Thanks for the tip on mash temps, i've got another SMASH recipe written up which will include 11lb maris otter and 6 oz of homegrown cascades so i'll lower my mash in temp a little. On my first SMASH I did hit my SG and FG dead on so i'm hoping my mash temps were ok or good enough. Excited to give it a try and see what kind of monster i've created. The wife hooked me up with a kegging setup for my birthday and picked up a kegerator off craigs and have a sierra nevada clone carbing as of Friday. Can't wait to give it a taste! :cheers2: Yes the pigs eye pull came with the kegerator and it'll be removed as soon as I get a replacement. I'm afraid it my spoil my beer if I use it.
I read a lot over on www.homebrewtalk.com and from what I can tell all you need to do is keep an oxide layer in the aluminum pot and you won't risk anything. (All you need to do is boil water in it for about an hour to turn it gray before brewing, only need to do this once for a new pot and then you are good to go unless you manage to remove it with a caustic cleaner). Even without doing this it seems you don't get off flavors in your beer. John Palmer uses aluminum brew kettles fwiw. But once you put the passive oxide layer in the pot there is basically zero risk of off-flavors. Main reason though: A 15 gallon aluminum brew pot is 50 bucks! A stainless one is easily 200, and right now I can't justify that kind of cash for a kettle. Plus, my pallate isn't developed enough yet to notice any metallic off flavors. :laugh: -Steve
Mmmmm metallic off flavors. I agree on the aluminum, works just fine from what i've heard. And no proven links to alzheimer's
Damn it. I've got a couple of kegs, a fridge and a bottle to exchange for a Co2 tank but no time to get the regulators I will need, the tubing or the tap. I suck. I finally bottled a Boundary Waters Wheat that sat in my primary for about 4 months. It's funny how a newborn will take up your brewing/free time. :biggrin: I will hopefully get my Oktoberfest Lager into bottles this week as that's finally done. I had three brew kits in my garage and when fall turned into Winter, a mouse or two decided to snack on some grain, some extract and priming sugar. This left me with pieces and parts from all three kits, so I'm going to get a bag of grain (because the mice got all of that) and make a franken-brew out of the pieces and parts I have left. :laugh: After that, it's on to a Surly clone. What does this stuff do: 4 oz. of Crystal 50-60°L
4 oz. of crystal 50-60L isn't going to do much but add some coloring. I assume it was a steeping grain for an extract kit correct? If you post up/email your leftover ingredients i'd be more than happy to write up a recipe for ya!
Well, that would take all of the mystery out of it... How about I post the ingredients, you write the recipe but don't post it. Then, we compare the finished product to what you would have expected from the recipe. I'm letting the alignmentof the stars and the direction of the wind build this beer.
I was tempted to do this with some of the leftover grains I have lying around as well, but realized it wouldn't be enough to do a full 5 gallon batch without some serious DME supplements. :biggrin: I have a good bit of 10L, 120L, chocolate malt, few ounces torrified wheat, about a pound of special B malt, and about 3 lbs of 2-row sitting around waiting to be used. And about 2-3 lbs loose leaf homegrown Cascade hops from a friend who has some vines. :biggrin: -Steve
I have about 25lbs of montana spring wheat (don't know much more then that, it's from my uncle's farm) to use once I learn how to all-grain.
That tap handle is actually pretty cool and its also a collector. Seing as its the original tap from the MN brewery. Now its out in WI, so it has some MN based collectable nostalgia and possibly value. I'd hang onto it. If you dont want it I'll use it. I found good luck getting tap handles on ebay for half to 1/3 the cost it is from the brewery.
Just a touch up. I have the final readings on this beer. 10# Rahr pale ale (base malt) 1# Cara 20L Safale us-05 2 ounces Hallertau @ 60 2 ounces Hallertau @ 20 OG 1.055 Color 7.60 °SRM 61.2 IBU ABV 5.6 %
That looks like a nice Pale ale! :cheers2: 61 IBU's with an OG of 1.055 might have a pretty good bite too, just my style. :biggrin: -Steve
Thanks for the info Brian, I really had no idea. Guess i'll keep it around then. It does have a crack where it threads on but it works for now. For those who keg how long do you carb before drinking? I carbed my Sierra Pale Ale Clone at 12-13 psi, shook the keg a few times and have had it sitting at 12-13psi for the past 4 days. I've read that around 1 week to carb with the set and forget method and 2 weeks to really come of age. Sounds like a plan Ted. By "alignment of the stars" you don't mean chuck everything in at 60 min with your eyes closed do ya? :laugh:
I've heard 2 to 4 days if you shake the keg, 1 week if you don't. My last keg I shook 2 times a day for 2 days, then on the 3rd day turned down the psi from 12 to 8 in the morning, drank that night. I then turned it up to 10 after the first pour (seemed a little slow) and it was fine.
