Messages

1

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry hopping pellets?

« on: May 02, 2017, 02:33:47 PM »

If you're using a carboy it will be hard to find a teaball that will fit.

I can get teaballs into my better bottles but the neck if a glass carboy is much narrower.

Even the generous opening of a corny keg is narrower than you might think.  Most tea infusers are too wide to fit.  I think I had to go with 2.5" tea infusers and I use several of them when I dry hop.

7 oz of of hops will fill a lot of balls.

No worries on the hops. If you want to add a filter to prevent the dry hops from entering your keg or bottling bucket, just zip tie a knee high leg stocking to the end of your hose. It will catch all hop matter that you siphon or run off.

2

Beer Recipes / Re: Critique this NEIPA Recipe Please!

« on: April 26, 2017, 11:46:55 AM »

I'm joining this thread for my education as well. I like the recipe. But please correct me if I am wrong. I was under the assumption that the NEIPA had minimal to no IBUs with all kettle hops added during the whirlpool.

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Ingredients / Re: Cascade and Chinook Terroir

« on: April 25, 2017, 02:14:55 PM »

Hop growers say Centennial is one of the most difficult breeds they grow and if they could get rid of it they would. 

Interesting. My Centennial bines seem as prolific as my Cascade bines. Both are vigorous for me. I had not heard of problems with Centennial before.

This is interesting to me, because my cascades are my worst growers followed by CTZ. My centennials grow really well. My best grower is chinook. It's like gang busters! I live in NE Ohio.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Is your local HBS less or more expensive than online?

« on: April 07, 2017, 06:20:16 PM »

My local homebrew store is Label Peelers. It's close to an hour's drive so it's not really local. I purchase most of my supplies through them. If it's small, I order online and ship. If it's bulk grain, I order online and do a store pick up. They are located very close to LD Carlson,so it's best to order ahead of time, because they don't keep everything in stock. However, they usually have your items that you order in stock within a day or two.

Hops, on the other hand, are purchased online through Yakima Valley Hops.

Every now and again, I will need to use Northern Brewer for a purchase, but it's not very often.

5

Beer Recipes / Re: Is this too many hops in session APA?

« on: April 06, 2017, 03:05:30 PM »

How much difference do you think you get between a 0-5min addition vs a 20 minute whirlpool at 180F (or whatever temp is used)?  I only did a long hop whirlpool once, but that was long ago and was underwhelming. 

I understand a lot of people are doing hop stands now, but I'm curious what a side by side of 0-5min vs hop stand would show.  When I revere this, I'll look into it since it should be easy enough to do. 

I have been avoiding dry hopping due to the oxygen pickup problems it can introduce (mostly taking them back out of the keg after it has done its thing).  I have done a couple where I put a nylon bag in the keg with hops, and that worked well for a while but I think long exposure time didn't help.  Things started tasting a bit off after a few weeks.

I just feel that I get a rounder taste. I'm not opposed to using 5 or 10 minute additions, but I usually do that in a more abrasive IPA. I just think that you'll get plenty of IBUs with your Columbus, that you won't need anymore. I do a 180 degree whirlpool and sometimes I do a 0 minute hopstand. I'll be utilizing the hopstand this weekend with an imperial hoppy amber.

6

Beer Recipes / Re: Session IPA / Pale Ale Recipe Feedback

« on: April 05, 2017, 05:47:37 PM »

I don't know about special B in an APA. You'll get your color, but even at that amount, you might get the "raisin" taste from it. I think you'd be fine with your bill without it.

But then, you could be onto something amazing too.

7

Beer Recipes / Re: Is this too many hops in session APA?

« on: April 05, 2017, 05:45:26 PM »

Going with your original amount of hops, I think I'd do this...

1 oz Columbus at 30 minute
1 oz Columbus at 0 minute whirlpool
3 oz Cascade at 0 minute whirlpool

Your Columbus at 30 minutes will give it a solid bitterness backbone. You might even consider less (I like hop bitterness, so I'd leave it at 1) and have a rounder hop bitterness. Then you'll get a smoother hop finish by moving the rest out to 0 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes.

Regardless of what you do, I do not think you'll "over do" the hops in this session as far as my standards go. I'd even consider dry hopping with an ounce or two of cascade to boost your aroma a touch.

8

Ingredients / Re: Favorite hop mix?

« on: April 05, 2017, 05:37:34 PM »

Citra and Galaxy 1:1 is my favorite hop pairing. But as mentioned several times above, Equinox is killer. If it's not my favorite hop, it's number 2. Citra would be its competition, but I have not used them in a direct pairing before. I'm brewing an imperial hoppy amber this weekend that has 1:1:1:1 ratio of Equinox, Citra, Columbus, and Centennial. I'm really looking forward to it.

