Howard's Homebrew

[howardf]

It's bubbling!

And now the bubbles have stopped.  Waiting sucks.

[howardf]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

[smellysell]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

Rack off the yeast cake into your keg, and then dump your new batch in the bucket.  No reason NOT to do it.

[howardf]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

Rack off the yeast cake into your keg, and then dump your new batch in the bucket.  No reason NOT to do it.

I read going that route might introduce some odd flavors due to the trub from the last batch still being in the bucket.  I'm all for skipping a step, though.

[Jaysus]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

Rack off the yeast cake into your keg, and then dump your new batch in the bucket.  No reason NOT to do it.

There are some folks who would argue you to the death about that one   not me though.


Howard> look up "Yeast Washing" I have done it with some success. In fact, I won a "best in show" with a (dry) yeast that I washed and reused.

ETA: link http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

[howardf]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

Rack off the yeast cake into your keg, and then dump your new batch in the bucket.  No reason NOT to do it.

There are some folks who would argue you to the death about that one   not me though.


Howard> look up "Yeast Washing" I have done it with some success. In fact, I won a "best in show" with a (dry) yeast that I washed and reused.

ETA: link http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

I saw that thread, and I'll buy another pouch before putting in that much effort.  I was hoping to just grab the cake and toss it in.  I'll try it out.  Worst case scenario, I'm out $15 for the ingredients

[pwoods]

Recycling yeast: what do I need to know?  I was thinking of taking the yeast cake from the porter and throwing it in the bucket with another similar beer.  Is there a reason I shouldn't do this?

Rack off the yeast cake into your keg, and then dump your new batch in the bucket.  No reason NOT to do it.

There are some folks who would argue you to the death about that one   not me though.


Howard> look up "Yeast Washing" I have done it with some success. In fact, I won a "best in show" with a (dry) yeast that I washed and reused.

ETA: link http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

I saw that thread, and I'll buy another pouch before putting in that much effort.  I was hoping to just grab the cake and toss it in.  I'll try it out.  Worst case scenario, I'm out $15 for the ingredients

I've always just dumped a new batch on top of the cake.  It works in most cases, but it's definitely the lazy man way to go about it.  In almost all cases you're way over pitching, but in most cases it doesn't matter much.  Anything that you want a clean or mostly clean fermentation, it's fine... especially if you're going from a 5% beer to a 10%+ beer.  If you're pitching a beer that you want some solid yeast character from, you might not end up with exactly what you want.  This past year I did a dunkleweizen(not stressed and fermed at 62) and pitched a weizenbock on top of the cake.  I noticed a big difference between this weizenbock and the one that I did last year.  It's still a good beer, but not exactly what I was hoping it would be.  The 3 people that judged it also commented that it needed more yeast character and to try stressing the yeast.

I know a lot of people will scoop some of the cake out of the bucket and then pitch on what's left.  I haven't done this.  I just buy a new pitch if it's something that I want to stress or precisely control.  I really should stop being lazy and start washing, though 

[smellysell]

Yeah, I should have added that as long as you want a clean yeast character it is fine to do that.  It is great for lagers, start with something low gravity and just gradually increase gravity through lathering season.  Like Jaysus said, many would argue but I've had great results.

[howardf]

I'm dying to brew again.  I'm sure I'll be brewing more than I can drink in no time.

[Jaysus]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

[howardf]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

[Tip Top]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

How many fermentation vessels do you have?

[howardf]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

How many fermentation vessels do you have?

Just one bucket.  I'll buy more when I make more beer, since I'll need to go to the homebrew shop for ingredients anyway.

[Tip Top]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

How many fermentation vessels do you have?

Just one bucket.  I'll buy more when I make more beer, since I'll need to go to the homebrew shop for ingredients anyway.

It'll take over your basement soon enough.  Mark any vessels that you use brett/bugs in and keep them for funk only.

[howardf]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

How many fermentation vessels do you have?

Just one bucket.  I'll buy more when I make more beer, since I'll need to go to the homebrew shop for ingredients anyway.

It'll take over your basement soon enough.  Mark any vessels that you use brett/bugs in and keep them for funk only.

No basement, but I'm already marking off closet space.

[pwoods]

It's nice to have a pipeline, especially with kegs

I'm trying to have a new batch working every three weeks, since that's about how long it will take me to drain a keg.  Buying a couple more kegs is going to be painful, but necessary.  I also want to get some long-aged stuff going, so I'm going to take a shot at a Lambic soon.

How many fermentation vessels do you have?

