Messages

61

Pimp My System / Re: Kegerator Showcase

« on: September 04, 2010, 05:05:59 PM »

I, like many around here, found a chest freezer on Craigslist and converted it to be a kegerator. My last stand up fridge had 5 taps, so I needed to get a freezer that held at least the same number.

I wanted the collar to be a more "finished," so I covered the 2x6 rough pine collar with a cherry-stained 1x6 pine finish boards cut at a mitre. I trimmed out the rest of the collar with pine corner trim and 1/2 in' trim on the inside:



Actually, if I pushed it, this one could hold eight taps, providing I use the 3 gallon ball lock kegs to sit on the compressor hump. Otherwise, I've got room for one more 5 gallon corney.

The CO2 tank is on the outside and feeds two 3-way manifolds. Tubing is secured to the collar via plumbing collars.

Two day project. Easy.

62

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Oktoberfest Gravity (WLP820/WLP833)

« on: August 30, 2010, 02:43:59 PM »

My fear with adding some S-05 or other yeast that is not present in your base beer, is that it may add character that is not desirable.  If you can keep with the same yeast strain, your results will be more repeatable.

Agreed. I'm going to wait it out for another few days. I have a similar Bavarian yeast in storage, if my FG hasn't budged, I'll consider using it to bring things down, possibly using the krausen technique.

Thanks for the help!

UPDATE

I racked to kegs for lagering yesterday and the gravity dropped to 1.016. I took a taste and didn't find that it was cloying. Malty, but not cloying. Nice. After wiping the sweat from my furrowed brow and taking a deep, cleansing, breath, I set the kegs to lagering.

Tap date will be my birthday 10.10.10, the same day I'm brewing something special for the occasion: Ten Cubed.  10 malts, 10 hop additions, and 10% ABV (not to mention 10X2 IBUs and 10 gallons).

Thanks to everyone for their words of advice.

Geoff

63

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 8/27 Edition

« on: August 26, 2010, 09:45:07 PM »

Finally getting to lager my Oktoberfest. Making an Italian Pinot Grigio  from a World Vineyard kit to get familiar with making wine. Looking into making a common cider and a melomel - anyone have any favorite recipes/yeast/advice for either (not to hijack the thread)?

So, like dhacker, not much.  All this and a Fantasy Football draft to boot. 

64

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 8/20 Edition

« on: August 23, 2010, 03:23:21 PM »

Fetchez la Vache (Biere de Garde)

Love the name

Go away or I will taunt you a second time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs&p=705E1C45AD424583

65

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 8/20 Edition

« on: August 23, 2010, 02:46:15 PM »

Thirty gallons brewed this weekend:

Vader (Cascadian Dark Ale)
Fetchez la Vache (Biere de Garde)
Belgo-Rouge IPA (Belgian Red IPA)

Whew! I need a nap.

66

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Oktoberfest Gravity (WLP820/WLP833)

« on: August 23, 2010, 02:35:41 PM »

My fear with adding some S-05 or other yeast that is not present in your base beer, is that it may add character that is not desirable.  If you can keep with the same yeast strain, your results will be more repeatable.

Agreed. I'm going to wait it out for another few days. I have a similar Bavarian yeast in storage, if my FG hasn't budged, I'll consider using it to bring things down, possibly using the krausen technique.

Thanks for the help!

67

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Oktoberfest Gravity (WLP820/WLP833)

« on: August 23, 2010, 11:52:06 AM »

One you Rack off the yeast cake, your done. (In my experiance).  What was the OG and SG so far?

Thanks wingnut. My OG was 1.058 and the latest reading I have is 1.018.

Since my post I've been thinking. Dangerous practice, I know, but nonetheless, I've concluded to ramp up the temperature to 65 degrees F and swirl. However, I'm still open to any other ideas...

Geoff

68

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Oktoberfest Gravity (WLP820/WLP833)

« on: August 23, 2010, 09:07:12 AM »

Hello all,

I'm having the same issues with attenuation in my Oktoberfest, but with a different yeast strain. I opted to use Wyeast 2633 - Octoberfest Lager Blend.

According to Wyeast, their Oktoberfest strain is a "a blend of lager strains designed to produce a rich, malty, complex and full bodied Octoberfest style beer. Attenuates well while still leaving plenty of malt character and mouthfeel. Low in sulfur production."

Unfortunately, after 3 weeks in primary (2 at 50 degrees F and 1 at 60 degrees F), I'm at 69% attenuation. The yeast's purported attenuation range is between 73-77%.

Has anyone had any similar issues with this yeast? I'm not sure of the source. If anyone has info, please post.

