beer My Homebrews

Ha thats pretty much what I built. Or some fashion of that. Except I didn't have anything for fan speed, so I just plug it right in so its full speed. It works in water... Not so much in think yeast wort.
 
My magnets may just need balancing
 
Oh shoot. drankin my first all-grain beer ever. American pale ale, which also was my first style of beer I brewed ever using extract. This one is a thousands time better... i got the recipe from brewing classic styles book. SOOOOOO goodness.
 
2013-06-25 13.20.46.jpg

 
 
Here it be the recipe
 
10lbs 9oz U.S.      Pale malt
12oz                     Victory
12oz                     Munich
 8oz                      Wheat malt
 
.90oz                   Northern Brewer (60 mins)
.50oz                   Centennial          (10 mins)
.50oz                   Cascade             (10mins)
.50oz                   Centennial          (0 mins)
.50oz                   Cascade             (0 mins)
 
WLP001 California Ale Yeast.
 
My cleanest tasting beer yet. I'm lovin me some APA for real.
 
Oh, dude... I'm like 4 AG batches in... I ain't gonna brew otherwise.  Brewing is a hell of a lot more fun now... I'm still dialing in on shit though, like strike water heat loss and blah blah all that bs.
 
I undershot my mash temp today by 4 degrees! Bitch!
 
Last brew day I was right on... so who knows!
 
 
 
 
I been drankiin all day too. So thats fun. :drunk:
 
http://www.saaz.org/cms/?p=1113

Thinking of entering a few brews in that comp

Seeing as the only constructive criticism I get on my beer is from myself and my girlfriend (of course my mom loves my beer =O shocking ) Im gonna register for my first competition. I definitely don't have anything to lose.

I have a couple weeks to try and formulate a recipe... I've not really done it before so should be Interesting!
 
HigherThisHeat said:
Ha thats pretty much what I built. Or some fashion of that. Except I didn't have anything for fan speed, so I just plug it right in so its full speed. It works in water... Not so much in think yeast wort.
 
My magnets may just need balancing
Click to expand...
You can get a Potentiometer from radioshack for a few dollars. It's worth.
 
Yeah, the only thing with that is I think you need to wire some stuff up. I'm not too fimiliar with that sorta thing. But I did tweak it a bit to get the vortex a little more defined... It may just work now. We will find out.
stirplate.JPG

 
 
You should try one to compare. Er at least on a homebrew scale.

I've been doing both. pitching straight from the vial and making starters. Starters are something I've learned to personally prefer.

For me what I've noticed is its cheaper. One vial gets me the correct cell count rather than having to buy two.
It proves viability so I know Im pitching healthy yeast.
Fermentation starts in 6-8 hours as opposed to 12-24 as I was getting with out one.

Not sure if makes a big difference on the final product but I will no longer pitch straight from the vial if I can help it.
 
Heard. I really only make them if I'm trying to colonize wild yeast strains in higher numbers for special brews. Now that you're harvesting your yeast its less necessary than ever. Having said that though, starters do away with the lag time on heavier beers. Some people freak if they dont see action the first day and a huge starter is just what the doctor ordered for air lock action junkies.
 
My last jar of yeast I pitched was a month in the fridge. I wouldn't trust pitching that straight.

Now if it was pitched in with a couple weeks of harvesting I can see doing that straight.

My concern also w pitching harvested yeast straight from the jar is how the hell do I know how much viable cells I have?
 
I do it all the time. I use months old harvested yeast, and get just as clean, violent fermentations as if it were from the vial or smack pack.

You can always take a slide and check em out for viability.

I do so for evaluating my soil life as well :)
 
Yep. Attenuation is also dependent on strain and style of brew. I prefer higher gravity brews, so naturally, I choose strains suited for it and end up just fine. Higher og beers have a higher finishing fg. It also helps that I always have kegs to finish off before I can even worry about checking that anyway. Most of my beers can go a month or three before I even worry about them. Time is yeasts friend. Let the yeast do their job. :)
 
The beauty of brewing... More than one way to slap a cat in the face.

It'd be nice to be able to do an identical side by side fermentation using a vial pitched directly and one made with a starter. Too many variables for me to pull that off though.
 
Speakin of kegs.... thats my next mission/upgrade. This bottling shit is for da birds!
 
Hi everybody!  Late getting to this sub-forum.  I've been at this hobby for about 10+ years, and have learned quite a bit.  Tip: For you new home brewers having difficulty hitting your mash temps in cooler-tuns, shoot a couple of degrees high, then bring the temp down with cold water...much easier than trying to raise the temp.  Eventually, you'll dial it in accurately.  Not a blinding insight, but maybe helpful to some.  Anyway, here are a couple of recent photos from my backyard, above the Rogue River, Oregon.
German Hefeweizen

 
3 cheddarwurst w/Scotch Bonnet sauce, and Summer Ale w/Mittelfruh hops.  Very crisp.
 
HigherThisHeat said:
The beauty of brewing... More than one way to slap a cat in the face.

It'd be nice to be able to do an identical side by side fermentation using a vial pitched directly and one made with a starter. Too many variables for me to pull that off though.
 
Speakin of kegs.... thats my next mission/upgrade. This bottling shit is for da birds!
Click to expand...
 Not sure I'm understanding this starter vs. no starter discussion.  Unless you are going to check every vial's yeast viability on a slide, you will always be guessing as to what the percent of viable yeast is, no matter what the "best used by" date is.  You can assume the best, or you can assume the worst regarding how the UPS driver, or retailer handled it.
 
Maybe you've seen this: http://www.yeastcalc.com/index.html
 
It works well, but it starts with an assumption as to what your vial/smack packs viability is to begin with.  But, it's better than a lot of other options.  Starters are insurance, and clearly, the better homebrewers likely Gordon Strong, Jamil Zainasheff, Denny Conn...will always use a starter with liquid yeast except in the most rare instances.  Read Zainasheff's, and Kai Troester's work on yeast viability, and visit the AHA forum.  Your work has just begun! ;)
 
EDIT: I spoke with a biologist at Wyeast awhile back, and he pretty much disagreed with Zainasheff's yeast calculator.  He assumes the best yeast handling, while Zainasheff assumes the worst based on actual samples he analyzed.  A bit of a crap shoot, really.
 
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