Bottom line is, I think you just need to experiment yourself and find your favorite hop combo. I would say that the "perfect" combo has yet to be discovered, nor would it be perfect from one person to the other.

9

Ingredients / Re: Hop Suggestions for an Over-the-Top, Citrusy IPA

« on: March 20, 2017, 11:42:44 PM »

In my opinion, galaxy is the best citrusy hop. Also, Amarillo has a great orange/grapefruit taste. Like noted Citra has a mango/pineapple with a spin of resin flavor. I love the Citra/galaxy combo. It's probably my favorite combo and works well 1:1.

Just remember, everybody's taste buds are different and interpret flavors differently.

10

Ingredients / Re: How many ounces of hops in your American IPA?

« on: March 07, 2017, 01:03:30 PM »

The most that I've used in a 5.5 gallon batch is 18.5 oz. This was also before I practiced water chemistry and would add extra hops to bitter with. But I'd say I average 12 to 16 oz per 5 gallons now. I brew 11 gallon batches now.

Here is my last hop schedule:

FWH = 1 oz Southern Cross and 1 oz Columbus
60 Minute = 1 oz Southern Cross and 1 oz Columbus
5 Minute = 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Amarillo, 1 oz Centennial, and 1 oz Equinox
175 degree whirlpool = 4 oz Cascade, 3 oz Amarillo, 3 oz Centennial, and 2 oz Equinox
Dry Hop = 2 oz Cascade, 4 oz Amarillo, 4 oz Centennial, and 2 oz Equinox

33 total ounces which is a few ounces more than normal, but it was also considered a hop clean out IPA before the new crop came in. I don't typically use Southern Cross, but I had a couple ounces that Yakima Valley had tossed into an order. I use Columbus 80% of the time for bittering an IPA. Chinook would be the other 20%. I'm also not opposed to using my flavor hops at the FWH addition either.

11

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Top 3 - Bottom 3

« on: March 06, 2017, 03:34:48 PM »

Honorable mention: A BLUE cooler for mashing. The blue cooler obviously increased my mash efficiency to approximately 247%.

For sure, and that's a conservative estimate. 

Of course... I had to leave a margin of error for poor crushes lol

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Top 3 - Bottom 3

« on: March 06, 2017, 01:23:28 PM »

Worst:

1. Extract brewing. I did 8 batches. They were all dumpable. It was a complete waste of 4 months. My suggestion to any new brewer would be to put in the extra time and learn how to all grain brew first. You have to learn how to do it anyways, you might as well learn how to do it sooner than later.

2. 5.2 stabilizer

3. 5 gallon "secondary" Better Bottle carboys. I don't use a secondary hardly at all. When I do, a 5 gallon carboy won't do the trick.

dishonorable mention: All of the stupid crap that I bought or built in order to contain hop matter during the boil or for dry hopping. Filtering through a $.19 leg stocking into the fermenter and/or the carboy works perfectly to catch hop matter.

Best:

1. AHA membership for access to this forum and all of you wonderful resources.

2. Kegging system... If I was still bottling, I probably wouldn't be brewing any longer.

3. Bru'n Water... I went from brewing good beer to great beer with this gem of a tool. It makes water chemistry stupid easy. I like stupid easy.

Honorable mention: A BLUE cooler for mashing. The blue cooler obviously increased my mash efficiency to approximately 247%.

13

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Pics of recent brews?

« on: February 17, 2017, 11:28:49 PM »

My low O2 Dunkel @ 6 weeks-ish. Still some clearing to do but it's getting there. Gonna send it to NHC Indy. Really curious to see how it does, I think it's excellent.

Looks great man. I totally spaced on the NHC this year. I hope it does well.

14

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Pics of recent brews?

« on: February 17, 2017, 11:00:20 PM »

My first Bo-Pils and third lager ever. It's pretty damn good. Thanks, Jon! I just kegged it on Monday with gelatin added Wednesday. The pictures aren't the greatest. The beer is still about 32 degrees so I couldn't keep the condensation off. I hope to get a better pic this weekend.

Yea, mon!  Looks great, Frank. Saaz coming through nicely? How's the malt balance?

Yes. The saaz flavor is perfect. The carbonation essentuated the bitterness that the hydro sample lacked. The balance is very nice. I think this will be a January regular for me. Here's a better picture after it warmed. Crystal clear. Head retention is amazing too.

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General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Pics of recent brews?

« on: February 17, 2017, 10:08:12 PM »

My first Bo-Pils and third lager ever. It's pretty damn good. Thanks, Jon! I just kegged it on Monday with gelatin added Wednesday. The pictures aren't the greatest. The beer is still about 32 degrees so I couldn't keep the condensation off. I hope to get a better pic this weekend.