Messages

1

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Law of partial pressures

« on: May 05, 2015, 02:15:15 AM »

The air (oxygen, nitrogen, co2, etc) in the keg before filling should be at local atmospheric pressure. When you close the lid and charge the keg to 10 PSI that is at gauge pressure. Gauge pressure disregards the local atmospheric pressure. That is you will be 10 PSI above atmospheric pressure.

When purging, I think the idea is that oxygen is lighter than co2 so it should rise to the top of the keg. Then when you pull the relief valve the oxygen escapes. IMHO, for that to work you should pause bit between pulls of the release valve to allow the gas to reorganize.

co2 is heavier then o2. I put a out connector on the co2 line and connect to the keg. I leave the top unlatched and fill for about 10-15 seconds and then close the latch. This should purge any o2 out the top. Then when filling the keg it should displace any left over o2.
Just my process.

2

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: NHC 2015 First Round Results

« on: April 20, 2015, 12:53:30 AM »

First time for me entering anything. I have to thank Jonathan (morticaixavier) for reviewing a beer for me last year. I think that gave me the push to enter.

So this virgin got a 3rd in Cat. 11. Was floored when I saw that. 

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: almost a lost year brewing

« on: April 20, 2015, 12:40:57 AM »

I am impressed that you have gone this long and are still brewing. Good for you and one day you will look back and have a story to tell.

The one thing that I keep hearing is you are rinsing after cleaning. On your next brew day soak EVERYTHING that comes in contact with the wort after the boil in the Star San. At least two minutes. DO NOT RINSE ANYTHING after the soak. Just put it down on a towel that has been soaked Star San and wrung out. Let the soaked fermentor drip onto the towel upside down. Don't fear if there is any foam left over from the soak. It will not hurt the wort.

Wipe down any surface that you will be working on with the Star San. You joke about taking a shower in it, but I think that is extreme measures at this point. Not yet anyway

Not knowing what all is in and around your "brewhouse" be sure that there is no air movement during transfer of the wort. If it is windy outside when you do your next batch you may want to postpone until it is calm.

You have others that are brewing near you. No matter what happens on the next batch go through the full process of letting it ferment for at least two weeks (or three) then bottle it. After it has had two weeks to condition, share with your brewing friends and ask them what they think. Or what they taste that may be wrong. You may find that it isn't what you think it is or at least you may find someone who loves it and it will not all be a waste. And you will have a new best friend.

Good luck on hope that you get a drinkable batch.

 

4

Beer Recipes / Re: APA - what makes it great

« on: April 04, 2015, 05:53:22 PM »

Personally, I like APA to have a little more malt character,ie., to be more balanced than IPA. I blend the 2 row with ~ 20% Munich, Vienna, or MO for APA. I also use a little more crystal for APA, ~ 7% (as opposed to no more than 5% for IPA).  As for water salts, I use gypsum to bring out the hop character, but I don't try to get the beer as dry as an IPA. Definitely not a smaller IPA to me.

+1
Maybe not so much on the crystal but for sure on the Munich/Vienna.
My last brew I used Thomas Fawcett Golden Promise and was really happy with the results.
Enjoy the journey on this one. Look forward to your posts on the exploration.

5

Hop Growing / Re: Trim back first shoots?

« on: March 31, 2015, 04:13:07 AM »

I have been really inconsistent on cutting back the first shoots. With my Centennial last year I didn't and I got an early crop. But it produced a second set late in the season. The Cascades seemed not to make a difference. The others are still too new to know for sure.
This year, I have cut them all but one Cascade back and will one more time this weekend. Then watch them go.

6

Other Fermentables / Re: DAP, Go-Ferm, Fermai-K, Oh My!

« on: March 16, 2015, 08:59:58 PM »

I emailed Scott Labs and got the reply:

As a basic answer GoFerm is not a direct substitute for Fermaid K as the levels of vitamins and minerals are not the same and since honey is severely lacking in these essential nutrients, and DAP is simply nitrogen and phosphate, you do need to compensate for a secure fermentation. I would try to get some Fermaid K. If for reasons that you cannot, you can try adding the Goferm during the rehydration phase, at 2-3 brix drop with some DAP and again at 1/3 sugar depletion (again with DAP). I would look at 20g/hL add of GoFerm each time.
I am assuming that you have a copy of Clayton Cones guide to mead fermentations, but if not please find a copy of this excellent resource attached as a link below.

http://gencowinemakers.com/docs/pdf_Basics_of_Mead_Fermentation.pdf
(The link was bad but I googled it and found the PDF above)


So it looks like I need to get to a LHBS to get more Fermaid K.

