Messages

631

All Things Food / Re: Beer dinner pairings help

« on: January 07, 2013, 01:26:32 PM »

I prefer contrast in most beer parings, especially desert. I think a slightly tart wheat beer or even a not too tart sour beer would be great with that desert. The richer the desert, the better a tart beer can clear the palate for each next bite.

632

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Sort of a pole

« on: January 07, 2013, 01:09:29 PM »

what type of pole is this? A fireman's pole? A striper's pole? Or is it actually sort of a poll?

It's sort of a pole as compared to actually being a poll.
3 weeks usually.

633

Ingredients / Re: Any ideas where to get citron/bergamot peel?

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:26:26 AM »

I wasn't sure if the candied peels were sulfured or not.

Probably not. Raisins, apricots and such are sulfured to keep enzymes from browning them. Candied peel would have any enzymes deactivated during the candying process.

634

Ingredients / Re: Dry Spicing a Wit

« on: January 07, 2013, 10:20:12 AM »

Maybe its the variety, but I get lemon not orange from my coriander.  You could boil more spices/peel in a little water, let it cool and add it to the beer.  I think you'd get the best and fastest flavor extraction this way and boiling will sanitize and drive off oxygen.

635

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Carbonation quandry

« on: January 03, 2013, 11:12:43 AM »

This all assumes that the sugars are 100-percent fermented, which is a pretty good assumption, but you can see that when you move to other priming agents (DME, LME, brown sugar, molasses, etc.) you start to get more hand-wavy because now each of your grams of priming agent has more and more unknown unfermentables in them (water content, probably the biggest).

For using liquids to prime (I've used apple juice concentrate and maple syrup) I've had luck using the nutrition chart to get grams of sugar / serving and multiplying to get the amount needed for priming (eg. if 1tbsp has 20 grams sugar and I want 5oz of priming sugar (140 grams) then I use 7 tablespoons to prime)
 
Interesting about the different CO2 volumes from different sugars. I had no idea. I'd agree the 10% might not be noticed, especially if you don't have tight control over the amount of CO2 already dissolved in the beer.

636

The Pub / Re: NY Times article on Brett and Beer

« on: January 03, 2013, 09:38:57 AM »

That's pretty nice coverage for a unique, niche segment of beers.

637

Zymurgy / Re: eZymurgy Q's

« on: January 03, 2013, 06:57:26 AM »

The eZymurgy apps are not yet available, but they are coming. It's proven more challenging to make this happen than we anticipated, but we do have work underway and expect to launch sometime around April.

Nice!

638

Events / Re: Clear plastic tasting cups - cheap!

« on: January 03, 2013, 06:50:10 AM »

That's great! Finding good cups drove me crazy last year and I still have 1000 cups sitting next to my desk that I bought for competition but couldn't use. They are beautifully crystal clear but have a horrible phenolic-plastic smell.

639

Other Fermentables / Re: Dry-hopped cider tasting notes

« on: January 03, 2013, 06:45:25 AM »

I really like 1.002 - 1.005 FG for dry cider. It's still what people identify as dry but the body and flavor are much better. Below this point and you need a boatload of tannins to prop it up.  Definately experiment with backsweetening, even a tiny bit makes a nice improvement.
 
Pretty cool idea. I might try dry hopping some cider myself.

640

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Carbonation quandry

« on: January 03, 2013, 06:23:20 AM »

Just keep in mind that whatever amount you used for corn sugar, you only need 80% as much of beet or cane sugar, as it's a little "stronger".

Is that 80% by volume or weight? Or both?

641

Questions about the forum? / Re: Child board for sour/wild fermentation?

« on: January 02, 2013, 02:07:42 PM »

Since the board has opened (Nov 2009) it has had about one new thread per day. I wouldn't call that crowded. It might attract some new users though by highlighting the forum as a place for sour beer questions - that might be good. I'm thinking outloud now. And by outloud I mean typing quietly.

642

Ingredients / Re: Combination of hops to create an "orange" flavor

« on: January 02, 2013, 01:49:50 PM »

Coriander is what gives Wit much of its orange character. I'vE heard to be wary of the store bought stuff though and find plump indian varieties.

I always thought coriander is more lemony than orangy.

643

Events / Re: Need suggestions for improving County Fair booth

« on: January 02, 2013, 12:43:08 PM »

You're right. Bottles of beer have poor display quality. I'd have a list of winners by category. Include the winners name and the beer's name if they included it on the entry sheet.  Anything else you can get to add personality to the winners will help.  For the rest of the booth I'd concentrate on using it to recruit new homebrewers.
 
This is separate from the competition though. Most people enter competitions for the feedback so if they're not getting it they'll stop entering. We have bjcp judges traveling 1.5 hours or more to judge at our state fair competition. Just treat them well once they get there!

644

Events / Re: NHC Hospitality suite & Club Night -- How much beer????

« on: January 02, 2013, 12:30:21 PM »

Getting excited about this event.  We have a couple club members that will help out on club night, but are unable to attend the full conference.  Do all club night volunteers need to be paid conference attendees if they will only be at club night?

Pretty sure they'd need to pay since they'll have access to all the club night booths. There is a social's only option registration option (at least there was last year). I don't know what the cost is, but that should be coming out soon.

645

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Growth of Homebrewing/Microbreweries

« on: January 02, 2013, 10:06:54 AM »

That's a dumb way to do business.

I didn't say it was smart. Maybe you can get going as a nano this way, but you're screwed if you want to expand. It's bad if part of your business model is "Don't grow".