Messages

61

The Pub / Re: automatic tip

« on: April 14, 2013, 11:24:56 am »

In some (I think most, maybe all) states the mandatory gratuity for large parties does not have to be tipped out to the waitstaff. The restaurant can pocket the money and if you don't tip on top of it then the waiter doesn't get any tip for serving the large party. It basically comes down to the language used in the notice of the mandatory gratuity and how much of an ass the restaurant owner is.

62

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Slow Fermentation

« on: April 13, 2013, 08:12:44 am »

If you pitched the whole pouch of liquid yeast in a one gallon batch then you definitely pitched more than enough yeast and the bulk of fermentation occurred within a few hours. Those pouches are designed to be pitched into a larger batch of beer and/or used in conjunction with a starter.

The great news for you is that you're going to have a gallon of great beer ready in a few weeks and that gallon batch has a great amount of fresh yeast that you can repitch in a larger batch.

63

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: New Hop yard...any advice?

« on: April 13, 2013, 08:09:26 am »

I'd be careful about watering them daily if they are new plants. Since they don't have much growth above or below the surface if they are overwatered there's nowhere for the excess moisture to go but sit around the rhizome. However that doesn't mean you necessarily are overwatering them by watering daily. If there is good drainage then daily may well be the appropriate frequency.

64

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: A few ideas for better beer.

« on: April 11, 2013, 09:36:03 pm »

I definitely agree that temperature control during fermentation will have the biggest improvement on your beer. I tried to do the water tub/swamp cooler method but just couldn't get it to work well here (Dallas). I broke down and bought a fridge plus a temperature controller. Easily the best thing I ever did to improve beer quality. Sure, it's romantic to think about brewing with the seasons and all but there's a reason why there isn't a lot of brewing history at this latitude. It's not well done. Even in the summer in my house those beers were lucky to get into the low 70s during the day. I generally let my sours go at ambient and put my saisons out in the garage for super-hot fermentations (upper 80s) but anything else gets a cooler, controlled fermentation.

Generally though I think every part of the brewing process can benefit from some improved technique so whatever you can work to improve now will help your beers improve. If you can't buy a fermentation chamber you can work on improving your mash technique, water treatment, aeration, etc. Then come around to other parts of brewing as you can.

65

All Things Food / Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread

« on: April 11, 2013, 09:19:04 pm »

The weeds are definitely the winning grower in my yard. I chopped down some weeds that were close to three feet tall.

In the actual garden I have a lone jalapeno that has flowered and started growing. The squash and one tomato plant have some blooms. Planted two nugget rhizomes last week, already have several inches of bine. My sterling is taking its time growing but mt. hood has about ten six inch bines. Planted two cascade rhizomes today so I am hopeful I'll see bines in a week or two.

66

Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Bruery Saison de Lente

« on: April 11, 2013, 08:27:37 am »

We don't get Bruery here in Texas but I found Saison de Lente in Colorado a little while ago. I agree, it is a very well made saison with a very straightforward flavor. I really like the yeast character in a saison and sometimes it's hard to find a good saison here that isn't bowled over with hops or spices.

67

Ingredients / Re: Tart cherry juice concentrate

« on: April 11, 2013, 08:24:40 am »

What flavors do you find the ground cherry pits adds?

68

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Honey - add in boil or at flame out?

« on: April 11, 2013, 08:18:14 am »

I agree that you should use a higher quality honey than the cheap clover honey you get at the grocery store. The generic clover honey is intended to produce a consistent and mild-flavored honey. It's like the BMC of honey.  Your local grocery store probably sells a local honey and if they don't a local health store should. Some HBS stores sell different honey variants.

As far as adding it I don't add honey any earlier than knockout but adding it as primary fermentation is winding down is the best way to avoid losing the aroma.

69

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lagering in corny kegs

« on: April 11, 2013, 08:11:21 am »

I haven't but I would. You could probably use the same keg for lagering and then put it on tap.

70

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: When/how to add Brett as a secondary yeast?

« on: April 10, 2013, 08:01:38 am »

If you want more brett character you don't want to use a starter. Like other expressive yeast, the more stressful the initial conditions the more flavor compounds it will produce, although brett will make flavor compounds for months/years to come.

You can just pitch brett when you add the biere de garde wort on the yeast cake. It's not going to consume much of the sugar ahead of 3711 but there's no reason to delay pitching it. Brett takes a longer period of time to develop critical mass than sacc strains.