Sweet! I'll have to give it a taste tonight and see how it is. Thanks. Mixed up a batch of Apfelwein on Sunday and it took off last night! Mmmm apples.
Yep. Blind folded and hammered drunk. HA! Well, I took an inventory of what I've got left. During the inspection I found that two hop packs had mouse damage, so I chucked them to. 6lbs Gold Malt Extract 3oz Simcoe 1oz Saaz I will be adding: 3lbs of Amber unhoped malt extract 2oz of Cascade and a bag of grain Also, Can you guys give me a list of crap I'll need to make my keg system operational? I'm going to make a purchase online today.
Don't forget a packet of US-05! Looks like a great ingrediant list! You'll have a great IPA on your hands there. :yumyum: And yes, the key ingredient to any brew is consumed homebrew.
FYI - Midwest went live with their new site today. It's a MASSIVE improvement over their old one. I actually called there just now to give some positive feedback about the site and found out that it JUST went live this morning - and they made me talk to one of the owners... I told him how impressed I was with the new site and how much easier it made everything. Apparently this was years in the making and he told me about 6x how much he appreciated the call. Check it out, though. It's awesome: http://new.midwestsupplies.com/ So my Franken-brew kit will now linclude: Wheat Gold - 6lbs. Briess Dried Malt Extract- Sparkling Amber - 3lbs. Crystal 50-60L (Simpson's) 1/2 lb. Carapils (Briess) 1/2 lb. 3oz Simcoe 1oz Saaz Wyeast US-05 smack-pack with two packs of dried US-05 as a back up in case the pack don't smack. (it's 6 months old)
I've used a 8-9 month old smack pack before. As long as it was stored in the fridge it should be good to go.
Although I have to agree the new website looks 100x better then the old, its still kind of a mess. Theres just too much stuff cluttering it up, its needs more work imo. My biggest complaint is the subjects in the drop down menues do not match watch the drop down subject is. ex: You pick all grain breweing. Theres some pre set recipies in there, but none of the grains etc to pick from. The grains for all grain brewing are in brewing ingredients along with extract kits and all that other stuff. Its a cluster-f for sure. A much improved cluster-f
Understood, and I'm sure they would REALLY appreciate that feedback. When I talked to the guy, he said that there was a lot of work left to be done, so I would make the suggestion to them. Plus, the grains are technically Brewing Ingredients which they are under.
Throw it on 30psi for a day. Only shake it when you first put it on, then let any remaining particles settle. Which you can remove from the first pour. After 24 to 36 hours on 30 psi I drop it down to 12 to 15 psi and adjust according to the pour. You should have fully carbed beer within 72 hours of kegging.
Wow thats fast. I'll have to give it a go on the next batch. Do you find the beer improves in taste as you drink the keg? Just wondering if there is some truth to aging the beer just as you would age in the bottle past the carb date. Anyone have a couple corny kegs they're looking to get rid of for less than what midwest is selling them for? Ball lock kegs. Also hoping to find a 2.5 or 3 gallon keg at some point, that would be uber sweet for trips up north.
It's cool to see some homebrewers on here. I brew with my dad who lives in Prior Lake when I can. We both are new to it with only a few brews under our belt. We just bought a digital temperature controller with heater pad because it is a bit too cool in the basement to brew as we learned with our last batch. I'll be following this thread for sure.
What temp do you guys use for your bottle conditioning? Would a lager condition at a different temp than an ale? I've got a Wheat Ale and a Oktoberfest Lager conditioning in the basement right now, both are at about 60. I was going to bring them up off of the floor tonight and put them on a shelf to warm up slightly and eventually move them upstairs so they raise a bit more but didn't know if the Lager needed to condition in the fridge or not.
If you're bottle conditioning with corn sugar then i'd suggest carbing at 60-70F. For lager, wheat, or ales. Once carbed(3 weeks give or take) then place all the lagers in the fridge to continue "lagering". So yes, same as ales. Bottles would not carb if placed in a fridge. Yeasties would go dormant in turn making them unable to convert sugar to CO2. I think, i'm no scientist I just play one on TV. I have a friend who bottle carbs in a closet that is around 80 degrees. His bottles carb in less than a week. Its as if his closet is a beer time machine of sorts.
I heard a Jamil webcast that said for every 10 degrees increased the chemical reaction speed doubles - or something like that. Any idea how much extra fridge time the lagers will need? Just curious. I'm going to try to let them sit until next October - since they are the Oktoberfest...
