Messages

121

Going Pro / Re: Going going gone . . .

« on: November 12, 2012, 06:58:33 am »

I finished hooking up an 8 product trunk line this weekend - 4 will be beer, and 4 soda (it's an ice cream shop after all). 

I misread that as "truck" and thought - woah, combo ice cream/beer truck?!?  Why is this not available to me NOW?!   

congrats, and look forward to trying them all as soon as I can back home.

cheers--
--Michael

122

Homebrew Competitions / Re: AHA COC Only competion (Nov/Dec) Old Ale - Entries are due

« on: November 05, 2012, 03:56:31 pm »

that's quite helpful hoser!

thank you.

123

Homebrew Competitions / Re: AHA COC Only competion (Nov/Dec) Old Ale - Entries are due

« on: November 05, 2012, 10:35:40 am »

on a related note, I would love to see a site for AHA COC's where I could type entry information in, rather than fill out the recipe form and bottle labels by hand...not that I remember this recipe anyway.   

cheers--
--Michael

124

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: FWH question

« on: October 26, 2012, 05:31:12 am »

Wait, the fact that I agree with Denny doesn't completely validate it?

huh.   

...fair enough Tom.

cheers--
--Michael

125

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: FWH question

« on: October 25, 2012, 02:23:08 pm »

OK now I am really confused.
If FWH give you between 10% and 20% more IBU's then a 60 minute addition , how can it equal a 20 minute addition ?
You get less IBU's from a 20 minute addition then 60 minute.

check out Denny's last post.
Yes, lab equipment will say the IBUs are higher.  However what really matters is how bitter it tastes.  Perception is reality basically.  Your tongue doesn't care what the actual IBU level is, and your tongue says it tastes similar to a 20 minute addition. 

does that help any?

cheers--
--Michael

126

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Beer of the Week Scottish Heavy

« on: October 25, 2012, 07:36:02 am »

last time I made this style with a similar recipe I used 3 weeks in primary and bottled/kegged.  Few weeks at room temp and a few weeks in the fridge and scored 47/50, still the highest I've ever gotten.

YMMV, but IMO this little beer is good quite at a young age, will improve over the first few months, and if handled well will last a surprisingly long period of time.  Reminds me I need to make another.
 
good luck--
--Michael

127

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: I'm an idiot

« on: October 24, 2012, 09:31:16 am »

apricot does work well in hefe.  I actually prefer WLP380 which gives me a bit of an apricot ester anway.

I suppose depending on how much banana you've got in there it COULD clash but I suspect it will be great.

cheers--
--Michael

128

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Red Hoptober

« on: October 11, 2012, 10:42:58 am »

liked the hops, and usually like quite a bit of caramel in ambers, but found this to be on the dark side, rather like burnt sugar, to go with quite a bit of a biscuit/bread crust flavor.  Hint of roasted grain in the finish helps out the overall impression.  Not bad at all, but will agree with the others who have said Odell's Red kicks it's tail...

cheers--
--Michael

129

Equipment and Software / Re: Better Bottles or Glass Carboys?

« on: October 03, 2012, 11:12:43 am »

bit of a tangent, but...
I am extremely careful with my nearly 20 Better Bottles, but have cracked a couple with high concentrations of PBW over several hours. Have to remember to add the PBW to the water too, not vice versa.

I would read this, and come to your own conclusions.
http://www.better-bottle.com/pdf/WashingSanitizingStudy.pdf

FWIW, here's what they recommend:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Free-and-Clear/Laundry-Detergent


cheers--
--Michael

130

Other Fermentables / Re: 16% Sweet Mead?

« on: October 03, 2012, 10:54:40 am »

since you're immediately giving half (or whatever amount) of it away, and those people will doubtless consume it quickly, and the remainder is a very small amount, I probably would use plain beer bottles and caps in this case too. 

I bought some of those clear 6.3oz bottles that take a regular crown cap for the purpose of giving out samples to people whom I'm not sure will like it.  Also useful for testing carb in young bottle conditioned beers without wasting too much of the precious.

cheers--
--Michael

131

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Store in Alabama Raided

« on: October 03, 2012, 10:02:48 am »

Who could deny that if immersed in our culture, if only for a day?

