Messages

1111

The Pub / Re: What beer opened your eyes?

« on: December 05, 2011, 10:21:46 AM »

Reading through all this, I can remember buying Grant's Celtic Ale at American Liquors on Clark Street.

They did not keep it in the cooler, but in a stack on the right in the rear.

American is long since closed (too many sales to minors) and my daughters now take ballet in the old store front.

Grant's were a favorite back then.  Wish I could still get some.

We drank a lot of Grant's, Rogue, Guinness, Harp, Bass, Hacker-Pschorr and Sam Adam's back then.  I couldn't say which opened my eyes, but the Grant's is the most memorable.

1112

Equipment and Software / Re: Underground wort piping

« on: December 05, 2011, 08:29:55 AM »

I agree with Tom.  Trust the electrician.  Have a second guy look at it if you think you need another opinion.

I'm neither an electrician nor an electrical engineer.  I'm just going by the service size that's been required by our tenants, but that doesn't necessarily translate to what you need.

1113

Kegging and Bottling / Re: bottling from a keg

« on: December 02, 2011, 09:02:07 PM »

That's my typical MO.  But it doesn't answer the OP...

Good advice nonetheless.

1114

Kegging and Bottling / Re: bottling from a keg

« on: December 02, 2011, 08:41:14 AM »

I suppose one could cap with oxygen scavenging caps...  I don't know if there would be any benefit.

1115

Kegging and Bottling / Re: bottling from a keg

« on: December 02, 2011, 08:20:29 AM »

Not just "cheap" but likely can be put together from stuff you have lying around.

If it doesn't work out for you or you prefer to spend the cash, there's nothing lost in starting out with the picnic tap and bottling wand approach.

Also, if you're really concerned about O2, you can purge the bottles from your tank prior to filling.  Put a QD on the gas line and use an air-gun attachment from a compressor kit.  You can stick a hose on this to get it to the bottom of the bottle.  You could also T the gas line if you want to.

Since I have all this lying around anyway, it's essentially free for me.  Plus, I don't bottle enough to warrant the investment in a beer gun anyway.

1116

Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Not Digging This Pumpkin Ale.

« on: December 01, 2011, 06:36:07 PM »

You can.  Do some searches on here for pumpkin, there are many threads.  Any squash, or even sweet potatoes or yams, will work similarly.

Most often people peel them, chunk them, and roast them for awhile.  Then add them to the mash.

If you're doing all extract, you can add them to the boil (use a bag) and you should get color and flavor.

Spices can be added to the boil or the fermenter.  I prefer the boil, but I've personally grown weary of spiced ales.  I'm sure I'll come around again in a year or more.

1117

Kegging and Bottling / Re: bottling from a keg

« on: December 01, 2011, 06:23:13 PM »

Simplest way to do it is stick a piece of racking cane in a picnic tap.

Release some pressure from your keg and off you go.  For growlers, this works like a charm.

For bottles, you can get a drilled stopper that will fit the bottle (I want to say #2 but honestly have no idea off the top of my head).

Push the stopper in the bottle and "burp" it now and then as you fill to release pressure.

This works best if you chill the bottles as that will reduce foaming.

1118

Wood/Casks / Re: Barrel source?

« on: December 01, 2011, 02:21:05 PM »

It's simply marketing.  They prefer to call it Tennessee Whiskey and claim that it is different.

Same basic stuff.

Tom - I should have caught myself on the whiskey/bourbon deal with the new barrels.  How could you have white whiskey if it had to be aged?  A little bit of knowledge...

1119

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: amazon sale

« on: December 01, 2011, 01:25:40 PM »

Sounds like Monty Python.

"The third castle burnt down, fell over and sank into the swamp.  But the fourth castle is still standing today!"

I've had no issues with my Bayou Classic kettle.  It's also much sturdier than some of the other older kettles I have kicking around.

1120

Classifieds / Re: whisky barrels need homes

« on: December 01, 2011, 12:36:54 PM »

Do you know of a better way to reach him than a PM on this site?

I PM'd him when he first posted, but didn't pursue it too hard as I got the sense he prefers to do bulk shipments.

Like I said, I can only use two.  I suppose I could hassle a LHBS to see if they can put together a bigger order.

1121

Wood/Casks / Re: Barrel source?

« on: December 01, 2011, 12:23:47 PM »

I was just checking out their website.  Rumble sounds like it could be tasty and looks like it has been barrel aged.

Since it's not a whiskey, the "new oak barrel" requirement wouldn't apply.

It makes a lot of economic sense for them to find a way to reuse the barrels before they get rid of them.

1122

Wood/Casks / Re: Barrel source?

« on: December 01, 2011, 12:11:57 PM »

Looking at the woodenville site the one difference is that woodenville only uses each barrel for 1 fill while baclones uses each for 2 fills so that might make a difference. I am counting on it making some differnce as I have a BW in there for nearly three weeks now and it's going to be super oakey if that second fill didn't strip more of the oak.

This is curious.  It's my understanding that to be considered "whiskey" the spirits must be aged in a new oak barrel.

This would preclude a second use of the barrels for whiskey.  Are they (Balcones) making/aging other spirits in the barrels?

I guess you never specified that it was a whiskey barrel, but that was my assumption.

1123

Equipment and Software / Re: Underground wort piping

« on: December 01, 2011, 12:04:54 PM »

You can look into aluminum wire, rather than copper.  You need to go with a thicker gauge, but it's still typically cheaper.

I'm not sure if you can use aluminum for distribution, I know it's used for main service lines.

1124

Equipment and Software / Re: Underground wort piping

« on: December 01, 2011, 09:54:32 AM »

I don't own anything, I lease space owned by my company to a Subway as well as other retailers.  Subways, by the way, seem like a license to print money.

FWIW, overhead electric service would be significantly cheaper if they do it there.  The could bring a line from the transformer (assuming it has capacity and hopefully it's close by) and set a meter at your brewery building.

Here, I believe the cost of bringing the overhead line to the meter is not something they can charge you for, as they are obligate to provide the service.  If, however, they "need" to upgrade equipment to provide your service they can and do pass that on to you.

1125

Equipment and Software / Re: Underground wort piping

« on: December 01, 2011, 09:46:28 AM »

Our base electric scope for retail spaces is a 200 amp service.  This covers lighting, hot water heater, HVAC, etc.  Everything is electric.

For a 1000 SF Subway sandwich shop, we upgraded to 400 amp.  Again, everything is electric including their ovens.

I'm not sure how big your brewery is, but you don't want to go and size the electric to the minimum you need.  You ought to plan on excess capacity as adding it later is expensive.

You are correct that this is not the type of power you want to be hooking and un-hooking with temporary cables.  Set aside the risk of electrocution, those would massive cables that require special connections.  I doubt running these as a temporary umbilical above ground would meet any sort of code.

FWIW, adding 400 amps right now, going from a main electric room to switch gear and a meter bank, is going to cost us over $5000 alone.  There's a lot more power and equipment there than you need and it is also requiring ComEd engineers to layout and approve.  If the switch gear is too far from the electric room, the main lines need to be encased in concrete.  My point being, electric can snowball.