Author Topic: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts  (Read 24643 times)

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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #30 on: December 05, 2012, 12:40:18 AM »

Offline action781

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Do you guys bottle or keg?  My father and I brew and we keg it (he has a 2 tap kegerator).  We've bottled once and I think that was our best batch, but we still keg.  Wanna hear your opinions on it.

I only bottle right now. I hate bottling. I want to no longer bottle. But getting outfitted for kegging will run me about $200 buck, so Im passing for now.

I bottle. I don't mind bottling day so much, because my SO helps me out (she's a real trooper).

It's much easier to share homebrew when it's bottled. Plus, it looks cool to go down into the basement and see an entire bookcase filled with bottles of beer.

BTW, just yesterday I pulled out a bottle of my first batch ever (a bitter from almost 18 months ago), and it tasted fantastic: smooth and mellow. Very cool to go back into the archives and see what time does to a homebrew.

Yeah, our great batch that we bottled did get better and better as time passed.  I remember being sad drinking the last bottle.
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #31 on: December 11, 2012, 01:38:35 AM »

Offline indeedproceed

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Drinking my IPA now, just about finished carbonating. But you need 75 degrees to natural carbonate with any speed. My house doesn't get above 70 (and trust me, it matters), so even after 2 weeks it's only about half carbonated.

Made a huge mistake in the hope addition. Added my 1 oz at the boil, but instead of adding my second ounce at 45, I added it at 15 (instructions were a bit misleading to my admittedly somewhat buzzing eye. 15 mins from end of boil, forgot the word end). Then, I only added one ounce instead of 2 at the 5 minute mark and the other one sat in my garage for a week and a half. I added it as a dry-hop.

Still tasty, but overly bitter up front wih little of the piney/citrusy aftertaste Id love.

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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #32 on: December 11, 2012, 02:25:20 AM »

Offline indeedproceed

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My next batch will be something I made up in my head that will probably suck.

An Irish IPA. 6lbs dark extract and 2 lbs Extra Light IPA, 2 oz chinook at the opening, 1 oz simcoe at 45, 2 oz chinook at 5 mins to done, specialty grains: .5 lbs chocolate, .5 lbs caramalt, .5 lbs golden oats

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #33 on: December 12, 2012, 02:02:16 AM »

Offline indeedproceed

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Tried my honey porter tonight. Just stellar. Carbonated like a gem. If any extract brewers out there want to try a new kit, try northern brewers honey porter. Regrets, you will have none.

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #34 on: December 12, 2012, 08:39:35 AM »

Offline the_Bird

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I made a Belgian dubbel a few months back that's probably the best beer I've ever made.  I've been having all kinds of issues with my efficiency (getting enough sugar out of my grains), but this one clicked.  Did a small decoction mash, where I take some of my grains and boil them to add some extra depth of flavor and some color.  Fermented nice and dry, but it's got a real nice, dark-malt backbone. 

Have a cherry-oatmeal stout to get kegged this weekend, too.  Should be nice for the holidays. 

It's nice to be back brewing again after basically giving it up for a year while we moved and I got settled back into the new place. 

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #35 on: December 12, 2012, 04:05:18 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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My next batch will be something I made up in my head that will probably suck.

An Irish IPA. 6lbs dark extract and 2 lbs Extra Light IPA, 2 oz chinook at the opening, 1 oz simcoe at 45, 2 oz chinook at 5 mins to done, specialty grains: .5 lbs chocolate, .5 lbs caramalt, .5 lbs golden oats

Sounds interesting, especially the addition of the oats (for mouthfeel, I'm guessing?).

I like Chinook hops. I use those and Cascade for my gluten-free offering, with the Chinook at the middle and end of the boil (Cascade for flavoring at beginning and middle).

Just bottled my gluten-free last night. Would have done it sooner, but discovered on Sunday night that the spigot on my bottling bucket was completely cracked in half. Had to go to the local HBSS for a replacement. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the carbonation level on this batch. First time that I've measured out my priming sugar by weight, instead of by volume. Wondering if I'll end up overcarbonating this time.
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #36 on: December 12, 2012, 04:34:41 PM »

Offline indeedproceed

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My next batch will be something I made up in my head that will probably suck.

An Irish IPA. 6lbs dark extract and 2 lbs Extra Light IPA, 2 oz chinook at the opening, 1 oz simcoe at 45, 2 oz chinook at 5 mins to done, specialty grains: .5 lbs chocolate, .5 lbs caramalt, .5 lbs golden oats

Sounds interesting, especially the addition of the oats (for mouthfeel, I'm guessing?).

I like Chinook hops. I use those and Cascade for my gluten-free offering, with the Chinook at the middle and end of the boil (Cascade for flavoring at beginning and middle).

I'm also adding 1 lb corn sugar and 2 lbs honey.

Forgot to add that.

Quote
Just bottled my gluten-free last night. Would have done it sooner, but discovered on Sunday night that the spigot on my bottling bucket was completely cracked in half. Had to go to the local HBSS for a replacement. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the carbonation level on this batch. First time that I've measured out my priming sugar by weight, instead of by volume. Wondering if I'll end up overcarbonating this time.

This will be interesting. Are you using table sugar or what?

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #37 on: December 12, 2012, 04:42:58 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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Just bottled my gluten-free last night. Would have done it sooner, but discovered on Sunday night that the spigot on my bottling bucket was completely cracked in half. Had to go to the local HBSS for a replacement. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the carbonation level on this batch. First time that I've measured out my priming sugar by weight, instead of by volume. Wondering if I'll end up overcarbonating this time.

