WATMM Homebrew Thread

  On 10/11/2011 at 11:42 PM, hautlle said:

Congrats! I was wondering, is that a no-boil kit?

yeah the malt extract was in a can. worrying now that i didn't soak my dry yeast and just chucked it in, hopefully it'll work.

You'll be fine pitching dry. Dry packets come with way more yeast cells than you need so it makes up for the number that die.

edit: I usually re-hydrate my yeast for about 20min in 105F water though.

aww, hells no, you've GOT TO have a starter from swimming cells. even with dry flakey yeast i go for the culture (if the strain's worth it). it's like Populus all up in my shit again, it's the best part. gotta watch em grow and protect them from the outside world nawmean?

coolio, heard good things about the kit, and apparently it's idiot-proof, so will update in December!

If I had some expensive yeast or something, did really big beers, and a way to store slants/starters/etc I might be more keen on propagating yeast. For now I don't mind dropping $3.50 on a packet of dry yeast.

Java Porter w/ Vanilla bottled. 8x22oz bombers, 35x12oz bottles @ about 6.5% abv. Remarkably smooth for only having 1 week on it. The vanilla is holding it together so it will be interesting to see how it ages. Those 8 bombers for for gifting/trading :sup:

last years wine weighs in at a nice 15%. I hope you still want to trade because I am dying to tast that brew.

Took a reading today. 1.020 (down from 1.040). So a little way to go.

Definitely still down to trade =) I'm gonna check a bottle in 3-4 weeks then I'll be getting in touch with people

sounds like a plan

Rye-PA brew tonight. First partial mash, went better than expected! Partial mash is a hybrid between extract brewing (what I've been doing) and all-grain brewing (the "real" way).

3lbs of barley malt, 1.5lbs of Rye, 0.5lb of Carrared to give it color/a bit of flavor. Let all that sit in 2 gallons of water @ about 155F for an hour, raise temp to 170F and pull it out. Then after it drains into the pot rinse it out with another 1.5 gallons of 170F water.

Bring to boil, add hops and liquid malt for the timings.

After boiling for an hour and adding hops at different times you gots to cool that shiz down to 78F ASAP. I built this little contraption over the week for that purpose. Cold water runs through the pipe which is immersed into the wort. It cooled my 3.5 gallons from boil to 78F in about 20 minutes.

Final gravity of 1064 after temperature correction. I was shooting for 1065, so not bad at all for my first go

Put it all in the fermenter and let it take off! That's the Black IPA dry-hopping next to it. That gets bottled this coming weekend.

amazon.

that cooling contraption is

It worked like a charm jhonny, so much easier than buying 20lbs of ice, making an ice bath in my sink, and stirring/adding ice to the bath for an hour. Did you have to boil your wort or was it a no-boil? The homebrew store asks about $70 for an immersion chiller like that. I built it for $30 of parts from Home Depot.

I also ended up making some delicious bread using some of the spent grains and whole wheat flour

Primed and barrelled. Gonna leave it for 6 weeks ready for a party!

Java Porter w/ Vanilla tasted amazing! It's almost everything I hoped for. Not much head retention, probably from the oils that got extracted from the vanilla and coffee in the vodka. Nose doesn't give much of anything... A little bit like cider I guess. It will be interesting to see if this changes over time. Taste is nice sweet porter up front followed by the chocolate and coffee flavors. The aftertaste of coffee is really god and sticks to the tongue. Next time I'm going to just crack the beans and toss them into the secondary. Not sure if I'll do the vanilla the same way.

yeah, seriously.

Not home brew but related. Last year I got a polypin of London Pride for the Xmas period. I shall be doing similar again this year. I'm after getting this 36 pint poly box of Doom Bar. The only problem is it says you have to drink it in 5 days. It can be done but I didn't want to rush through it.

Basically I would like some beer buffs to advise me on whether this lasting of 5 days is accurate? Surely it will last longer?

Here's the thing :

http://www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk/shop/?id=83

From reading about polypins online it seems 5 days once opened is the norm. Perhaps it's because the beer will start going flat once there is extra head space for the CO2 in solution to start coming out? Or maybe they don't seal perfectly? Never used one myself. Keeping it cold may help it last a little longer.

I also tasted the first of the India Black Ale (Black IPA) last night! After 5 days in the bottle it's carbonated pretty well. It has amazon hop flavors from the dry hop additions, 2 whole ounces! Really citrusy back end balances well with the roasted grains.

Got this kit ready to start tonight:

I like ginger beer that's really gingery, any suggestions on sticking some extra ginger in - and if so how?

I've heard also that if you up the sugar from 1kg to 1.5kg it'll make it stronger (and also reduce the water a bit), so might do that, because it's 3% if you follow the instructions

  On 11/4/2011 at 8:38 PM, hautlle said:

 

I'm gonna guess that it says "You've Got Hautlle" on that glass. Amirite?

  On 11/7/2011 at 10:47 PM, spratters said:

I'm gonna guess that it says "You've Got Hautlle" on that glass. Amirite?

lol, nah man. They're Buffalo Wild Wings glasses that say "You make good beer happen" pretty fitting :sup: My gf got them because she's a manager there. Limited to employees only.

  On 10/12/2011 at 12:01 AM, iep said:

i'm having a weihenstephaner Vitus (weizenbock) right now and i'm thinking wheatwine. say, 4/5 wheat with the rest being barley. go for +-1100 with a yeast that can handle it. then make sure it stays sparkly, with a proper hefeweizen head. wheatwhine yo.

 

*+-1100 original gravity

iep, Boulevard just changed up their seasonal Smokestack series and now has a Wheat Wine "Harvest Dance Wheat Wine"

  Quote

John Barleycorn is memorialized in English folk tradition as the personification of the barley plant, sacrificed at harvest time and then reborn as beer or ale. Our Harvest Dance Wheat Wine is a celebration of John’s Midwestern cousin, wheat. Beginning with a large portion of wheat malt, we add an equally generous helping of Hallertau and Citra hops and age the ale on both French and American oak. The result is a big, warming burst of tropical fruit flavors, highlighted by subtle wine-like notes, and rounding slowly to a long, dry, oaky finish.

http://www.boulevard...nce-wheat-wine/

I brewed up a Hefeweizen last night. Included some toasted coriander seeds, lemon zest, sweet orange peel, and thyme. I'm gonna add another batch of the same spices minus the lemon zest 3 days before bottling for some added aromas. Hope it turns out nice, this is my first go @ my own recipe http://hopville.com/...-jay-hefeweizen My friend Ray came down and helped out last night, that's where it fgot the Ray-Jay name :sup: I'm really proud of the color on this one, much better than the wheat beer I did for my first brew!