Messages

76

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whirlfloc and Fluffy Trub

« on: March 19, 2013, 09:21:32 AM »

I wonder if it is an interaction between a particular recipe and Whirlfloc.  The reason I say this is I do not recall  experiencing this until my most recent brew - and I always use whirlfloc.  It should be said that I have only done 9-10 brews since starting last Fall.  The recent brew where it showed up was a Zombie Dust clone.

The unique features for this brew were: lots of Citra hops (10 oz.), and Cara-Pils grain.  Honestly it looked to me like hop sludge.  I always use a hop-sack, which retains most of the hop material.  But maybe Citra hops have a higher percentage of really small particles that excape the hop-sack?

What do you more experienced brewers think of this idea?  Is it possible that the massive fluffy trub is due to a particular recipe ingredient?

77

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Second beer, tastes like slightly flavored water

« on: March 17, 2013, 05:29:41 AM »

Give it a bit of time.  I recently brewed a Saison that I had the same impression of, but two weeks later it tasted good.  I would also ask what temperature you are drinking the beer at.  If it is straight out of the fridge cold, that could be shutting down a lot of flavor.

78

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 3/15 Edition

« on: March 16, 2013, 05:28:45 PM »

Just brewed a Zombie Dust clone, except I added a couple ounces of Mosaic hops in the hop-stand.  I also just kegged a Cream Ale, so it is now cold-conditioning.

79

Ingredients / Belma Saison follow-up

« on: March 16, 2013, 02:18:47 PM »

I recently brewed a Saison using Belma hops exclusively.  My goal was to test Belma hops in a beer that I thought would complement them nicely.  Here is the recipe for 5 gallons:

3.5 lbs Belgian 2 row
3 lbs Belgian Wheat malt
.5 lb. Munich
.25 oz. Caramunich (56 SRM)
.75 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey
1 oz. Belma in the mash
.25 oz. Belma 60 min.
.25 oz. Belma 10 min.
1 oz. Belma 5 min.
1 oz. Belma hopstand for ~10 min.
No dry hopping
Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast

This resulted in, according to BeerSmith:
5.4% ABV
24 IBU
5.4 SRM

This is my first attempt at brewing a Saison, and I have little experience drinking them too, so I am mainly going off of the BJCP style guidelines for evaluation. 

The beer turned out good, but there is very little Belma flavor discernable.  Next time I would seriously increase the hop additions (while eliminating the mash addition).  So given that this was an experiment to test Belma hops the one thing I learned is that they are very light in flavor - which I had heard - but since I was brewing a Saison, I figured it would show through... but no.

I would also ferment a little warmer, as I got very little of the phenolic character from the yeast that I was hoping for.  I fermented at 66*, then ramped up to 73* as I saw primary fermentation ending.  I think I'd ferment at 69* next time.

So not a waste.  It still is a pleasant, maybe even a good, light-tasting beer.  Perhaps a good gateway homebrew for BMC drinkers.

80

Ingredients / Re: Hop to complement Citra?

« on: March 14, 2013, 07:15:11 AM »

Isn't Zombie Dust all Citra?

Amarillo would be a good companion.

Yes, that is my understanding.  I obviously can't help myself; I have to tweak every recipe in the search for sublimity.

81

Kegging and Bottling / Re: keg noob: purge the air from the top of the keg

« on: March 14, 2013, 07:11:20 AM »

I don't know if my practice makes a difference or not, but I always wait a couple of minutes between purges.  Here's why:  CO2 is heavier than air, so it should sink and air should rise, but I assume that it takes a couple of minutes for this to occur.  My thinking is that one *should* get more air out if it is sitting high (by the exhaust valve).

82

Ingredients / Hop to complement Citra?

« on: March 13, 2013, 08:32:55 AM »

My next brew is going to be a Zombie Dust clone (even though I have never tasted the original).  But I love Citra hops so...

Anyway, one of the things I am considering is to add one other hop variety at flameout to round out/complement the flavor of the Citra.  So what variety would you recommend?

83

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: First time Homebrewer

« on: March 13, 2013, 08:27:40 AM »

Everyone has given great advice.  I'd just add one thing: look up your local homebrew club and see if someone can hang out with you while you brew, or see if you can watch one of them brew.  They'll be able to answer a ton of questions and help you get organized, avoid issues, etc.

