I like this time at night on HBT

Let me try this again I replied earlier but don't think it went through

LG! It doesn't matter how you meet the girl. Only matters if you meet the one you find fun and love with

Cheers brother

 

True, but I haven't been meeting any. That's the problem. We are about to cross into territory I'm not willing for the world to see. If you really want to talk about my love life, or lack there or, PM me sometime.

 

Does this push your buttons LG?

 

Here is what I did today not like anyone really cares but the snow is a bit early.



My brew partner is ordering our 40 gallon conical from stout tanks by the end of the week

 

I love a beer with big cones!

 

No doubt, cause they're delicious.

 

It would be cool if LG....I mean Death, went around the neighborhood with an order sheet for the BacoNuts on Halloween.

 

Time for me to say goodnight
I look forward to talking in the the day light
To those I know here on HBT
I love you folks
Now time for TV.

 

LG, don't be ashamed of who you are. The secret of true happiness is to be comfortable within yourself. As far as someone to share your journey, I hope you find someone with whom you can grow with. I have never been one for riches, or anything to do with "bling factors" the only true blessing I have is my wife and family. I wish you all the best.

 

A few innocent photos on facebook isn't really overexposure. It's more like walking around in public where everyone can see you. I've found photos on fb to be very helpful when either trying to find old acquaintances, or when someone sends a friend request. Many people have the same name, but not the same face.

 

I assume that's the underground beer line you're running to my kitchen, right?

 

What Leadgolem said; that's my understanding as well. The wine gets some oxygen and the sediment gets stirred up a bit during bottling, so you need to let all that settle down. I added Campden tablets so oxidation should not be an issue. You are also supposed to turn the bottles upright a few days before opening to let the sediment fall out to the bottom.

From what I understand reds can (should?) be aged for 6-months to a few years. Whites require less, depending on tannin levels. I figure if I pop one a month after 6 months, that will cover the range from 6-months to 3 years.

 

That would be a long trench...

Actually those are our lagering tanks in the background

 

A piece of wood? No.

I don't understand how you could drink that much, without killing yourself anyway, but it sounds like a sweet setup.

Haha! That would be hilarious. They are kinda a lot of work to do well, so no.



That's for the support everybody. It seems your opinions are about where mine are. Basically, I'm going to regard everything I put on facebook as public information. Anything I want to keep private simply won't go on there.

 

Well, I went ahead and setup a facebook account. Then discovered I don't have any recent pictures of me. Oh well. People can identify me by the wonderful food and brew pictures I'm putting up.

 

Correct. It didn't do anything for me either.

We are going to do 20 or 30 gallon batches which isn't really that much split two ways. A 30 gallon batch brewed every two months and split in half is about two pints a day plus I share a lot of homebrew with friends. We have a hard time getting together to brew so that was the main reason for upsizing. I was ok with our 10 gallon setup but what would you say if your brew buddy offers to buy a 40 gallon MLT and conical?

I really like working on this stuff too. I think I enjoy it more than actually brewing. There are those occasional conversations of having a brewpub someday too...this may be a small step in that direction.

 

Huh, ok. I guess I just haven't ever had trouble keeping myself in drink with a few 5 gallon buckets. I just couldn't think how you'd go through that much. Then again, I usually have three or more going at any given time. So it's actually not that far apart on a per person basis.

 

I don't like brewing large amounts primarily because I get bored of different styles. It's semi-rare for me to drink the same beer twice in one night. I tend to like variation when I drink most of the time. For that reason I like to brew multiple 5 gallon batches of varying styles as compared to having 10-15 gallons of the same beer to drink for 2 months. Plus I'm pretty much the only one drinking my beer with the exception of what I send out for trades or give away to friends.

 

Happy Halloween you brewing zombies:

 

Guess what day it is! Guess. what. day. it. is! BREW DAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

(After I get done at school, anyway).

 

Whooot whoooooooot

 

I tend to brew 12-20 gallons most of the time. I just get hate when a keg kicks and that's done until the next time I brew it, which could be months. I like to set up my pipeline and order 3-4 batches of grain at a time, so it's 3-4 brew sessions before I buy again.

On a non-beer related side (which this thread is all about) I got an abscess a couple days ago on my jaw. I waited to see if it would clear up, but went in to the Dr yesterday to start a round of Bactrim. I've been a MRSA carrier since the big outbreak in 2005ish that killed all those people. I haven't had an abscess in a few years, but this one is making up for that. It was the size of a golfball and very painful.

