All-Grain - Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale - Page 9

**EdWort** · 09-29-2007, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robar

I followed the recipe even with the mashing 3.5gal, 5qt. 3.25gal Some of my volume loss comes from the hops in the bottom as I don't pour that in. The efficiency is what it is. I am not apposed to buying spring water but it seems like bumping the grain bill 5-10% is cheaper.

I strain mine, so I get all my beer. I work at getting 6.5 gallons of wort and boil it down to 5.5 gallons for my fermentor. That gives me enough for a couple of hydrometer jars and spillage.

I mentioned the water because of your high alkaline level. If your beer turns out good, then never mind. It's amazing how much difference the water can make though.

Robar · 09-29-2007, 04:29 PM

Generally speaking I think my beer turns out pretty good. Using the product Five-Two brings the PH to 5.2 The first few brews I did turned out very bad as I didn't realize my PH was so far out of wack. My water tastes good and my garden grows well so I never gave a thought to the PH of my water. Well I learned about it the hard way as I dumped the first three batches I brewed.

I am thinking about running a side by side test though. One treated tap water and one spring water to see how different it tastes, just so I know. If it isn't very noticable then I'll continue to use my tap water. If it is different then I will have to seriously think about ponying up for the spring water when doing the lite ales. My stouts and ambers taste great I haven't turned out a decent APA or IPA to be able to tell. Though I have a couple fermenting now(Yours and a Stone IPA clone).

Ed you mention straining out the hops. What do you use to strain them out? I have a large funnel that has a fine screen insert, but it plugs up so fast it would take forever to strain the hops out of a gallon of slop.

**EdWort** · 09-29-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robar

Ed you mention straining out the hops. What do you use to strain them out? I have a large funnel that has a fine screen insert, but it plugs up so fast it would take forever to strain the hops out of a gallon of slop.

This is what I use. Got it at Target. Stainless and it does a great job at aerating the wort when I pour through it.

If you ferment in Carboys, I would recommend using hop bags. I do now. They work great. They roll with the boil up and back down, and they keep 98% of the hops in them. I get great utilization with them too. No difference so far.

Robar · 09-29-2007, 05:11 PM

Funny!!
I have a simular device and never thought to use it to strain the hops. Thats a sure sign of either; to many toys in the toybox or old age. I vote we go with he toybox theory.

I may also look into a hop bag. Do use one for dry hopping as well?

Thanks again for all the help and info.

**EdWort** · 09-29-2007, 05:35 PM

I dry hop in the keg, so I use a Herb Ball like this.

Just sanitize it, put your hops in, drop it in the keg. It sinks right to the dip tube.

uuurang · 09-29-2007, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdWort

I dry hop in the keg, so I use a Herb Ball like this.

FYI...Found this for sale at a asian food store when I was looking for a large wok

strainer for WokFi!

Robar · 09-30-2007, 01:05 AM

My wife is night manager at a large regional grocer/department store and I am having her look tonight. She says that she knows they sell tea balls that look simular. Maybe the SWMBO can hook me up.

The haus pale I made last night is going pretty slow. I cooled it to 79f then poored it into the bucket through my strainer funnel then pitched the yeast. I would guess the wort was 75-77f by then so tem can't be the problem. It was bubbling a little earlier today but not much tonight I have no kraeusen ring so it can't have been flash fermented. I give it some swirl and then it will bubble for a while then nothing. I shouldn't have to do that at all. The wort was aerated very well as it had close to 3" of foam on top when I pitched the yeast. Any ideas?

**EdWort** · 09-30-2007, 01:12 AM

RDWHAHB. Patience pays off with Homebrew.

Robar · 09-30-2007, 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdWort

RDWHAHB. Patience pays off with Homebrew.

What does RDWHAHB mean? Tried for a while to figure it out, but can't get this one.

After the big swirl I gave it it has been doing a little bit of activity so I am breathing easy again.

**BierMuncher** · 09-30-2007, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robar

What does RDWHAHB mean? Tried for a while to figure it out, but can't get this one.

After the big swirl I gave it it has been doing a little bit of activity so I am breathing easy again.

Relax...Don't Worry...Have a Home Brew...