Topics

31

Equipment and Software / Staining

« on: October 17, 2012, 08:00:30 AM »

This is a dumb question but here goes...

I am almost finished building the bench/stand for my new electric brewing system and am at the staining stage.

Should I stain everything, including the undercarriage, or should I just stain what the eyes can see? 

Projects I have done in the past did not really require (inside of planters, dog feeders, etc) so I am not quite sure what the protocol is.

Obviously I know it wouldn't hurt anything, but I'd hate to spend all the effort for no reason.

32

General Homebrew Discussion / Checking Back In.

« on: September 11, 2012, 12:33:33 PM »

Hello there fellas - not that I'm all that important, but 1 or 2 of you PM'd me wondering if I was okay.  In the infamous words of George Costanza "I'm back, baby"

33

Beer Travel / Best beer bar or brewpub in Nashville?

« on: June 18, 2012, 04:56:36 PM »

Will be there Wednesday night - name says it all - whatcha got?

34

Commercial Beer Reviews / SN Ruthless Rye IPA

« on: January 13, 2012, 07:24:45 AM »

Picked up a 12er earlier this week and cracked a couple last night at our club meeting.  Very, very nice.  I generally have not liked most Rye IPAs in the past, but this one is tasty - enough to maybe make me want to try making that variation one more time.

The rye is very subtle - a little in the nose, a bit of dry bite in the finish.  Nice fresh hop aroma - I couldn't identify varietals, but I'm sure its on the website - will have to check.  Much drier and crisper than Torpedo - while I've read a lot of people compared it to Torpedo + Rye, to me it has more of the malt flavor and similar hop flavor to Celebration.

Anyhow, maybe not the best "Rye IPA" but its a solid IPA in its own right.

35

Pimp My System / My Home-Brewhouse Build

« on: December 02, 2011, 01:20:54 PM »

Figured maybe some of you fellas would be interested to see some of our progress to this point.  Not sure if this is quite the right subpage, since I am in the process of pimping, but anyhow.

This is the view as you walk in from the garage, floor drain in the center: 



here is the back wall - the back 36" of concrete is raised 4" so I can put all fermentation/lagering fridges and other dry equipment raised up so as not to be damaged if I need to hose down the floor.  also, I have four independent outlets to power the fridges and other equipment in the wall.



here is the view if standing on the raised concrete portion:



here is a view of the heart of the operation - the back wall where the kettles will reside.  the orange paint to the left indicates where the electrical panel will be attached to the wall with a 30A/240V dryer outlet beside. 

in the center is the hood of course - you can see the duct - when we trim out a SS condensate hood will be attached to the bottom of the chase. 

the blue line is a water line to a pot filler for dispensing RO from a RO machine/filter behind the wall with a 30-40gal holding tank. 

the wall to the right of that (which has no picture) will have the sink and counter area.




And here is the view of the same wall now that it is "drywalled" with Durarock and then stucco scratch coat on top

The holes on the left and right are where some hi-hats will eventually be housed.



Anyhow, that's it for now.

36

Equipment and Software / Is my Freezer shot?

« on: November 30, 2011, 06:33:40 AM »

So I guess when I took a hydro sample from my conical last night, I did not close the door tight enough on my chest freezer and it was cracked open and thus ran all night.

I turned it off before going to work this morning - but what should I expect - is it a certainty that it is dead, or is it possible it just froze up and i need to leave it sit warm for a day?

Any advice appreciated.

Tx

37

Yeast and Fermentation / WL029

« on: November 18, 2011, 08:01:07 AM »

Anyone ever used this strain in a Robust Porter 

38

Equipment and Software / Haier Chest Freezer on sale

« on: November 18, 2011, 07:52:18 AM »

My wife just emailed me an ad from Tuesday Morning Online - Haier 5.1cu ft Chest Freezer on sale for $119

I don't know anything about the model but thought I would pass this info along - could be a good fermentation fridge for someone.

39

Ingredients / Pickling Lime

« on: October 28, 2011, 01:06:30 PM »

Any idea what a level teaspoon weighs in grams?

