Posted on 11/02/2012 3:34:08 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good afternoon/evening FReepers. Yep, it is Beer Thirty Time Once Again!
Happiness is a bubbling airlock! And a Cold Brew
BEER
Small glass of my sparkling Cranberry Mead - Tasty Too
I missed posting the weekly thread last week because I had to make a trip back to Mississippi to check on the house and property I own there.
When I returned to Tx on Saturday I racked the Irish Stout I had brewed into a secondary and also made another Hard Apple Cider. I used some raisins as a super food for the yeasties. And those raisins seem to be great for the yeast - they are still working away!
A few weeks ago I mentioned that a new Home Brew Store was opening in my area. They have not opened yet! They are waiting on licensing from the state. This is a husband and wife team trying to open a small business in this economy. This is their website page - Link to the Home Brew Store Website in Shreveport, La.
It has got to be difficult for them to try opening a new business in this economy! I will give them business.
A listing of the top 10 pumpkin beers brewed in the United States(2012). Great for the Holiday season. (Yes, they have two #5’s)
1. Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale - Stevens Point Brewery
2. Punkin’ Ale - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
3. Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing Company
4. La Parcela- #1 Pumpkin Ale - Jolly Pumpkin
5. Terrapin Pumpkinfest - Terrapin Beer Company
5. Ichabod Ale - New Holland Brewing Company
6. Post Road Pumpkin Ale - Brooklyn Brewery
7. Imperial Pumpkin - Weyerbacher Brewing Company
8. Pumpkin Lager Beer - Lakefront Brewery
9. Pumpkinhead Ale - Shipyard Brewing Co.
10. Saranac Pumpkin Ale - Matt Brewing Company
I cheated on my Octoberfest this year. Waited too long, so I used San Diego Super Yeast instead of a lager yeast. Faketoberfest was awesome though. My specialty is on stouts, so if you want any advice let me know. What gravity are you going for on the stout? I stay away from black patent and balance roasted malt, chocolate malt evenly at about .5 lbs a piece per 5 gallons with about a lb of crystal, and 12 lbs of base malt. I also love Special B malt for complexity. about .5 lbs. My favorite yeast for stouts is WLP002. For mouthfeel, a lb of oatmeal and some rice hulls for safety. For head retention a little wheat.
What is your usual recipe?
I cheated on my Octoberfest this year. Waited too long, so I used San Diego Super Yeast instead of a lager yeast. Faketoberfest was awesome though. My specialty is on stouts, so if you want any advice let me know. What gravity are you going for on the stout? I stay away from black patent and balance roasted malt, chocolate malt evenly at about .5 lbs a piece per 5 gallons with about a lb of crystal, and 12 lbs of base malt. I also love Special B malt for complexity. about .5 lbs. My favorite yeast for stouts is WLP002. For mouthfeel, a lb of oatmeal and some rice hulls for safety. For head retention a little wheat.
What is your usual recipe?
I cheated on my Octoberfest this year. Waited too long, so I used San Diego Super Yeast instead of a lager yeast. Faketoberfest was awesome though. My specialty is on stouts, so if you want any advice let me know. What gravity are you going for on the stout? I stay away from black patent and balance roasted malt, chocolate malt evenly at about .5 lbs a piece per 5 gallons with about a lb of crystal, and 12 lbs of base malt. I also love Special B malt for complexity. about .5 lbs. My favorite yeast for stouts is WLP002. For mouthfeel, a lb of oatmeal and some rice hulls for safety. For head retention a little wheat.
What is your usual recipe?