Just one bucket.  I'll buy more when I make more beer, since I'll need to go to the homebrew shop for ingredients anyway.

It'll take over your basement soon enough.  Mark any vessels that you use brett/bugs in and keep them for funk only.

Anything that comes into bugs on the sanitary side, I keep separate.  Technically you can use glass carboys and bottles/kegs for both, but I would never risk that.

[howardf]

[GatorBeerGeek]

Is the wife already realizing she was right to be worried about the amount of $ you would be spending?

[howardf]

Is the wife already realizing she was right to be worried about the amount of $ you would be spending?

$50 here, $50 there, she hasn't put it together.

[howardf]

The debittered hops came yesterday, and my Wyeast 3278 packs came today.  I'm DYING to make some beer, but it will probably have to wait until Sunday

[Tip Top]

The debittered hops came yesterday, and my Wyeast 3278 packs came today.  I'm DYING to make some beer, but it will probably have to wait until Sunday

I'll be waiting longer than that and haven't brewed in two months.  I'm going to try to do some power brewing though and get a lot going.

[howardf]

The debittered hops came yesterday, and my Wyeast 3278 packs came today.  I'm DYING to make some beer, but it will probably have to wait until Sunday

I'll be waiting longer than that and haven't brewed in two months.  I'm going to try to do some power brewing though and get a lot going.

I'd fire it up on Saturday, but my brother an his enormous family (4 kids ) are coming over.

[Jaysus]

Sounds like an even better reason to brew.

[howardf]

Well this isn't going so well.  My homemade filter sucked ass, so I fished it out of the kettle and ran the whole mash through a strainer.  This is less than ideal.  My pre-boil gravity was pretty close to on the money, but I'm ~2 gallons short, so I'm probably going to end up with 3-ish gallons instead of 5.  Keystone Cops kind of day for me, but oh well.  I grabbed an all-grain kit for my wife to give me for Christmas, but I need to figure out this filter situation sooner than later, or go to a false-bottom I guess.

[howardf]

I think I have the answer to the filter problem, so I'm going to try out a copper manifold.  My Lambic looks fucking awful, but we'll see how it tastes next year

[smellysell]

CPVC filter worked great for me.

[Mark]

I think I have the answer to the filter problem, so I'm going to try out a copper manifold.  My Lambic looks fucking awful, but we'll see how it tastes next year

Wait 'til how it looks during the aging/conditioning process. Lambic brewers talk about it being "sick" at one point, with a thick pellicle on top from the brett. and pedio. 

[howardf]

I think I have the answer to the filter problem, so I'm going to try out a copper manifold.  My Lambic looks fucking awful, but we'll see how it tastes next year

Wait 'til how it looks during the aging/conditioning process. Lambic brewers talk about it being "sick" at one point, with a thick pellicle on top from the brett. and pedio. 

I know the pellicle is coming, so I'm prepared for that.  Right now it's much darker than I'd expect, and pretty muddy.

[smellysell]

I think I have the answer to the filter problem, so I'm going to try out a copper manifold.  My Lambic looks fucking awful, but we'll see how it tastes next year

Wait 'til how it looks during the aging/conditioning process. Lambic brewers talk about it being "sick" at one point, with a thick pellicle on top from the brett. and pedio. 

I know the pellicle is coming, so I'm prepared for that.  Right now it's much darker than I'd expect, and pretty muddy.

Did you just do a "regular" mash?  Lots of wheat in the grist?

[howardf]

I think I have the answer to the filter problem, so I'm going to try out a copper manifold.  My Lambic looks fucking awful, but we'll see how it tastes next year

Wait 'til how it looks during the aging/conditioning process. Lambic brewers talk about it being "sick" at one point, with a thick pellicle on top from the brett. and pedio. 

I know the pellicle is coming, so I'm prepared for that.  Right now it's much darker than I'd expect, and pretty muddy.

Did you just do a "regular" mash?  Lots of wheat in the grist?

I did the mash at the bottom of this page.  I had 2/3 castle pils, 1/3 torrified wheat.

[smellysell]

Just a single rest though?

[howardf]

Just a single rest though?

Yeah.  I had the wrong link above, it's fixed now.

[smellysell]

Just a single rest though?

Yeah.  I had the wrong link above, it's fixed now.

Wheat will make it a little muddy, not sure about torrified though, never used it.  It will be clear as can be in 2 years when it's ready to drink.

