Topics

16

Ingredients / Liquid Sugar in the Raw

« on: May 10, 2012, 04:56:13 PM »

Has anyone used Liquid Sugar in the Raw in a beer?
I saw it in the grocery store and and wondered if it was invert sugar.
I emailed the company and they said it was inverted.
I've made invert sugar and it was kind of pain, so I thought stuff this might work?

17

All Grain Brewing / All grain partial boil and IBU's

« on: April 08, 2012, 07:44:50 AM »

I am starting to think about what to brew at our clubs Big Brew Day.
Last year with so many people brewing, trying to chill was a challenge with the lack of water pressure for my chiller.
I was considering doing a partial boil and topping off with cold water.
I can figure out for example how many ibu's I'd get with a one hour boil for a final volume of 3 gallons @ 1.080
Then top off with 3 gallons of cold water to get six gallons @ 1.040.
If I calc the ibu's of the 3 gallons at 80 does that mean the ibu after the top off water is 40?

18

Kegging and Bottling / Can I add geletin to a carbed keg?

« on: March 26, 2012, 03:29:30 AM »

That's the question:
Can I add gelatin to a carbed keg?
Has anyone done this?
Thanks,
Dan

19

Kegging and Bottling / think about a beer engine build, and have a few questions

« on: February 29, 2012, 01:35:09 PM »

I have an apartment size fridge 58" tall.
If I built one of these http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/349-build-a-beer-engine-projects
and mounted it on top of the fridge, running the beer line from a corny keg in the refrigerator, through the freezer. Would it work? Is that too far to pump the beer?
In the linked article it says to lay the keg on it's side and serve through the gas post, I thought that was only if you wanted to serve using gravity? Or do need the gravity pressure to get the pump to work?

20

Ingredients / trying to get a handle on water chemistry.

« on: February 09, 2012, 04:51:53 PM »

I called my local MUA to try and get a run down on my water, they were very helpful.
He gave me this link: https://www11.state.nj.us/DEP_WaterWatch_public/JSP/SampleResults.jsp?tinwsys=48&tsasampl=849144


The water spreadsheets that I have been looking at ask for Mg and Ca.
I asked MUA guy about the Mg and Ca, and he said "that's hardness 80 to 90"
I thought hardness was from calcium carbonate? Do the 80 to 90 ppm's of seem correct?
Any other tips or pointers appreciated.

21

Ingredients / Continental Pale Malt?

« on: January 29, 2012, 08:54:14 AM »

Continental Pale Malt, what is it exactly?
Would I be better off using MarisOtter or good ole american 2 row?
Thanks,
Dan

22

General Homebrew Discussion / Three dry hop additions.

« on: January 12, 2012, 04:26:34 AM »

I brewed this http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/BigBrew08
I am getting ready to do the second dry hop addition which the recipe says to do in a secondary fermenter.
I was thinking of either adding them to the primary, or racking to a keg, dry hopping in the keg , let it sit for a week, removing them and then adding the third keg addition.
Would it matter if I don't rack to secondary and either add the second addition to the primary , or just do the second and third additions in the keg?

23

General Homebrew Discussion / New Jersey bill eliminates permit for home-brewing and winemaking

« on: January 07, 2012, 06:31:57 AM »

http://mobile.lehighvalleylive.com/advlehigh/pm_103066/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=D8jNm61A
 

24

Kegging and Bottling / Quick, quick carbing question?

« on: October 29, 2011, 03:11:38 PM »

I wanted to carb up a keg quickly , so I followed the directions in the latest Zymurgy article on speed brewing. I set the regulator to the correct psi for the temp and carb level. Then rolled it back and forth till I didn't  hear anymore gas going into the keg. This worked well.
My question is after I get it carbed, do I :
Disconnect the gas vent the keg and then set to serving pressure?
Or leave the gas hooked up and release the pressure till the regulator drops to serving pressure?
Or something else.
Thanks
Dan

25

Kegging and Bottling / carbonating temp question?

