My first post...

[JacktheKnife]

Howdy Ya'll,

I have been reading and enjoying the posts here for a while.
Just thought I would say howdy, {...howdy.}

I am: JacktheKnife,
now my name is Jack, and I make knives, but...
I don't sit around and listen to Bobby Darin.
I was in the third grade when that old song was around.
I don't have anything aginst Darin, but I didn't like the song then.
However, 50 years later... it is still recognisable to people.
And I'll bet he still 'keeps it out of sight', I know I do.
Its like 'Jackhammer, lumberjack, JacktheKnife...
Its catchy...


Anyway, about ALE:


Yup, I make ale and have for 12 years.
The Pappazian book is still what I read, and reread.
Ya'll were talking about primary and secondary ferminters...


My 'set-up' is three primarys {7.5 galloners}
and three secondarys {5 galloners}


Since my: Nine pound Hammer' is in the primary a week.
And the secondary two weeks, and is still coming out a bit sweet, and a bit thick... I asked old Gary at the homebrew supply about it, and he said he knows I am shaking the 'stuff' 5-6 minutes, so the reason is: the 9 pounds of extract is a lot of stuff for the yeast to use up at the later stages of fermintation... and that I need a better yeast. A liquid yeast, the same price as the dry yeast, but better.

Why did he not sell me the better yeast 12 years ago?

Hmmmmm...


It must be new..

I am perfecting my recipe for 'Hammer', and the better, new, yeast will forego having to leave the wort in the secondary three... weeks as another brewer I met at the store does,{3 weeks in the secondary? }
Thats a long time.

I still need a few more secondary ferminters


My Nine Pound Hammer consists of extract.
I use bottles, {wish I had room for an old fridge for lager,}


3lbs dark syrup
6 pounds pale syrup
Hopped up to 10 H.B.U.
and left in the bottels for... ohhh..

2-3 weeks
2-3 months is profoundly better



Good Brewing...



Knife

 

[brewhead]

are your teeth pearly white

 

[SwAMi75]

Welcome to the forum! "Nine Pound Hammer" is an awesome name for a brew. Wish I'd thought of it.

 

[JacktheKnife]

The name came from the old bluegrass song:

'That nine pound hammer'
'Just a little to heavy'
'Buddy for my size...'
'Buddy for my size...'

I made some Ten pound hammer, but it was a little too strong...
it was a little too strong...

Nine pounds is about right,


Figurativly as well as literally...
Figurativly as well as literally...


J. Knife

 

[Sir Sudster]

I once thought of naming a beer "Hammer Down" You know ... for the workin guy. Time to relax and put your hammer down.

 

[JacktheKnife]

Sudster,

Am I correct in surmising you have 3-4 secondarys for every one primary?
How long does one of your creations stay in its secondary?
I haven't gone way up to north Dallas to get some of the new liquid yeast old Gary recommended. So to use up the supply of dry yeast I have on hand, I just finished brewing a batch of... '7 1/2 LB Hammer'

And I have finally stopped using bleach, and have switched over to the bottle of Idophor I have had since before my terrible motorcycle wreck,
april 2001. {Never could read that bottle.}


As far as the 'Hammer' name goes...
Not only does it carry tons of connotations itself, but I as I said somewhere, I make knives. Have a propane forge, and can make knives from old leaf springs, railroad spikes, lawn mower blades, ect...
So when I am in the mood to beat on some hot steel, not only does it get profoundly 'hammered,' ... but I do too.


And I used to live in Austin, music major at U.T. and wish I still was.
Austin is nothing as I remembered it to be, in the early 70's.

Lived on speedway, and 46th, had a 76 triumph bonnyville 650, and live was good.


Gimme a hooler and lets go coon hunting.


