Messages

3691

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Mr malty

« on: February 21, 2012, 11:07:33 AM »

Sometimes you can use a 20 L (5 gallon) starter--it's called re-using the yeast cake from the previous batch you brewed.  

I just saved myself the aggravation of cleaning out one of my fermentors by pitching a small beer (strong scotch ale second runnings) onto a belgian wheat yeast cake.  I wasn't going to let all that leftover malty goodness go to waste by dumping the grains, so I partigyled.  Not my first choice of yeast (WY3942), but it was what I had just brewed.  Going to call it a Scottish Wit.  Well...I dunno; there's no wheat in the grain bill, so it might have to be called a Scottish Witless.  Have I created a new beer style?

pretty sure the wit refers to color. but you could call it billy collins. (a scottish wit)

**EDIT to correct my miserable cultural reference**

Rather than Billy Collins (an American wit) you can call it Billy Connolly (a scottish wit) 

3692

All Grain Brewing / Re: Does this sound right?

« on: February 21, 2012, 11:04:52 AM »

I would add that I don't think a 1.012 FG is bad. I think it will be nice. for an AIPA it should be crisp and dry in my opinion.

3693

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Does Anyone Know if Yeast Produce Acid While Cask Conditioning?

« on: February 21, 2012, 10:53:44 AM »

The man running the homebrew supply shop said that happens and I should no longer bottle/keg condition.

Are you sure you heard him correctly? That might be (some of) the worst homebrew store advice I've ever heard.

Acetobacter is really common. It's on probably everything you touch. If it gets into your beer it will make vinegar. I agree with the others that it's likely a contamination issue.

yeah it sounds like infection. I like that advice though. so if you are not supposed to keg or bottle condition are you supposed to just drink the flat beer out of the fermenter?

By the By, keg/bottle and cask conditioning are different animals. cask is very specific to the equipment.

3694

Equipment and Software / Re: How's your Thermapen?

« on: February 21, 2012, 08:43:28 AM »

I kind of have to go with Major on this one. Not to say I don't WANT a thermopen. it's so nifty. but my $5 grocery store dial thermo works great. I calibrate it with boiling water before each brew day and my attenuation some out pretty darn close to my target every time. never have to replace the batteries. The only thing I would change is the length of the probe but it is about the same as a thermopen sooo...

that being said I also don't own a pH meter.

3695

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: balance

« on: February 21, 2012, 08:28:05 AM »

Turtles?

I think Ben & Jerry's has a birthday cake ice cream. That's pretty much perfect. Otherwise gimme gimme a carval ice cream cake.

When I was a kid I always went to ben and jerry's for my birthday. They have ice cream cakes made with lots of ice cream and layers of brownie. that is balance. One of my treasured memories was being given the beater from the ice cream machine by Ben on my fourth or fifth birthday. This was back in the gas station days when there was only the one B&J's on bank street.

Later my mother worked at the waterbury factory and at that point balance meant trying to get 2 more pints of ice cream to fit in the freezer every night.

3696

All Grain Brewing / Re: Does this sound right?

« on: February 20, 2012, 11:58:52 PM »

that's about 74% AA not to unusual. were you expecting less? what temp did you mash at?

79% efficiency it seems not bad.

74%??  I get 84% which is a bit high

right you are. I mistyped in beersmith. I would guess a bad thermo in that case.

3697

All Grain Brewing / Re: Does this sound right?

« on: February 20, 2012, 07:55:46 PM »

that's about 74% AA not to unusual. were you expecting less? what temp did you mash at?

79% efficiency it seems not bad.

3698

All Grain Brewing / Re: Mash Temps.

« on: February 18, 2012, 11:45:49 PM »

Blue...of course.  I got the blue one for the improved efficiency.

Yep...blue will get your efficiency up to 137%!

...but only if you mash on Sundays. 

OK, I'll bite...what is the history of the blue cooler meme?  I imagine someone thought the outside color of a cooler had an effect on its ability to hold a temperature?

the effects of high energy quantum particles are enhanced by the blue plastic of the coleman cooler. This causes the mash to convert past 100% efficiency by moving some starch backwards and forwards in time whilecausing the enzymes to vibrate in n dimension space. This means that a stout can be a porter and a CDA becomes paler than a wit beer while hefeweizens are pushed through the clove phase transition into the banana spectrum modified by mit space.

3699

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Brew day Starter?

« on: February 18, 2012, 01:57:03 PM »

it will probably be fine.

3700

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Kegging vs. Bottling - Another question of clarity

« on: February 18, 2012, 01:55:02 PM »

I think the biggest thing is that when you bottle condition you wait till the yeast is done and settled, the beer is clear and then pour off the top of the beer, carefully and you get clear beer in the glass. With a keg you are drawing off the bottom where all the yeast is living.

as tygo says if you keep it cool and still for a while and then draw a couple pints that will be cloudy it will clear up

the reason I think is a combo of where you are drawing the beer from and the settling distance as you said. Don't shorted your dip tube though unless you are okay with leaving 1/2 gallon or so of beer at the bottom of your keg.

3701

The Pub / Re: What's the Weather Like Where You Are?

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:59:04 PM »

Last winter we got plenty of snow/rain and it looked like maybe we would get out of this drought. this winter it has only rained about 7 times. Don't know what the snow pack up in the sierra is like, maybe it's okay, but it's looking like another dry year here in northern cali.

oh and yesterday I felt, for sure, my first earthquake since moving to CA in 2008. I suspect there have been others but my brain edited them out as loss of equilibrium.

3702

The Pub / Re: Happy 60th Birthday Denny!

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:55:48 PM »

happy belated Denny. must be kind of fun having valentines day as your b-day

3703

Beer Recipes / Re: SN Bigfoot Clone?

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:51:32 PM »

I think the 2 hours boil for big and/or malty beers is key. it adds so much full maltiness that for my barley wines I don't even add crystal.

3704

Ingredients / Re: Article on Hops in the Willamette Valley

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:47:47 PM »

I'll have something with more than a few ounces per barrel of hops, please.  And no, I don't want to be weaned off of them over time.   

Yeah I saw that too. I'm too young to have drunk Bud in the 70's, but a Bud with twice as much hops actually sounds pretty good to me.

I was teaching a BJCP study group and we were doing off flavor tasting.  One of the flavors was to spike the base beer (Bud) so that it was more bitter.  Nobody could figure pout what it was, but every person in the group swore the spiked beer tasted better than the base!

are club did a two parter on off tastes and there were actually a couple that made the natural light taste better. I think bitter was one and maybe even dyacetyl (sp)

3705

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Milk stout recipe

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:43:48 PM »

My tasted pretty darn good, little bitter, but sweet, some coffee and chocolate notes should be better once it's carbonated. however, i was letting my 5yr old cousin help me brew and he added the yeast before i took a OG reading, so i guess i will be using the estimated OG.

you can still take a gravity reading after adding the yeast. as long as it hasn't started fermenting which takes a couple hours at least.