Topics

31

All Grain Brewing / Hop absorption rates?

« on: March 18, 2012, 12:32:20 PM »

Just finished (phew! Only 10 hours!) brewing the massive 1.115 imperial stout tonight. I had accounted for grain absorption, but as I finished filling my first 20L fermenter and heard the march pump straining, I knew I had forgotten to take into account the absorption rate of nearly 1.5 pounds of hops. How does one calculate that exactly?


Furthermore, WHY does it always rain rain rain every brew day?

32

All Grain Brewing / CaraAroma vs Aromatic?

« on: March 16, 2012, 09:20:06 AM »

What's the difference (other than color) between Weyerman CaraAroma and Dingemans Aromatic?

33

All Grain Brewing / Hochkurz double decoction AND a really long boil for an impy stout?

« on: March 13, 2012, 03:39:34 AM »

Is it going overboard to do a Hochkurz and a 150 minute boil?

Here's the recipe overall:
Cuvée J+D
   Style: Imperial Stout   OG: 1.123   
   Type: All Grain   FG: 1.031   
   Rating: 0.0   ABV: 12.05 %   
   Calories: 401   IBU's: 115.29   
   Efficiency: 70 %   Boil Size: 42.29 L   
   Color:   49.6 SRM     Batch Size: 37.80 L   
      Boil Time: 150 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount   Percentage      Name   Time   Gravity
18.00 kg   79.12 %      Fawcett Maris Otter Pale Malt   60 mins   1.038
500.00 g   2.20 %      Briess Caramel 120L   60 mins   1.032
1.50 kg   6.59 %      Dingemans Special B   60 mins   1.030
500.00 g   2.20 %      Black Barley (Stout)   60 mins   1.025
250.00 g   1.10 %      Black (Patent) Malt   60 mins   1.025
1.50 kg   6.59 %      Aromatic Malt   60 mins   1.036
0.50 kg   2.20 %      Barley, Flaked   60 mins   1.032
 
Hops
Amount   IBU's      Name   Time   AA %
0.10 kg   44.19      Nugget   60 mins   13.00
75.00 g   38.23      Warrior   60 mins   15.00
90.00 g   15.18      Centennial   15 mins   10.00
90.00 g   8.35      Williamette   15 mins   5.50
50.00 g   0.00      Centennial   0 mins   10.00
50.00 g   9.35      Williamette   60 mins   5.50
 
Yeasts
Amount   Name   Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg   Safale US-05   Fermentis US-05
 
Additions
Amount   Name   Time   Stage
1.00 oz   Oak Chips   15 mins   Secondary


Full Body Infusion In   25 min @ 55.0°C
 Add 60.28 L ( 2.96 L/kg ) water @ 62.8°C
Full Body Infusion   5 min @ 62.0°C
 Add 12.85 L water @ 100.0°C
Protein Rest Decoction   60 min @ 70.0°C
 Decot 17.39 L ( 0.00 L/kg ) mash & heat to 100.0°C
Protein Rest Decoction   30 min @ 75.0°C
 Decot 13.77 L ( 0.00 L/kg ) mash & heat to 100.0°C

34

Beer Recipes / BeerDuJour

« on: March 09, 2012, 07:39:51 AM »

Hey Fred - just checked your site a few times this week and it seems nearly all of those recipes are dead links. Whahappen?

35

Commercial Beer Reviews / Westy XII special edition

« on: February 22, 2012, 06:38:07 AM »

 

Will try it when I get home, and post more pics. Only 45 euros! Wondering if theoman got his pack too...

36

The Pub / Mashing out a little early

« on: February 01, 2012, 03:21:53 PM »

Wife's water just broke - due date was theoretically in 3 weeks but I have been advised to 'not worry about it and get some sleep.' riiiiiiight.

37

Beer Travel / Anybody in Paris Sunday, 22 April?

« on: February 01, 2012, 05:27:55 AM »

If so, PM me. Very Special event for which I have a few extra places available. I will only say that it involves Jean Van Roy.

38

Beer Recipes / Barleywine -- NO, ACTUALLY: Imperial Stout

« on: January 26, 2012, 04:03:16 AM »

Whadaya think of this one?

Whaddya think:
% Malt              Malt Type                          SRM
0.829268293    Pale Malt (2 row) US           2
0.073170732    Caramel/Crystal Malt 120L  120
0.024390244    Special B Malt                    180
0.036585366    Black Barley (Stout)            500
0.012195122    Black (Patent) Malt             500
0.024390244    Aroma                               100    

Hops (g)               Boil add
1275  Nugget        60min
500   Warrior       60min
500   Centennial   15 min
500    Willamette  15min
      
Spice (g)       Boil add
150    Génépi    5 min

Est IBU 69.3, OG 1.104, ABV 11.30%

But... what yeast? Critique away!