84

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: fermentation issues

« on: March 07, 2013, 10:41:47 PM »

Do you do a starter for your yeast?

85

Ingredients / Re: My Recent Experience with Citra

« on: March 06, 2013, 05:10:38 PM »

I have yet to taste an IPA with too much Citra in it, as long as it minimized the bittering/60 minute additions and focused on the flavor/aroma additions.  I can't get enough of those tropical fruit flavors.  Yes, I will readily accede to my taste being out of the mainstream 

On the last IPA I brewed I used a half-pound of Citra (as well as 4 ounces of Zythos) in a 5 gal. Batch,  and it still wasn't enough.

I am a sucker for any big, multilayered flavor profile - food or drink.  Sake is not for me!

86

Ingredients / Lipohop c-plus

« on: March 02, 2013, 10:51:38 AM »

One of the things that have stuck in my head from last August's Hops Academy put on by the Haas company, was a hop-derived product called Lipohop c-plus.  It is a completely natural extract from hops that provide foam control similar (I assume) to the silicone based products.  I looked into it as I don't like the idea of silicone in my beer, but they only sell it in 10 kg containers.  Their info here: http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/johbarth/images/pdfs/Lipohop_en.pdf

Fast forward to this week.  I mentioned this to a couple of great guys opening a LHBS here in Yakima.  They emailed me saying they were going to get this from Haas and sell it in homebrewer sized doses (~3 grams per 5 gal.).  I'll keep you posted regarding availablility and my experiments with it.

FYI, here is their website, though nothing is there about this yet.  http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/default.asp

87

All Grain Brewing / Re: Water Chemistry

« on: March 02, 2013, 10:34:57 AM »

High calcium is generally not a detriment to beer flavor.  It has little flavor impact.  However, the high calcium can drive the RA of the water down.  If you start with RO or distilled water, it could be possible to need some alkalinity in the water to help avoid an excessive mash pH drop.

Martin, How is this best accomplished?  It has been a while since I even considered RA, as I found myself chasing my tail: add salts to increase RA, add salts to decrease pH, repeat.

I use 100% RO water, and frequently my RA is very low.  For example I brewed a Baltic Porter where the RA was -71.  Pretty low for a very dark beer (fortunately it tastes great!).  I have been just targeting Palmer's recommended ranges while maintaining a good mash pH, but would love to get my head around the concept of RA as it relates to RO water.

BTW, thanks for your comments on this thread.  I have copied and pasted them to a Word Doc so I can reference them later.

88

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What is your favorite music to listen to while homebrewing?

« on: March 01, 2013, 08:18:31 PM »

Contemporary jazz, or classic rock.  I can't listen to books or podcasts while focusing on getting my brewday right

89

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 3/2 Edition

« on: February 28, 2013, 03:39:57 PM »

If I have time after bottling five gallons of Baltic Porter, and maybe five of a Milk Stout, I'll brew a Cream Ale.  I have all day, so...

90

Ingredients / Today's question...

« on: February 28, 2013, 03:29:16 PM »

Boy it seems the questions never end.  Everyday I have more.  So I am glad you all are here!

Tomorrow I am going to do two things I haven't done before.  Add cold-extracted coffee to my milk stout, and bottle a Baltic Porter.

For adding coffee:  The primary fermentation is done including a diacetyl rest.  I intend to put the coffee in the keg, and then transfer from the carboy onto the coffee.  Should I put it in the house at 70* so the yeast can handle the oxygen introduced via the coffee, or go straight to cold conditioning at ~34*?  OR, should I just go straight to cold conditioning, and wait til I'm ready to bottle it and add the coffee and priming sugar at the same time?  OR, add the coffee and priming sugar tomorrow, bring the bottles inside to 70*, then after a couple of weeks cold condition then in the bottle?

On bottling the  Baltic Porter (fermented with lager yeast):  I have never bottled, I have only kegged.  This beer has been lagering at ~34* for 6+ weeks in the keg.  Do I need to add yeast with the priming sugar?  If so, how much and what kind?

Whew!