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fav13andac1)c
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8:01a, 11/20/15
AG
Does anybody have any experience with oxidizing hot wort? I'm hoping that's not what I did with the beer that's currently fermenting. Going to give it a taste later and check the gravity. I was trying to cool it down quickly so I poured distilled water in with it.

Edit: I tasted and it tastes fine. No off flavors at all!
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Kyle98
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9:58a, 11/24/15
AG
Brewing a dunkelweizen this weekend:

7lbs Wheat Malt
5lbs Munich Malt
1/4lb Chocolate Malt

1oz Tettnang @ 60

Wyeast 3068 or WLP300

I'm going to try to enter a few beers into the Bluebonnet Brew Off this year. The saison for sure, maybe the quad if I can squeeze three bottles out of the keg, probably this dunkelweizen, if it turns out good, and maybe one more. I should be able to get in another brew day before the end of the year. Maybe do my DIPA again, or try something totally new.
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farmer2010
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 10:26a, 11/24/15
AG
quote:
Does anybody have any experience with oxidizing hot wort? I'm hoping that's not what I did with the beer that's currently fermenting. Going to give it a taste later and check the gravity. I was trying to cool it down quickly so I poured distilled water in with it.

Edit: I tasted and it tastes fine. No off flavors at all!

Hot side aeration isn't the problem that traditional wisdom suggests. Oxidation is far more likely from oxygen that's introduced after fermentation is complete, especially if you age your beer. Here's an experiment testing the effects of HSA:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/11/18/is-hot-side-aeration-fact-or-fiction-exbeeriment-results/

FYI, this site is excellent for determining which "boogeymen" actually matter when brewing, and which ones you can largely ignore. Hot side aeration is the latter.
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fav13andac1)c
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In reply to farmer2010 • 1:48p, 11/24/15
AG
Thanks a lot for that awesome info!
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Kyle98
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10:28a, 11/25/15
AG
Saison is down to 1.003! Assuming it's done, I'm going to cold crash tonight and keg on Friday, making room in the fermentation chamber for the dunkelweizen. Picked up the ingredients yesterday, and have the starter going at the house. Here's what I went with:

7lbs Wheat Malt
5lbs Munich Malt (8L)
1/4lb Chocolate Malt (350L)

1oz Tettnang @ 60

Wyeast 3068

Not sure where in the range I'm going to ferment yet. I want a nice balance between banana and clove, without either being overpowering. Any suggestions?
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farmer2010
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12:52p, 11/27/15
AG
Don't overpitch or you'll risk losing the banana esters. You gotta stress weizen yeasts to get some of their characteristic flavor. I'd actually suggest to underpitch a bit (60-80 normal pitch rate) and start the fermenter around 67 degrees, ramping up to 75 toward the end of fermentation. And you absolutely need a blow off tube for this strain.
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Kyle98
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4:09p, 11/27/15
AG
Yeah, I did a small starter since the smack pack was 2 months old. Didn't want to stress the yeast that much!
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jock itch
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In reply to farmer2010 • 8:36p, 11/28/15
quote:
quote:
Does anybody have any experience with oxidizing hot wort? I'm hoping that's not what I did with the beer that's currently fermenting. Going to give it a taste later and check the gravity. I was trying to cool it down quickly so I poured distilled water in with it.

Edit: I tasted and it tastes fine. No off flavors at all!

Hot side aeration isn't the problem that traditional wisdom suggests. Oxidation is far more likely from oxygen that's introduced after fermentation is complete, especially if you age your beer. Here's an experiment testing the effects of HSA:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/11/18/is-hot-side-aeration-fact-or-fiction-exbeeriment-results/

FYI, this site is excellent for determining which "boogeymen" actually matter when brewing, and which ones you can largely ignore. Hot side aeration is the latter.


Great post.