I did follow up and asked what the shelf life of Fermaid K was, because it is cheaper in bulk. I was told:

The shelf life is 4 years from production in the original package. If you are purchasing from a re-sale company, you should check with them.

So there you have it. Thanks to Dr. Nichola Hall at Scott Laboratories- Healdsburg

7

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: How long for a Shaken-not-Stirred lager starter?

« on: March 14, 2015, 07:55:04 PM »

twenties and early thirties.  Shaking the dickens out of a starter was just the result of being very strong.   I noticed a huge increase in performance, so I stuck with the method long enough to understand why it worked.

Just to understand your process, is this shaking with or without the yeast in the wort starter?

8

Other Fermentables / DAP, Go-Ferm, Fermai-K, Oh My!

« on: March 14, 2015, 05:39:48 PM »

Trying a mead again but got myself confused on all the additions that are used.

I have lots of DAP and Go-Ferm but only a little Fermaid-K left. Thought I had more.

Searched for what is in Go-Ferm and Fermaid-K only to be more confused than at the beginning. Maybe it is still too early on a Saturday morning.

My mead is under way at 24 hours. Plan was to add .25g/L of each DAP and Fermaid-K today, again tomorrow and then again on Monday. Then again at 2/3 drop of sugar.

Can I substitute Go-Ferm in any way for Fermaid-K?

9

Pimp My System / Re: Compact Fermentation Chamber Heater

« on: March 06, 2015, 06:20:05 PM »

A sculpted piece of aluminium foil over the bulb or over the outer can should do the trick. Just not tight on the bulb or it may overheat and bust.

10

The Pub / Re: AHA governing committee elections

« on: March 05, 2015, 08:05:20 PM »

Voted. Good Luck.

11

Homebrewer Bios / Re: Brewer Bio TMX

« on: March 05, 2015, 06:00:06 PM »

Awesome! and yes, thank you for serving!

Second that ^^^
Nice labels too.

12

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Looking for feedback: A site where you can buy and sell your own beer kits

« on: March 05, 2015, 05:51:32 PM »

I think I see what you are getting at. Not that you would have all these kits ready to ship but you would build the kit as the request was submitted. Correct?
To me this is just what you would do at LHBS if you had one near you.
I would guess that anyone could email a recipe to any LHBS and get a kit made to order. How much the cost of that opposed to what you are wanting to do is the question.
To some beginners it is all about the cost. Others it is about ease of use.
Plant your flag and good luck.

13

Questions about the forum? / Re: Yellow Profile Blocks

« on: March 05, 2015, 04:28:04 PM »

Number of star images - Membergroups can have small images to appear below the group inside of posts made by members of the group. Here you can configure how many of these images you want to show for the group. This option is only shown when modifying an existing group

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Membergroups

14

Questions about the forum? / Re: Yellow Profile Blocks

« on: March 05, 2015, 04:16:00 PM »

I hadn't heard so did a little googling.
Found this:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=451437.msg3153109#msg3153109

It says they are "stars", and should be set to the number of posts.

Don't know why some of our users have only two stars for over 2000 posts. Must be a setting inside the forum configuration.

EDIT: Tuns out the stars are part of what group you are in. So a "cellerman" has a different number of stars for the number of posts then the number for users in the group "I have no life".
At least I think that is what is happening.

15

Other Fermentables / Re: Anybody try kombucha

« on: March 05, 2015, 12:16:03 AM »

I've had good luck culturing a kombucha SCOBY from a bottle of GT Kombucha from the grocery store.  It's a good idea to step up the batch size until your SCOBY gets to full size, much like culturing yeast from a bottled brew.  I went with the original, and it worked for me.  YMMV.

I harvested from three bottles of three different flavors. I have it going in a quart size mason jar. Only a week down and I see something floating on the top. Not sure if it is a scoby or not. From what I read and pictures I have seen it should be white or translucent. But again it is only been one week. Will step it up to a gallon in about two more weeks if I see more on the top. If not, I will try to find a local brewer that will give/sell me one.