Messages

301

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: dry hop time and taste?

« on: January 04, 2010, 04:53:09 PM »

Lesson learned
if you use a hop for it's aromatic qualities
you should probably smell them first

I took them out.

302

General Homebrew Discussion / dry hop time and taste?

« on: January 04, 2010, 02:42:40 PM »

I dry hopped in the keg with an ounce of fuggles pellets
It tasted pretty good before the dry hop
I know the hops need to sit in there for at least
a few days. But I had to try a sample the next day.
It tastes pretty awful. Is that kind of a standard thing for
dry hopped beers? I will give it some more time but I am really tempted to
get those hops out of that keg

recipe
8 lbs maris otter
8 oz. crystal 10L
0.5 oz northern brewer 10.6 aa @ 60 min
2 oz kent goldings 4.5% aa @ 30 min
1.5 oz kent goldings @ 1 min
1 oz fuggles dry hop in keg

303

All Grain Brewing / Re: fly sparging: once you're done should it be wet or dry?

« on: January 04, 2010, 02:32:00 PM »

How do you know how much sparge water you will need?
I have The Home Brewers Companion
and it says "...... generaly sparge water will equal about 3/4
to just over the total volume of water necessary for the mash process.
I don't understand this?
And I know you're supposed to stop when the gravity gets below
1.008 but how the hell can you check this without a refractometer?
Stop sparging take a sample of wort cool it down and use a hydrometer?
That seems like a real pain , I've just been sparging till I get my boil volume
but sometimes I think I might be going to far.

304

All Grain Brewing / Re: fly sparging: once you're done should it be wet or dry?

« on: January 04, 2010, 04:16:00 AM »

Don't really have an answer  but
I do it your way.
Only because I am paranoid about running out of sparge water before
I get my boil volume, so I keep adding water to the HLT just in case.
If I were more sure about how much sparge water I need I might do the opposite.

305

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: How much did you brew in 2009?

« on: January 03, 2010, 06:13:23 AM »

14 batches
70 gallons

306

Beer Recipes / Re: Easy Irish Guinness beer clone?

« on: January 03, 2010, 06:06:33 AM »

I make a dry stout and have no beer gas or stout faucet.
Sometimes I'll take one of those meat injector syringes, put it
in the glass of beer suck up some beer and while holding the tip near the bottom of the glass
 squirt it back into the glass. Knocks out some of the carbonation
and gives that cascading foam effect. I don't remember where I picked up
this trick.

307

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha brewin' this week? - 2009 Dec 31 - 2010 Jan 6

« on: January 03, 2010, 05:51:35 AM »

I brewed a Porter and kegged a pale ale.

308

All Grain Brewing / Re: DMS in Beer

« on: December 25, 2009, 05:27:42 AM »

............
  Also, Is DMS prevelent in all grain wort only, and because DME has been processed it will be absent of DMS?  ............

That's what I have heard

309

All Grain Brewing / Re: wort quality and water ratio question

« on: November 23, 2009, 03:42:29 PM »

Damn look what I started 
You all lost me about 5 messages ago.
I just have a 5 gallon mash tun,
and I thought maxing out the mash water
might make better beer.
With a five gallon mash tun I can't
really get to a super large water grain ratio any way.
With ten lbs of grain , the highest ratio I can use is
about 1.66 quarts per pound.
I have also been fly sparging.
but thanks for all the info anyway
DS

310

All Grain Brewing / Re: wort quality and water ratio question

« on: November 21, 2009, 12:02:36 PM »

Yes, the logic makes sense, but there are a few caveat...first, although most people these days are using larger liquor/grist ratios than they used to, there's a limit to how high you want to go.  Second, keep in mind that by sparging less you may be limiting your efficiency.  Finally, even it you accept that less sparging produces a "higher quality wort", it certainly doesn't mean that some sparging will produce a low quality wort.  I find batch sparging is a perfect tradeoff between all the factors.

I think I get what you're saying , by sparging less one would leave more sugars behind?
Leading to a lower efficiency?
How would the wort differ between a batch mashed at 2 quarts per lb. versus 1 quart per lb?

311

All Grain Brewing / wort quality and water ratio question

« on: November 21, 2009, 11:13:24 AM »

I have read / heard that the "first runnings are the highest quality wort".
Which leads me to believe that no sparge brewing would produce the
best wort because essentially you are only using "first runnings"
So that makes me think that if I mash with the most water I can fit
in my tun I will use less sparge water, which would be closer to no sparge
and thus produce better wort.
Does this logic make sense?

312

The Pub / Re: Brew Dawgs!

« on: November 14, 2009, 06:21:34 AM »

This is my brew dog
Callie, some kind of "shepard mix"
She does like to hang with me on brew days
She is 12 years old , with diabetes , so I get to
give her insulan shots twice a day.

313

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: reusing yeast question

« on: November 11, 2009, 04:35:57 PM »

Dzlater-  thats some nice looking slurry!   The slurry I saved from my german pils last night doesn't look as clean-  ended up with a bit of hop trub and crap in the primary.     I"m gonna start racking off the trub before pitching when I plan on saving yeast.

Thanks
I pitched pretty much the whole jar .
I tried to measure it out but it wasn't that easy.
The ferment is chugging away.
It didn't take off like a rocket or anything.
But it has a nice big ole head on it.

314

Equipment and Software / Re: How do you chill your wort?

« on: November 08, 2009, 04:02:07 PM »

Today was the first brew with my home made 50' 1/2"
immersion chiller. Took 5.5 gallons down to 70degrees F
in 10 minutes. 

315

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: reusing yeast question

« on: November 08, 2009, 06:45:49 AM »

I did this last night. It's been sitting in the fridge over night.
There is only a very thin layer of trub on the bottom
There is about 250 ml of yeast.
I still am not sure how much to pitch though.
The Mr malty calculator
leaving the defaults
for yeast conentration and non yeast percentage
and setting the harvest date for yesterday
tells me 74 ml if I change the date to
10/30 which was when the fermentation was done it tells me
84 ml
I figure I'll try and pitch around 80 ml
how much of the beer should I decant off the top
wouldn't the amount of liquid mixed with the yeast change
the amount I should pitcch/
or am I over thinking once again?
I am off to clean the carboy and then get my brew day going.
Thanks for all your help.