Recent content by HIbrew

Brewing up 5G's of this today because it is almost October, and I'm back in the NE after living in Hawaii for a long time. It's tough to appreciate an Octoberfest beer in Hawaii when it is 75* and sunny. ...But I try.

I agree on the yeast cake, I just racked my BrandonO Graff which I made with S-04 and the yeast cake was SOLID. WOW!

Spazzy: 1. I am not sure what cell count your Safale US-05 would have per packet, but I pitched a full packet of Safale S-04 into my Graff and it is fine. Don't worry, relax and have a homebrew. 2. I would use more DME rather than less when I brew up my next batch. More body and more...

Looked in on my graff again today. I took a full hydrometer sample and it settled out at 1.1018. I drank the sample after, and I like where it ended up a lot. I'd like to try doing this with other juices, basically whatever is on sale at the local BJ's. Anyone done any experimenting with...

Portland Patrick, I added the 10 lbs of apples directly to the wort recipe that BrandonO specifies. I adapted aa apple wine recipe from Jack Keller's wine site. I strained the liquor when I racked it and then put all of the solids in an food processor and then into an old towel I had...

My Graff just got racked into secondary. I had added 10 lbs of sliced apples from a local orchard rather than AJ. As part of racking, I pureed the apples and strained/pressed off the juice. It is sitting at a gravity of 1016 right now and tastes really good. Lots of apple aroma. I think...

Just made my first batch of Graff. I followed the recipe loosely, and used carapils instead of torrified wheat, and used Centennial hops for the boil. I didn't have any apple juice around but since it is apple season here, I went out and got 10 lbs of "drops." They were all in good shape, so...

AHA! I finally got home from sea and contacted the Brewmaster. I got a great run down of the hopping schedule, though no exact amounts. They included several hops that were not on the original list we had here. Bittering: Columbus (90min) Flavor/Bittering: Centennial/Chinook (30 min)...

I just got home from sea and tried one of the Octoberfast bottles I had put up. I followed Biermuncher's recipe to a "T," and used Safale S-04, and wow, this is one tasty brew after a few months of aging. The hops fell off nicely and it beat the pants of the Sam Adams Octoberfest I had at the...

Salanis, Just finished a Saison, the fermentation wasn't TOO crazy. I agree 100% with wonderbread. The 6 Gal fermenter will be fine, and you can always rig a blowoff preventer. I also use a small percentage of wheat, but it is definitely NOT a "wheaty" beer. Just use it to help get the...

I like to brew clones when I need a challenge to get me excited about brewing. I also enjoy putting all the pieces together and finding how different ingredients contribute to the final product. I agree that brewing clones from a recipe can get old, but that style of brewing can help to get...

Remilard: I am not sure when Maui Brewing is adding their hops... They just say online what they are using. After just tasting another of my first attempt, I really got it all wrong. It is a good IPA, but just not a good clone of Big Swell. To revise my recipe I will use the standard malt...

Cone and Poo, thanks for the hop advice. I have looked at their website, but never found the page you linked me to. Thanks! I see I got the cascade and amarillo, and was missing the centennial and the CTZ. I've never used columbus, but I can get it here in Hawaii, not sure about T or Z. I'm...

Anyone have a clone for this beer? It has been a favorite of mine for the past year or so. I've tried one shot at it with 85 percent two row, 10 percent munich, 5 percent Crystal 40. Hopped with Northern Brewer for bitterness, and Cascade and Amarillo for both flavor and aroma. It came out...

Just tasted a batch of this. Really nice octoberfestish beer. Mine had slightly more hop flavor and bitterness than is really appropriate, but then I tasted it at 3 weeks, so it has got some aging to do and I expect the hops to fall off a bit. But all in all, as a fresh beer, it tastes great...