PPOT homebrew thread. BEER!

[Tim Walsh]

I'm not 100% on that strain of yeast but as a general rule, 74 is about the upper limit for most ale strains before you get fruity ester flavors.

[red-beard]

And you don't want to go to low either, or you'll get less esters than you might want. Ask me how I know...

[nynor]

you should check the profile for saison strains. its pretty amazing how warm they can ferment cleanly.

[Shuie]

Ordered a dual 5 gallon keg setup today. I'll probably get this batch out of the bucket on Monday or Tuesday of next week when it arrives. I wanted to do it tomorrow, but the local homebrew shop didn't really have what I was looking for. Anyway, I can't wait to try it with a Tilburg's to see if I'm even close. Either way, I think I have a recipe I can work with and tweak through football season.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I've posted this on a couple of different forums and been particularly happy with the response I've gotten here. As always, Pelican rules. You guys have really given me some good ideas for the next batch.

[nynor]

FYI, the food grade buckets are oxygen permeable. if you ferment in them, beyond the aerobic stage (which is over very quickly, meaning about the time you see CO2 bubbling from the air lock) you are causing problems with your beer. you are much better off using a 6 or 6.5 gallon glass carboy.

[Shuie]

I have a 6 gallon carboy. I just haven't figured out how to handle it without potentially breaking it and bleeding out on the kitchen floor yet, so I figured I'd leave it in the bucket for 3 weeks I'm also sure I contaminated my last batch while transferring. I bought an auto siphon and I'll probably start racking to a secondary after I get a little more comfortable with the transfer process.

[nynor]

just lift the carboy. they have harnesses for them as well, and they work great.

if you are using glass and the temps aren't high, keep it in the primary. every time the beer is transferred, the risk of contamination goes up.

[TimT]

Get a carboy handle, makes hefting them easier..

I also made a little dolly out of plywood and four casters so I can roll the carboy about and not disturb it much. I'll roll it from the closet to the counter then lift...

Or you can buy a Better Bottle... basically a PET plastic carboy, ie. impermeable to oxygen

[nynor]

be careful with the carboy handle. i've had them rip a couple of carboy necks right off. no joke. it was not fun.

[Tim Walsh]

Originally Posted by nynor

be careful with the carboy handle. i've had them rip a couple of carboy necks right off. no joke. it was not fun.

only for empty carboys!! I've actually removed my carboy handle because of this.

[red-beard]

They used to make carboy "slings" which surrounded the carboy

[nynor]

the slings work very nicely. try morebeer.com to find them.

[Tim Walsh]

put mine in a brew bucket. but a sling would be better.

[Shuie]

I read on one of the forums that some people use the plastic milk or egg crates from a grocery store for handling carboys. The guy in the dairy section at the Winn Dixie looked at me like I was high when I asked him if I could buy a couple of them.

[azasadny]

My neighbor and I brewed a Porter and a 9.5% alcohol "Pilsner" this summer, so far. We'll be brewing a wheat beer before fall arrives.

[nynor]

i just kegged the beer i made two(?) sundays ago. damn, it is good. rather bitter, but just what i wanted.

cheers!

[Shuie]

Okay, I've just pulled my first pint after kegging and force carbonating it according to an instructional video on youtube. It's really not bad. Way better than my first attempt. It has a stronger chocolate flavor than I expected. It also has that creamy canned draft Belhaven/Guiness/Boddingtons quality, which I didn't expect at all. Is this from the Carapils? It's not bitter or hoppy at all, which is what I wanted. It's nowhere near a Tilburg's, but it's something I can work with.

[nynor]

carapils will tend to give the beer more body and fuller mouthfeel. strong work.

[Shuie]

Originally Posted by TimT

This is a nice Brown Ale, in the vein of Newcastle.. I've never tried Dutch Brown Ale..

2-1/4 # Pale Malt
1/4# Wheat Malt
1/4# Roasted Barley
1/4# 80* Crystal Malt

Mash this for 1 hour @ 150 in a gallon of water..sparge after an hour with another gallon of water @ 172 adjust volume of water in kettle to 5-1/2 gal..

Add

1/4# Brown Sugar
2-1/2# Light DME

Start your boil

Add 1 oz. Fuggles at boil...and another 1 oz fuggles at 45 minutes

Boil for 1-1/2 hours... add Irish Moss

Chill wort, and pitch yeast.. Wyeast 1028 is good. 1084 works well also

Ferment for a week between 65-75 deg.. transfer to secondary for as long as you like... the longer it sits in secondary the clearer the beer will be..

Bottle

Enjoy

Burp

Thanks again. I'll be a cooking this one up this evening. I'm substituting White Labs London Ale Yeast because my homebrew shop didn't have the 1028 or 1084 Wyeast. I'm also using Light LME. The grain bag smells fantastic.

I also bought a really cool little butane fired burner to try. I move up from a 16qt to 20qt pot and figured this would help get the water up to temp a little better than my cooktop stove. This is a really neat little setup for the partial grain setups or smaller (5 gallons or less) kettles.

[nynor]

my son brewing with me this last monday: