Beer Feeds

So, 3 weeks ago this saturday. I brewed a 5 gal batch of Cream Ale with a friend. It was his first batch and I helped him brew it, and have been watching fermentation at my house.

After about a week, the airlock stopped moving, so I assumed that fermentation was done. I pulled a sample for a gravity reading, and it was at 1.014. Per the recipe terminal gravity is supposed to be between 1.008-1.013. Mine sample measured right at 1.013-1.014. I decided to pull 6L and fill a Tap-A-Draft keg to force carb. Now, this was almost two weeks ago, and ever since I pulled the 6L out, the airlock has been moving again. At first it was letting out little bubbles, now it's pops about every 20 seconds.

Is this normal? Could an infection have caused the airlock to start moving again? I'm going to test gravity later tonight, but does anyone have any ideas? Original gravity was 1.058, and I don't remember which yeast I used. It was a dry yeast that was rehydrated.

thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if I ever posted this one, but I have made it numerous times as extract and AG and I'm making it right now. You could argue that it doesn't fit neatly into a category, but it's a smooth, easy drinking beer that is good anytime of year and it goes well with various foods as well. For those who don't like beers unless they are at least 50 IBU, this is not your recipe. You can drink this beer all afternoon & night and not get tired of it... and you won't sound like a blithering idiot either. It's also good for using less precious hops.

Memory Lapse Pale Ale

7.25 lbs American 2-row Pale Malt
1 lb Crystal 60°L
12 oz Malted Wheat (mash everything around 152°)
5 to 5.5 AAU of Mt Hood pellets for 60 minutes
White Labs 01 California Ale yeast (1st choice) or 1056 or US-05.

OG: 1.049, FG: 1.012, IBU: 23, SRM: 10, ABV: 4.8%

I try to ferment this beer between 60° and 65°. It's a very simple recipe and can appeal to a wide range of beer drinkers from newbies to beer snobs. Cheers.

I looked but didnt see anything.

How much Oxi for a 5G carboy and for how long? Its pretty clean but some gunk is stuck on top.

Posted: by dreadnatty08 (14 hours ago)

Posted: by tbonec (16 hours ago)

I'm aiming for a big, complex, black stout with plenty of roasted grain, dark fruit, coffee, chocolate, caramel, and spicy flavor. I plan on oaking it with either some chips i have, or with some darker cubes; any suggestions? This one will be aged until '09. Here goes:

5 gallons, OG: 1.096, FG: 1.025-1.020, IBU:~55, SRM: 55, efficiency: 75%

10 lbs Maris Otter 3L
3 lbs Dark Munich 8L
2 lbs Rye Malt 4L
1 lb Special B 120L
.75 lb Roasted Barley 600L
.5 lb Chocolate Malt 350L
.3 lb Black Patent 525L
.3 lb Molasses

.5 oz Centennial (7% AA) FWH
1 oz Bravo (11% AA) 60 min
1 oz Centennial (7% AA) 30 min
1 oz Centennial (7% AA) 15 min

Yeast: 1056

On Sunday I brewed my first lager. Brewed a simple vienna lager, 8 pounds of vienna malt, 1 pound of pilsner malt and 1/2 pound of caramunich. Ended up at a 1.052. Started my 2L starter of Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager 3 days prior and on brew day it was rockin and rollin. Got my beer chilled down to 70 degrees and just pitched in the whole starter (I had made the starter to 1.050 using DME). Then threw it in my fridge and set it for 48 degrees. Within two hours I had bubbling from the blow-off tube. By the next morning I had a good two inches of kraussen and vigorous bubbling from blow-off, nearly as vigourous as any ale fermentation I have seen. This afternoon I checked on it and bubbling had slowed slightly, was still bubbling about every second or every other second. I was curious so I pulled a sample to check gravity and while at it checked my internal temp of the fermenter. Temperature of the fermenting beer was right at 50 degrees, and to my surprise my SpG was 1.020.

