Messages

31

Ingredients / Re: Decarbonation by Boiling

« on: June 04, 2012, 12:09:17 PM »

My water is very hard and I tried this last brewing session. Nothing precipitated and I ended up using the water as-is. A bit of a waste of time and propane I guess. I added Gypsum initially too, but nothing.

Good thing I was brewing IPA.

WIth the Michigan ground water I use, if I boil and cool overnight, there is a white "fur"deposit on the kettle. Did you cool it?

Not long enough and that was the problem. I tried this the morning of brewing and should have done it the night before.

32

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: White Labs San Diego Superyeast!

« on: May 29, 2012, 06:01:27 PM »

I recently brewed 10 gallons of a low gravity red ale (1.043) as an experiment and pitched WLP090 in one bucket and US05 in the other.  I made a 2 liter starter for the 090 and used recently harvested US05 slurry.  The recipe was very simple with 3 malts and 25 IBU so there wasn't much place for flaws to hide.  Both yeast strains were pitched at 65 degrees and held there for 4 days.  The 090 had a vigorous start and was already dropping by day 4 so I let it free rise to finish up after that.  I ended up kegging the WLP090 batch after 7 days and carbed and crashed.  By day 10 it was clean and drinkable with no esters or off flavors.  The US05 batch was lagging quite a bit and even by day 12 it still wasn't even close to the 090 in clarity or flavor.  I believe San Diego Super Yeast does work as advertised.  I plan on brewing a pilsner recipe with it next and if the results are the same, I'll probably make this my house yeast strain.  The turnaround is outstanding with, in my opinion, no downside.  It's similar to WLP007 in that respect but I believe it is cleaner, quicker.   

If you brew a Pils style with it, please let us know how it turned out!
I've considered doing a Pils with ale yeast numerous times but never tried it. I'm sitting on three Oz of Czech Saaz right now too.

I really appreciate the feedback everyone.
Thanks
Steve

33

Pimp My System / Re: New Brewstand being built

« on: May 29, 2012, 07:00:33 AM »

I put a carbon, metal cutoff blade in my Dewalt chop saw. Worked like a charm and only cost about 9 bucks as I recall.

34

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: White Labs San Diego Superyeast!

« on: May 29, 2012, 03:12:10 AM »

The San Diego yeast peaked and appears to have already begun a decline after only three days of fermentation. It reached full krausen and was very active for a couple days.
Meanwhile the S05 went crazy and blew out the airlock. I guess I need to check gravities and see where we're at but I'll be out of town for almost four days and won't have a chance to do so until after that.

35

Pimp My System / Re: New Brewstand being built

« on: May 29, 2012, 03:08:20 AM »

Not a photo effect. The support the third leg support for the MLT is the same length as the uprights at the corners of the shelf, however it's not perfectly vertical because of where I mounted it to the lower cross member for the burner is not directly below the shelf. It is about two or three inches away from where it should be but was convenient to do it this way and it happened to add some degree of pitch to the shelf. I didn't measure the angle but it's pretty minimal and nowhere near enough to cause the MLT to slide off. I thought it might help run off a bit.

My house was built in the late 60's so I have a drain in the floor of my garage. The floor is pitched for drainage and therefore nothing is really level when I'm working around in there anyway. Not a problem!

I brewed on this last weekend and it worked great. The pump shield protected the pump, and I can fit a five gallon bucket under the pump to catch liquids if I want. None of the paint burned, but it became warm enough I could smell it a bit. No blistering or anything otherwise.

I need to add a few hooks for the hoses but don't plan to do much else in the near future to the stand. I might add some cross supports to reduce rocking a bit. I brewed ten gallons and everything was fine but there may be a need to reduce "rocking" a bit when working with a full kettle.

Thanks for all feedback, tips and questions!

36

Ingredients / Re: Decarbonation by Boiling

« on: May 28, 2012, 06:03:52 AM »

My water is very hard and I tried this last brewing session. Nothing precipitated and I ended up using the water as-is. A bit of a waste of time and propane I guess. I added Gypsum initially too, but nothing.

Good thing I was brewing IPA.