When you get a moment do a search on "Alvin Holmes: what's wrong with the beer we got?"

love that one.  "The beer we got drank pretty good, don't it?"   
also love his comments in the homebrewer bill debate about the govermant stamp on Chivas Regal that says it hethy.

132

Other Fermentables / Re: 16% Sweet Mead?

« on: October 02, 2012, 10:32:30 am »

My girlfriend LOVES it and wants to give bottles to all her co-workers. So, the 3 gallons will be half gone to others haha.

considering the price of honey, that's really generous of you.  I usually love to share but damn, sharing mead can get expensive.

anyway, congrats on your success.

cheers--
--Michael

133

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Cramming for a BJCP Tasting Exam

« on: October 01, 2012, 04:43:26 pm »

sounds like fairly commonly consumed styles and plenty of chances to show how much you know.  I bet you did fairly well.
Did anything seem way out of style? 
Just got back a tasting exam at 1 day short of 30 weeks.  Hopefully the backlog will become less grim soon.

cheers--
--Michael

134

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Homebrew Store in Alabama Raided

« on: September 22, 2012, 05:41:01 am »

Amazing!!  Are they going to raid the kitchen supply stores too because they sell pots big enough to brew beer?

I do enjoy the soundbites from the legislature but would gladly give them up if they would just legalize homebrewing in Alabama and free our "criminal" brothers and sisters.

Then you might as well raid Wal-Mart too.  I bought a large colander/mesh strainer there that I use to filter wort as I pour it into primary.  We can't be selling that kind of stuff, after all. 

Does anyone else think it is at least slightly strange that it is apparently perfectly OK to purchase beer and wine "pre-homebrewed" at a large brewery/factory but it is not OK to brew at home.   That is like saying it is OK to buy a hamburger at McDonalds, but if you fire up your grill at home, we are going to come confiscate your ground sirloin.   It makes absolutely no sense at all.

you're looking at it from the standpoint of an informed brewer, not someone who doesn't understand what we do.
Just listen to some of the comments among their legislature as they've debated this in the past. 
"This bill allows, I believe, to any individual, to make up to A HUNDRED GALLONS per year...without any licensure, without any oversight by any government entity...they can transport it, supposedly to wine tasting events, to festivals...who's going to monitor that?  You know we have people that live on the street, that go into your local general store, and buy SHAVING LOTION, for a high.  Anything they can get, if it's cheap enough, they'll buy."

that's from Representative Richard Laird in 2011, and is far from the worst-informed opinion out there.  He mentions moonshine later on and is clearlyt thinking about it and drawing parallels to bootleggers with his comments.  He talks about the possibility of a guy he knows creating an event where he invites the neighborhood to come over and drink his beer, wine, cider, mead -"whatever that is."  A beer tasting/party at your house - The horror!  He says individual instead of adult, doesn't get the amount right, doesn't understand a thing about how expensive homebrewing is, draws parallels to the homeless, the tone of his voice shows he is aghast that there is no oversight, and at the amounts of alcohol a person could make, either ignores or doesn't know that it is legal in 48 other states (a "we don't need to be like the rest of the country" mentality seems to be pretty common too).

Remember when either Alabama or Mississippi was talking about raising the alcohol limit and we had the same type of legislators horrified that they were going to have "90% alcohol beer!" - clearly showing a lack of knowledge.  When legislators have these kinds of strong opinions about an issue they know little or nothing about (or are doing a damn fine job acting dumb to make the bill look worse...) you can see what an uphill battle it is.  The bill in question includes mead but more than one of them didn't know what mead is - how about figuring that out before you denounce it? 
"What going to stop people from making moonshine in their house?" is a common base argument too.

I feel for the homebrewers in those two states.  Hopefully they get this silliness fixed before too much longer...

cheers--
--Michael

135

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Anyone receive their copy of IPA yet?

« on: September 19, 2012, 07:31:26 pm »

I still don't have mine. Seems that because I ordered a couple stickers, my order was shipped by the small staff at the BA warehouse, so it'll be a bit behind everyone. It's okay! I can wait for greatness.

obligatory:  "The hops in your copy have faded; it'll be OK but you should have read it last week"