Messages

3256

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.

3257

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.

3258

Equipment and Software / Re: Bigger fermenter

« on: June 13, 2011, 09:09:09 AM »

you can absolutly do that. I have NO idea how you go about it though.

I guy in my brew club has exactly that as his fermenter. He is a welder by trade though so he has some skills that I lack. I am sur eyou could find instructions on the web

3259

Ingredients / Re: Lateral hop shoots

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:54:11 AM »

EHall,

Great info, I am taking that home with me.

3260

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Recipe Development

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:43:29 AM »

although I am NOT an expert my process goes something like this

Get an idea for a beer
Search the interwebs for as many difference recipes as I can find for that style
Try to distill the basics of the style i.e. what specialty malts in what proportions do I see fairly commonly
simplify everything (I tend towards very simple malt bills at least to start with)
decide how much I want to diverge from the basic pattern I have discerned.
create a starting point recipe.
Post it here for feedback.
tweak, brew, tweak (iterate endlessly)

That being said I have never entered a comp and have only gotten some feedback from the brew club so all my recipes might be nasty, although I think some of the best feedback is from non-trained tasters as, while they may not be able to pick out particular off flavours by name, they can tell you if a beer is tasty and if they would want to drink more of it.

3261

Ingredients / Re: Lateral hop shoots

« on: June 13, 2011, 07:54:49 AM »

until the cones start to set you can probably get good results with a dishsoap/veg oil mix, just enough soap to get the oil and water to emulsify. The oils kill the adults and the eggs so you might be able to knock the infextation down if you start soon. after cones start you shouldn't use anything but cold water and as the cones get bigger you just have to hope that the lady bugs and healthy growth rates will outrun the critters.

3262

Ingredients / Re: Hop life span?

« on: June 13, 2011, 07:48:31 AM »

We have them growing wild around here from former hop farms.  At least one of the farms stopped growing hops sometime before 1904, but you can still find and harvest hops in the area.  We made a CAP from the hops a few years ago.  The point being that they can survive a long time, and if you take a cutting and treat it well you should get a good crop.

I wonder if the USDA Hop Research Station in Corvallis knows about these. Is there any interest in "heirloom" hop varieties like there is for heirloom fruits and veggies?

there is starting to be. One of the hops I have been playing around with lately is Ivanhoe, which is an old heirloom nugget variety from Northern California that one grower up here has revived. it's really nice, lots of tropical fruit.

3263

Ingredients / Distillery Malt

« on: June 12, 2011, 04:00:52 PM »

So I have been searching for Organic Malted Rye with little or no luck until today I came across this

http://www.weyermann.de/usa/brprodukte_neu.asp?idkat=80&umenue=yes&idmenue=269&sprache=10

From weyermann. But it is described as distillery malt.

So my question is what's the diff? Is distillery malt malted differently that the stuff we are used to useing? is it less well modified? Overall can I use it to make beer? If yes but... what's the but... do I have to do a protein rest?

**EDIT** and, after reading the website a little more closely, anyone want to go in on 16 25 kilo sacks of organic malted rye?

3264

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Anise Extract

« on: June 12, 2011, 02:45:04 PM »

+1 to adding a little and trying it out.

You might keg and carb, pour a pint, add a drop or two of extract, taste, repeat until satisfied and then scale up. 5 drops to 1 pint = 200 drops to 40 pints (195 to 39 pints I guess)

3265

Equipment and Software / Re: How many times do you use a racking cane?

« on: June 12, 2011, 11:48:01 AM »

CO2 should be harmless.  I'm pretty sure it's going to force the carboy cap off of the carboy before the carboy will break.  I might have to test that with one of my bad carboys.

carefully!

I wonder how many PSI are you creating with by blowing into the sterile filter method of starting the syphon? granted it's not constant but...

3266

Beer Travel / Re: Love this board

« on: June 11, 2011, 11:55:18 AM »

Hey just thought I'd chime in here. First off, I saw Sudwerks mentioned. I can't get anything from Sudwerks here in Michigan, but I've heard they made a really good Helles. Is this true and if so, is it good? I WILL travel for a good lager!!!

Secondly, just wanna mention that if you're in Michigan, we have some great brewerys here! Brewery Vivant just opened a few blocks from my house and they make some awesome French/Belgian style beers! The Farmand Ale (saison wheat beer?) is great! They just came out with some sour beers that I have yet to try, but if you're in Grand Rapids Michigan, I would stop by this place, it's great! Founders is good as well, but I haven't seen much new from them in a while. In all, there are 6 decent size brewerys here in GR with a 7th about to open! We also have the Hopcat, which is a great beer lovers paradise! Bells and New Holland aren't far either! If you are in the area and wanna do some brewery hopping (no pun intended), let me know. Cheers!

Haven't tried the sudwerks helles, will try it next time I get a chance and let you know!

My older brother lives in detroit and used to work at the traffic Jam which is (was?) a  brewpub/cheesepub and was quite good. Love farmhouse style beers. Maybe next time I am driving across the country I will plan a stop in Grand Rapids.

3267

All Grain Brewing / Re: fermentability question

« on: June 11, 2011, 11:44:30 AM »

I would guess it has to do with what amounted to a much longer mash if you had to empty your lauter tun and clean it three times.

Not to mention a lower temp from doing that.

So if the OP wanted to duplicate this without emptying and refilling his mash/lauter tun three times would he mash for like 75-90 minute sat 150-148?

3268

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: WLP566 Belgian Saison II Yeast

« on: June 11, 2011, 11:37:15 AM »

Can't find my notes but This might have been the yeast I used for my saison last fall. It took a long time to finish. I decided to brew a saison because it was northern california in the summer and I had no temp control. However once I brewed it cooled right off. go figure. It was a good yeast except it took like 4 weeks or a little more to complete.

My SG went from 1.051 to 1.002 so it was pretty complete.

Because I didn't chill my wort quite enough before pitching, and probably underpitched so it took another couple of weeks to condition out some little fuesels.

overall I would say it's a good yeast. Got a little black pepper and other spices. but generally pretty clean. Some BMC drinkers tasted a bottle at thanksgiving and really liked it.

3269

All Grain Brewing / Re: fermentability question

« on: June 11, 2011, 11:26:43 AM »

I would guess it has to do with what amounted to a much longer mash if you had to empty your lauter tun and clean it three times.

3270

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: mash tun false bottom question

« on: June 11, 2011, 11:22:23 AM »

If the OD of the tubing is very slightly larger than the ID on the drain hole you get a tight seal. you might have to experiment a little though.