37

Ingredients / Re: Rhizomes?

« on: May 28, 2012, 06:02:15 AM »

My mom weed whipped one my plants. Will it send out another shoot?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Once established, you can use a weed whip to keep them out of your yard! I guess I've let mine go a bit.
This is their 5th year and they're taking over. This was two Centennial rhizomes on either side of the trellis and one Cascade behind it. Now it's one mass and by the end of the summer, you'll hardly see any of the trellis

I tried cutting back the initial growth this spring but it really was pointless.
I'll need to do some digging after these are done this fall.

38

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Pitching dry yeast without rehydrating

« on: May 25, 2012, 08:37:13 AM »

Yeah true, although what I meant was follow the rehydration procedure from the manufacturer but.....
Even dry lager yeast says sprinkle on top of the wort. I wouldn't do that but then again, I'm a rehydrator.
Nothing against those who don't. Do what you prefer and roll with it. If you're not sure, try both and decide.
Lots of folks have kicked this dead horse already here.
My leg is tired and my foot stinks so I'm done.

39

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Pitching dry yeast without rehydrating

« on: May 25, 2012, 05:34:45 AM »

So, I'm trying to draw Mr. Denny Conn out here.  Have you noticed any thing different (off flavors, etc...) just pitching the dry yeast pack without rehydrating?  Anything over 1.060 I just pitch two packs, but is the rumor true that if you pitch dry yeast, without rehydrating,  it kills half the cells instantly?  This doesn't really make any sense to me, as I usually rehydrate in around 85 degree water.  Wouldn't that kill some cells too?  Why does it make a difference when you pitch into wort, is it because of the sugar content, like it's such a shock to the yeast?  Just need a little food for thought.

My experience has been that straight into the carboy is fine with lower gravity worts and one packet. If the OG warrants anything more than that, pitching two packets dried consistently gives me off flavors so I don't do it anymore.

I rehydrate. Always.
No off flavors ever, save for my recent experience with adding go-ferm to the rehydration water which I do not recommend.

Pitching dry straight into the wort forces the yeast cells to rehydrate with wort, which has hops compounds and substances that invade the cell and kill it. Many more cells die than by using straight water. My theory is pitching two packets adds more dead cells which are what contribute to the off flavors, not to mention any resulting underpitch as a result, which also adds off flavors.

Warm water is better for them. Follow the recommendations from the yeast manufacturer and I think you'll be happiest with results.

40

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: White Labs San Diego Superyeast!

« on: May 25, 2012, 05:24:33 AM »

Be careful when you open it. I used it a few months ago and it exploded all over me and I barely got any into the wort. This was before I did yeast starters.

OK so many of the White Labs vials have been a hassle to open without spraying everywhere and it's always a challenge to do it without making a mess. I am familiar with that procedure.

You may already do this, if so apologies.

If you crack the seal and let the air escape before you let it warm up and shake it, no more geysers. Worked like a charm for me.

Just did that five minutes ago. The liquid is fully carbonated like a beer. I let them rest with the caps barely loosened for a minute and they started ejecting the liquid and foaming! They were fresh from the refrigerator and under 40 degrees. I've sealed them again and I'm waiting for them to hit room temp before making the starter.

Thanks for the tip. I believe this will help tremendously.

Ok....it did help a LOT. I had to repeatedly vent them. Probably did it every 20 minutes until the starter was done, chilled, and ready to go. Then took a few more vents after shaking and finally no mess!

Such a simple stupid practice but helps so much.

Thanks again

Steve

41

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: White Labs San Diego Superyeast!

« on: May 23, 2012, 05:10:28 PM »

OK so many of the White Labs vials have been a hassle to open without spraying everywhere and it's always a challenge to do it without making a mess. I am familiar with that procedure. My experience has been if it doesn't want to spray, the yeast is probably not at it's optimum. Every batch I ever made with their yeast where the vial didn't give me a nice blast of CO2 while opening it was a slow ferment or was so bad it didn't fully ferment. Checking dates is a good idea I guess.