No clean shave start to Movember.

On the Movember note:
If you're not participating, feel free to donate here. I've had a few friends since high school lose one or both of their beloved testicles. We can all do a little bit to help in curing testicular and prostate cancer.
I wear a beautiful lip warmer during the year, but shave that soup strainer in October (the wife gets a month of smooth) and start raising money while growing it back every November. Here's a link to my Movember portal, where you can donate: http://mobro.co/danielmtorres

 

I'm not an expert by any means, I've just got a few simple recipes I stick with. As in brewing, you want to use the best ingredients and keep trying til you get it right. The first few times I made sourdough, I got rocks. Those were so bad the pigs wouldn't eat them! Like anything else, keep doing it, and you'll probably get better. I was very lucky to be somewhere with no competition so even when I messed up, I'd usually still be able to sell everything. I do think it would be harder to learn just making a couple loafs a week as so much of baking is repition. There is a HBT for bread, thefreshloaf, that can be helpful for questions. YouTube is always a great place to learn things, I do much better with videos of techniques than just reading about them. I taught myself to make croissants watching a video in French. I think my favorite thing about baking is that it's tactile. It's all about developing a feel for the dough. Philisophically, time is your friend, mixing isn't, and never trust a baker with hairy arms.

Beaks & LG, i sort of forgot about you guys. I'll get your supplies out next week for sure.

 

Fresh ingredients are indeed key to great bread. I don't make bread nearly as often as I did a few years back; who am I kidding? About 10 years back! Haha. I was at a point where I dropped using commercial yeast and only made a sourdough. I began the starter with a tiny bit of yeast and after time it became a nice pungent delicious living thing. I kept it going for a few years.

The flour was always organic and I'd use a mix of unbleached white and, I think it was called half cracked flour. That's probably the wrong name. The flour had visible germ in it. Occasionally I'd throw a little rye into the starter, seems if I recall correctly that gave a little more tang to the sourness. Sourdough is such a slow process. The first few months making it there were quite a few late nights I'd be pulling fresh loaves out of the oven well after midnight. After time I started using the refrigerator to help slow rise the dough. Funny how simple everything became and how consistently good the bread turned out each time. I think if I start back up I'll be almost starting over. Ha!

After moving to the CA Central Valley I could never keep my starter happy. Then again it might have just been my interests changed and heart wasn't into it. I think I'll try to get back into bread making once I finally get this move to Hawaii completed. The starter I had here for years really thrived. Seem to make some of the best levan ever

I've never attempted croissant making, maybe someday. Thanks for the freshlosf website tip. Time to go check it out! Happy baking

Ps I never heard the hairless arm baker thing but have heard rumor a secret of the great San Francisco sourdough
Bread of the past might have come from having the dough bounced of the bakers belly during kneading!😀

 

I've never tried, but I think you can dry starter to mail and then rehydrate it. If be happy to send you some when you get settled in. I just keep a white flour one now for simplicity, used to maintain several when I was baking more. I used to make a German style rye called Vollkornbrot that made at least one older German woman cry. She hadn't had it in decades and thought she never would again. If you want a challenge, 100% rye bread is certainly it.

A really good advanced book is simple called Bread by Jeffrey Hammleman.

 

Mash is on, racking my apfelwein, screaming kids demanding candy at the door. When can I start drinking?

 

Would you share your recipe for Vollkornbrot? I have had it in the past but never tried to make it, I don't typically bake in the warmer weather but it's cooling off and my first loaf is rising as i type.
Drying and shipping works fine, that's how i got the starter I've been using for at least 10 years.

 

You ok with baker's percentages and do you have rye starter? It's around 90% hydration and a whole different ball of wax than wheat. Not my recipe, its Jeff Hammelman's, that's what made me think of the book. I'll go grab it off the shelf.

 

Thanks. That would be great! It'll be a few months before I'm ready to start baking again but will gladly accept your offer then. Ill shoot you a pm with my new address when the time is closer

I've never heard of Volkornbrot so googled it and FreshLoaf website came up! Ha!

 

I pretty much have my head wrapped around it and I can start one of my starters on rye, i'd be willing to give it a go.