As far as fermentablity of the wort, I did a triple decoction, so I don't think that it's an issue (see the brewing log for the recipe)

Based on what I've read in this thread and from other sources, I have some options:

• Gently swirl the carboy to get yeast back in suspension and wait it out.
• Ramp up the temperature to 65 degrees F to get the yeasties to consume the last of the sugars, swirl, and wait it out
• Take a sample and do a "forced fermentation" to see if the are, indeed, any fermentable sugars left.
• Add a fresh inoculation of an attenuative yeast like US-05 or WLP001, swirl, and wait it out.
• Rack to a secondary to see if any further fermentation will occur. If not, cut my losses.

Thanks,

Geoff

69

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 8/13 Edition

« on: August 17, 2010, 07:09:23 PM »

If SWMBO concurs, I'll be doing a double-dog-dare brew day on Sunday:

Brew 1: Fetchez la Vache - a Biere de Garde - Mash in at 9:00; boil by 11:00
Brew 2: Vader - Cascadian Dark Ale - Mash in at 11:30; boil by 1:30

Gotta have some fall/winter brews on tap! 

Welp, that didn't happen due to a mishap with my water filter. Trying again this weekend. Same schedule, different day...

70

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What do you want your AHA Governing Committee to do for you?

« on: August 15, 2010, 11:13:21 AM »

Thank you for letting a lot of people know about your software.
Just for curiosity
What license did you realized it under?

It's under the GPL license from the Open Source Initiative. More info at: http://www.brewcompetition.com/index.php?page=license

Cheers!

71

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What do you want your AHA Governing Committee to do for you?

« on: August 12, 2010, 03:03:54 PM »

Geoff, that's great!  My club has been looking for something like this.  Thank you so much!

We'll definitely look into Brew Competition Online Entry for next year's Buffalo County Fair Comp!!!  Thanks Geoff!!!

My pleasure. We implemented version 1.0 for my club's competition last year - that helped work out some bugs in the program, but on the whole, it worked like a charm for collecting entries and entry fees.

Since then, I've been working closely with Bruce Buerger of the Beer Barons of Milwaukee to get some features and functionality implemented for use in the Schooner Homebrew Championship, which is registering right now.

Spread the word!

Thanks,

Geoff

72

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What do you want your AHA Governing Committee to do for you?

« on: August 12, 2010, 12:28:32 PM »

I would like to see the AHA make the competition software used for the National Competition available as shareware to the clubs.

I would like to second this sentiment.  Here are some ideas for requirements.

- Accept online entry data and output to a standard format.
- Output category winners list in PDF, Excel, or some other standard electronic format.
- Output points by brewer and club for use by regional competition circuit to keep totals for total brewer points, club points and team points.
- Interface with PayPal or other payment options to gather data.
- Be able to select categories for a competition that does not include all BJCP styles and/or groups styles in different categories.  We have at least four such competitions in the Lone Star Circuit(Bluebonnet, Celtic, Limbo and Dixie Cup).

If I may, there is already this type of software freely available to clubs that does most of the requested items above. It's called Brew Competition Online Entry. I created and maintain the code just for this reason.

Go to http://www.brewcompetition.com to test drive an installation. Clubs can download the entire source code and install it on their web servers OR clubs can have their competition entry website hosted by brewcompetion.com for a very minimal fee.

See also:
Features
Hosting Information
Order Hosting
Download at Google Code
Download at SourceForge

Please contact me directly with any questions at prost@brewcompetition.com.

Thanks!

~Geoff

73

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 8/13 Edition

« on: August 12, 2010, 12:19:50 PM »

If SWMBO concurs, I'll be doing a double-dog-dare brew day on Sunday:

Brew 1: Fetchez la Vache - a Biere de Garde - Mash in at 9:00; boil by 11:00
Brew 2: Vader - Cascadian Dark Ale - Mash in at 11:30; boil by 1:30

Gotta have some fall/winter brews on tap! 

~Geoff

74

Yeast and Fermentation / Wyeast Oktoberfest (2633) - Suitable for a Doppelbock?

« on: August 12, 2010, 12:03:04 PM »

I've got an straight up Oktoberfest working its way now, but since I've been planning on brewing a Doppelbock, it got me thinking: why not reuse the Oktoberfest yeast for it?

According to Wyeast, their Oktoberfest strain is a "a blend of lager strains designed to produce a rich, malty, complex and full bodied Octoberfest style beer. Attenuates well while still leaving plenty of malt character and mouthfeel. Low in sulfur production."

Sounds like a great option to me for a darker-end Doppelbock (see the base recipe at http://brewlog.zkdigital.com/index.php?page=recipeDetail&filter=geoff&id=157).

Can anyone think of a reason not to?

~Geoff

75

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Nov 11-17?

« on: November 12, 2009, 11:07:50 AM »

I'm diving into an Imperial IPA based upon the Gordon clone that Jamil and Mike McDole detailed on a recent "Can You Brew It" podcast.

Here's the planned log: http://brewlog.zkdigital.com/index.php?page=brewBlogDetail&&filter=geoff&id=169

Pitching it straight atop the yeast cake my Pale American Whiteboy is currently sitting on.

Now, if the weather will cooperate and not be snowing too much, I'll be good.