Messages

1

Ingredients / Re: Your favorite Hops that are rarely mentioned...

« on: May 26, 2014, 11:50:24 AM »

Bramling Cross works real well in stouts,and porters .

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2

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lagering in a keg on it's side?

« on: May 25, 2014, 04:45:12 AM »

I've done it with every lager I've made for the last 10 years.  No problem.

After it's done lagering do you just stand the keg up, let it set for a while and start serving?
Or do you transfer to another keg before setting the lagering keg upright?

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: lagering

« on: May 23, 2014, 09:21:36 AM »

If you lager in the keg, do you transfer to another keg before serving?

4

General Homebrew Discussion / Lagering in a keg on it's side?

« on: May 07, 2014, 04:05:54 PM »

I would like to brew a lager.
I have a fridge with a controller to put the fermenter in.
I have three gallon kegs that I can lay sideways in the freezer compartment of my keg fridge.
Any reason that this would be a bad idea?

5

Equipment and Software / Re: BrewEasy

« on: April 28, 2014, 03:15:10 PM »

I'm currently looking for a used car in that price range.
 

6

Ingredients / Re: Cold Steeping Caramel/Crystal Malt?

« on: April 10, 2014, 03:14:10 AM »

I'd think you'd want to boil the wort from from the steeped grains and not add it post boil.

7

Ingredients / Re: Two hops...

« on: April 05, 2014, 05:43:16 PM »

Just bought 4 oz. of each of these. Never tried the Cluster or First Gold before.
Next a sack of grain.
Cascade
Mt. Hood
Challenger
Sterling
Target
Cluster
First Gold

8

Equipment and Software / Re: Recipe designer software

« on: April 05, 2014, 05:22:54 AM »

Does BeerSmith allow one to set the OG, input the grains as %'s, and let the software figure out the grain bill weights?

9

Ingredients / Re: Don't try this at home

« on: April 05, 2014, 05:16:31 AM »

Hop pesto? 

10

Beer Recipes / Re: Is this a good recipe?

« on: March 29, 2014, 03:57:22 AM »

that's a weird recipe. I've had bitters brewed with sugar and lots of crystal malt to bump the body and sweetness but still make a drinkable beer but this just has the sugar. i would expect it to be kind of thin. the flaked barley and wheat will make up for some of that but not like crystal malt will.

the mash schedule seems a little hinky too. mashing in at 1 qt/lb is fine if your doing a multi rest mash but it's pretty thick for a single infusion.

90 minute boil just seems unnecessary to me as well.

personally I think ~6 lb of MO or other pale malt with ~ 1 lb of medium crystal is all you need. if you want to make it a little more quaffable add half a lb of sugar

  I thought it was kind of weird too. That's why I asked for opinions.
I've done a bunch of more traditional bitter recipes that use crystal malts. I was just looking for something a little different. Maybe I'll give it shot sometime down the road. My next brew is going to be Waldo Lake Amber, I know that's going to be good.

11

Beer Recipes / Is this a good recipe?

« on: March 28, 2014, 04:36:24 PM »

I found this recipe on the web.
It looks good to me.
What do you think, is it a solid recipe?
I never used First Gold hops, and I'm not sure if the flaked barley is needed?

Stinger - Standard/Ordinary Bitter
================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Boil Size: 7.06 gal
Boil Time: 90.000 min
Efficiency: 80%
OG: 1.037
FG: 1.009
ABV: 3.6%
Bitterness: 39.5 IBUs (Rager)
Color: 3 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
                 Name    Type    Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
 Pale Malt (2 Row) UK   Grain  5.500 lb    Yes   No   78%   3 L
                Honey Extract 12.000 oz     No   No   75%   1 L
       Barley, Flaked   Grain  4.000 oz    Yes   No   70%   2 L
     White Wheat Malt   Grain  4.000 oz    Yes   No   86%   2 L
Total grain: 6.812 lb

Hops
================================================================================
       Name Alpha   Amount  Use       Time   Form  IBU
    Cascade  7.6% 0.6 oz Boil 90.000 min Pellet 21.0
 First Gold  6.2% 0.5 oz Boil 90.000 min Pellet 14.9
 First Gold  6.2% 0.25 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet  1.6
    Cascade  7.6% 0.25 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet  2.0

Yeast
================================================================================
        Name Type Form   Amount   Stage
 Safale S-04  Ale  Dry 0.388 oz Primary

Mash
================================================================================
               Name     Type    Amount      Temp    Target       Time
         Conversion Infusion 1.500 gal 166.530 F 153.000 F 60.000 min
 Final Batch Sparge Infusion 6.280 gal 170.402 F 165.200 F 15.000 min

12

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Chart for bottle pressures?

« on: March 25, 2014, 03:30:30 PM »

I googled: "bottle type carbonation chart pressure prime sugar"
came up with this
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/AdvancedBottleConditioning.pdf
BOTTLE TYPES AND PRESSURE
Most of the bottles you will use will be the standard 12oz bottle. These are
suitable for the vast majority of styles but we don’t suggest you use them
for beers with over 3 volumes of CO2
. Below is a chart based on CO2
 volume
and suggested bottle usage. These are approximate guidelines and demand
that the bottles be free of cracks or chips.
BOTTLE:VOLUME CHART
Bottle type Max. CO2
 
Volume
12oz 3
33cl Belgian 3.5
500ml European 3.5
Swing top 4
Champagne 7
PET 10

13

All Grain Brewing / Re: High Pre-boil gravity

« on: March 10, 2014, 02:30:03 PM »

I checked the refractometer against my two hydrometers.
Using 60f tap water
1.000 on hydro #1
1.003 on hydro #2 (this is the one that I knew read high 2-3 points.
1.000-1.001 refractometer.

I took some ice tea @ 60f and checked that
1.027 hydro #1
1.026 hydro #2
1.024 refact.

I boiled the tea and checked with the refractometer
and got 1.023
So the numbers aren't perfect, but not 10 points.

14

All Grain Brewing / Re: High Pre-boil gravity

« on: March 10, 2014, 01:41:51 PM »

It was my the first time using the refratometer.
You'd think I'd have been smart enough to compare it to my hydrometer on the first attempt.
It does have ATC.
The directions when calibrating to do it at temp. "close to or at 68f."
It doesn't say anything about the temp. of the sample.
I took the sample before the boil, after stirring well.
Used the little dropper thing that came with the refractometer.
I didn't let it cool off. That is how I've seen others do it.
I'm going to play around with it tonight, compare to my hydrometer.
I'll report back.

15

All Grain Brewing / High Pre-boil gravity

« on: March 09, 2014, 03:31:05 PM »

    I have been figuring my recipes @ 80% mash efficiancy it always within a couple points, close enough for homebrew.  But my last few batches I have been ending up much higher.
  Looking at my notes (such as they are) I noticed it seems to occur on my low gravity beers, 1.045 and less.
   Today I did a beer the preboil was supposed to be 1.031 and I hit 1.041 which was actually higher then my intended post boil gravity. When I figure my efficiancy I get a 99%. I didn't even think that was possible.
I am using the same measuring stick to measure volumes that I have always used, so it's not that.  I was using a hydrometer and I recently got a refractometer. I calibrated the refractometer with distilled water
  The only thing different is that I switched from a false bottom to a hose braid in the mash tun.
The recipe was for 7 gallons preboil
6lbs pale ale malt
1.4 lbs crystal 60L
3.3 oz chocolate malt.
(the weird amounts is because I was using up the leftovers)
4 gallons mash
4 gallons sparge
I'm not sure what to use for mash efficiancy when figuring out a grain bill?