beer =[ GM's 1st 16x Batches, and/or 10 mo. Brewing ]=

[grantmichaels]

forgot to include pic of cloudiness ... little yeasties ...

some interesting and useful info ...

i'd love to brew twice this weekend ... let's see.

 

[grantmichaels]

picked up a bag of ice, so we'll see

 

[grantmichaels]

splicer/reducer barb thingy arrived, so i'm in the biz for my sansaire sparging ...

stackable hdpe's and silicone tubing safe to 570F is here too, so i can do some batches no-chill too ...

 

[Ozzy2001]

nothing like opening boxes of new toys!!  It really makes you feel like a kid again.

 

[cypresshill1973]

nothing like opening boxes of new toys!!  It really makes you feel like a kid again.

 
 
he has the fingertips expended by opening too many toys

 

[grantmichaels]

I was going to say, processing cardboard is more of a problem than a pleasure, here.

 

[grantmichaels]

nothing like getting setup and finding out you have ninety problems and attenuation is all of them ...

totally making starters on the future batches ...

i gave it a little swirl and put it up into the closet to warm up and pick up steam a bit ...

 

[Bumper]

Starters help, so does oxygenating the wort before pitching ( either increasing the height the wort travels to gravity feed into the fermenter, thereby splashing and aerating, or stone and oxygen - I prefer the former and no infections to speak of thus far).  You could try ramping temperatures up a bit further after the first 72 hours of fermentation with a blanket, and give the fermenters a good shake (not a swirl, rouse I tell you rouse!!!) to rouse the yeast into action a couple of times a day for the first week of fermenting… 
 
Temp control and a heater belt will of course solve most of these issues, but you already knew that 

 

[grantmichaels]

Yeah, I'd have to look back but I think it was a dry pack of Munton's in that kit ...
 
All I can say is that my pepper plants are in their pots for the next couple of months now, and I need to hustle and refill all my fermenters ASAP! ...
 
I have a fermwrap heater, but I need to see if it's usable w/o a thermowell and controller or not, I planned to buy it a Johnson/Ranco or whatever ...

 

[grantmichaels]

I have the empty fermenter blues ...

 

[grantmichaels]

Last night I poured some cold brewed coffee into the last third of my Rogue Double Chocolate ...
 
Found it shocking how much coffee I could mix into it while it still tasted more like beer than coffee ...

 

[wheebz]

when I rinse bottles, I do not use sanitizers at all
 
even for commercial applications, just a water rinse and a fresh purge and you are golden

 

[grantmichaels]

I guess that's Kosher because the alcohol level and pH combo prohibits nasties, and/or if you are bottle conditioning the yeast is active ... am I understanding the why, correctly? ...
 
Thanks for the tip, step-saving always appreciated ...
 
I'm going to check the gravity later, and if it's not low, I'm going to drain pour the batch and plot my course through teh 2-3 gal batches coming up in the next weeks ...
 
Thanks, man.

 

[wheebz]

yea its pretty hard to infect a finished beer with anything that will change flavor profiles, especially considering the amount of time it is going to take you to drink a gallon of beer isnt adequate time for microbes to take hold

plus sanitizer + beer = super bad head retention, and really nasty flavors

 

[grantmichaels]

Cool, cool. The head wasn't very persistent in the grapefruit honey ale beer that did get to drink, but it was actually mad decent tasting beer ...
 
Three things have me particularly excited: 0) the Grapefruit Honey Ale was enjoyable, 1) the BC Sophie was just as likable as the Saison Dupont, so I feel fortunate that that I'm liking saison/farmhouse given the environment I'm in, and 2) I drank $350 worth of store-bought beer in < 16 days, I think, so I'm highly motivated to make a lot more myself.
 
It's very much "On" and I'm loving RM's thread ...
 
Now that I re-potted my pepper plugs, I just need to BBQ a pork rib roast, and send out some seeds to members, and then it's JUST BEER for a while ... yay!

 

[RocketMan]

 

[wheebz]

You are in florida so go buy every bottle of St. Somewhere beer you can find if you wanna get into saisons
 
Bob Sylvester ONLY makes saisons and farmhouse style stuff

 

[grantmichaels]

It's a bit uncharacteristic of me, but I'm mostly listening to you ...
 
I'm totally taking your advice and not fighting the environment for the time being ...
 
A Saison/Farmhouse/Biere de Garde focus it is, for now ...

 

[grantmichaels]

You are in florida so go buy every bottle of St. Somewhere beer you can find if you wanna get into saisons
 
Bob Sylvester ONLY makes saisons and farmhouse style stuff

 
Dude is seriously down to earth too. Found a couple of interviews and enjoyed them while passing out on the couch last night ...
 
Thanks for the rec ...

 

[grantmichaels]

I just verified the efficacy of the Super Jiggler ...
 
http://www.superjiggler.com/
 
This thing is slicker than Crisco in a fleshlight ...
 
Gardener's could leverage this as well, if for nothing other than moving rainwater ...
 
Good-bye auto-siphon, hardly knew ye ....