Given the sensitivity of pickling lime, I am a little leery of my scale.  I know it won't be perfectly accurate, but I am just curious.

40

Beer Recipes / Amber Ale: To Dry Hop or Not to Dryhop?

« on: October 27, 2011, 07:07:28 AM »

In my never ending search to find an amber that fits my tastes perfectly, I am starting from scratch once again on Amber (frankly I'm about ready to give up on the style) but here's what I have put together:

12gal
OG: 1.056
IBUs 35-37

Grist:

11lbs Weyermann Pale Ale malt
11lbs Rahr 2-row
2.0bs  Weyermann Carared
1.5lbs Briess C-80L
.25lbs Fawcett Chocolate

Hops:
60min - 1oz Magnum
15min - 2oz Cascade
FO - 3oz Columbus

Any comments welcome, but am mainly looking for: is it missing the dryhop??

41

Classifieds / FS: Morebeer Hopback plus 2 male SS fittings

« on: October 24, 2011, 06:57:49 AM »

Hello

Looking to sell my morebeer hopback along with the SS fittings for the ports.  Been used 5-10 times tops.

The hopback is the same as pictured here:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/15781//Hop_Back_with_1_2%22_Female_Threads

and the 2 fittings here:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17421/102353/Stainless_-_1_2%22_mpt_x_1_2%22_Barb

Looking to get $60 plus shipping.

42

Commercial Beer Reviews / 2011 Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere

« on: October 15, 2011, 05:25:37 AM »

Picked up a bunch of these along with a couple Estates Thursday night.  Cracked a bottle of the Northern Hemisphere Wet Hop Ale last night - simply magic in a bottle - tons of pungent citrusy, resiny hop aromatics.  Nice and bitter, and layered with an edgy, complex hop flavor.

I've been really disappointed with the last 2 years versions, after the first year I had it ('07? '08?) when it was one of the best beers I had ever had, but 2011 seems to have recaptured all that was lost.

At $4.99 a bottle or less (i had a coupon) its a steal - highly recommended!

PS - The highlighting is for you, Tom  

43

Equipment and Software / Dryhopping in Conical

« on: October 13, 2011, 11:26:53 AM »

Has anyone here ever tried using a surescreen over the racking arm of a Blichmann conical?  I've recently been enjoying dryhopping directly in the conical, but have been using hopbags, since there are warnings all over the place about not using whole hops in the conical without a bag. 

Anyone?

44

All Grain Brewing / Kettle v. Mash pH

« on: October 08, 2011, 05:55:25 AM »

Hey guys

What kind of a drop should I expect to see between mash and kettle pH?

Brewed a pilsner last night and my pH meter was going haywire.  I recalibrated before mash-in, took a sample, cooled it - first reading 6.05 - huh??? recalibrated, took a reading of the same sample - 5.4 - okay! - rinsed and re-took just for good measure - 5.7??

Broke out the colorpHast strips - solid 5.3 (which really means about 5.5-5.6) - i'm okay with that.

Then in the kettle, I used my meter - 3 consecutive readings, rinsing in between - every time dead on at 5.41.

So I'm curious what the differential between mash and kettle pH is - trying to determine if I was just getting bad readings or is something else awry.

45

Yeast and Fermentation / Basic Yeast Stock List for LHBS

« on: October 03, 2011, 01:57:20 PM »

Hey all

I am trying to help my friend/LHBS owner develop a 'regular stock' list of yeasts - he's been getting too much of too many unique use yeasts that wind up getting old and expiring, so I offered to help put together a listing of about 10 to cover most of the bases.  He is still going to offer custom orders for what he doesn't regularly carry.

What do you think?  (He wants to stick to WL) I am particularly interested in thoughts on the Belgians - I don't brew those, so I am only going on what I perceive you guys use.

• 001 Cali
  002 English Ale
  007 Dry English Ale
  028 Scottish
  380 Hefe IV
  400 Witbier
  500 Trappist Ale
  570 Golden Ale
  830 German Lager
  833 German Bock Lager

Cheers!