Now everything I had read said to pull the beer out for a diacetyl rest when you were 3/4 of the way to your anticipated FG (which for me is 1.010) so that would mean I need to raise up my temperature to about 70 degrees now. However I had anticipated my primary fermentation taking 7-10 days and pulling it out then, not a three day fermentation! What do you guys think I ought to do?

My lager experience is in start contrast to any of my friends' first lager experiences in which they didn't even see any ferementation activity for 3 days let alone a nearly complete fermenation. As this is my first lager I would greatly appreciate any input as I am slightly confused about how to procede at this point!!

By the way, I just had to taste my hydro sample and it tasted fantastic! A touch sweet (as you would expect) , a little yeasty, a little sulphury and maybe a little bit of what I would guess is probably diacetyl, but none the less the beer has serious potential and I am excited!!

Thanks again guys!

A Wild Dog will be on the loose in October.  We will be releasing a Smoked Double Lager called “Dog Schwarz” (pronounced: dog sh-varts) in October - just in time for the Great American Beer Festival.  Funny how that works, huh?

As it is with all Wild Dog releases, Dog Schwarz will be available exclusively in hand filled, labeled and corked 750ml champagne-style bottles and in very limited quantity.

For more information on Schwarzbier, click here.

Here’s a look at the label.  Let us know what you think!

Technorati Tags: wild dog, craft beer, flying dog, smoked, double, lager, experimental

Posted: by beersabound (19 hours ago)

The whole story from an excellent beer blog


"The two wheats, the beer at right, was made with the ancient yeast."

How cool is this? Manteca is a bit of a drive for me, about 1.5 hours, but I might need to drink some.

zymot

I am just getting my gear ready for moving to kegging. As I understand it, all these corny kegs are available on the used market because the soda companies have moved to a different package for their dispensing.

So, unless these new packages (which I am not at all familiar with) use ball lock (and pin lock) quick disconnects for thier hook ups, wouldn't it seem that there would be an abundance of connectors for sale somewhere? Sure, I've seen some on ebay here and there, but no where as many sales as I have seen on kegs.

Just one of those things I was wondering about...

Whether it be suppliers, distributors, or retailers - anyone who has worked directly with Flying Dog Brewery at any point in the past 10 years, has probably worked with Mike Freeman in some capacity.  Mike is Flying Dog’s longest standing employee and has worked in everything from Sales to Warehouse to Purchasing to running the whole damn Brewery.

In April, Mike was diagnosed  with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor, also known as GBM. GBM is the most common and aggressive form of brain tumor. It is unknown what causes this tumor; unlike some brain tumors that spread from other cancer cells in the body, it starts in the brain.

All of Mike’s friends and his extended family at Flying Dog have come together and organized an event to help pay for some of Mike’s medical expenses.  The event, called “Rock The Mike: The Freeman Brainefit” is on August 23 in our old brewhouse in Denver (2401 Blake).  Not only does the event feature some of Denver’s best Punk Rock bands, all of the proceeds go straight to Mike.

We hope to see you come out on 8/23 to help us Rock the Mike! Click on the image below for more details.

For more information, please visit:

MikeSupport.com

Mike’s Caring Bridge Site

Technorati Tags: mike freeman, rock the mike, fuck cancer

On Sept 10. Anybody going? Anybody been there? Ill be there.

Posted: by oneeye (15 hours ago)

Title says it all. Brewed a porter(3rd brew) and racked to secondary 6 days after pitching. I want to let the beer condition in 2ndary at least 1 month thougth it tastes pretty good right now. 5 gal 2ndary has a lot of headspace (1 gal?). For all you seasoned brewers does having a lot of air in 2ndary really oxidize the beer that much or is it more hype than anything? Let me know your thoughts and experience on the subject.

FYI: I broke my hydrometer by accident and cannot give you the details on OG and FG. The fermentation by sight and airlock seem to have fineshed 3 days ago. By taste when racking to 2ndary the beer seems a little low in alcohol for a porter though the bitterness/sugar is a good balance. I estimate the abv to be about 3.5%-4% tops. Any input would be much appreciated.