Wouldn't that kill the yeast? Lol what's bottling? I brewed a german style Helle yesterday. I think it's time to upgrade my external burner **again**. Now that i've switched to full boil it's a PITA to get 6 gal of beer to a rolling boil. I have to crank my burner all the way, to the point where it's starting to burn all the paint off the metal rack it's on. I'm thinking about something like this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hurricane-burner.html Or this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/king-kooker.html My current one is a Bayou Classic that does 55,000 BTU @ 10psi. Looks like this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/propane-burner-sp-50.html If i buy that, i'll be selling my old one. I'd let it go for cheap. It works great for 3 gal boils. I had a full rolling boil in <20 minutes.
No problem getting a rolling boil here with 6.5 gallons. Been using this now for about 10 batches and i'd highly recommend it. Banjo Burner from Northern Brewer http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...ow-profile-banjo-burner-burner-and-stand.html
Sweet mother of god.. Yeah.. i bet you don't have any issues!! lol. I have a GC to Midwest so I'll get something there. Thanks for the link Paul!
Use gift car for ingredients/other and get burner from Northern. Hoping I won't need to replace my burner ever. Wish I would have bought a 15 gallon pot instead of a 10 gallon. Always bigger and better!
Lager = colder is better. Start where you would an ale and drop the temps as you go. We do ours in the 45* - 55* range. Then of course, lager it colder. Unless you are doing something like a kolsch where lager yeast is used but fermentation is at ale temps. But, I am only one voice and by no means an expert (I am being serious here.) Have fun!
I'm getting my Hurricane burner shipped to my door today, 60k btu and I bought the orfice to convert it to natural gas so I can hook it up to the house. Banjo burners are also very good from what I've heard. Hoping to break in the new 15 gallon brew pot this weekend with a hefe brew at a friends and then maybe a couple ales/stout/porter. :cheers: -Steve
So uhh.. I know lager wants colder, but to get the damn yeast going i had to bring it upstairs into 70 degree temp. It's going f'in ape**** right now. My office smells like a brewery. It's great. PC gaming in what smells like a brewery + beer.. win. Steve: can you link me to which burner you bought? I'm in the market. Need something >55,000 btu and propane powered. From midwest brewing would be the best because I have a GC for there.
Here's a link to williams brewing: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICANE_STOVE_P2213C87.cfm It's large that's for sure. I haven't fired it up yet, but I'm sure it will be awesome. I need to season my brewpot and get the passive oxide layer going so we'll see how long it takes to boil 5+ gallons. I'm going to hook it up to the house on natural gas eventually so that's why I went with the Hurricane instead of the Banjo burner. From what I hear they are the exact same thing though.... -Steve
I brewed a batch this weekend. The first recipe that I put together. 1/2lb Carapils, 1/2 Crystal 50-60 3llb Briess DME, 6lbs Gold Barley LME 3oz Simcoe, 2oz Cascade, 1oz Saaz Wyeast 5056 2 packets of US-05 (Why two AND the liquid smack pack? I grabbed two packs and cut them thinking I had only one in my hand. Not knowing weather both would keep, I figured what the heck.) + 1oz Simcoe & 1oz Cascade for the dry hop I've got a cold water spigot in the garage but no drain. The wort chiller line isn't long enough to make it outside so I had to come up with an alternative... The driveway needs to be salted now.
ha ha.. nice looking burner I moved my German Helle from primary to 2nd yesterday. Had a little sip of the leftover beer from the hydrometer reading. I'm so pumped for this brew. Tastes a lot like the stuff I had over in germany.
Looks great Ted! Should turn out a nice IPA. Good to have little helpers. Writing up a recipe for the March 29th due date. Will be an Imperial IPA with loads of hops and shooting for 8% abv.
Thanks again for the burner, Ryan! And, thanks for your help on the recipe, Paul! I actually took good notes this time and used the hydrometer- OG: 1.060, so it turned out to not be my "as the stars align" brew... Great idea Paul! That's what I did for Sam's Birthday. My "Russian" Imperial Stout that named "#2 RIS" I would like a couple of you to try one of them and let me know what you think. Although I dumped two Wyeast smack packs into it I don't like the way it turned out. Doing some reading about it, I found out that the darker the wort, the more unfermentable sugars are present which makes sense as I don't like the sweetness - but I would like a bit of feedback from you kids.
Anytime Ted. I'd be more than happy to drink your beer! Shooting for next week(after bathroom reno) for an all grain brew day. I'll keep ya posted. Maybe some esters from pitching too much yeast? That might add a sweet taste although usually more banana-esk. Or possibly didn't ferment completely?
For everybody doing lagers read this thread. The guy that wrote this is a big local brewer, he has won state fair homebrew lager competitions with this method. http://www.brew-wineforum.com/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=1&MessageID=59851 Check out his setup as well - http://www.stuff.bryanrabeconstruction.com/BEER/ His recipes are also there.