And to add anecdotal data, you guys should see how most commercial systems deal with grist hydration. Ours basically drops 6 ft through the hydrator which obviously creates a ton of splashing. We don't have a way of actually testing it yet, but if HSA was actually that big of a problem there would be A LOT of bad craft beer out on the market right now.
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Chipotlemonger
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5:24p, 11/29/15
AG
Looking to get some supplies and become a home brewer. Been mulling it over and seriously considering it for almost a year.

Been reading How To Brew by John J. Palmer.

Do I assemble my own kit with each piece of equipment purchased separately, or go get something like one of these:

http://www.morebeer.com/content/newtobrewing

I have heard that getting a slightly larger than 5 gallon brew pot is a good idea (to fight overflow mess). 6.5 a good size? Also have heard a copper tube wort chiller is a big step up in adding quality to the beer.

Thanks for any help.
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Kyle98
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7:11p, 11/29/15
AG
I started with this kit from Norther Brewer:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/beer-equipment-starter-kits/deluxe-beer-brewing-starter-kit

Has everything you'll need to start out except a brew kettle. I'd also recommend getting a hydrometer. The copper tubing wort chiller is also very useful in chilling your wort post-boil for pitching.

For the brew kettle, I'd go as big as your budget allows. I started with an 8 gallon one but quickly outgrew it when I moved to all-grain brewing.

In the Northern Brewer kit, you have the option of getting the Big Mouth Bubbler carboys. I have two (mine are the ported ones, I think the kit is just the regular ones) and I love them.

Hopefully that helps a little bit. I'm sure others will chime in as well, and we all do stuff differently. There's really no one right way to do it, there are lots of ways to make great beer at home.
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Kyle98
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1:31p, 11/30/15
AG
Got my saison kegged on Friday. It's obviously not carbonated yet, but I tried a bit on Saturday, and I think it's going to be just as good as the last batch that took gold at Labor of Love. This one dried out even more, as it finished at 1.002! That's getting entered into Bluebonnet for sure.

Brewed a dunkelweizen on Satuday. Missed my OG by quite a bit. Scorched the kettle (not sure if during mash or boil, but probably boil since my gravity into boil was pretty close to expected), first time that's happened. That probably accounts for the low OG, since I lost some sugars to scorching. Not really sure what happened with that. Hopefully it still turns out OK.

Looking ahead, I'm still going to see if I can get three bottles from what's left of the quad to enter into Bluebonnet. I want to try to do one more between now and then if possible. The dropoff deadline is January 28th, so I'll only have a little over a month to have it brewed, fermented, and carbonated. Not sure that's possible. Might try a British mild or bitter, though, and see how it does.
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AlaskanAg99
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 2:40p, 11/30/15
AG
Brewing beer is easy. Brewing excellent beer is very difficult. With that in mind please realize a starter kit is bare bones and will get you making beer. If you have the personality that likes to get really involved in all the details then this is a great hobby. If you aren't that interested in all the fine details, then this may be disappointing. Either way, brew a batch and you'll have a new appreciation for craft beer.

Couple of notes, great start on picking up that book. You can also go to the brewing network and listen to the podcasts. I'd start with Brewing Strong which is the mechanics and process behind brewing, cleanjng, sanitizing and fermenting. Until your procedure for brewing and fermenting is down you can't really enjoy the art of designing recipes.

Learn to love cleaning and sanitizing.

And collecting, rinsing and washing bottles.

If you enjoy brewing and all the associated learning, then you'll want to start expanding equipment and the first thing is a way to keep the fermenting wort at a stable temperature to let the yeast do their thing. This is what probably turns most people off fastest, hot fermentation = less than ideal beer. People get discouraged and quit. You just need an old fridge and an external thermostat and boom, quality just took a huge leap forward. But in the meantime you can get away with shortcuts while you expand your brewery.

Last: you will never save money by brewing your own. Home brewers brew for the joy, the product and sharing with friends. It's a very deep subject which provides endless learning, challenges and disappointments, but you learn, fix the problem and keep on brewing.