I finally decided to try making my own pepper beer after having a delicious one at one of my local breweries a few years back. I decided that a esb would make a decent base for the pepper beer. I had just under 2 gallons left in a keg that I figured would make a good experimental batch. I decided on the use of 2 kinds of dried peppers, chipotle (smoked jalepeno) and california pepper.

For 2 gallons I added the following in my stainless dry hop ball:

1/16 oz Chipotle pepper
1/8 oz California pepper

The idea was to let it soak 24 hrs, take a sample and then sample at 12 hour intervals. Once I foiund the right flavor, pull the peppers and scale up the quantity for a 5 gallon batch. Well after 24 hours it was already too hot.... and the smoky flavor wasnt too good and a bit overpowering. Dont get me wrong it is drinkable, but missed the mark on what I was going for.

So for the 5 gallon batch, I think I will scale down the Chipotle to maybe 1/32 oz and keep the california the same 1/8 oz. I figure I will add to the keg after its carbonated so I can still take a "serving ready" representative sample of the beer, but maybe take samples initially at 12 hrs rather than 24.

Anyone else try using dried peppers for dry hopping a pepper beer?

I've been noticing a funny smell in my fermenters at least half the time at the end of primary. If I had to describe it I would say it's kind of a spicy smell. It's not too bad unless I get right down in it and take a big whiff which then burns my nose. I've had this happen a few times, but I've never noticed anything in the finished product. They've all tasted as clean as anything else I've brewed. There is nothing floating on top that would indicate an infection. My sanitation should be more than adequate as everything gets cleaned and starsaned before any wort touches it post boil. So does anyone have any ideas what this could be? I'd be worried if it was affecting the taste of the beer, but I guess I'm mostly just curious as to what it might be and how I can get rid of it if it's the predecessor of something more serious.

Hey all,

A co-worker is leaving for Marshall, Minnesota (vacation) and she commented she hoped to find some good beer there. I volunteered to post to the green board to see what the collective wisdom could come up with.

Thanks,
Brad

I have heard that cooling down the secondary can help crash out particulates - and I have a few floating in my secondary right now.

However, I'm going to prime and bottle this beer and don't want to lose my yeasties. Will cooling down the secondary - like below 50 degrees F - affect my ability to carbonate in the bottle?

I finally just got around to reading the last issue of zymurgy, and there is an article about what a difference varying the type of sugar makes when adding it to a tripel.

Until now, I have been adding my sugar to the primary, just after high krausen, but the article says he added sugar on each test batch at transfer, and started a true secondary fermentation. Does anyone do this? Advantages? And when I add corn sugar I have always dissolved it in as little water as possible, then cooled, then pitched. With Belgian candi sugar should I do the same? Not sure if the dissolving changes the crystal structure of the sugar, and defeats the purpose.

The electric rig thread running now made me think of something I've seen on here many time, but I didn't want to hijack it,so...

Whenever electric brewing is brought up, people always (rightly) caution about the dangers of such a setup and often mention something about "getting shocked by 240V" or "having 240V go to ground through you."

That's not really possible, is it? Shouldn't the max possible voltage a careless user could see be 120V? Since 240V is only generated hot to hot, grounding either leg as in a typical fault would seem to expose the person to just 120V. I'd think you'd have to actively try to be shocked with 240V by purposely touching both sources at once. I don't think it's possible with a random fault.

Does this make sense? Am I right?

http://www.heatersplus.com/18tbp.htm

Yeah. I'm an electrical idiot. (What's an amp?)

Would it dial down power of 5500 watt element in boil kettle? Outlet is 240v 30 amp.

An looking for something a little simpler to get up and running than PID with SSR.

