Messages

1996

The Pub / Re: Eye Opening Documentary

« on: December 05, 2009, 08:16:08 am »

Keith's got some really good advice there, as do a lot of the posts.

And I think I may have been a little too extreme before when I said I want to start buying everything organic- its just not possible to buy everything organic - but I am trying to be a lot more conscious of what I get, whereas I scoffed at my wife before when she insisted.   The ironic thing is where I live, outside of places like Costco, the organic stuff isn't that much higher priced than conventional (was at the store last night - difference for a ribeye was $2 per lb) - and that premium isn't too bad when you only have one meat eater in the house (well, the dogs are but don't count).

It'd be nice if the Costcos/Sams would start carrying organic.  Perhaps hey might one day.

Oh and I have a sore spot for KM&C too, Keith, but with fish and broccoli??

Interesting note on the Omega-3s.

1997

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Dec 2 - Dec 8?

« on: December 04, 2009, 03:19:07 pm »

I just brewed my first lager, an Oktoberfest. However, my hydrometer broke, so I am not sure if what I have will be an Oktoberfest or a Vienna Lager. I've been getting 80-83% efficiency the last 5 brews (I should add that my past 5-10 brews have produced far, far better beer than my previous 2+ years of brewing, thanks in no small part to this and other forums), so I built a recipe that would be an Oktoberfest from 78-84% and would be a Vienna Lager from 70-78... whatever it is, I just hope it's delicious. I put a lot of effort into this one, even customizing my water to be similar to Munich water. Also, I ended up with almost 9 gal of sweet wort, so I did a 110 min boil to get the volume down to 5.5 gal. I didn't notice any activity this morning, but the fermometer reads that the carboy is at 48F. in about 10 days when I transfer, I will be lagering this beside last month's altbier and probably taking a 2-month break from brewing.

awesome man.  but FWIW, subtle grist changes are more what makes vienna distinct from oktoberfest, not just gravity.  vienna is typically all or mostly all vienna, whereas fest is usually base of vienna with munich and pils added.

no brewing this weekend, but we're doing a club brew next weekend - 70 gal in two days!

1998

Beer Recipes / Re: Rye Barleywine?

« on: December 04, 2009, 03:13:17 pm »

okay - bunch of things.  1.027 won't be too high with that high of a SG.  and I actually like my ABWs to be 1.020-1.024, but I start ~ 1.090-95.  but with the 1lb of sugar, I doubt you'll finish that high. In fact, I would think you would finish at that level without any sugar.

I have used the dry US-05 in some of my bigs (ABW and RIS) the past 2 years, and not noticed anything different, except the ease of use (since I didn't necessarily have to make a pale ale beforehand to get enough yeast).  Just pitch 2, maybe 3 packs and aerate the heck out of it and you'll be golden.

1272 would be a nice choice though, as would 1450...

1999

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Black IPA underway

« on: December 04, 2009, 02:05:51 pm »

thats comical dbeechum! 

2000

The Pub / Re: Eye Opening Documentary

« on: December 04, 2009, 01:51:04 pm »

So it's about general food from the grocery store like regular canned corn vs orgranic canned corn or mainly about fast food?

thanks denny - I hope we can keep it from being derailed (and deleted).

ndcube - its actually about both - its really amazing to see how the advent of fast food has driven the industrial manufacturing of food, meat in particular.  but as a result of the powerful hand of fast food, it has also changed the way the food is grown that we buy at the local grocery store.  

unfortunately, this change has made the wrong food choices very cheap (dollar menu at McDs) and has forced the hand, so to speak, of a lot of lower income families.  the increasing frequency of diabetes is one negative result.

I'm going to check out Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation next - the authors of those books contributed/narrated the movie.

I encourage everyone to at least watch it - and take what you want away from it.  I know I personally am very concerned about what I eat, so this has naturally swayed me in one direction, but others may have a different perspective.