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farmer2010
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 4:39p, 11/30/15
AG
quote:
you will never save money by brewing your own

Depends on how much you drink, how much your time is worth, and how well you manage your impulse to buy shiny new stuff.
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AlaskanAg99
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In reply to farmer2010 • 5:55p, 11/30/15
AG
quote:
quote:
you will never save money by brewing your own

Depends on how much you drink, how much your time is worth, and how well you manage your impulse to buy shiny new stuff.


Personally: Tons, Lots, Poorly.
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HECUBUS
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9:37a, 12/4/15
AG
Back in the early 90's, we could brew top quality beer for two bucks a gallon by buying bulk. Soda kegs were $5, same for glass carboys. The only thing useful on the Internet was home brew recipies posted at universities. We got caught hacking through the fire wall at work and our punishment was to get the first beta version of Mosaic in late '93. That meant more home brew recipes and playing with temperature controlled circulating mash.

Everyone had a dedicated beer fridge and three beers on tap at all times. We could nail an ale on the first try and then make it better than the original on the second. Good times.

It was good to be a EE in the 90's. I still have all my brewing equipment and when the last kid heads to college, I'll swap that spare freezer for a beer fridge again and I bet I can still do bulk all grains for less than store bought. I might still have 15+ year old hops in the back of a freezer.

Confirmed: Chinook, Foggle and Centennial and they still smell great. I might have to find the old recipe book, a new a grain supply and another day off while school is still in session.
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AlaskanAg99
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9:45a, 12/4/15
AG
Ad said above, if you remove time and hardware costs you can brew cheaper than store bought. But if you factor them in you won't break even. Your equipment costs are really low so that's a huge plus. But in the last 25 years the quality of homebrew gadgets has exploded. Hell, they've exploded in the 12 years I've been brewing.
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HECUBUS
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In reply to AlaskanAg99 • 10:02a, 12/4/15
AG
I agree that you home brew for the love of good beer and not to save money. I wouldn't upgrade my equipment, I'm sure I can still do an all grain batch in less than five hours, so that $2/gallon was with free labor and usually home brew and home brewing friends.
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AlaskanAg99
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6:00p, 12/4/15
AG
Ha, I was just saying I'd you haven't brewed in the last decade you should check out more beer or northern brewer, so many new toys. But the basics havent changed. 5 hours is pretty fast.
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Kyle98
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8:56a, 12/9/15
AG
To those who have used WLP300 or Wyeast 3068, how long did the sulfur smell take to go away? I know it's common in this strain, so I'm not too worried, just curious. Most of the stuff I've found says a couple of weeks, but I figured I'd see who all here has experience with it. I thought I remembered reading something about it on here a while back, but I couldn't find it in a cursory search of the thread.

My dunkelweizen smelled pretty strongly of sulfur late last week, but it's mellowed out a bit since then. Hoping to keg it in another week.
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fav13andac1)c
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3:56p, 12/11/15
AG
The wonderful wife got me an immersion chiller for Christmas! Now to get an aquarium pump...
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Sooner Born
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 4:01p, 12/11/15
Are you going to do it with icewater from a cooler?
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AlaskanAg99
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4:26p, 12/11/15
AG
I think that's the best way, if 8n have a chance to find my pump I'll see what gpm are, speed isn't of the essence as long contact time cools faster so long as the water is still cold.
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fav13andac1)c
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5:52p, 12/11/15
AG
Yes I do plan to chill with ice water during the summer months. Depends on the temp of my tap water. AlaskanAg, do you recirculate ice water when pumping?
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fav13andac1)c
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5:52p, 12/11/15
AG
DP
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danieljustin06
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12:17p, 12/13/15
AG
So, I finally decided to buy the Grainfather and it came in. Looks like it's pretty specific on water. It has it's own formula and all. I like the idea of the ease of cleaning it verses all my other pieces of equipment.
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AlaskanAg99
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 9:16a, 12/14/15
AG
quote:
Yes I do plan to chill with ice water during the summer months. Depends on the temp of my tap water. AlaskanAg, do you recirculate ice water when pumping?


