Messages

61

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brewstrong

« on: April 27, 2013, 08:10:30 AM »

it bugs me how Jamil is obviously making s*** up on the fly in response to questions and everyone on the BN just treats it as gospel

That really bothers me too. It isn't like it's a call-in show. If you have the questions ahead of time, how can you not research the answers? I don't listen to all the shows, but it seems like there's at least one factual error per episode.

62

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Observation

« on: April 26, 2013, 10:04:17 AM »

There's only one way to settle this. I look forward to seeing you all at the reenactment in Philadelphia.

63

Going Pro / Re: Logo Feedback

« on: April 26, 2013, 09:51:00 AM »

Step 2) Make beer that's as good Dogfish Head's

Can I just keep making good beer instead? Or do I have to bitter it with the saliva of an endangered South American lizard?

At any rate, my point was that branding that's totally unrelated to beer doesn't preclude success in this industry.

64

Going Pro / Re: Logo Feedback

« on: April 26, 2013, 08:39:48 AM »

If you're going to have a non-relevant logo, it needs to have a good story, or be a really good logo. ...
But it's kind of a terrible name and I'd change it before you sink a lot of money/effort into the brand. ...
At least that name is relevant to the place and product, though it's also sort of gibberish.

I thought I wandered into a thread about Dogfish Head for a second...

65

Going Pro / Re: Brewing Education

« on: April 25, 2013, 09:32:01 AM »

I think that the brewing science part of it is relatively easy. You already have Kunze; pick up a few more books and - as long as you're diligent about studying - within a few months you'll know everything the instructors in a brewing science course would know. You've already demonstrated that you can learn and retain information.

In my first job (5 bbl brewpub), I ended up wishing I had some training. The head brewer left after two weeks and it was sink-or-swim after that. The procedures are all the same as at home (depending on how you brew), but learning the equipment and SOPs will inevitably take some time. From that perspective, I would choose a few days here and there over a week, or even five, at a single brewery. I interviewed an ABG grad who didn't know how to disassemble and clean a ball valve. No big deal if your brewery has all butterflies, but this is the real world.

I've learned something new in every brewery I've been in, even if I haven't worked there. No matter how good you are, there are some things that you just won't think of on your own. I think your plan of getting as much exposure as possible, and then possibly following that up with the ABG course, is a good one.

66

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Observation

« on: April 25, 2013, 08:37:53 AM »

I would put an average homebrew up against most commercial stuff.

I don't think you hang out with average home brewers.

Seriously, the statistic the AHA uses is one million people per year brew at least once. If you only brew once a year you can't really expect to make *great* beer. So I'd wager half of all homebrew is downright bad - these are the people who get discouraged and never brew again. Then there are the people who brew like I play golf; every third shot looks good enough that I'm encouraged to try again. And then you get to the minority (it can't possibly be more than 50,000 or so) who are consistently making *great* beer.

In pro brewing, you have essentially the same division, albeit hopefully without the people who brew once and give up. But in the brewing industry the ratio is flipped - 93% of the beers on the market are adjunct lagers that are, technically, flawless. Granted, there are a lot of pro brewers who aren't consistently making great beer, but they're a minority, and by and large the market does a pretty good job of shutting them down.

So while the absolute best (and worst) beers could well be homebrews, I don't think an average homebrew would stack up very well.

67

Equipment and Software / Re: Boiling question for propane burners

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:38:54 AM »

10-15% evaporation is plenty for what we're looking to accomplish in the boil. Any more than that and you're just wasting propane.

As far as temperatures, water/wort is an excellent conductor. The kettle should be at the same temperature as the wort within a few seconds after you stop applying heat. You might want to leave it out of the tub for a minute or so to play it safe.

68

Going Pro / Re: Logo Feedback

« on: April 24, 2013, 10:57:08 AM »

Well, I'm definitely not asking what y'all think of my logo now.

I agree that #1 is the best. #12 (the bottle cap) is also pretty distinct, but would probably have to be a solid color to be reproducible. Anything with a "weathered" look isn't going to translate well (knit logo for shirts or hats?).

I like Tom's suggestion too. If you're going to be a bug, be a badass bug.

69

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Old Slurry - Building Back Up.

« on: April 24, 2013, 10:48:10 AM »

I think this is doable but you're definitely pushing the clock. You might have to pitch Monday or Tuesday.

Viability should be in the 30-60% range, so let's say ~25 billion viable cells per 15 mL tablespoon. I'd put 1 tbsp in a relatively small amount of wort, say 250 mL, let it ferment out (hopefully within 24 hours), then smell and taste as a quick contamination check. If it seems OK step it up to 1 L, then 4-5 L.

You could start with a larger amount of slurry and do a smaller starter (or fewer steps), but this approach has the advantage of keeping the overall viability above 90-95%. A 2 L starter wouldn't get you anywhere near 650 billion cells anyway.

Once it's all said and done, what I usually do is pitch the yeast, then rinse out the vessel with some sterile tap water and store what's left for future propagations.

70

Ingredients / Re: Interesting Hop Article

« on: April 23, 2013, 12:30:01 PM »

I think the idea, at least based on this article, is that a few hours at room temperature will vaporize the myrcene, keeping it out of the fermenter.

Hmmm, 500 lb. of dry hops in a 5 gal. batch.....makes my mouth water! 

I brewed a DIPA this weekend that has more hops in a 6 gal batch than we use in 16 bbl of American Wheat!

71

Ingredients / Re: Interesting Hop Article

« on: April 23, 2013, 09:14:05 AM »

I found it interesting that he recomended to take your hops out of cold storage 24 hours before using them for dry hoping.

I think it would be fair to say that attitudes toward myrcene have shifted in the past 15 years, at least on this side of the pond.

72

Ingredients / Interesting Hop Article

« on: April 22, 2013, 06:10:39 PM »

I was looking for something else and stumbled on a pretty good (possibly dated) summary of hop breeding and the parentage of some common hops. I haven't even managed to crack open my copy of Hops yet, so maybe this is all old news.

http://www.brewerssupplygroup.com/FileCabinet/TheBreeding_Varieties%5b1%5d.pdf

Edit: Oops. Fixed the link.

73

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Bottling Yeast Choice for Imperial Stout

« on: April 22, 2013, 12:14:14 PM »

It's not so strong that you need to worry about the yeast.

+1. I voted Nottingham for the high flocculation. From what I hear BRY-97 is more flocculent than US-05 (what isn't?!) so if you have that handy go that route.

74

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: another brew pot question - about size...

« on: April 20, 2013, 07:25:38 AM »

The rule of thumb in professional brewing is 50% extra volume compared to the cast wort volume (not the packaging volume). Since evaporation rates are typically so much higher in home brewing, I'd say 50% is about the minimum. I do 6 gal batches and a 10 gal kettle gets uncomfortably full.

75

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Yeast Starter Cells Created

« on: April 19, 2013, 08:48:00 AM »

Is there a way to know how many cells I'm really gaining from a yeast starter?

Not without a cytometer, no. But Kai's done some experiments recently for different inoculation rates and oxygenation techniques and found that the variation isn't all that large. Roughly speaking, every liter of 10°P starter wort will grow about 100 billion cells using a stir plate, and about half that without one.

http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2012/10/08/yeast-growth-experiments-some-early-results/