beer ASK WHEEBZ

Got any recommendations on a scotch ale base? I was thinking about using some pale, amber, tiny bit of chocolate, and perhaps some flaked rye. Thinking wlp028 (Scottish ale).

I've seen so many different recipes. I haven't really spent a ton of time on formulating anything yet.

I really like OB's Old Chub if that helps the recommendation.
 
Planning to process a gallon side-car to concentrate the sugars? ...
 
 

I hate the use of the word caramelization for browning sugar water, but ... "kettle caramelize" ...
 
 
grantmichaels said:
Planning to process a gallon side-car to concentrate the sugars? ...
 
 

I hate the use of the word caramelization for browning sugar water, but ... "kettle caramelize" ...
 
Click to expand...
Hadn't looked that deeply at it yet.
Here's a supposed clone
 
One thing I've heard Jamil says like 1000x on TBN is not to use peat'd in them ...
 
I planned to do one at one point and my plan was to pull a gallon at the front of the boil and reduce it down 4x to 1/4 gallon by boiling it harder on the stove and then recombining it back into the boil once it's been reduced and 'caramelized' ...
 
That, and perhaps some consideration given to the source of the malt ...
 
I use peated malt in my smoked scottish ale, and only 1 pound for like 85 pounds of grain
 
I dont use it in regular scottish ales, as its super fucking potent
 
and Grant, I passivate with a nitric and phosphoric acid blend
 
 

I do like golden promise for scottish ales as well
 
used it for the first time two weeks ago for a wee heavy and heather ale, and it turned out real nice
 
 
 
I have three stages ... not too big a deal ...

TSP and then StarSan, along with some air-drying ...

On stepping starters ...

Make starter (using less than 1.100 wort) ...
Stir-plate for like 18-24 hrs ...
Place in fridge to crash ...
Make second batch of wort, place in fridge with crashing starter ...
Hours later pour off old wort and replace with fresh, same-temp second batch of starter wort ...
For about a 10x increase in count each step ...

It seems like it makes more sense to skip the fridge and just kill the plate, but then I guess the yeast in the starter switch modes and it just ferments on the counter soon thereafter you kill the plate ...

A lot of my yeast is months old, so I figure I'll step up my starters ...
 
For a 1bbl batch, 1 bbl, 31 gallons, I buy 2 vials, make a starter around noon, one vial in each 1.6L starter, stir plate for 24 hours, and pitch just two 1.6L starters into a complete 31 gallon batch, right off the stir plate right into the fermenter
 
thats it
 
I always have activity within 12 hours
 
you doubling up your starter for 3-5 gallons is way overkill
 
c17f96ba1dcd6e9c3bb5664c5fad32c8.jpg


Vorlauf is coming, Jon Snow ...
 
wheebz said:
that looks baller as f**k
Click to expand...
 
that's actually the smaller cart that's ultimately for the fermenters and the chiller (cooler and aquarium cooler) on bottom ...
 
the brew cart is like 3x times as wide, so the two vessels can be side by side ...
 
my shit's going to be roll-on, roll-off - and won't require any changes to what is or isn't on the kitchen countertops ...
 
that will end up being a very helpful change to how things work out, here ...
 
well, that, and i'm brewing this round under the umbrella of dump quickly, dump often ...
 
i lost two chest freezers, one is full of hops, meat, and peppers, and the other died, so i have only one chest freezer for my beer ... AND I NEED TO ALSO USE IT TO CONDITION BEER, and important aspect of it's existence ...
 
i setup that chestie to have a pair of TapRite's, the high-pressure single, and the 4x-way secondary regulator so I'd have keg-by-keg pressure control ...
 
i setup the fermenters as stainless conicals with individual temp control, and have room to expand to 4x easily based on the size and capacity of the aquarium chiller and cooler i'm planning to use etc ...
 
lastly, i added the blichmann quickcarb so i can carbonate kegs in an hour ... partially because 'fuck yeah' and partially because i am not planning to keep my beer in kegs as long going forward - i'm going to bottle out the rest of the keg after I drink on it for a week or two, or frequency that i'll figure out later, anyways ...
 
so here's my ASK WHEEBZ ...
 
i'm thinking of changing how i finish all of my homebrew ...
 
i'm thinking about having my single chest freezer function for crashing, carbonating, and then ultimately bottling, and then otherwise just keep a bunch of bottles in there also, to have a lot more thermal capacity, and you know, store some beers cold (light one's, hoppy one's, valuable one's etc) ...
 
i like using the BeerGun, actually ... and i took great pleasure in bottling ...
 
i realize it's not perfect if my overflow of bottles has to be stored at room-temp (here) or whatever, but fuck it ... i think giving up the 'keezer' vibe in exchange for having quickcarb and individual controls for pressurizing the kegs, and a 37F chestie that you can crash in, and store bottled beer in wins out over a keezer, which can becoming a real blocker to brewing if you can't drink it fast enough ...
 
i think i'd be able to "keep brewing" more indefinitely if I opened up the backend to room-temp-stored bottles, and only used my cold storage for processing ... crashing, conditioning, infusing, and/or carbonating ...
 
the bottled beer, if made well, and fined, and managed carefully in terms of oxygen, would probably fairly alright in bottles, I'm thinking ...
 
especially since I like big, dark beer ...
 
i don't think I'd do this for IPA's, obviously, but I'm thinking about continuing to brew those as 1.75  and 2.5 gal batches, and drinkin'em fresh (and not bottle), and doing the dark beers as 6-8 gal whole batches of wort (to split into 2.5 to 5 gal batches via 2-3x fermenters to make different beers) ...
 
amirite? ... if only that in my case, storing my brewed beer in bottles in the crashing-temp freezer and also in a cool/dark interior closet in the house, and giving up cold storage for kegs of homebrew, will result in being able to brew more? ...
 
i think so ... but i'm curious if you agree ... and if so ... what temp for the crasher/conditioner/bottled beer storage? ...
 
you can store your bottles at room temp, well, i would say cellar temp, but there are no cellars in florida
 
definitely agree, use that space for your brewing process, not your drinking or overflow process
 
i crash all my beers to 32 degrees for 4 days before i transfer them to the brite tank, in your case keg, and then carb them and keg them, in your case carb them and bottle them
 
 
 
It's essentially time-at-temp though, right? ...
 
I think I heard Bamforth say that you get the same conditioning in 3x days in the upper 30's, as 3 hours in the lower 30's, as 30 minutes at 27F ...
 
I'm thinking there's a nice temp and +/- range where I can crash beer, infuse coffee or dry-hops or whatever, and at once store some bottled beer without it freezing ...
 
Thanks.
 
This is going to solve the 2nd biggest problem I had - having cold storage get backed up ...
 
Cheers! :cheers:
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top