Topics

1

Hop Growing / Hop trellis options and a few other questions

« on: March 05, 2013, 06:05:44 PM »

So this Spring is coming up quite quickly, and I have been rummaging the internet for places to order plants or rhizomes for a hop trellis, which is in the drawing stage as of now. I only plan on growing four types of hops, probably all around American; Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, and Willamette. I have my reasons.. Well, anyway, I would like to know:

1. Where is a good website to purchase hops? (I purchased a Centennial plant from High Hops in Colorado last year, which grew beautifully by the way) which brings me to number 2..
2. Plant or rhizome? What have you had best luck with?
3. My yard sees plenty of sun, and living in suburban Chicago that's pretty lucky. Would it be best to do 8 feet up coir yarn, and then 8 feet horizontal with coir yarn to my garage, or just straight up pole with coir coming down from the "T"-eed top? I'm looking for ease of harvest over any reason, which makes me think option 2 might be tough.

Any insight on any of these question would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jonathan

2

General Homebrew Discussion / How long is too long?

« on: November 27, 2012, 12:11:13 PM »

I brewed a 5 gallon batch of an Imperial Pale Ale about 13 weeks ago from a Brewers Best kit, my third batch ever. It said about 4 weeks is good in the carboy to ferment, but since the beginning of this semester, I've been unable to find the time to bottle it (Organic Chemistry...). Simple yes or no question really, is it still worth my while to go ahead and bottle it? Has it spoiled? Thanks all.

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Just wondering

« on: August 25, 2012, 07:57:30 PM »

Alright,
So I decided to brew my second batch and had a few complications along the way.  I'm using a 8 gallon brew pot and filled it up to the 5 gallon mark(figuring after adding LME, hops, etc. a little would boil out, enough to come to 5 gallons in the end).  Well, my wort chiller connection broke and after I finally figure out that I only had about a pound of ice, I ran to the store to get some more. After an hour and a half of my beer sitting around (including time chilling in a sink of ice and water), there was about 4 1/2 gallons of the chilled wort, about 70 degrees F. I added a little bit of cold water, and I then proceeded to take the OG. 1.032. About .012 from what I was shooting for.
Just wondering if possibly, after adding the extra water to the wort in the fermentor, if the OG could be off because I pulled from the watered down wort? I'm going to try and ferment at around 68 degrees in a bin of water, that I will be doing the old "frozen water bottle switch-aroo."
Thanks, I would greatly appreciate advice on bettering my homebrewing.   

4

Yeast and Fermentation / First timer here

« on: August 13, 2012, 07:09:29 AM »

I brewed my first from a kit, Brewers Best, and it's the English Brown Ale. Followed all directions and it is sitting in a glass carboy in my basement as I type. Although all the krauesen is gone, it looked very healthy for the first 48 and now it is all gone. Just wondering if that's okay, I'm about 60 hours into it, and also wondering would 72 hours be a good time to transfer into secondary? Thanks everybody, as I said I am new and just thought I'd ask.