[howardf]

Batch #3 is working right now:

Malts Used:
American 2-Row Malt
60ºL Crystal Malt
Wheat Malt
Chocolate Malt
 
Sugars
Lactose
Light Brown Sugar
 
Hops Used:
Galena
 
Yeast Suggestion:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

[howardf]

Went wayyyy too smoothly today, which I can dig, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Whirlpool is going now, then into the bucket it goes.  This was the maiden voyage on the mash tun, and everything went pretty well.  Beersmith had me put way too much water in for sparging, so I held 1.5 gallons of the sparged low-gravity wort back.  OG was on the money, so now we'll see if I'm short on volume, but it looks good to me.

[howardf]

I came home from running a couple of errands this morning, and the wife tells me there's something wrong with the dog's stomach, it's been gurgling all morning.  I put my shoes in the closet, and she says "there it goes again, it's getting louder!"  It's the blowoff bucket gurgling   I ask if she really thought it was the dog, every couple of seconds, for an hour? 

[howardf]

Wyeast 1056 American Ale is a very active yeast.  This thing has been gurgling non-stop for two days.  Can't wait to consume

[Tip Top]

Wyeast 1056 American Ale is a very active yeast.  This thing has been gurgling non-stop for two days.  Can't wait to consume

I use 1056 and Safale US-05 a lot.

[Jaysus]

GB US-05

[howardf]

Made more beer today   Berliner this time:

4 lbs German Pils
3 lbs German Wheat
.75 oz Tettnang, added at 15m
Pitched 1007 and Lacto
8.9 Brix OG

I'll let you know in six months.

[Tip Top]

Made more beer today   Berliner this time:

4 lbs German Pils
3 lbs German Wheat
.75 oz Tettnang, added at 15m
Pitched 1007 and Lacto
8.9 Brix OG

I'll let you know in six months.

How many fermentation vessels do you have now?  Isn't it nice how fast it is to make a Berliner?

[howardf]

Made more beer today   Berliner this time:

4 lbs German Pils
3 lbs German Wheat
.75 oz Tettnang, added at 15m
Pitched 1007 and Lacto
8.9 Brix OG

I'll let you know in six months.

How many fermentation vessels do you have now?  Isn't it nice how fast it is to make a Berliner?

I have four, and they're all full:

Java Porter
Brown
Berliner
Lambic

The Porter goes into a keg on Saturday, and a Gumball Head clone will take its fermenter two weeks later.  Trying to build my pipeline around a three week rotation.  The Berliner was super easy, but I still gave it a full 60 minute boil after I saw people complaining about DMS, and assuming it was linked to the short boil.

[howardf]

I checked on the Berliner this morning, and the lactic smell nearly knocked me over when I opened the closet.  Looking forward to this one

[howardf]

Cold crashed the java porter overnight in the garage near freezing, then kegged it today.  Looked nice and clean through the siphon tube against the sunlight   Looked a little light for a porter, but we'll see how it turns out in the glass.  Coffee beans are in a hop sock, tied off with dental floss, so I can pull them when it's strong enough for my tastes (STRONG)

[howardf]

Just pulled a flat sample to see how the coffee's doing and get my final gravity.  Tastes pretty good, and clocks in at 5.2%, which was right on the money.  It's going to be a long wait for the carbonation to kick in.

[howardf]

I think I'm going to do a Galaxy SMaSH for my first hoppy:

Code: [Select]

14 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        100.0 %       
0.50 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min   Hop           2        22.2 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min         Hop           3        24.5 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           4        14.7 IBUs     
1.50 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           5        0.0 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)         Yeast         6        -             
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days      Hop           7        0.0 IBUs

[Tip Top]

I think I'm going to do a Galaxy SMaSH for my first hoppy:

Code: [Select]

4 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        100.0 %       
0.50 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min   Hop           2        22.2 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min         Hop           3        24.5 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           4        14.7 IBUs     
1.50 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min          Hop           5        0.0 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)         Yeast         6        -             
1.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days      Hop           7        0.0 IBUs

4 lbs of malt?  How small of a beer is that going to be?

[howardf]

4 lbs of malt?  How small of a beer is that going to be?

The 1 got cut off, 14 lbs.

[Tip Top]

4 lbs of malt?  How small of a beer is that going to be?

The 1 got cut off, 14 lbs.

Ok, that makes a lot more sense.  You have everything to do all grain?

[howardf]

4 lbs of malt?  How small of a beer is that going to be?

The 1 got cut off, 14 lbs.

Ok, that makes a lot more sense.  You have everything to do all grain?

Yeah.  Once I figured out all that I needed was a cooler and some way to filter the grain from the wort, I went to Lowe's and knocked it out that day.  Other than the first batch of partial mash, everything else has been all grain.