Guate Brewing

[hopbrad]

Thank you to all who came, I had a great time ditching class, hopefully we can repeat the experience on a non-working day. That's it as far as the list goes. To add to the conversation we had with Firefarmer: I thought linden was a smaller tree, but it is actually the basswood tree you were telling me about. The one I used in my rosemary/linden ale, I bought at paiz and came in a smallish cellophane bag with dried flowers.

http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=TIAM

In other news, I just bit the bullet and ordered 2 corny kegs, regulator fittings and a check valve, spare handle caps and a 5# CO2 tank; hopefully they'll be here by the 15th, while I give ASEAL extract a try.

I look forward to our next meetup.

sounded like a great time!
keep us posted on the attenuation of your ASEAL batch. mine never went down past 1.030.

 

[pacayaforhops]

I'll be sure to let you know

 

[nsaubes]

Yes, I really had a great time too, and it was cool to have you guys at the restaurant to share good beers!

 

[pacayaforhops]

Quick update: I got my stuff about a week ago, I'll be brewing this weekend, I'll let you know how ASEAL malt works out. I'm glad I moved up to industry standard CO2 tanks, getting 12oz paintball tanks filled every couple of batches for Q35 a piece was getting old. I'm up o 4 kegs and ran out of space in the beer fridge. Only need a couple of barb fittings to finish my gas manifold.

Still not using an industry standard regulator though, I got one of my franken-regulators (miscellaneous paintball gun parts) hooked up to the tank, currently set at 20 PSI, still need to dial it in a little. It's been about 2 months since I brewed last (and even then it was a 1.7 gallon batch for school), the itch is getting unbearable.

I've got the ASEAL DME spec sheets here and it seems they're the same varieties as hopbrad gets in Nicaragua, though the dark one is not listing lecithin and caramel coloring in the ingredients. In any case, I got the lighter 20 EBC DME. I'll let you know how it does; if it doesn't attenuate well, I'll thin it down with some hops tea and sugar.

How's everyone been doing?

 

[rappyfreak]

Hey pacaya, sounds good, where did you get the dme? Been out of the loop for a while but still brewing some. I have a saison and a nut brown ale bottled, both all grain and next week will brew an imperial stout. Cheers


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[pacayaforhops]

Hey pacaya, sounds good, where did you get the dme? Been out of the loop for a while but still brewing some. I have a saison and a nut brown ale bottled, both all grain and next week will brew an imperial stout. Cheers


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DME's available at ASEAL, "bodega 112 at complejo emresarial cortijo 2" on "la Atanasio" (same complex where 24/7's call center is).

Only thing is, hopbrad out in Nicaragua tried it and couldn't get it to attenuate past 1.03X, so I'll give it a go and see if it's maybe the yeast that might have been the issue (it damn well better be, cause I bought 20 pounds of it). The good thing is, it's about 10 SRM and it only gets clearer when you water it down (you can probably get 5-6 SRM beer on 5% ABV).

 

[rappyfreak]

Sounds good but beer will turn out pretty sweet with that FG. What yeast you trying?


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[pacayaforhops]

He was using Safale US-04, I'll be using Wyeast Thames valley ale, one of my more attenuative beer yeasts, the calculators I used predicted FG at 1.014, so that's what I'm shooting for, over pitching should also help a bit.

 

[rappyfreak]

Alright keep us posted


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[hopbrad]

i used s-05...i did another batch with it too. I used an enzyme and let the DME sit in 150 degree water for 45 minutes which is suppose to break down any long chain sugars to simple sugars. pretty much re-mashing it. it went from 1.079 to 1.012.
ill update in 2-3 weeks.

He was using Safale US-04, I'll be using Wyeast Thames valley ale, one of my more attenuative beer yeasts, the calculators I used predicted FG at 1.014, so that's what I'm shooting for, over pitching should also help a bit.

 

[pacayaforhops]

i used s-05...i did another batch with it too. I used an enzyme and let the DME sit in 150 degree water for 45 minutes which is suppose to break down any long chain sugars to simple sugars. pretty much re-mashing it. it went from 1.079 to 1.012.
ill update in 2-3 weeks.

Sorry about the misquote, I should also have an update in a couple of weeks, brewed a partial mash porter with it on saturday.

 

[pacayaforhops]

Quick update on ASEAL DME, after 2 weeks fermenting the beer I brewed with it came down from 1.050 to roughly 1.020 (still to be confirmed once I bottle an uncarbonated sample and cold crash it, suspended yeast may be throwing off my reading by about 0.002-0.004), which would seem to be consistent with hopbrad's findings.

If that is indeed the case, it's allowing about 65% of fermentables to be consumed by the yeast (assuming an average 72%-76% attenuation), this could be adjusted using sugar, honey, candy or syrup; which are almost completely fermentable and we should be able to get a lower FG on them and be closer to some style guidelines' ABV without sacrificing color and viceversa.

Or if you want to get all the ABV you can out of it, you can mash it along with some base malt and it should still get plenty chopped up by the enzymes, so the yeast can eat it up.

I'll give you guys another update after the sample has cold crashed.

 

[pacayaforhops]

Final update on ASEAL DME: Turns out I overestimated the viability of the yeast I pitched and that's why it hadn't gone under 1.020. Took the yeast cake out, fed it some sugar and re-pitched and the gravity came down to 1.012 as I had originally expected.

It seems overpitching slightly will benefit beer made with ASEAL DME, but in my experience, it's usable and will ferment out as much as any other big name DME.