Yup, I use hose water to knock it down to about 100 in the summer, and 5hen take the runoff and hook it up to a sprinkler so I water the lawn, plants, whatever.

Then I fill an insulated cooker with ice water. 7lbs for a 6 gallon batch, 14lbs for a 11 gallon batch, I usually leave a gallon behind as well with the hop slurry or what not. I hook my pump up and have a return hose that returns to the top of the cooler. I found out by having the return hose go to the bottom i was recirculating warmer water.

To make your smaller aquarium pump more efficient, place your cooler at the same level as your BK. Eliminating a lot of head height will allow you to push more.

Lastly, if you have a march/chugger pump, running for 15 mins during the end of the boil to sanitize your lines, then keep it running while cooling, this will decrease your cooling time dramatically. And if you have a lot of ice make sure you don't crash down to lagering temps.

If you don't have this, keep a sanitized SS spoon or paddle and manually swirl your wort around the chilling coil. This will also result is great cold break.
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AlaskanAg99
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10:33a, 12/14/15
AG
I use a Lifeguard Quiet One Aquarium pump. Came out of an old reef tank. I think it is a 4000 series. Just what I had on hand, up sizing a bit would be a good idea. Small sump pumps could work but they put off a lot of heat which just melts your ice faster. This isn't a sanitary pump, just fyi.
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Cyprian
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2:48p, 12/15/15
AG
Just tasted my first batch where I controlled fermentation temperature & cold crashed at the end. All I have to say is if you do one thing - do that.
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fav13andac1)c
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10:58a, 12/16/15
AG
Question. Can you ferment 2.5 gallon batches in a 5 gallon fermenter? I'm wanting to eventually do experiment batches with different hops but don't want to get extra equipment.
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Sooner Born
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 11:04a, 12/16/15
I think so. The amount of CO2 put off by fermentation would protect against any sort of oxidation risk.
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Kyle98
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In reply to fav13andac1)c • 11:05a, 12/16/15
AG
quote:
Question. Can you ferment 2.5 gallon batches in a 5 gallon fermenter? I'm wanting to eventually do experiment batches with different hops but don't want to get extra equipment.
I don't see why not. You just have to be extra careful to make sure your seals are tight, since there's less headspace and more opportunity for oxidation.

I know Workboots does smaller batches, so maybe he will chime in.
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Kyle98
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In reply to Sooner Born • 11:06a, 12/16/15
AG
quote:
I think so. The amount of CO2 put off by fermentation would protect against any sort of oxidation risk.
As long as you're not dry-hopping, or adding stuff to "secondary", that's correct. I assume, since he's talking about experimentation, that he might be adding stuff to the fermenter after primary fermentation is complete.

You're still probably fine, just have to be careful when you're adding stuff.
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fav13andac1)c
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11:57a, 12/16/15
AG
What precautions should I take if I was going to dry hop? I suppose, to really appreciate whatever hop I would be using, I would need to dry hop. Or just add it at flameout?
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AlaskanAg99
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12:08p, 12/16/15
AG
Dry hopping adds aroma, by adding at flame out you will isomerize the oils into acids, pick up ibu, and some of the delicate vilitols will be driven off during fermentation. You can dry hop in a half full carboy/bucket, you just want to remove the lid, add, seal very quickly. Or add near the end of fermentation to allow some of the introduced O2 to be driven off.

If racking to an empty carboy and only filling half full,I wouldn't unless you have a co2 tank to purge the fermenter.
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fav13andac1)c
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12:18p, 12/16/15
AG
Okay. That's pretty much what I did with my most recent batch with adding a vanilla bean. Open, empty vodka/vanilla bean cocktail into beer, spray a little StarSan on the rim and lid, seal.


Thanks for the valuable input, yall!
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