39

The Pub / A low blow

« on: January 25, 2012, 02:59:01 AM »

A good friend is having a wedding in a few months, and is a big beer fan. He also knows a decent number of brewers, but when I asked about brewing, he told me he'd rather go with someone he knows than a friend, because 'what if it gets screwed up...' The guy he's going with, the pro brewer, almost lost his business because of infection issues. He will also probably charge an arm and a leg for several HL of beer plus bottles plus time plus everything, whereas I wouldn't charge anything. Anybody else have this happen before? It's a bit of a punch below the belt for me :-/

40

Equipment and Software / HOmemade mix stir

« on: January 17, 2012, 05:10:25 AM »

I have a carboy and corny cleaner with detachable cleaning pads. I looked at the pics of mix stirs and they seem to operate on exactly the same principle. So, can I fabricate my own? Any ideas on how it should be designed?

41

The Pub / How to deal with an a$$hole coworker?

« on: January 10, 2012, 04:24:24 AM »

So, this guy, he's not my boss, but he's the boss of the other department I have to work with, and he's been there for a long time, so everybody knows him. Apparently he doesn't like me, although he doesn't have the balls to say so to my face. He's been talking bad about me behind my back to practically everyone else in the office, including my boss, even though he has no supervision over my work or anything I do. What should I do? I'm already looking for a job somewhere else, but I'm not sure how long that will take.

If he didn't like me and said so to my face, that'd be one thing. The only thing he does to my face is make fun of my inability to form grammatically perfect sentences in French. I have done nothing but nice things for him, including getting him a sixer of Tsing Tao when he said he couldn't find it anywhere.   

42

Yeast and Fermentation / Is lagering necessary?

« on: January 06, 2012, 04:22:00 AM »

I remember reading something about this a while back, but I can't find the thread anymore. Anyway, I can get down to 10-11 C without much effort, but as I don't have room for a chest freezer and the non-freezer alternatives cost $$$$$ here, can I skip lagering all together? Or, can I just keep them at 10-11, or perhaps 4-5 C instead of 0.5/1c? Is the point of the really low temp just to encourage floculation / try to clear the beer?

43

Commercial Beer Reviews / BrewDog Hardcore IPA

« on: December 23, 2011, 04:02:52 AM »

Deeeelish. Especially when served fresh, on draft. You could drink four or five of these easily. And then you could try to get cash out of the ATM and type in the PIN for a different card, and have the machine eat your card for 'security,' but thankfully you still had the other card. Then you could go buy some Ben & Jerry's, put it in a bag with your phone and hop in a cab and when you roll down the window to... express yourself down the side of the cab. The cab driver gets pissed and pulls over on the side of the interstate and hands you a roll of towels and says 'get to work.' Then you could come home (after giving the guy a nice tip) and leave a trail of clothes from the front door, up the stairs, into the bathroom, into the bedroom, back down the stairs because you forgot to take some advil and drink some water, back up the stairs, and then wake up the next morning and be scared that your phone was lost because you can't find it, only to use Find My iPhone and discover that it's in the plastic bag with the ice cream in the middle of the yard. Then you get to work two hours late because now you're the boss and you're not allowed to take vacation for Christmas because everybody else already requested it and there has to be someone 'at the desk.' So you spend the day tellin' lies on the AHA forum and dreaming of a full English breakfast, hot cup of tea and staying as far away as possible from Hardcore IPA.

44

Equipment and Software / How much flour from a MaltMill?

« on: December 22, 2011, 06:39:58 AM »

I recently attempted a double batch of a THA clone and only got a single batch in the end, stuck sparge(s). This has never happened to me before, and the only change AFAIK was the use of my new MaltMill I got while in the US. I noticed that while the husks were much prettier (and in better shape) than with the old corona, the amount of flour seemed much higher than I was used to. What is a normal amount (2 ounces per pound? etc)? Perhaps I didn't add enough from the HLT? Ratio was 1 kg of malt to 2 liters of water, perhaps not enough...

45

Going Pro / Filtering levels and methods

« on: December 21, 2011, 05:01:53 AM »

I know some of you guys filter. 5 micron is ok, or not fine enough? This is for clarity - getting rid of hop particulate, break material that got picked up, etc. I've seen a few systems that use a standard whole-house filter with a sediment cartridge. This certainly seems way cheaper than the SS plates that I've seen, and the polypropylene is AFAIK the same material as is used with plastic bucket fermenters, so backflushing with PBW/StarSan is doable. Has anybody tried this?