On an unrelated note, quinfica hops are old and improperly stored (not light-struck though). They will work well as surannes hops for lambics, but they severely lack any aroma. So if you want a really hoppy beer, you'll have to keep importing hops.

 

[rappyfreak]

Good stuff wayne, how was the flavor of the fermented beer?


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[pacayaforhops]

It's a brown porter, so the roasted character overwhelmed the extract's flavor (plus it's still got some suspended yeast), it's got just enough crystal 40 to not be overly dry.

Overall I'd say it's pretty standard light extract. The beer itself is pretty tame as far as hops go, about 20 IBU, but enough aroma that you know it's not the local commercial stuff.

 

[rappyfreak]

So bettee than distribuidora caribe's lme?


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[pacayaforhops]

In my experience, it's light colored and ferments out better, allowing you more room to play with color and residual sweetness. For darker heavier beers like imperial stouts, old ales, barleywines and heavy scotch ales, I'd use DC LME over ASEAL DME

 

[hopbrad]

nice on getting it down to 1.012.
the malt flavor is fine. I made a pale ale and an IPA with only the malt, no specialty grains. I have never done that before with other DME's so I have nothing to compare it to. It seems like it will serve nice as a base for partial mashes or extract + specialty grains beers.

I got my hands on some belgian yeasts that a friend brought down and have a dubbel fermenting and a pale ale.

The Dubbel is a combo of the DME and DC LME, along with some special B, belgian caramunich and amber candi/invert syrup i tried to make. hopped with Styrian Goldings. fermenting with WLP530 - 1.080 OG

The pale ale is a combo of the DME, LME, table sugar and Styrian Goldings. WLP500 - 1.062 OG
The starter on that took 84 hours to get going so hopefully no bacterial infections that got in. I decanted off as much as i could but the yeast doesnt flocc all that well and i noticed i was pouring out yeast too.
After 24 hours there is a nice krausen and it smells normal. time will tell on that one.

 

[pacayaforhops]

nice on getting it down to 1.012.
the malt flavor is fine. I made a pale ale and an IPA with only the malt, no specialty grains. I have never done that before with other DME's so I have nothing to compare it to. It seems like it will serve nice as a base for partial mashes or extract + specialty grains beers.

That's what I was thinking, it's nice a substitute for 2/6-row (and dare I say pils) malt, but if you want a bit more character or sweetness go with DC LME or specialty grains.

I got my hands on some belgian yeasts that a friend brought down and have a dubbel fermenting and a pale ale.

The Dubbel is a combo of the DME and DC LME, along with some special B, belgian caramunich and amber candi/invert syrup i tried to make. hopped with Styrian Goldings. fermenting with WLP530 - 1.080 OG

The pale ale is a combo of the DME, LME, table sugar and Styrian Goldings. WLP500 - 1.062 OG
The starter on that took 84 hours to get going so hopefully no bacterial infections that got in. I decanted off as much as i could but the yeast doesnt flocc all that well and i noticed i was pouring out yeast too.
After 24 hours there is a nice krausen and it smells normal. time will tell on that one.

Sounds tasty, let us know how they turn out.

 

[Curtis2010]

Saludos desde los Islas de San Blas en Panamá!

I heard a rumor that Gallo is coming out with some new beers. You guys know anything about this?

 

[pacayaforhops]

Yeah, don't know if you got a chance to try them before you left, but they released "Gallo red lager" (which is basically a sweeter moza gold) and "Gallo dark lager" (tastes like roasted barley and corn with no sweetness to balance them out). You're not missing out on much if you didn't try them before you left.

 

[Curtis2010]

That's too bad. Just heard it mentioned here in Panama....not something to look forward too when I return to Guate it sounds like.

 

[Ave_Indiana_Brewing]

Hi guys, I´m new to this site. I´ve been brewing in GT for about 3 years now, but still consider myself a newby. I´t awesome to have more people here in GT brewing beer, for the most part I´ve found myself alone.

Hope to get to know you guys better, and share some fine home-brewed beers..!! =)

 

[Curtis2010]

Ave...,

Welcome aboard!

Growing group of cerveceros we have here. Had a great get together a few months back with lots of good homebrew. A new member would be a good time to have another one.

You import most of your ingredients I assume?

 

[pacayaforhops]

Welcome Ave Indiana, nice to hear from someone new, feel free to join our CA-4 group, there's some helpful info on where to get homebrewing stuff and a few other topics, you (as well as anyone else) are welcome to add to the discussion.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/groups/cerveceros-ca-4/

 

[Ave_Indiana_Brewing]

Hi guys.... most of the things I bring are imported... I just found out from this group that you could buy from DC malt extract.

Just finished a Red Ale (partial extract) and an Apricot Ale. I agree with getting together, we should do it within this month if possible.

Great to be here!!! =)

 

[pacayaforhops]

I agree with getting together, we should do it within this month if possible.

I'm free for the remainder of this week and all of next up 'til friday, any takers for thursday the 22th in the afternoon at L'Aperó, same as last time?

 

[Curtis2010]

I'm free for the remainder of this week and all of next up 'til friday, any takers for thursday the 22th in the afternoon at L'Aperó, same as last time?

Damn, sorry I wont be there.

Still in San Blas Islands, Panama...could be much worse! ;-)

 

[nsaubes]

Hi guys, I'll be in Belize for the whole week, so I won't be able to join you... But if you want to go to L'Apero you're welcome! Although it's normally closed between 3pm and 6pm...

 

[pacayaforhops]

No worries, it seems it might not be happening, since no one's confirmed that they'll be attending yet (not even Mr. "we should do it... this month...").