Topics

1

Kegging and Bottling / How much sugar to use after lagering a Baltic Porter

« on: December 21, 2012, 12:34:23 PM »

I've been lagering my Baltic Porter for about 2.5 months so far.  I plan to bottle my 5 gal. batch in 12 oz. bottles in a day or two.  How much sugar do I use?  I know there are calculators on the web for calculating the amount of sugar to use depending on how high the fermentation temperature got, but do these also work for beers that have been lagered?

Should I let the beer warm to room temperature for a day or two before bottling, or just bottle it cold?

Scott

2

Equipment and Software / Bucket opening tool

« on: April 12, 2012, 05:36:50 AM »

Does anyone use a bucket opening tool to open your fermentation bucket?  Every time I open my fermenter I think there has to be an easier way.

I have seen two different types, the red and the black.  Do either of these different styles work well for an ale pail? 

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Re-pitcing advice

« on: March 16, 2012, 05:48:25 AM »

This is my first attempt a reusing yeast for a second batch.  I would like to brew a 3 gallon batch of a Tripel (La Fin du Monde clone), about 9% ABV.  Should I pitch all of the solids into the Triple, solids from just one of the jars, or just the top white stuff of one or both jars?

I brewed a 3 gallon Belgian pale batch (Rare Vos clone) with WLP570, it ended up being 6% ABV, 1.060 OG; 1.014 FG.  I added about 1 pint of sanitized water to the yeast cake the bottom of the fermentation bucket and collected it in these two jars about two days ago.  I've kept them in the fridge. 

I was also thinking about also brewing a Dubble (Trois Pistoles clone, 3 gallon batch) in around a week or two.  Is it too ambitious to use just one jar for the Tripel and save the other for the Dubble?  I'm guessing it will be too hard on the yeast to re-pitch from the Tripel to the Dubble.

I've learned so much just lurking these boards, I'm eager to brew more beer. 

4

General Homebrew Discussion / Origins of lager yeast

« on: August 23, 2011, 05:19:12 AM »

Found an interesting article about the possible origins of lager yeast:  beech trees in Patagonia.

See the article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14592877

5

Kegging and Bottling / Cleaning Bottles - Soaking - How Often?

« on: April 17, 2011, 08:46:52 AM »

In the past I only cleaned the bottles when I first got them.  They were returnable, some with mold inside.  I have always just rinsed them out after drinking, so I figured that sanitizing before bottling was all I needed to do.  I recently bought some new beer bottles (the kind with beer included for free), and soaked them to clean off the labels.  They are squeaky clean now.  So I'm thinking about upping my standards and cleaning all my bottles before sanitizing.  What does everyone else do?

6

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Hop Calculations for Partial Boil

« on: April 08, 2011, 07:34:36 PM »

I will be brewing the BCS wheat beer recipe on page 192 tomorrow morning.  This is my first BCS recipe so I'm trying to match it as closely as possible.  But I'm not sure how to calculate how many oz of hops to use.  I'll be doing a partial boil of about 3 gallons (with a late addition of half the wheat extract), transfer most of it, then dilute up to 5.25 gallons.

The recipe calls for Hallertau 4% AA, 60 min, 0.8 oz which will give 13.1 IBU (when following the recipe exactly with a pre-boil volume of 7 gallons at 1.043.  Because I'll be doing a late addition of half the wheat extract I expect that my initial gravity will be about the same.  The hops I have are not 4% they are 3%.  I assume that I should add 1.07 oz (4% x 0.8 oz / 3% = 1.07 oz) if I was doing a full boil, but I'm doing a partial boil.  BCS seems to say that it does not matter that I'm diluting, but that just does not make sense.  Should I double the hop addition?  (I'm not a hop head, and I want to match the recipe as closely as possible.)

What do other partial boil late extract brewers do?  

7

Classifieds / Starter Kit Groupon Deal - until 3/27/2011

« on: March 25, 2011, 05:47:40 AM »

Midwest is offering a starter kit through Groupon for a half off until march 27.

If you are interested see:
http://www.groupon.com/deals/midwest-hydro-cincinnati-1?c=dnb&p=1

I have no affiliation with Groupon or Midwest Homebrewing.

Scott

8

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / What is the next step to improve my beer?

« on: February 12, 2011, 06:55:53 PM »

I'm a fairly new partial-boil extract brewer and would like to figure out the next step in improving the quality of my beer.  I am thinking about:
- making starters
- wort chillers
- fermentation temperature control
- full boils

What will likely give me the most improvement? Or is there something else that will improve the quality?  I am shying away from full boils because I cannot do them in my kitchen and don't care too much about hop efficiency.  There is not anything I can point to that I do not like about my beer, but that is probably because I'm just starting.

Scott