This will be interesting. Are you using table sugar or what?

Regular corn sugar (dextrose).
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #38 on: December 12, 2012, 04:45:25 PM »

Offline indeedproceed

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Just bottled my gluten-free last night. Would have done it sooner, but discovered on Sunday night that the spigot on my bottling bucket was completely cracked in half. Had to go to the local HBSS for a replacement. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the carbonation level on this batch. First time that I've measured out my priming sugar by weight, instead of by volume. Wondering if I'll end up overcarbonating this time.

This will be interesting. Are you using table sugar or what?

Regular corn sugar (dextrose).

My IPA carbonated wicked weird. My bombers were fine, my bottles were...mostly uncarbonated or just half carb'd.

My porter was fully carb'd after 1 week. They stay in the same dark heated room.

I'm gonna move to tablets soon.

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #39 on: December 12, 2012, 04:52:44 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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Just bottled my gluten-free last night. Would have done it sooner, but discovered on Sunday night that the spigot on my bottling bucket was completely cracked in half. Had to go to the local HBSS for a replacement. One thing I am looking forward to seeing is the carbonation level on this batch. First time that I've measured out my priming sugar by weight, instead of by volume. Wondering if I'll end up overcarbonating this time.

This will be interesting. Are you using table sugar or what?

Regular corn sugar (dextrose).

My IPA carbonated wicked weird. My bombers were fine, my bottles were...mostly uncarbonated or just half carb'd.

My porter was fully carb'd after 1 week. They stay in the same dark heated room.

I'm gonna move to tablets soon.

This has been my problem lately too. Bombers only; maybe one out of every five or so will be adequately carbed or seriously overcarbed, and the rest are flat, flat, flat.

I've had no experience with tabs. If someone here has, I'd love to hear about it.
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #40 on: December 13, 2012, 01:10:38 PM »

Offline indeedproceed

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My next batch will be something I made up in my head that will probably suck.

An Irish IPA. 6lbs dark extract and 2 lbs Extra Light IPA, 2 oz chinook at the opening, 1 oz simcoe at 45, 2 oz chinook at 5 mins to done, specialty grains: .5 lbs chocolate, .5 lbs caramalt, .5 lbs golden oats

Sounds interesting, especially the addition of the oats (for mouthfeel, I'm guessing?).

I like Chinook hops. I use those and Cascade for my gluten-free offering, with the Chinook at the middle and end of the boil (Cascade for flavoring at beginning and middle).

I'm also adding 1 lb corn sugar and 2 lbs honey.

Forgot to add that.

Brewed this last night. Calling it my Black Irish IPA. Not sure if offensive or not.

I ended up doing this:

Specialty Grains: .5 lbs chocolate, .3 lbs caramalt, .3 lbs oats

At boil: Add 1 lb Extra Light DME, 1 oz Palisades, 1 oz Chinook

30 minutes in: Add 2 lbs extra light DME, 3 lbs dark liquid ME

45 minutes in: 1 oz palisades, 1 oz chinoook, 1 lb clover honey, 1 lb corn sugar

5 minutes to end: 1 oz chinook, 2 lbs clover honey

I intend to dry-hop with 2 oz chinook.

It tasted good, OG was 1.075, and my Wyeast American Ale II was already ripping through it this morning with reckless abandon.

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #41 on: December 14, 2012, 11:36:29 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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3 lbs of honey? Volume-wise, how many fluid ounces is a pound of honey?
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Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #42 on: December 27, 2012, 11:06:29 PM »

Offline indeedproceed

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3 lbs of honey? Volume-wise, how many fluid ounces is a pound of honey?

Hmm...probably 6 cups? Maybe more. It was in those plastic jugs, so it's hard to gauge. Lots of honey. It's a wonder Yogi Bear didnt bust down my front door. I really can't wait to try it. Dry hopping it next week, bottling it the week after.

Side note: the storm dropped >3 feet of snow on me yesterday. The only way out of my house, and I crap you not, was my garage door, because it opened up, not out.

About an hour and less than 20 square feet into my considerable driveway a neighbor from across the street plowed me out from the goodness of his heart. I rewarded (not paid, he would've done it for free, and he makes his own moonshine, great guy) with a sixer of my honey porter. Homebrew just tells bros you appreciate them.

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #43 on: January 09, 2013, 12:38:29 AM »

Offline indeedproceed

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Frustration: I'd been saving a sixer of my IPA letting it even out. It's about 2.5 months from brew day.

Of the 6, I've tried 2. Over carbonated with off-flavors. Extremely annoyed.

"You've gotta respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter. A guy
like that is always lethal." - Evan 'The God' Turner

Re: Homebrewing Notes/Thoughts
« Reply #44 on: January 10, 2013, 01:15:50 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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Frustration: I'd been saving a sixer of my IPA letting it even out. It's about 2.5 months from brew day.

Of the 6, I've tried 2. Over carbonated with off-flavors. Extremely annoyed.

Sorry to hear it. What kind of off-flavors? Not that it would mean much to me, since I've got nowhere near that kind of experience diagnosing off-flavors. Kind of curious.

BTW, Northern Brewer is now running a 48-hour promotion: a free 6-gallon glass carboy included with orders over $150. Code: FREE6ME.
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