Messages

61

All Grain Brewing / Re: Dry Hopping

« on: April 19, 2013, 10:22:39 AM »

Let me start by saying, "I've never dry hopped before". 

My AIPA is about 80% done with attenuation according to the hydrometer.  There is still a layer of krausen riding on top of the beer. 

Should I wait until the krausen falls?  Or should I just drop the pellets in and give it a good stir?

Firestone Walker begins dryhopping when there is about 1P (~4 gravity points) left to go - I'd let it go a little longer before adding, but otherwise you should be fine.

62

Equipment and Software / Re: Anyone using a propane burner or turkey fryer setup AND ice bath to chill wort?

« on: April 19, 2013, 07:32:00 AM »

How about a coil of plastic line in ice bath for incoming water to wort chiller ?

"Freedom is temporary unless you are also Brave!" - Patriot

copper would be a better heat exchanger than plastic.  but in my experience (and being in florida i've tried about every configuration conceivable) they don't work too well, and you waste ice.  for a while I used a 50' coil in an ice bath as a prechiller and it didn't work nearly as well as Jamil Z's immersion chiller method as I described above.

I use 2 counterflow chillers now, but the general idea is the same - knock down first with hose water, then use recirculating ice water.

by the way - you can add your motto/quote to the signature line of your profile in "Account Settings" so you don't have to type it every time. 

63

Equipment and Software / Re: Anyone using a propane burner or turkey fryer setup AND ice bath to chill wort?

« on: April 19, 2013, 06:35:54 AM »

he's in florida, so groundwater temp is going to be an issue.

immersion chiller is going to be your best bet, and then get a cheap sump pump and a bucket to recirculate icewater through the chiller once you've gotten to <100df with hosewater.

64

Beer Travel / 2 Nights in San Diego

« on: April 12, 2013, 08:45:26 AM »

Will be in San Diego on Monday and Tuesday, staying at the Omni on L street.

Any recs for bars, restaurant and maybe a brewery tour?

65

Beer Recipes / Re: Doppelbock recipes

« on: April 11, 2013, 01:07:00 PM »

I like Denny's recipe, too.  Especially since he eschewed the dark munich malt that most doppelbock recipes call for.

I just never had much luck with dark munich.  The last doppelbock I brewed was with all dark munich, and it has a weird vegetal character to it

really - which brands?  I use it a lot and like it - I use Best and Weyermann, personally.

66

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lagering in corny kegs

« on: April 11, 2013, 11:30:51 AM »

All my lagering is done in kegs.  The first couple pints will be cloudy, but clear as a bell after that.

that's what i've been doing for years as well.  if I'm bringing the beer to a party (such as an Oktoberfest) then I might jump it to a fresh/clean keg to minimize some of the cloudiness but not always (i.e. I'm lazy).

67

Ingredients / Re: simcoe, citra and amarillo

« on: April 09, 2013, 10:04:51 AM »

not to take this thread too far off track, but I did scott's dryhop experiment with bud light and am presenting it at my next brew club meeting - its quite shaming that I have 10 quarts of bud light in my beer fridge right now, but at least I have labels with the dryhops on them!

68

Ingredients / Re: simcoe, citra and amarillo

« on: April 09, 2013, 08:30:27 AM »

Very nice.  Thanks for the links. http://www.bertusbrewery.com also has a Stone Ruination IPA 10 year Anniversary clone that looks awesome as well.....  http://bertusbrewery.com/2012/08/ipa-clone-series-stone-runination-10th.html

Great info.....

yeah - I've been following Scott's blog for some time now - he seems to have a great handle on cloning IPA recipes.  I've got a slightly modified version of his Blind Pig recipe in the fermentor and so far so good.

the FW UJ and Double Jack recipes look solid.

69

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brewing Attire

« on: April 08, 2013, 11:37:40 AM »

I've always imagined Denny brewing (and most often existing) in a utilikilt.

that's something I might've kept to myself...

70

Equipment and Software / Re: Conical Fermenter Size

« on: April 08, 2013, 06:59:29 AM »

And can I say how extremely jealous I am of those who decided to go with stand up fridges right off the bat??? I bought chest freezers back when I was strictly using carboys. Now i want to go for a conical because of the many awesome niceties they offer (stainless body, yeast collecting, etc.). I am in a pickle. Ugh, if I would have only seen the evolution...

yeah - on my first one, I built a shelf and was able to keep 4 carboys or buckets in the fridge at one time - a bit easier lifting them onto shelves rather than up over and down.  are you a member of a homebrew club - maybe someone would want your chest freezer so you can get a new one?  Or just use the chest freezer as a lagering/on deck fridge and get an upright for fermenting

71

Equipment and Software / Re: Conical Fermenter Size

« on: April 08, 2013, 06:31:57 AM »

Dang, Paul! That's a nicer setup than some breweries I've worked in!

LOL - thanks - the full pictorial is over on the "Pimp My System" category if you're interested.

72

Equipment and Software / Re: hop screen

« on: April 08, 2013, 06:30:06 AM »

tom

in my experience the hop stopper is a POS - proteins from break clog it pretty fierce and you wind up losing a lot of wort when it loses suction.

I have used the hop spider from stainlessbrewing.com and it worked well, except for the fact that you can't whirlpool or recirc with it since the same problem arises (break clogging the screen).

i'm sure zack at stainlessbrewing.com could build you something to your specs if needed.

73

Beer Recipes / Re: APA w/Galaxy and ?

« on: April 05, 2013, 12:34:28 PM »

i've not tried it personally, but I've read Nelson is a nice match to Galaxy 50:50.

74

Ingredients / Re: Muddled hop bitterness

« on: April 05, 2013, 12:32:13 PM »

can also be attenuation - a drier beer can sometimes give the perception of more 'hop bite', all other things equal.

75

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 4/7 Edition

« on: April 03, 2013, 08:01:08 AM »

that's how I was leaning - will be looking over your notes again.  hope you can make it to the Blowoff jeffy - I have some killer IPA that will be on tap at the party and i'm hoping I can get Matt at TBC to give us a keg of Red Dragon Imperial Red.