So my buddy gave me a real thin rhizome this spring and I planted it. After many weeks of zero growth, I decided to find one online. It was shipped and I planted it right away. In the middle of the pot while I moved my buddies to the outer edge of the pot. So the pics will show what is growing in my pot. The outer plant looks like Cascade but the middle does not. Could it be some sort of hybrid? I need help! I need to kill the right one.

http://www.samidea.com/brew/index.asp

I have been using keg tags to keep track of my batches since I started brewing all grain. I recently decided to add more information to my tags. I have been using the paper "toe tags" that just listed beer name and date brewed. The improvements let me see the entire information of the recipe. I put the beer name, date brewed, and the ABV as prominent data. Then I show the entire recipe in terms that would be helpful in determining how to "tweek" the recipe. I used the cheap photo key chain things from Wal Mart.

Yes, i am still alive!!
Must Brew More Beer!
Ive been having WAY TOO MUCH FUN with my pontoon boat this summer!
Been on the boat i think every weekend but 2 since the beginning of April.. sometimes camping for a week at a time.. heh
Been a great summer!!! Its wraping up though, and soon, prob in Sept sometime, a 35 gallon batch of Something will be born!
Maybe a BlueMoon(last batch ruled!), or maybe a MaiBock?
Could be a Bourbon Vanilla Porter too....
Hmmmm so many decisions...

Almost time to fire up the LAMA!!

BrewON!
Walt

After my yeast screw up, I realize the importance of having spare yeast on hand. What is the procedure for propagating yeast from a bottle conditioned homebrew? I had this information and now can't find it. Thanks in advance.

In a continuation of my brew stand build I am in the process of collecting materials for my control panel. As previously stated I'm not an electrician and I'm not going to pretend to be. Therefore I'm looking at keeping my set up pretty simple (at least to start).

I'm looking at taking the plunge and picking up either a Love TS controller or a Auber PID. I'm a bit unsure which would be the "best" to buy. I know that a lot of you use the Love TS and anthers the PID, please help me make this decision. I will be adding a small heating element to the the HERMS I'm trying to stick with only using 110V, I know this is not the most practical method by I will only be using it to maintain small temp changes as I will also have a burner for the HLT.

I want to be able to control the mash the through the HERMS, and possible be able to complete multiple temp mashes (down the road). So here are the items I have been looking into...


Auber PID (ebay)

and


Love TS Control

So, if you have any input or comments please let me know. I sure I left out parts of my thought process so please ask away. And thanks for your time... AGAIN

Obtained an Brew Keggle!!

Yesterday was the 2nd annual Picinic and fundraiser for my wifes brother who passed away too young(29) in 2006 from Epilepsy. One of his friends recently sold his restuarant and opened a fast food sandwich place.

So, Early in the AM, we are packing the beer coolers when he shows up with a Full Keg of Dales Pale Ale.. He said it's been sitting in the walkin cooler of his new place and it was a left over Keg from his Old restuarant.

I said..Wow.. what are your plans for the empty Keg.. He says... If you want it, it's yours.. one less headache for me

So..It was nice to drink Dales all day and I am the proud owner of the Keg.

Now to do some shopping!!!

Just a quick reminder that Friday, August 8th, the American Home Brewers Association will be having a membership drive, hosted by the Iron Hill Brewery in Wilmington. Come out and hang with the Iron Hill crew and special guests from the Dogfish Head Brewery, including founder Sam Calagione.

They’ll be discounted membership pricing, a special beer, and other fun with proceeds going to local brew clubs. You can get more details from our peeps at the First State Brewers Club.

I recently purchased two five gallon kegs of blue moon, and I could not be more dissatisfied. They are packaged in coors kegs (they are distributed by coors). I am guessing they are using the same kegs for coors and other beers, and not washing them properly. I have twice now found small black colored particulate matter in my beer. (all my lines and sanke adapters, etc are brand new.......cleaned and sanitized!) I have had the problem with both kegs. Also, the beer tastes like crap. Nothing like the bottled variety. Anybody else have this experience?