Messages

3241

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Came up short!!!!!!

« on: June 14, 2011, 11:02:41 AM »

Seems like the boiloff amount is reasonable, if a little high but explainable by low humidity, surface area. The big question here is still the disapearing sugar. as tomsawyer pointed out, the post boil gravity should have been much higher. Unless there was ALOT more wort left in the hops/break material in the kettle post boil. if there was 1.25 gallons left at the bottom of the kettle instead of the stated .25 that would work out just about right. 430 points / 6 is 1.071

**EDIT** combine that with the volume increase/decrease caused by temp differncial and you get closer to that 1.5 gallons per hour number as well.

3242

The Pub / Re: for Denny

« on: June 14, 2011, 09:37:04 AM »

Wow...so much hippie hate.... 

Don't worry Denny, I love hippies. Come to think of it, if I hadn't been born 20 years to early I would have been a hippie. certainly spent enough time sitting on my own hair to qualify. never had a trust fund though.

3243

The Pub / Re: Read any good book lately?

« on: June 14, 2011, 07:59:49 AM »

The Devil in the White City

Funny you mention that one.  It's the book I plan to start reading on the plane to S.D. tomorrow.

morticaixavier - my wife has every Terry Pratchett book in existence.  I couldn't get into it myself.

I find that the audible versions are a little more fun, and, at least with the discworld series, it gets much better in the later books. The characters really come alive as he gets to know them better.

3244

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: French Saison yeast quirky?

« on: June 14, 2011, 07:51:13 AM »

It is a bit quirky in that it likes to wear a beret, grow a pencil thin moustache and smoke Gauloise cigarettes...other than, no.....

mmm gauloise. Back in my smoking days those were a fav. stank to high heaven though

3245

The Pub / Re: Read any good book lately?

« on: June 13, 2011, 09:06:34 PM »

Just finished 'Incognito" by  eagleman(?) about the brain and neuroscience.

Also just finished the Disc world series by terry pratchett, I think at least, it was book 32 or 34 or something, "Making money"

3246

Ingredients / Re: Lateral hop shoots

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:54:11 PM »

Very awesome! Thanks a bunch for the ideas. Now to go give these buggers a good spraying!

Just remember, whether organic or not, more is not necessarily better.

+1000

3247

Ingredients / Re: Guessing the hop variety

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:52:13 PM »

That's a good point.  Funny, the picture he sent me had something unfamilliar growing from the plant, could be seeds?

the seeds grow inside the cones. If they grow at all. Each little leafy bit on the cone (Bract) hides one seed in a fertilized cone.

3248

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Two-toned Krausen

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:50:14 PM »

not exactly sure what you mean by two tone, but if you mean the dark green scum on top and then the tan or brownish/whitish foam underneath that is not an infection. It is hope residue. Some people think you should try to get rid of it, I never do and don't worry about it. If you have blow off you get rid of alot of it. Or if you are fermenting in buckets you can skim it off with a santized spoon.

3249

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Came up short!!!!!!

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:38:53 PM »

you could get the temp a little over 212 with a strong sugar syrup. I don't know exactly how much above 212, not much I would guess but some

3250

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Full Boil Process ?

« on: June 13, 2011, 02:51:27 PM »

I would add that most of the time it is not necesary to do a secondary at all, except, possibly, when dry hopping. and I am not sure why you would only add the 2 gallons for steeping except that it will get to 170 quicker. you might want to hold back say 1 gallon for 'sparging' the steeping grains.

the 1.5 gallon boil off is something you will have to figure out for your system. I generally only get about 1 gallon per hour boil off.

Boiling the 6.5-7 gallons in a 7.5 gallon pot you will want to watch that boild VERY carefully as you are in danger of a boil over until it settles down, also when adding your 60 minute hops there can be a secondary foam up. you can use various foam control products but I generally just keep an eye on it and stir when it starts to get out of hand. I have seen people use a spray bottle of water to control boil overs and that might work as well.

and welcome to the forum. you will like it here, it's nice.

3251

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Came up short!!!!!!

« on: June 13, 2011, 01:06:33 PM »

to calibrate a hydrometer get some distilled water. that should read 1.000 at 60 degrees.

3252

Equipment and Software / Re: Bigger fermenter

« on: June 13, 2011, 12:11:51 PM »

Just remember going up on the size of fermenter creates possible new needs. Foremost- will you still be able to control the temp? Can you move the fermenter when it is full? Things like that.

Very good points.  Right now everything I do is completely by hand.  Cooled wort goes into the fermenter one scoop at a time through a strainer which is slow but does aerate it somewhat.  Biggest challenge would likely be elevating it to siphon out the finished beer.  I don't have any pumps and I'd like to avoid them but I may have to find one if I go with something bigger.  

As for temp control, right now I'm brewing at ambient temps in my basement which are about 62 in winter, 70 in summer.  90% of what I brew are ales so I should be ok and I can always go back to my carboys for the occassional lager if I have to.

Thanks

not sure about this but I would guess that if your 5 gallon batches in carboy/buckets get a 5-8 degree bump above ambient a 15 gallon batch is going to be more like 10-15 degrees bump. even at 62 in winter your pushing it at that point even for ales. even for belgians

3253

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: How NOT to Brew Beer

« on: June 13, 2011, 11:32:28 AM »

watch, this will be the best beer you ever brewed and you will be trhowing ingredients all over your floor for years trying to duplicate it.

3254

All Things Food / Re: What's For Dinner?

« on: June 13, 2011, 11:30:08 AM »

Udon. That's a great idea! Never thought to make it.

it's nice, like I said, it's a little sticky so harder to work with than an egg and semolina pasta but it's dead simple

I use about .3-.5 buckwheat and the rest AP, you could probably go all the way to 100% buckwheat but I havn't tried that. and then enough water to get your texture, CAUTION: you can end up with ALOT of pasta this way so add the water and stop while it still seems pretty dry and let it rest cause as the flour hydrates it gets stickier and if you end up having to add more flour it gets a little ridiculous.

3255

All Things Food / Re: What's For Dinner?

« on: June 13, 2011, 10:10:51 AM »

I find when I use 100% semolina it is a harder dough but it doesn't rebound as much under the rollers so it's easier to get into shape. the higher the percentage of 'normal' flour the more bounce back after rolling so you have to let it rest more. in that way it's easier. However I have the kitchenaid pasta roller set so I don't have to hand crank anything. I like the final texture of the 100% semolina much more so I pretty much always use that.

When I am making udon it takes forever and gets really tough cause the buckwheat gets really sticky and I have to keep dusting it with more flour.