I might change things up, but this is the recipe for my last batch. I am always searching for perfection and think things can always be better. I work towards that and experiment. Rarely do I make things the same way twice. I always want to tweak recipes. This batch that I made last year was very good tho:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV: 5.5%
SRM: 30°
IBU: 46.1
Boil Size: 6.5 Gallons
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Grain:
8.5 lbs Maris Otter
1.25 lbs Flaked Oats
1 lb Crystal 80L
.5 lbs Roasted Barley
.5 lbs American Black Patent
.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
Hops:
60 Minutes – Chinook - Pellets – 11.7 AA
1 Minute - Chinook - Pellets – 11.7 AA
Yeast:
WLP005 British Ale Yeast
Trust me on this tweak. Black patent adds a chalky, ashy flavor that messes with balance. You will have a more complex and interesting beer if you replace that .5 black patent with .5 special B. This will add some dark fruit hints. My personal opinion is to suggest using WLP002 which leaves a nice residual sweetness and some fruity notes. you’re hops look fine. Not what I use, but makes the same difference. This is a malt driven beer. A little wheat would increase head retention.
I have TWO batches going now. One in the keg now for final and CO2. The second is re-using the yeast from the first.
Of interest: Beer can survive a nuclear blast! It was proven empirically.
http://www.chem.info/Community/Blogs/CHEM-Blog/Safety-Beer-Bombs/
In the end of days, there will be beer.
Back in 1956, three executives from the Can Manufacturers Institute and the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute wrote a report titled “The Effect of Nuclear Explosions on Commercially Packaged Beverages.” Their motivation was simple: In the event of a nuclear explosion, what, if anything, could be consumed after the fallout?
According to the abstract for “Operation Teapot,” commercially packaged beverages (soda and beer) in both glass bottles and metal cans were exposed to a detonation in various layouts — different shelving, storage, and distances away from Ground Zero. Many of the bottles and cans survived the blast, even those as close as 1,270 feet away. Most of the casualties were either crushed by surrounding buildings, hit by shrapnel, or merely fell off of the shelf.
The contents of the surviving swill, even those in closer proximity to the blast, could still be safely consumed as an emergency supply of potable water. The only negative data to come out of the study — other than the whole hypothetical nuclear holocaust business — was that the beer suffered greater flavor changes than the soft drinks.
What about the radiation? Wouldn’t said beverages become radioactive waste? The study found that while some of the “containers showed some induced radioactivity, none of this activity was transferred to the contents.” While I’ve never seen a person fight through radioactive waste to score a beer, I’ve seen other daring feats that would rival such in acts of brand loyalty and stupidity.
While the study at the Nevada Proving Grounds took place nearly five years before President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, it epitomized asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. This study, if released, could’ve taken some of the edge off of the Cold War fear.
Though a bit dismayed that they didn’t include other spirits in the experiment, I was impressed by the results. The results also made me wonder whether or not contemporary containers could stand both 20 and 30 kiloton blasts. As a child, my Uncle Tom collected his father’s beer cans and amassed an extensive collection that had been displayed in my grandfather’s basement for years. Always the curious kid, I’d examine the old labels, the seemingly impossible to open can tabs (if they even had one), and the structure of the can.
Compared to the thin aluminum used today, they had a much more robust structure. Back in my grandfather’s day, if a man crushed a can on his forehead, he meant business. Today, kid’s do it. Not the bright ones, but some can still pull it off.
The study made me wonder, could cans of today stand up to such a blast as did their predecessors? Of course, this is likely to devolve into a whole “they just don’t make anything like they used to” type of conversation, but given the number of beer drinkers in America, I can see some cause for concern.
If the black patent is for color, replace it with de-husked Carafa III. This doesn’t add any acrid flavors. Just a little black patent can affect flavor a lot. You’ll have a much smoother and balanced stout without it.
I want all the advice you can give me on a stout. I am brewing using extracts so that limits what I can do. I don;t have the equipment or the funds to get into all grain brewing yet. But I do like a good homebrewed stout!
Jay,
You are great. I will try that. I basically brew on my own. I have friends that are into half way, and they are great friends, but we don’t go into detail. I am always open to trying new things of they seem rational.
Well, making an extract stout you must be doing a steep. Basically, take the advice I gave on the full grain stout on the adjunct grains...minus oatmeal...and apply it to your steeping grains. Oatmeal will require a partial mash. Can you do that?
It is not really expensive to convert to full grain. After the initial investment you will save money. For less than $100 bucks you can convert. You’ll make your money back in money saved after four brews.
