beer =[ GM's 1st 16x Batches, and/or 10 mo. Brewing ]=
- Thread starter grantmichaels
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tctenten said:
Yup. BBS is doing the good work getting people started with AG IMO, and they're indie and likable (Twitter/Instagram) ...
I think it's cool to put a couple of batches into them, and honestly, I will probably buy their newly released 5 gallon kit for the Chocolate Maple Porter and make an encore batch ...
I liked that one and the honey ale quite a lot, the saison and summer wheat not as much ...
The Oatmeal Stout smelled phenomenal while cooking it, and honestly - I think I might still brew a batch yet, again, because the smell of it cooking is what hooked me on homebrewing ...
You haven't cooked a porter/stout yet ... just wait ... the smells are good shit.
And "Yes" on those LBMB's (bubbler's) ... they are thick and solidly designed ... I picked up 2x and 2x ...
The design of the top allows one to just pour sanitizer in the moat up there and rock out w/o an airlock, I'm pretty sure ... I'll find out soon!
My first batch was an extract with a seeping bag and it was one of the best. It was their reg PA on tap and a good recipe. BTW check out my LHBS...they are almost on par with Northern.
http://www.greatfermentations.com/
The BIAB I have been doing leaves a lot of trub in the kettle and possibly unused sugars. The flour that was to fine falls through the bag. With BIAB the LHBS has been double grinding and that can be subjective. It seems I have hit my OG on 2 wheat batches but missed them on the PA's. I think the grind can make the difference.
That what make the cooler method appealing. I think it would give a much cleaner wort to boil and you could skip the double grind. IDK.....probably have to sparge more but you could just drain the cooler into a pitcher and pour it back.
http://www.greatfermentations.com/
The BIAB I have been doing leaves a lot of trub in the kettle and possibly unused sugars. The flour that was to fine falls through the bag. With BIAB the LHBS has been double grinding and that can be subjective. It seems I have hit my OG on 2 wheat batches but missed them on the PA's. I think the grind can make the difference.
That what make the cooler method appealing. I think it would give a much cleaner wort to boil and you could skip the double grind. IDK.....probably have to sparge more but you could just drain the cooler into a pitcher and pour it back.
The extract kits are super easy. They're more expensive too. But if your short on time extract can make it happen. Plus you don't need as big of a kettle because you add a couple gallons of water to your fermenter after you boil. The imperial stout and blue moon copy I did were both extract. Tasted good enough for me.
Rairdog said:
Extract cost's in Wheebz-points, I think ...
Rairdog said:
That's why I'm avoiding it as long as I can ...
I have some LME here, but I haven't used it yet ...
Nobody's saying ... "I brewed this partial batch and it's like Bourbon County Stout," either ... and that's what I'm after.
I want some great beer, more than I want a lot of mediocre beer ... but I don't hold it against anyone who feels the opposite ...
I say 'rock on witcha bad self if that's what you want' \m/ ...
I only did one extract kit and will probably never do another. I was venerable and it sounded cute...lol I'm not after clones either. I know PA's and Bavaian Hefe's are my fav. I also like a stella skunk on occasion. I am working on how to formulate my own recipes. I want to get and 50 lb bag of 2 row and a 50 lb bag of german wheat and experiment with the other grains over the winter.
Back to my earlier post. Are you planning on double grinding for the cooler set up or do you have a grinder I missed? How do plan to sparge?
Back to my earlier post. Are you planning on double grinding for the cooler set up or do you have a grinder I missed? How do plan to sparge?
Rairdog said:
I haven't and won't be double-grinding, no ...
I came to accept a 55% kettle efficiency using BIAB and working with such big beers, at my volumetric limits ...
For me, it was time to buy a bigger kettle ...
If you've poked around in the other threads around this sub-forum, Wheebz once advised going 10 gallons as soon as possible, saying that "it makes it a lot easier" ...
I've made soap before, and I'm pretty sure the beer story is as it was for soap ...
It takes a lot of time to try to measure accurately enough for small batches, and the specificity really *is* that important w/ the specialty grains/adjuncts ...
On a one gallon batch, in TRUTH, one should be weighing on a scale that's accurate to 3 decimal places and with wind guards etc ... and this would be even more true w/ dividing up yeast ...
10 gallons will be like, throw in a packet of hops at X, at Y, and at Z ... whole packets, no weighing ...
So ... I know when I increased my batch size for soap, my results improved because of this, and I suspect the same will be true w/ beer ...
If your sample size is too small, it doesn't account for inconsistency in malting from grain to grain ...
I'm going to buy a Monster Mill 3 when I add that to my equation, but for now I'm ordering pre-milled ...
I vastly prefer the grain I'm buying from http://www.txbrewing.com/...
I buy my ingredients there at this point, knowing I can get it in by Tuesday and get it Friday afternoon, fresh, and the dude's on the ball and the shit seems the freshest I've received ...
I think Northern Brewer/Midwest have good product, but I try to support indie until I feel pain for doing so ...
I have enjoyed doing clones to learn what ingredients I like. Also to have great beer at a fraction of the price. For example, the DFH 90 clone I did is great. It cost me about $1 a bottle. If I buy that at the store it's about $3 a bottle.Rairdog said:
Now that I've done some clones I feel I'm ready to tinker with formulas now.
I have considered using some LME to do some throw-away batches to divide and do some side-by-side's for similar yeasts, hops, and to test different types of treatments in secondary ...
I probably just averted that by enabling larger batches of wort, but it's what I was going to do ... and still might.
