Messages

76

All Grain Brewing / Re: Mash Tun: Temperature Uniformity

« on: March 08, 2013, 08:12:05 PM »

Blue coolers spawn their own 152 degree mash water

77

Beer Travel / Columbus

« on: March 07, 2013, 06:04:24 PM »

I am traveling a few hours to Columbus, OH Sunday (3/10) for the week for work. I'm originally from West Virginia, so I've only recently been to Columbus once. I'm scouting out places to eat...and drink, and I'm thinking about going to the Columbus Brewing Co. Restaurant. I have had their IPA and Christmas beer and both are exceptional beers. I am anxious to try their BODHI DIPA and SOHIO Stout. Has anybody tried either of these beers? Or eaten at this place? If so, any reviews would be nice.

Any other recommendations on eateries/drinkeries :-) would be nice. I know Columbus has a handful of craft/micro breweries.

Thanks!

78

All Grain Brewing / Re: Trub removal

« on: March 07, 2013, 05:19:51 PM »

How do you prevent oxidation?

You know, I originally thought that oxidation could possibly be an issue, but it really doesn't pour much differently, if at all, than straight out of the siphon tube. I've filtered out of the kettle twice now on brews, and three times into the bottling bucket. I have had no ill-effects from filtering into the bottling bucket. Until I do, I am going to continue using this method.

79

All Grain Brewing / Re: Batch Sparging: Dilution

« on: March 07, 2013, 04:45:18 PM »

Yeah, what these guys are saying lol.

I use this batch sparge calculator. It works wonders for me. I do use 1.5 quarts per pound, and disperse the infusion volume they give me over the mash and sparge water. I try and keep my numbers close to quarter gallon increments....

http://onebeer.net/batchspargecalc.shtml

....and as per Denny's advise, boosted my sparge water temperature

80

All Grain Brewing / Re: Trub removal

« on: March 07, 2013, 04:36:46 PM »

I feel like a broken record, but I feel the need to add my 10 cents again lol. I've recently started pitching my hop pellets directly into boil. I now siphon my wort through a sanitized knee high lady's hose that is zip tied to my tube into a bucket. This collects just about all of the trub. I then dump my bucket of wort into my carboy through a funnel with a screen (which minimal even gets to this point). If I dry hop, I do the same thing with the knee high into the bottling bucket. The first beer I did this with was a Pliny the Elder clone...which you know has a pile of hops in it. I just poured one, and it is crystal clear! I also was able to harvest a nice clean looking yeast off this batch. You can get two knee highs in a container for 17 cents at Wal-Mart!

81

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Best Beers in America: Rock the Vote!

« on: March 07, 2013, 04:21:56 PM »

I'm pretty sure that I voted Founder's Breakfast Stout for my number 1....That's coming from a hop head lol. It was tough to vote for a top 20, because there are so many great beers out there!

82

Hop Growing / Re: Hop trellis options and a few other questions

« on: March 05, 2013, 07:58:00 PM »

Yeah, I learned the hard way too. I made a list and shopped for them with no luck. Then found out they there are several popular hops that are privately owned. I'm new to growing hops too. Last year was the first year. I started them with a tomato plant cone and then up a rope. I have been brainstorming a trellis too. But since most of my hops are new, I may go with just ropes again this year. We started by using well water to water them. Our well water is high in alkalinity, which we find out that you don't want that for hops plants. It also counteracts the fertilizer. So, we started catching rain water and using it to water with. We also fertilized with acidic Miracle Grow. The plants started to grow much better once we figured that out. We also mounded our dirt to plant them in. One thing that we are going to do differently this year is to work in some composted manure into our soil before planting. I have two centennial plants and a US Gold in the ground. I ordered Cascade, Mt. Hood, Magnum, Willamette, Zeus, Chinook, Nugget, and Perle from the Thyme Garden....all but one or two of them are rooted. Again, I don't know how good their product is, but it seems pretty legit.

83

Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Great Lakes Alchemy Hour DIPA

« on: March 05, 2013, 07:31:11 PM »

I tried Alchemy for the first time last Friday and I really liked it.  They use Mosaic hops and it has a wonderful tropical fruit flavor and aroma.  I think I like Mosaic better than Citra now.  A guy from my club didn't like it and said it was just too much and couldn't finish the sample.  I just like a different flavor from IPA's every once in awhile instead of the same "C" hops.

