Messages

2461

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: First Hopsdirect Purchase.

« on: January 28, 2010, 09:22:38 am »

mmmmmmm hops.  I should make another order as well, there's a few varieties I'd like to have added to my inventory.  Magnum, Hallertau, and perhaps Amarillo or Northern Brewer.

Anybody know the story on their domestic Magnum pellets?  Looks like all they list is leaf.

2462

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast Flavor (bananas and cloves)

« on: January 27, 2010, 07:54:20 pm »

EDIT
Yeah what he said

No worries    great minds and all that

2463

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast Flavor (bananas and cloves)

« on: January 27, 2010, 07:47:26 pm »

banana and clove flavor.

For those flavors, look at the German Hefeweizen yeasts.  Something like Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen...

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=135

2464

Equipment and Software / Re: Propane Burners

« on: January 27, 2010, 07:18:36 pm »

Camp Chef High Intensity burner for $54

That one says 75K Btu.  You'd probably be a lot better of with the SP-10...
http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=garden&qid=1264644924&sr=1-1
...that'll give you 185K Btu and it's only $39.96 with free shipping.

2465

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brewing less than 5 gallon batches

« on: January 27, 2010, 08:15:05 am »

Thanks for all of the responses.  The main reason I'd like to make smaller batches is to vary ingredients without taking as much time to consume the results between batches.

Perfect reason

I don't know.  I'm kinda partial to the "consume more faster" solution

2466

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's brewing this weekend 1/29

« on: January 26, 2010, 08:17:37 pm »

Thinking I'm going to try my first Alt.  Kicking of the WY1007 starter now.

2467

Equipment and Software / Re: Circular vs Rectangular Mash Tun

« on: January 26, 2010, 11:59:14 am »

I do have the option of picking up the 78qt Coleman extreme-question is this:  Is this too large a size if I wanted to so a 5 gallon batch?

All of my 5-gallon batches have had plenty of extra room in my 36-quart Coleman Xtreme.

2468

Equipment and Software / Re: Circular vs Rectangular Mash Tun

« on: January 26, 2010, 08:29:20 am »

The important thing is that it's blue

2469

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Aluminum or Stainless Steel?

« on: January 25, 2010, 08:42:18 am »

Also, regardless of whether they're aluminum or stainless, the pots that come with those fryer setups tend to be pretty thin.  You need to be pretty careful handling them as they're easy to dent.

2470

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Aluminum or Stainless Steel?

« on: January 25, 2010, 08:03:11 am »

Aluminum vs Stainless is one of those hot topics right up there with Glass vs Plastic, Secondary or Not, etc.  Be prepared.

When you boil it all down, though, it seems that Aluminum is fine, you just need to be aware of a couple of things.  Before you brew in aluminum, you want to "passivate" it.  Just fill it completely with water and boil for 15 minutes or so.  This builds an oxide layer that'll keep the acidic wort from reacting with bare aluminum.  Once you've got that layer, you're good to go.  Also, be careful when cleaning that you don't scrub off that layer or you'll have to passivate again.

Finally, most of the fryer setups have a 7 or 7-1/2 gallon pot which you may think has "plenty of room leftover" but is not really the case.  That's about the minimum size pot for a 5-gallon batch full boil.  When you take into account the extra you need so that you end up with 5-gallons, hot break, etc., you'll need to keep a pretty close eye on a pot that size.

2471

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast Culturing

« on: January 24, 2010, 04:14:37 pm »

if I can find some damn agar within 50 miles of me.   

Check out your nearest Asian Foods type of grocery store.  A package (25g) should only set you back a buck or two.

2472

Equipment and Software / Re: Propane Burners

« on: January 22, 2010, 04:44:09 pm »

So.......how much more gas do the bigger burners use? A lot....A little.  Are they terribly in-efficient?

You were asking about the 210K banjo which I know little about other than I believe it has a 30PSI regulator.  I use the 185K Bayou Classic SP-10 which uses a 20PSI regulator.  I wouldn't call mine inefficient as I easily get probably a half-dozen batches per 20lb tank (I mix in some grill time on the tank so I don't have an exact count).  You only really need to crank the gas while you're getting up to boil, once you're there, (at least on the SP-10) you can turn it down to a trickle of gas just to maintain the boil.

2473

Equipment and Software / Re: Propane Burners

« on: January 22, 2010, 01:48:44 pm »

Why not drain the mash tun into the kettle while it's already on the burner?

If you batch sparge and you only own one burner, that may not be possible.  That's the way I run and I need my burner to heat my sparge water while the first runnings are draining from the mashtun.  Once I dump the sparge water in, I then have to lift the kettle (granted, only half full) onto the burner and the sparge runoff can then go into the "on burner" kettle.

2474

Ingredients / Re: Campden Tablets for Chloramine Removal

« on: January 22, 2010, 09:46:12 am »

I use 1/4 teaspoon per 5 gallons.

I sure hope that the powdered stuff is way way less dense than the tablets.  A 1/4 teaspoon would hold several tablets and the normal dose is only a quarter of a tablet per five gallons.

2475

The Pub / Re: Tornado!

« on: January 22, 2010, 09:00:16 am »

see these folks?...