:55:22 AM »

Anyone ever experiment with throwing some hops in a smoker's water pan or adding a little in with the wood being smoked? Just curious if it would be delicious or taste like arse. 

37

Beer Recipes / Scaling up a stout to an imperial stout

« on: May 31, 2012, 09:24:58 PM »

While I'm not a huge fan of imperial stouts I'd like to give one a try. I thought it might be fun to scale up the oatmeal stout recipe from Brewing Classic Styles and take a few liberties with it. What I'm not sure about is scaling specialty grains. If I double the grain bill do I really want to double all of the dark grains? I think with this I will take Gordon Strong's advice and cold steep the dark grains in an attempt to reduce harshness from them.

Here's what I've got so far:
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Argument From Authority
Brewer: Steve
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal   
Bottling Volume: 5.10 gal
Estimated OG: 1.106 SG (1.091 if 60% efficient)
Estimated FG: 1.029 SG  1.025 SG  (1.022 if 60% efficent)
Estimated Color: 54.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 74.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
16 lbs                Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         1        69.6 %       
2 lbs                 Oats, Flaked, Toasted (1.0 SRM)          Grain         2        8.7 %         
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Victory Malt (or biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 Grain         4        6.5 %         
1 lbs                 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)    Grain         6        4.3 %         

Cold Steep and add at 10 minutes:
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)               Grain         3        6.5 %         
1 lbs                 Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)         Grain         5        4.3 %         

28.00 g               Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - First Wort 90 Hop           7        22.3 IBUs     
42.00 g               Magnum [12.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           8        40.5 IBUs     
11.00 Items           Fermcap-S (Boil 60.0 mins)               Other         9        -             
28.00 g               Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop           10       11.5 IBUs     
1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)              Fining        11       -             
5.50 tsp              Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)          Other         12       -             
2.0 pkg               Dry English Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP007)     Yeast         13       -             
  *** use 2 vials in a 1.5L starter with stir plate, per Mr Malty calculator
2.00 oz               Oak Chips Soaked in Irish Whiskey (Secon Flavor        15       -             


Mash Schedule: My Mash/Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 23 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 7.37 gal of water at 167.7 F        154.0 F       90 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 3.49gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

38

General Homebrew Discussion / Which category for this German pilsner that is too dark?

« on: May 31, 2012, 08:14:48 PM »

6 weeks ago I brewed a "continental pilsner" extract kit. It came out pretty dark for a pilsner:



(it actually seems darker than that picture came out)

It tastes like a German pilsner.

So, if I want to enter this in a competition for s***s and giggles, do I use category 2A German Pilsner?

39

Other Fermentables / Synthetic wine corks popping out!

« on: May 27, 2012, 11:41:18 AM »

Several corks started popping out after I laid down the bottles.  Was I supposed to let them dry after sanitizing?  I recorked them and they seem fine now but 2 completely popped out and soaked my beer/wine closet.  Too afraid to lay them back down now!

-Sent from the future.

40

The Pub / Ever have a beer so good?

« on: May 27, 2012, 11:24:55 AM »

My favorite scene in Beerfest is when they're sampling the beer they made and one guy says "oh I want to put my dick in it" and another says "oh I want it to put it's dick in me! "

Now whenever I drink a beer that's just AWESOME I call it 'dickinit' good.  Still haven't had one I considered 'dickinme' good though! 

-Sent from the future.

41

Equipment and Software / Using the MW102 thermometer

« on: May 23, 2012, 06:30:01 PM »

While shopping around for a good pH meter I saw Kai's article on them and considered getting his (I think it was the SM101, which is now the MW101). There's also the MW102 which includes a temp probe.

My question is, can I kill 2 birds and get the MW102 and have a decent digital thermometer as well as pH meter? The stats for the temp probe are accurancy of +/- 0.5C and resolution of 0.1C.  Is this good? Or will I still have to buy a decent thermometer?

Here's the manual for it: http://www.milwaukeetesters.com/pdf/MW102.pdf

42

Beer Travel / Beer/breweries near Mountain View, CA

« on: May 16, 2012, 08:41:25 PM »

I have a week of training in August in Mountain View. Can someone please tell me where I can imbibe in the after hours?

Looking on yelp I see a few http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=brewery&find_loc=Mountain+View%2C+CA&ns=1&ls=3721556b3fb177ec

I guess I could just pick 5 and visit one per night.

43

Beer Recipes / Lagunitas Censored hop substitutions

« on: May 16, 2012, 06:35:13 PM »

Hello all!

I'd like to brew the Can You Brew It Lagunitas Censored clone this weekend and I'd like to get some opinions about hop substitutions. I'm not concerned about actually cloning the beer, I'd just like to get it in the ballpark...ok, maybe just the parking lot of the ballpark! 

The recipe is copied from here: http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=&t=14105

6 Gal. batch (in the fermenter)
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.018-1.020
SRM: 12.9
IBU: 35

11.82# American Two Row
1.58# Munich (10L)
1.27# Wheat Malt
1.03# Crystal 60L
0.07# Roasted Barley ~450L

27g Willamette 4.6% @ 60min 
4.6g Horizon 12% @ 60min       
16g Willamette 4.6% @ 30min   
2.3g Centennial 9% @ 30min     
4.6g Cascade 5.75% @ 30min   
9g Centennial 9% @ 1 min
9g Liberty 4% @ 1 min

Mash Temp: 156F, Boil Time 60min

English yeast : WLP002
Ferment Temp: 66F

Here's the hops I have in decent quantities:
Columbus
Magnum
Hallertauer Mittelfrueh
Northern Brewer
Sterling
Summit
Willamette
Zythos

So, should I sub Horizon with Magum, Liberty with Hal. Mittelfrueh, and Centennial/Cascade with Summit?

44

General Homebrew Discussion / The comments section of a contest entry form

« on: May 09, 2012, 03:21:24 PM »

Should I note in the comments that my beer is bottle conditioned? And that I want the bottles handled with mittens, wool preferably?

Seriously, though, do I need to note something like bottle conditioning and what else might I want to put in the comments?

45

The Pub / Canadian Paralympic Committee: Running (Unstoppable)

« on: May 09, 2012, 12:58:18 PM »

Just saw this on the Bad Astronomy blog...pretty cool ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUYUvY6quE0