Messages

166

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: White House Brew Recipe

« on: August 25, 2012, 06:44:14 AM »

sort of on this subject, I'm reading this interview with the guy Obama gave a homebrew beer to recently, and the following section is confusing me...

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/08/meet-brad-magerkurth-man-with-secrets.html

Magerkurth also said that the bottle cap--which carries no marking, such as a Presidential seal--is "bench capped."
How beer bottles are capped is important, to maintain flavor and keep the brew stable. Bench capping allows bottles to be re-used, because the bottle top can be twisted off. It's a more expensive proposition than using a hand capping tool.

"A bench capper is about four hundred bucks," Magerkurth said, implying that the President has a pricey brewing operation.


*********

$400?!  Is this just a confused/uninformed interviewer?  Or a guy who has supposedly homebrewed but never bought/used a bench capper?  I've got one; cost me a little over 40 bucks.  From the pic the homebrew in question certainly does not appear to be a twist-off.


anyway what am I missing?  And if there's some expensive homebrewing gadget I haven't bought yet I need to know. 

thanks--
--Michael

167

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: White House Brew Recipe

« on: August 22, 2012, 11:50:38 AM »

some funny stuff on their list of recent petitions.

long ways to go to get to 25K, but hey, the homebrew petition has 4.5 times as many supporters as the petition to allow women to go topless.  I would have guessed boobs would outpoll beer by 20-30%!   

168

Other Fermentables / Re: 16% Sweet Mead?

« on: August 10, 2012, 05:55:58 AM »

you did what you were supposed to do.
I suspect you just got caught in that upper part of the alcohol tolerance limit for that yeast.  I avoid that OG range as I do not personally like high alcohol + dry mead.  I don't think I'm alone in that.

I assume some people must be actively stopping the fermentation or they are marketing kits to people who are really inexperienced and don't understand nutrients. 

I'm looking at the recipe of the week for last week.  I don't see how someone could use D-47 and an OG of 1.090 and end up with a FG of 1.030 without chilling to stop fermentation, racking off the yeast, and then sorbating/sulfiting to keep it from restarting.  Yet it says "ferment completely" and doesn't say anything about back-sweetening.  I guess I can only assume that 1.090 was the OG before she added a bushel of pluots that accounted for a big % of actual gravity?

(sorry about going off on that tangent.  Hey, you can always back-sweeten.)

cheers--
--Michael

169

Beer Recipes / Re: Deschutes Twilight Clone

« on: August 03, 2012, 11:37:12 AM »

Interesting that Deschutes lists Brambling Cross on the beer's description page but not on the homebrew clone page.  Hmm.
Have some of this beer in my fridge I'm looking forward to tonight.  Deschutes just finally showed up in state in the last week or two.
Hop aroma seems pretty big and I would have to think some of that Amarillo is a dry hop.

Looking through other Deschutes recipes I see a lot of 90, 30, 5, 0 additions.  Can't really glean any other info though - Obsidian uses NB at 5min, Black Butte uses Cascade at 30 and Tett at 5, so who knows.

good luck...
--Michael

170

Beer Recipes / Re: Deschutes Twilight Clone

« on: August 03, 2012, 09:45:43 AM »

I think you're on the right track.  Too lazy to look it up but I want to say there is some Tett in Twilight too?

I do know Deschutes' usual base malt is Great Western NW Pale Ale, so I would probably use something a bit more flavorful than "plain" 2-row.

cheers--
--Michael

171

Events / Re: GABF Tix problem...?

« on: August 02, 2012, 11:17:58 AM »

Wow, that was fast.  What, 3-4 hours total between pre-sale and public??
The way things are going, how long until the member pre-sale sells out ALL the sessions?!?

172

Events / Re: GABF ticket selection

« on: August 01, 2012, 06:04:22 PM »

So.... if I can't go Saturday afternoon then should I go Friday night or Saturday night?

Take off from work on Friday and go to the Thursday night session.  Lots of beer, fewer people, and no crowds around the winners' booths. (winners have not been awarded yet).