« on: September 20, 2011, 04:14:21 PM »

If I have a a carboy that is @ ferment temp of 68°f
and I am kegging it and then putting it in the fridge @ 45°f and hooking up the gas
when using a carbonation table do I use the 68° or the 45°?

26

All Grain Brewing / Batch sparge water won't fit?

« on: September 16, 2011, 08:01:22 AM »

I usually divide my total water amount in half, and use half for the sparge and half for the mash. As long as the quarts per lb stay between 1 and 2.
The beer I am planning I would need 4 gallons mash 4 gallons sparge.
With the grain bill I can only fit about 3 gallons of sparge water, and can't up my mash water by a gallon because that won't fit.
Instead of doing 2 sparges @ 2 gallons each, can I add the 3 gallons that will fit and then slowly add the remaining gallon as the mash tun drains? If I do this should I slow down on how quickly I run off the sparge water.
 I am planning on brewing Fred's late hopped amarillo pale ale   http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/AmarilloPaleAleBeerDuJour

27

General Homebrew Discussion / Pumpkin Beer

« on: September 10, 2011, 05:06:24 AM »

My club is doing an informal pumpkin beer comp.
Personally I have no desire to brew one. If you like them that's cool, to each his/her own.
 It's one of those things where I think , why would you want to screw up a perfectly good beer by adding a large orange squash.
Just wanted to see what others think.

28

Beer Recipes / Is this to much crystal malt?

« on: September 03, 2011, 06:32:17 AM »

I am planning on brewing I guess what would be called an Ordinary Bitter.
I looked at few recipes and came up with this.

5.5 gallon batch size
OG 1.037
30 ibu's +/-

6lbs marris otter
1 lb C40
5 oz "sugar in the raw"

1 oz 4.5% ekg @ 60, 15 ibus
.7 oz 4.5% ekg @ 30, 10 ibus
1.4 oz 4.5% ekg @ 10, 5 ibus
.5 oz 4.5% ekg dry hop in keg

The shop I am going to only sells grain in 1 lb and 5 lb bags, so that's why I went with the lb of C40 but I'm thinking it might be too much? It comes out to 13% C40. I was thinking maybe cut it down to 0.5 lb , and adding a 0.5 lb of munich or vienna, Good idea?  Anything else look out of whack?

29

Yeast and Fermentation / Fermanting in fridge w/o temp controller??

« on: August 22, 2011, 03:28:55 PM »

I plan on brewing a beer with WL Cry Havoc yeast.
I usually brew ales, and put the carboy in a cooler with water and do the ice bottle swap routine.
But seeing that I can do a lager with the Cry Havoc yeast. I thought I might give it a try.
I set my keg fridge to the warmest setting and It started out @ 53°f and after 28 hours it's @ 56°f.
If it doesn't get any warmer and stays fairly stable, is there any reason I can't put my carboy in the fridge and ferment a lager?
I realize it won't be super controlled but it would still most likely be more stable then my ice bottle swap method.

30

All Grain Brewing / Another sour mash question water/grain ratio?

« on: May 27, 2011, 06:41:23 AM »

I decided (at least for the moment ) to just mash all the grains in my 5 gallon cooler for 24 hours for the sour mash.
My grain bill is 7.75 lbs and I need a total of 7 gallons water for the mash and the sparge.
Usually I just split my total water volume half for the mash and half for the sparge.
If I do that in this case I use 3.5 gallons of mash water which is 1.8 quarts per lb. which will leave me with about 1.75 gallons of head space in the mash tun. Everything I have read says to fill to the top when sour mashing to minimize exposure to air.
If I used 4.25 gallons of mash water @ 2.2 quarts per lb it would pretty much leave no headspace in the mash tun but then I would only need 2.75 gallons for the sparge which might hurt my efficiency.
So I guess what I am trying to figure out is which is better a thin mash with less sparge water or risk the exposure to oxygen with a thicker mash and equal volumes of mash and sparge water?
Or am I once again way over complicating things.