A buddy I work with said that he wasn't a fan. He said it tasted peppery to him. I can see it in the earthiness that I get, but I didn't get a strong spice flavor. I did think the aroma and taste were way different. Like I said, very tropical/citrousy (I get strong orange) aroma, and a very earthy taste.

84

Hop Growing / Re: Hop trellis options and a few other questions

« on: March 05, 2013, 07:25:05 PM »

Unfortuntely, I don't think that you'll be able to get your hands on any Amarillo. It is a proprietary hops. Others would be Simcoe and Citra. There are a handful that aren't available to the public. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, and then tell me where to purchase rhyzomes for these beauties  . I did pre-order rooted hops rhyzomes from the Thyme Garden way back in October. They should be shipped within the next couple of weeks. They seem like they would be a solid option and had great customer service when I was seeking information. I ordered 6 or 8 centennial rhyzomes last year from Midwest Supplies and only had two grow. The two grew nicely and one yeilded an ounce or two of hops. Not much to brew with, but they garnished beers nicely lol. But here is the link to the Thyme Garden....

http://www.thymegarden.com/site/561124/search/site?keys=hops

85

Beer Recipes / Re: Red IPA

« on: March 05, 2013, 06:43:30 PM »

I just finished up racking this beauty onto 1 1/2 oz of Simcoe and 1 1/2 oz of Amarillo. The suspense is killing me!

86

Ingredients / Re: Commercial examples of hops

« on: March 04, 2013, 04:50:20 PM »

I've also found that if you find a beer you like and search it on the web or brewery's site, many will list a general grain bill as well as hops used

Unless you try to email Lagunitas when you fall in love with DayTime... my emails fell into a black hole out in Petaluma. 

Had the Same experience with 5 Rabbits here in Chicago, asked some basic questions regarding their 5 vultures chipotle spices beer and never got a reply, not even a thanks for raving about the beer! Shame......

I recently contacted Bell's about their Java Stout. I was more than pleased with their response. I consider Bell's to be my favorite brewery....They extended that gap because of their response. I posted their response in this thread....
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14762.0

87

All Grain Brewing / Re: MY First All Grain Experience(Long)

« on: March 03, 2013, 10:11:44 AM »

Everything could have been avoided if you bought a blue cooler instead of red.......

Welcome to all grain! 

Dave

Yes, and blue coolers are awesome! It's proven that they maintain heat better and prevent stuck sparges from occurring!

88

All Grain Brewing / Re: MY First All Grain Experience(Long)

« on: March 03, 2013, 10:08:46 AM »

I've had the debate about using a hop spider on the forum not too long ago. I used one...now I don't lol. I do like the idea of the strainer over the bucket shown above. I currently attach a sanitized knee high leg stalking to my hose with a zip tie. I run my wort into a bucket first. The hose catches mostly everything. I then dump by bucket through a funnel with a screen into my carboy. By this point, there is very little debris on the screen. This also gives the wort some nice aeration. Anyways, here's the thread where this was debated quite extensively.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14289.0

Welcome to all grain! Fortunetely for me, my transition was smoother, but if I was still brewing extract beers, I probably wouldn't be brewing anymore. The beer is better, and you brew more authenic beers.

89

Commercial Beer Reviews / Great Lakes Alchemy Hour DIPA

« on: March 02, 2013, 05:46:18 PM »

I don't remember this seasonal last year, so I'm guessin that it is new this year? Anyways, it is a great change of pace DIPA. It pours a nice amber color and has the nice amber malt taste and smoothness. The blend of nugget and mosaic hops gives it the nice change of pace. I feel that the aroma is very orangy, but the bitterness and taste if very earthy. It's not piny or fruity....kinda a smooth earthyness. The 9.4% ABV is very well disguised. I won't say that it is my favorite DIPA, but it is certainly a great change of pace. This DIPA might appeal to people who aren't fans of the traditional smack you in the face DIPA's that are out there.

90

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

« on: March 01, 2013, 06:09:35 PM »

No brewing this weekend....If fermentation slows, I will be racking my Red IPA and harvesting the WYeast American Ale II from it.