Am I the highest brewer in America?

[truebe]

I would think that the elevation has a big effect on hops utilization. wouldnt his boil be exactly like me at ground level trying to cook the wort at 192?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I would think that the elevation has a big effect on hops utilization. wouldnt his boil be exactly like me at ground level trying to cook the wort at 192?

Not at all. Boil vigor has a big impact on isomerization. The more mechanical agitation, the better the utilization. If you tried to "cook" the wort at 192º F at sea level, there would be little to no movement in the wort. However, when the OP does a boil at 192º F, he should be able to achieve a vigorous, rolling boil.

However, I did some more reading, and it appears that temperature does have a significant effect on the process. Here is an abstract that gives a bit of evidence:

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2004/techprogram/paper_25787.htm

It would be very difficult for the OP to quantify utilization at altitude without a lab. If I were him, I'd make no hop adjustments for the first attempt at any recipe, then use my palate to gauge whether more hops would be an improvement in future brews using the same recipe as a base.

 

[skultch]

I have to find that Winter Park brewpub. My brother's B-I-L has a place out there and I am invited each year. I did not see it on the last trip.

Cool. I work in WP every now and then, but I've only been to that brewery twice. It's been a while, but I don't remember being blown away by the taste.

Here's their site: Moffat Station It's inside the hotel right across the street from the main base are of the ski resort. I hear they're a little inconsistent and limited on their beer selection, though.

There's another brewery about 45 minutes north of there, in Grand Lake. http://www.grandlakebrewing.com/ I've had some of their bottles; not bad at all. Totally worth the trip, I'm sure.

I could have sworn there was another brewpub in Winter Park or Fraser, but maybe it was just a nicer looking bar.

 

[skultch]

Regarding fire and altitude, I've had bad luck with Bic lighters above 8,000' MSL. A Zippo always works perfectly.

Unless you are unable to sustain a somewhat vigorous/rolling boil with your rig, I doubt your hop utilization suffers. Have you noticed any other odd things when brewing at such a high elevation?

Hypoxia comes to mind, but that's not really what I meant...

I use Bic lighters almost every day with no issues. I've used them above 14k feet several times. You must have just had a bad one. Are you sure it didn't get snow in it?

I do get a nice rolling boil. No issues there.

High altitude brewing odd things? Hmmm. Maybe. Not sure if this counts, but I once blacked out and fell because I was too drunk to remember not to lock my knees after waking up and running up the stairs to the pisser. Does that count? :cross:

 

[skultch]

Never thought about this altitude boiling thing. I am at 500' altitude and have to boil at 212° for 15 minutes to kill the nastys. Skultch can boil at 192° and accomplish the same?

I don't think so. I don't think it's the boiling action that kills the nastys, but the temps. I'm pretty sure I have to boil a little longer to achieve sterilization.

 

[skultch]

Sooo......um......when are you brewing next? I wanna come over:fro::rockin:

Haha. The weekend of April 30th / May 1st. It's probably going to be a little brew party. We'll probably have 2 or 3 keggles boiling and maybe another stove top extract going. The more the merrier.

No plans yet on the THCIPA, though. It takes a month or two for the THC to infuse in alcohol. I should probably get that going soon.

 

[skultch]

It would be very difficult for the OP to quantify utilization at altitude without a lab. If I were him, I'd make no hop adjustments for the first attempt at any recipe, then use my palate to gauge whether more hops would be an improvement in future brews using the same recipe as a base.

This is the plan. Once I'm dialed in to my AG BIAB process, I'll start the testing. Yeah, the hops will be pretty subjective. I also plan on splitting 10g batches into two fermenters for yeast comparisons. My buddy that's near Taos, NM recently made an India Dark Lager, because that was the only yeast he had. I'm not sure what temps he fermented at, but I'll be trying it next week.

 

[skultch]

Oh, and I forgot about one possibly altitude induced weirdness. I've aerated the wort on all my batches, but after the first two missed FG by a few digits, I aerated much more vigorously on the 3rd and it reached FG very quickly. Good thing, too, because that one started at 1078. All three used the same yeast, Munton's dry, and same temps. I figure with such low O2 content in my air I need to really aerate as well as possible.

 

[Ridebreck]

Cool. I work in WP every now and then, but I've only been to that brewery twice. It's been a while, but I don't remember being blown away by the taste.

Here's their site: Moffat Station It's inside the hotel right across the street from the main base are of the ski resort. I hear they're a little inconsistent and limited on their beer selection, though.

There's another brewery about 45 minutes north of there, in Grand Lake. http://www.grandlakebrewing.com/ I've had some of their bottles; not bad at all. Totally worth the trip, I'm sure.

I could have sworn there was another brewpub in Winter Park or Fraser, but maybe it was just a nicer looking bar.

I'm down on the Front Range (Monument) at about 6,900ft. I'm boiling at 200 deg on the money. I was in Breck a couple of weekends ago when the Wailers were playing - probably the 'cloudiest' day of the year (at least at the Peak 8 base:fro. You should get ahold of Jason at Trinity Brewing in the Springs. I know that he's brewed with hemp seeds, but I would bet that he could give you some off-record tips on spicing up an IPA with some cousin.

 

[dino2gnt]

I'm fairly sure I am the lowest homebrewer in America.

If you're the only brewer in Norwalk, I agree.

 

[bob1852]

However, I did some more reading, and it appears that temperature does have a significant effect on the process. Here is an abstract that gives a bit of evidence:

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2004/techprogram/paper_25787.htm

It would be very difficult for the OP to quantify utilization at altitude without a lab. If I were him, I'd make no hop adjustments for the first attempt at any recipe, then use my palate to gauge whether more hops would be an improvement in future brews using the same recipe as a base.

Interesting, I'm at ~7,000 ft and sometimes struggle with bittering hop quantities for IPAs. I had one judged that used 2 oz of Warrior @ 60 minutes with a very simple grain bill and all three judges commented on the lack of bitterness...I never considered altitute affecting utilization; I've just grown accustomed to tossing in more bittering hops than originally planned...

 

[Malintent]

i'm about 100 feet below sea level.
beat that.

Uncle! You win. Death Valley?

 

[joety]

There's another brewery about 45 minutes north of there, in Grand Lake. http://www.grandlakebrewing.com/ I've had some of their bottles; not bad at all. Totally worth the trip, I'm sure.

His place is on the side of a mountain between Tabernash and Grandby, looks like maybe 25 minutes from Grand Lake. Will definitely check that out next time.

 

[drac0]

I stumbled back across this post tonight and it made me remember that this last December I took the family and visited Estes Park, Co. We stopped at a point where the road was closed and we couldn't go any higher. My GPS unit said we were at 9980 something feet up.

When getting a photo of the family, I had my camera on a tripod, put my camera on self timer and ran across the road to get in the photo. I think it took all my will to not pass out!

 

[bradpitt21164]

Good grief