+1
I still always get members-only so I can run around Saturday afternoon to taste the winners before they run out but generally Thursday is my favorite session at this point.

173

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Long week

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:02:38 AM »

Well this week started off a little different from others. Instead of driving by St. Mary's Hospital on my way to work at the UW Wisconsin Madison, Monday, I swung in with mild chest discomfort. And ended up being released today after having bypass surgery. Other than being in some mild but controllable pain, I was a little upset that our family vacation would have to be cancelled, but that can always be rescheduled. But I will have to take my hat off to my Lovely Woman for being there for me and doing some things that allot of other people wouldn't or would have troubles doing. But on a lighter note 2012 German Fest Stein Challenge Judging wrapped up today in Milwaukee Wisconsin, (which was another event we missed this week do to health problems) anyway the Kolsch I entered placed 2nd, so besides having a great Ole Lady I had a brew take 2nd

Glad to see you're still with us.
I didn't judge your Kolsch, but tasted it in Mini-BOS...really nice work, thanks!

174

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: That German lager flavor

« on: July 26, 2012, 07:52:59 PM »

Lazy Monk brewing in Eau Claire.

Correct.

We just opened a tap room a few weeks ago.
Anybody is welcome to stop by.
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lazy-Monk-Brewing-LLC/188535614492258

going to bump this up in another shameless plug for Lazy Monk.  Truly excellent dark lager and vienna lager, and thanks for the tour of the brewery a couple hours ago.  Will try to visit again soon.

cheers--
--Michael

175

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Fermentation Temps

« on: July 26, 2012, 07:50:16 PM »

Haha!
I doubt Gordon actually believes I thought I was doing something wrong.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to not exaggerate for effect on teh internetz.

176

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Fermentation Temps

« on: July 25, 2012, 01:31:23 PM »

hmm.  At this point I almost feel like I'm doing something wrong because I never have trouble with 565/3724. 
protein rest, keep the gravity reasonable, normal amount of O2, good pitch rate, pitch near 70 and let it warm to wherever it wants to go...always finishes sub 1.005.  Started a 1.048 batch the day before I left for NHC.  Came back two weeks later to 1.001 beer.

I don't even make the upper end of the style anymore as it always ends up well above the 5-7% alcohol range I enjoy.

cheers--
--michael

177

The Pub / Re: What's the Weather Like Where You Are?

« on: July 18, 2012, 05:35:51 AM »

next 5 days looks like 108, 108, 109, 108, 105.  Sweet, a cooldown coming!

I feel like if I watch for a few minutes I can actually see my plants turning brown.

cheers--
--Michael

178

Beer Recipes / Re: The Strawberry Rhubarb Gauntlet

« on: July 12, 2012, 09:48:54 AM »

I agree with Denny.  You'll need a lot of strawberries.  I was underwhelmed by my strawberry rhubarb hefeweizen results but when I substituted raspberries it pretty much became a delicious liquid pie that was gone way too quickly.

on a side note, in your shoes I'd probably brew a "plain" Kolsch before I attempted to make a fruited version, but I'm sure you'll do fine.

cheers--
--Michael

179

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Help my Kolsch finish fermenting

« on: July 08, 2012, 07:49:43 PM »

FWIW, made my first Kolsch last year.  148F, WLP 029, 1.047, just like yours.
also finished at 1.013.  I carbed it a bit higher than usual to lighten it up.  It won three silver medals, always beaten by another style.
subsequent tweaked batches have no trouble getting to 1.008, but I think I still prefer that first one. 
I also feel this yeast performs great at higher temps like 65-67.  Love that slight white wine grape fruitiness with just a hint of tartness.

cheers--
--Michael

180

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 2012 NHC Club Night Time-Lapse Videos

« on: June 28, 2012, 04:45:22 PM »

wow, I really don't remember having as many of your awesome beers as this video would indicate.   

nice job guys.

cheers--
--Michael