71

All Grain Brewing / Re: stuck fermentation

« on: April 09, 2013, 09:34:13 am »

I'm also thinking the problem here is not a stuck fermentation but that you have too much starch in the beer.

72

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: My "house" bug is taking over! Sanitation help needed

« on: April 09, 2013, 09:32:16 am »

Are you using "clean" yeast that you've washed several times? That was a source of chronic infection in my clean beers a couple years ago. It's highly probable one batch of beer was infected and the washed yeast has spread the opportunities for contamination.

After I had that run of infections I went through and gave everything a long oxyclean soak. I started off with a week long soak of everything in a very strong oxyclean solution. Oxyclean is very good about breaking down organic material so if something has found a home in your equipment and covered itself with a biofilm that's protecting it from a sanitizer the oxyclean will break it down. Then I soaked everything in a highly concentrated star-san soak for another week. That worked for me. I have my clean beers next to several gallons of sour beers and no infections since. If star-san isn't getting anywhere I'd probably look at PBW or bleach for a second or third soak.

73

Going Pro / Re: Starting a brewery

« on: April 09, 2013, 09:15:04 am »

I would be concerned that not only does he not know anything about beer but that he knows nothing about running a restaurant and nothing about running a business in general.

That was my first thought.

Mine too!  There are certainly a lot of things that can go wrong with this....very wrong!  Actually, when he told me that he would allow me 50% ownership, that raised a red flag.  If it were my business, I would want to own 100% and simply hire the people to handle the areas I don't know (i.e. food prep, management, brewing, etc...), so I'm kinda curious as to why he would want me to own 50%.  Maybe he just wants to make sure I stay - again, kinda weird since he doesn't know me.  I'm sure I'll find out in due time...but I'm not making any commitments until I'm sure of it.
On the liability front, I have been under the impression that an LLC will offer at least some protection to your personal assets?  At any rate, I'm not going to borrow any money for this venture, so I'll be sure to think twice before taking any offers of ownership.

Definitely strange to give up half ownership unless he plans on you contributing a substantial portion of start up costs. It's too much equity to give up to retain an employee, even if you were the greatest brewer on earth. I think it's even too much equity to give up to make you take on management of the brewing side of the business without pay if he's financing the start up (although that is probably not an advantageous position for you, anyway).

An LLC will limit your liability to the extent of your equity in the company for claims against the LLC on contracts and tort liability (personal injury) of other members of the LLC. It provides no liability for your own tort liability. It's easy to get yourself outside of the protections of the LLC in a start up. If you sign on to any contracts, such as contracts for brewing ingredients, as an individual or before the LLC is legally formed you will likely be personally liable on that contract. If he goes to get financing for the LLC many banks will want the members to personally guarantee the loans which eliminates the liability protections and puts your personal assets on the line for those debts.

74

Going Pro / Re: Starting a brewery

« on: April 09, 2013, 09:03:02 am »

There's no actual ruling that one is judgment proof, the facts of life make somebody judgment proof. You could still get judgment against the partner but there's nothing to execute judgment against to sell or lien to satisfy judgment. If the partner has personal assets out there he will most likely declare bankruptcy to limit your ability to recover.

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up. I'd trust RAM on that one. You're in law school, right?

Graduated and halfway through the two month wait to see if I passed the bar. I don't know which is worse, the three day bar exam or the two month wait to find the results.

75

Going Pro / Re: Starting a brewery

« on: April 08, 2013, 02:40:32 pm »

I'm wondering if 50% ownership comes with 50% responsibility for the debt he will accrue.

Actually, depending on how the business is set up, you could be liable for 100% of the debt. In a traditional partnership or limited partnership, the partners or general partners, respectively, are jointly and severably responsible for the entire amount of debt. If your partner is a deadbeat, your business creditors will come after your assets, and it's up to you to sue your deadbeat partner to recover your losses. If he's enough of a deadbeat, a judge could rule him "judgment proof" meaning you'll never get anything back from him.

There's no actual ruling that one is judgment proof, the facts of life make somebody judgment proof. You could still get judgment against the partner but there's nothing to execute judgment against to sell or lien to satisfy judgment. If the partner has personal assets out there he will most likely declare bankruptcy to limit your ability to recover.

If your state allows you to form an LLP or LLLP, that'd be a much better way to go. Make sure you're aware of the applicable laws in your state regarding liability in those situations.

You can rarely ever have too many L's in your business entity.