2001

The Pub / Eye Opening Documentary

« on: December 04, 2009, 01:10:36 pm »

My wife forced me to watch Food Inc. last weekend. 

One word.  WOW.

If you have any inkling of wonder or curiousity about where your food comes from, you should watch this film. 

I know I personally complained about the cost when my wife has us buy everything organic and from farmer's markets, etc.  Never again.  And I can't say never as the situation may dictate, but I will try to never eat at a fast food restaurant again.

2002

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Suggestions for 1450 Denny's Favorite

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:52:12 pm »

The recipe wiki rocks!  It's a great single location for archiving recipes.  I intend to get all my favorites in there eventually.

will be trying to use it tomorrow morning - might be asking some questions, unless a cave man can do it.

2003

Equipment and Software / Re: Hydrometer vs. Refractometer

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:51:12 pm »

When I'm sparging and measuring the gravity, do I take the hydrometer measurement in the mash (in the sparge water) or do I set aside a wort sample that I've run off to drop the hydrometer in?

that.

but I'm not sure what information you're going to get out of that reading, other than what sugars you've left behind, which is inevitable (and why we can partigyle).

2004

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Suggestions for 1450 Denny's Favorite

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:48:42 pm »

Thanks for the catch, Paul!  Doing too many things at once today!

only happened to notice as I remember I needed to learn how to use the recipe wiki as a couple folks asked for my Dort and Viennabock recipes!

2005

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Suggestions for 1450 Denny's Favorite

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:43:53 pm »

hey denny - I think you got your wires crossed between Nick Danger and the BVIP - look at the notes at the bottom of the link you posted...

2006

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: I got too cute with Nottingham and Safale 05 - Opps

« on: December 04, 2009, 11:59:07 am »

To my tastes, Nott has a tartness that 05 doesn't.  You may be able to distinguish them by that.

+1

2007

Beer Recipes / Re: Rye Barleywine?

« on: December 04, 2009, 11:57:34 am »

I thought about making one a few years back, and still might, but I have been burned by rye recently (rye-bock, rye-wit) and am staying away for a while - am beginning to think its just not a flavor I like, though I do occasionally have a beer with rye that is enticing. 

Anyhow, I like the looks of your recipe, and I certainly wouldn't change the crystal amount - that's about the amount I use in mine, and I think mine is lower OG than yours.

What I don't like is I think the sugar level is too high.  I used 1lb of sugar in my IIPA and it brings the beer from 1.076-8 down to 1.012.  I personally like my ABWs rich, malty and chewy, not thinner, hop focused and boozy.  Given the higher gravity, I would bump down to 1lb. JMO. 

2008

Equipment and Software / Re: Hydrometer vs. Refractometer

« on: December 04, 2009, 09:34:29 am »

that's an interesting theory - and actually, all the beers I have done lately are between 73-76% AA, so maybe you're not too far off the mark!

2009

Equipment and Software / Re: Better Bottle question

« on: December 04, 2009, 08:42:48 am »

just an fyi - the hard plastic bottom can crack - so they are not entirely indestructible.  a friend dropped one while he was swirling sanitizer in it and when I used the fermenter for that batch, I found some escaped wort pooled underneath the carboy when I went to rack from it.

I still use them when not using my conical, so no worries - just giving you a heads up not to let your friends drop them!

2010

Equipment and Software / Re: Hydrometer vs. Refractometer

« on: December 04, 2009, 08:38:10 am »

FWIW I kept track of FG with a hydrometer and a refractometer for five batches. The mean difference between that correlation and a hydrometer reading was 2.4 points and the maximum was 7. I'll use a refractometer to determine when I've reached FG, but not what the FG actually is.

but I've done the same thing over a slightly larger sample size - I think I'm up to 12 batches thusfar, and the FG via hydrometer and refracto after conversion calculation have never been more than 2 points apart and 7 of the samples were clap i-dentical (My Cousin Vinny reference). so why do I continue to compare the two, you might ask?  I like to drink the sample