If you are just going for 5 gallons at a time...it will be less than $100. A good igloo cooler, an SS braided hose, and a few other parts is all it takes.
Yes I do a grain steep. I have used Oatmeal in my stouts but it was the type of oatmeal that did not need to be mashed. Do you ever use brown sugar, molasses or maple sugars in your stouts? I have used Golden Naked Oats, Rolled Oats along with Special B (Castle) as steeping grains in past Stouts.
You are getting good advice on those stouts. Even doing a partial mash with some oatmeal will help that head retention and give you some much needed body. The suggestion about malto dextrine is also quite good. It adds body without sweetness and gives your beer more mouthfeel. Add it 15 minutes before flameout.
Bite the bullet and go all grain ASAP. Converting a cooler is cheap and easy. Look into using the stainless steel braid from under sink water lines. It’s cheap and easy. Nearly all home brew stores will pre-mill your gains and the per batch price is undeniable.
Cheers,
knewshound.
Jay, it sounds like you are very experienced in homebrewing and I hope you visit the thread regularly. A lot of us can use really good advice. I amyself am just at the beginner stage in brewing. That is why I started the thread - to learn as much as I can and brew up good brews, meads and ciders!
I am getting my recipes for tomorrow’s double brew session now.
I’m brewing for thanksgiving weekend and am making a classic pale ale and a blondish sort of thing for a daily drinker.
Batch 1- 11.5 gallons
18 lbs 2 row pale
Mash at 148
1 oz Magnum @60
1 oz Columbus @ 20
1 oz Colombus @flameout
Yeast - SA 05 @ 68 degrees
Batch 2 - 11.5 gallons
17 lbs of 2 Row
1 lb wheat
Mash at 152
1 oz Magnum @60
1 oz homegrown Cascades @ 20
1 oz homegrown Cascades @ 5
WLP 001 at 68 degrees
I have 12 gallons of Mocha Stout ready to transfer this weekend.
18 lbs 2 row pale
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb pale chocolate malt
1/4 lb carafa 550 for color
2 pots STRONG French Roast coffee 5 minutes before flameout.
It has been fermenting at 70 for 2 weeks and tastes a lot like a chocolate stout with a nice coffee back bitter. I am letting it age until Thanksgiving weekend when we will tap one for our annual fishing trip.
Additionally, I have 12 gallons of cider that is finally ready to bottle for this summer. I still need to blow off the sulphur with Co2 before I’m done but at least that brew is almost out of my hair.
I am extremely frustrated as I have my new two pump system ready to go and all I need the the high temp tubing to get it all up and running but just do not have the coin right now.
Soon, real soon.
Cheers,
knewshound
The glass of sparkling mead I posted in my original post was started last year at the end of November and I was instructed to let it clarify in a secondary and tertiary for about six months and then bottle age for another six months. Wine takes time as does a mead (honey wine). That is why I prefer brewing BEER! It may be a month or a little more to a good tasting brew!
I have been curious about home-brewing since my brother-in-law does some awesome meads that he became quite well known for at sci-fi cons.
Tonight, however, I am reading this while enjoying a bottle of Crispin’s Honey Crisp hard cider. Wow....is this stuff good!
Anyone do hard cider?
I am doing hard Ciders right now, a gallon at a time at this point. And all have been very, very tasty! I have used frozen concentrate and fresh squeezed Muselman’s Cider from WalMart at $4.98 a gallon. This is an easy, easy brewing project!
Do it! I have bottled mine carbonated, which I prefer for a homemade hard cider. Tasty stuff! There are a few other FReepers on this thread who are doing apple ciders.
You can use maple syrup, brown sugar, etc...in any brew...but if you want those things to add flavor...well...
If you put any of those into a fermenting bucket they will not add flavor. They will only add ABV. They are all 100% fermentable. u want those flavors u either have to kill the yeast with perservatives or use an extract. Otherwise you will just increase the alcohol content.
My first batch is mashed in and the sparge water is heating.
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy home brewing?
Cheers,
knewshound
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