Starters....thought about making one. Was trying to decide what to do since I have S05 packets and two vials of this White Labs and I'm brewing ten gallons.

• I either need to make two starters using the white labs, or use both vials in one batch and use rehydrated S05 in the other as a comparison for flavor etc. That might be interesting.
• Or make a starter with one vial, pitch it with the other vial straight away into one batch, and use S05 in the other batch again for comparison.
• Or mix the two yeasts! Put a vial and a rehydrated packet of S05 in each batch.

Just checked and the vials are both dated for Jul 11th 2012.....definitely need to make starters with them.

Looking to brew a mid 60's OG IPA which warrants a bit more pitch than one packet or vial per batch particularly if this stuff is getting a bit old, which has tripped me up in the past.

Hmmmm.........

42

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Temperature controlled fermentation in a Blichmann conical fermenter...

« on: May 23, 2012, 01:36:02 PM »

My brother in-law uses a stainless conical and I think the plan is to build what amounts to an insulated closet with a window mount AC unit in one of the walls. For now he's free air fermenting and it's getting warmer out!

You would also be able to condition beers in kegs in a small room like this, and put glass carboys on the floor too. Cheap to build and a good solution assuming you have the room.

A recirculation system would require sanitizing the coils and you would need to make them removable. You would need to modify the lid and build the glycol system and insulate the conical too.

Would seem easier to me and my skills to go with the fermentation chamber personally.

43

Yeast and Fermentation / White Labs San Diego Superyeast!

« on: May 23, 2012, 01:27:12 PM »

So a brew buddy of mine has used this yeast a few times and I've liked the beers he's brewed with it. I use S05 quite a bit and I've decided to ditch the dry and give this liquid yeast a shot in an IPA.

Other than the temp requirements and pitching, anybody have feedback for me on this yeast? Like it not like it and why? Seemed pretty clean and neutral to me when I tasted it.

My friend says it ferments like crazy and blows out the solution in the airlock on his bigger beers. I've not used much from White Labs other than the usual 001, and some Belgian strains in the past. I'm talking 5 years ago.

TIA

Steve

44

Ingredients / Re: Rhizomes?

« on: May 22, 2012, 01:06:30 PM »

I just ordered a lot of Chinook rhizomes from bcrosbyhops.com

I had two rhizomes a couple weeks ago ordered from Freshops and they grew for a bit, then died. Not sure but I think I failed to plant them deep enough and then added too much fertilizer. I tried to revive them but they are toast.

Freshops is out of Chinook so I found an alternate source in bcrosbyhops.com

These Chinook will be going into 7gal pots - plenty of room for them to grow for two seasons before transplanting them.

I should upload shots of my 5 year old mess of Cascade and Centennials. An illustration of what happens if you never prune your hops and let them grow for this many years.

45

Ingredients / Re: Gambrinus Honey Malt

« on: May 22, 2012, 10:35:07 AM »

I love honey malt, and I am pretty sure you will love it, too.
It gives an intense malt sweetness with hint of honey-like flavor, yet lacks caramel's sharp bite (no roast or astringency). 
It also gives a smoother, honey-like texture to the body of the beer.

And, yes, it is OK to use a little in an IPA recipe--my recommendation is to keep it around 1%.
4% should be fine, but probably not more than that. 
IPA's are typically dry, so some purists might argue that it doesn't belong in an IPA.
Are you brewing for BJCP comps, or for your enjoyment?

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=&t=18751

Honey Malt (Gambrinus, BC, Canada) = Bruhmalz (Weissheimer, Germany) = Melanoiden Malt (Weyermann, Germany)

Excellent info - thank you!
Love this forum.

Brewing purely for my enjoyment and will follow your suggestion at 1%.
Didn't know Melanoiden was essentially the same thing. I just brewed a Helles and added some to that, but misread the quantity and put in nearly 5%! It's pretty drinkable anyway, but not what I was going for obviously.

Last night as an experiment, I tried making a small batch of wort with Honey malt in a pyrex so I could taste it. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it but it gave me the taste test I was after.

I'll cut my crystal addition in this IPA recipe a bit to compensate too.

Thanks again!