I probably just averted that by enabling larger batches of wort, but it's what I was going to do ... and still might.
The waste of time > waste of money, but I totally agree ...
I agree. I first researched and wondered why people were chasing clones. Then I realized it was a place to start. Then change to make it your own. I got 10 gal on tap now for a little over 40 bucks by saving yeast. That's 100 beers at .40 cent each. 5g is a good hefe and the other 5g is Sierra Nevada clone.
I want to make a two heart or zombie dust but I refuse to pay a 20 dollar grain bill with a 10-20 dollar hop bill. What kills the price is the hop bill when you start chasing clones. I will be growing most all my own hops next year. Then I can chase the hoppiness.
I want to make a two heart or zombie dust but I refuse to pay a 20 dollar grain bill with a 10-20 dollar hop bill. What kills the price is the hop bill when you start chasing clones. I will be growing most all my own hops next year. Then I can chase the hoppiness.
Rairdog said:
Will you send them off to get their AA's tested or figure it out by trial and error? ...
I'm not suggesting that's necessary, just curious if you've looked into doing so already or not?
Or hacks to work around it ...
I guess you could buy some that were measured and split a small batch and compare side-by-side against store-bought? ...
If I looked into the cost of a batch, I'd cry. #truestory
That batch of Bhut Subduction, if you tack on the cost of having added enzymes to my overall inventory, and the grain bill, and all of the yeast I dumped in there ... LOL.
Add on the time factor to take repeated gravities and daily yeast -rousing etc ... sheesh ...
You start to understand why those bottles of Zhukov cost $16.
I am plagued by efficiency overthinking due to my occupation. I obsess over the most effiecient way to do things both time and money related. So I take everything into account. I kind of get off on being able to things cheaper or quicker while still getting quality results.
The hops are definitely the biggest cost on that DFH 90. The hops cost more than the grain bill for sure.
The hops are definitely the biggest cost on that DFH 90. The hops cost more than the grain bill for sure.
I really haven't looked into AA's and don't plan to. Then I would be chasing. I take it like cooking a meal from the garden. See what works for you and adjust. Plan the next years garden so you don't run out of what works.
I work backwards from what I grow to what tastes good. The meal starts with the ingredients on hand...not from what I have to go buy. The beer will flow the same way.
I work backwards from what I grow to what tastes good. The meal starts with the ingredients on hand...not from what I have to go buy. The beer will flow the same way.
Ozzy2001 said:
I'm a little bit less that way about my hobby of choice at any given time, which this is for me, but what really happens is that I see the coin from the other side ...
When the hobby takes more time from me than I have for it, it's costing me at my billable rate for work ...
And I really need to think of that before I try to brew crazy shit like this last one I'm caring for right now ...
In fact, some details ... it's done ... it's not done, but it's done ...
It's not-done, done at 1.039 ...
In retrospect this beer never had a problem with fermentation, and that makes sense with what I observed.
I made a grain bill that's highly unfermentable, and I got a vastly unfermented beer ... which is a beer (I'm drinking some right now), and is or isn't going to be cloying once carbonated ...
It's not so bad that it's out of the range of being good, actually, I think ...
I have to get w/ Wheebz on crashing/fining this one as there's a previously-unseen amount of yeast and/or other proteins or whatever in solution ...
I'll leaves a film behind in the glass that I can only liken to one that would be left behind chocolate ice cream ... way beyond coffee, lol ...
I often talk about this beer from the perspective of it's fermentation, but from a flavor perspective, I'm definitely going to replace the bottle of ghost syrup for a 2nd shot, 1/3 or 1/2 more 'conservative' ...
I'm going to cut out a bunch of the carapils and munich and all those body-enhancing sepcialty grains, and keep the lactose/maltodextrin, and steer it's flavor a little more towards a porter than a stout ... I have a single-origin coffee that I'm fond of, and very familiar with, that I believe has a flavor that's complementary and which will blend in nicely ...
I will drink this, and it'll be fine from the keg in terms of residual sugars not being a problem (like it would be in a bottle) ... but can I get one safely to JayT? - that's the question I have to figure out ...
As an experiment, it's a success - it's a stout at first ... finished with a little pepper-bite ... and it doesn't wear out the palate as you go ...
I may have bad taste, but I'm pretty happy with it ... and, that brings up an interesting point re: cloning, recipe development, and other people's recipes ...
The one's that are yours, right or wrong, better or worst - are what it's all about ...
I'm nothing if not thankful for the beers in my freezer that work because Wheebz corrected the recipes, and yet at once, there's something else special about just doing one that's definitely yours and no one else's ...
Talking about one you designed from the ground up is different in a way that's rewarding on it's own, and nobody will ever be able to suggest that grain bill came from BCS, LOL ...
Now I know why RM likes making cool logos for his beer ...
So ... yeah ... make a good beer, then try to make the beer you feel passionate about trying next ...
Pics in a sec, have to transfer them across devices ...
Rairdog said:
I wasn't sure if their AA's change season to season, or just per environment, or ? ...
FWIW, I'm a big fan of the approach you are describing, and tried to plant some rhizomes from WaffleBum, which may or may not wake up soon now that it's cooling off ...
might have explore gelatin or biofine this time ...
i'm genuinely considering freeze-concentrating it, if for no other reason than just to scratch an addition itch on this experiment =) ...
this one's naughty ...
i think i'm afraid this beta-amylase will lead to runaway dryness, and then i really will have failed on my experiment and have an "almost" beer to drink ...