 

Man, the neighbors have been procreating like rabbits. 6 bags of candy gone in 30 minutes. I'm out of candy, so the door is locked, the lights are out, and the boil is on. Finally some peace and the warm fragrant aroma of malt and EKG fills the house. Ahhh....

 

OK, cauldron is boiling...some Halloween brew music:

 

It was nice of you to take care of the kids in the middle of a brew. My boys rounded up a pretty nice pile of loot. They dumped it all out on the floor and sorted it just like my bro and I used to do

 

At the start I just wanted to lock all the doors and hide - I've had a crazy week and really didn't want to be bothered. But the SWMBO insisted that I do it while she was at class, so I did. When the first little kids came by I remembered Halloween when I was a little kid and that was that. It was actually pretty cool to see the kids and chat with the neighbors. People in this neighborhood tend to stay behind their fences and want to be left alone, so an excuse to get everyone out and meeting and greeting is not a bad thing. I actually spoke with my one immediate neighbor that I haven't exchanged words with since I moved in 3+ years ago (I called the police on their kid a few times, but that is another matter).

Somehow I got everything done tonight - racked my apfelwein, cleaned my carboys, got my brew off. The timer on my microwave saved my ass a few times - I'm glad I got my brew routine down such that I use it without a second thought. Hit my mash temps (it's a partial mash, but with 5 lbs of grain), hops are going in on schedule, make-up water is ready in the fermenter. I've got most of the cleanup done, just gotta finish the boil, chill, and put it under an airlock. Oh yeah, yeast would be a good idea too.

 

Actual title is Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. I'll just give you the scaled home recipe, it's for a very large pullman loaf and only in standard.

Rye Meal 68.4% 1 lb 5.9oz
Rye Chops 31.6% 10.1oz
Sunflower Seeds 5.5% 1.8oz
Salt 2% .6oz
Yeast 1.8% (optional) .19oz IDY
Total 191.4 3lb 12.9oz

I just used all meal since the mill I get flour from doesn't do chops.

Sourdough
Rye Meal 100% 13.2oz
Water 100% 13.2oz
Mother 5% .7oz

Soaker
Rye Chops 100% 10.1oz
Water 100% 10.1oz

Final "Dough"
Rye Meal 8.7oz
Water 3oz
Salt .6oz
Yeast .19oz
Sunflower Seeds 1.8oz
Soaker 1lb 4.2oz
Sourdough 1lb 10.4oz
Total 3lb 12.9oz

Sourdough will take 14-16 hrs at 70
Desired dough temp of 84 - you won't get this handmixing and this will kill a kitchenaid dead. If you happen to have a real mixer, 10 min low. 10-20 min bulk ferment, if it's not 84 it needs to go longer obvioulsy, but not sow long that it breaks down, which isn't very long. It should nearly fill the pan, if you dont have a pullman loaf, this isn't quite enough for two normal loaves and you'll have to math it up.

Sprinkle whole rye flour on formed loaves. This stuff doesn't even vaguely resemble wheat dough. Use wet hands throughout until you're ready to shape. Shaping, start wet and finish with a lot of rye four, like a ridiculously large amount. If you don't have a good bowl scraper and a bench knife and know how to use them, I shouldn't have spent all this time typing this out. Final Ferment 50 to 60 at 82. See comment about bulk ferment. You can boil a pot of water and then put that in slightly warmed oven to help proof and then just take loaves back out to preheat. Don't score.

You best have some oven tiles as well. 470 for 15, drop to 380 bake approx 75 min more. Remove bread from pan for last 15 min. Don't cut for at least 24-48 hrs.

I shoulda just told ya to buy the damn book. That was lot of typing.

 

The Fresh Loaf is the HBT of bread, great information.

 

I shoulda just told ya to buy the damn book. That was lot of typing.
I appreciate it

 

I'd tell you to take pictures, but that's not possible as your hands will be a wee bit messy. I do at least expect a very verbose write up of what will undoubtedly be the most epic baking experience of your life. If you don't knowalready, don't try buying Bob's Red Mill or some other prepackaged brand of rye at the store or it will cost $20. You've got to find it somewhere in bulk. It's funny that the specialty kinda stuff is so overpriced because in bulk rye is 30-405 less than wheat.

 

I just split my starter and fed half with rye flour, now to find reasonably priced rye meal, thanks again.

 

What hydration do you keep wheat at? I keep a 70%. Rye starter needs to be at least 100%, that's what I've always done, but I think some people do 125% or even more.