J. Knife

 

[SwAMi75]

Sudster,

Am I correct in surmising you have 3-4 secondarys for every one primary?
How long does one of your creations stay in its secondary?
I haven't gone way up to north Dallas to get some of the new liquid yeast old Gary recommended. So to use up the supply of dry yeast I have on hand, I just finished brewing a batch of... '7 1/2 LB Hammer'

And I have finally stopped using bleach, and have switched over to the bottle of Idophor I have had since before my terrible motorcycle wreck,
april 2001. {Never could read that bottle.}


As far as the 'Hammer' name goes...
Not only does it carry tons of connotations itself, but I as I said somewhere, I make knives. Have a propane forge, and can make knives from old leaf springs, railroad spikes, lawn mower blades, ect...
So when I am in the mood to beat on some hot steel, not only does it get profoundly 'hammered,' ... but I do too.


And I used to live in Austin, music major at U.T. and wish I still was.
Austin is nothing as I remembered it to be, in the early 70's.

Lived on speedway, and 46th, had a 76 triumph bonnyville 650, and live was good.


Gimme a hooler and lets go coon hunting.


J. Knife

Are you familiar with a knifemaker named Ken Richardson? I collect pocket knives some, but one of his is the only custom I own.

 

[sudsmonkey]

could DME be substituted for one of the syrups? What kind of hops are you using ? Ever tried making a knife out of steel cable? It ends up as a sort of Damascus looking blade.

 

[Sir Sudster]

Sudster,

Am I correct in surmising you have 3-4 secondarys for every one primary?
How long does one of your creations stay in its secondary?

Jknife, I brew in 10 gallon batches. My glass carboy's which I use as secondaries are 5 gallon. I sometimes spilt the 10 gal batch and use two different yeast stains in 2 carboys. I have a third glass carboy just for convenience. I sometimes use it as a bottling bucket. I had three secondaries going because I screwed up on a Bock. I bottled it before it had completed fermenting.( long story). Anyway, I unbottled it and put it back into my spare carboy with some Wyeast 1056 and let it finish out. I don't know if it is going to work but I had a real problem throwing it out. I brewed it in a 3 step decoction process. I also had a 10 gallon ESB going on at the same time which occupied my 2 other carboys. When I say "Primary" I mean it as a process. I have 2 six gallon primary buckets.

Yes, 1970 was a different time and place in Austin. Triumphs were awesome.
Harley's out did them though.

Sorry to hear about your accident ..hope you will recover soon.

 

[JacktheKnife]

Suds...

Howdy...

Anything can be substituted for anything else,
as you are the boss, are you not?

I was told by Gary at the homebrew 'hed'quarters here in Dallas,
"Hops is Hops.'
And that it doesn't matter which you use.
Their isn't a taste difference.
Go by alpha acid content.
Actually it is cheaper to buy chinook or some 12%...12.7% hops,
rather than fuggels, at 3-4-5%.
It takes much less to hop up some 'stuff'.

And no... I ain't made any damascus yet, but have read about it,
and am getting my forge under control as it is the imballance of gas, and oxygen which causes the steel to 'scale up.' Scale is the sandy texture which if on the steel must be removed, which is a lot of grinding.

I have, out in my steel yard, lots of cable.
And a book by Wayne Goddard, about just that.
To hot now, in July, to work out in the shop over a 2,000 degree forge. I am taking this time to work in my yard. To build retaining walls, and gravel walks in my yard... move a few dozen tons of dirt and gravel with a shovel and a wheelbarrow... easy stuff like that.

Thanks for asking


J. Knife

 

[JacktheKnife]

My old Triumph was an english bike and I loved it because it was my 'baby.' Actually I pushed that damn thing as far as I rode it.
My crash was on 'old Thunder' my 1981 850cc Yamaha triple.
It was not Thunders fault,
neither was it mine,

I was murdered, and I'm not kidding.
The three brothers who 'done it' {white trash} died in prison a year ago.
I didn't even know them.
My hounds didn't make either but neither did the cowards who killed them. I would give anything to have my hounds back again, but my heart is broken and will never heal.
I woke up in Baylor hospital after a coma of 5 weeks.
My hounds I had raised from puppys were poisoned with arsenic and gut shot
in their pens, on my 25 acres, march 1990, while I was in Denver.
I went on a drunk for 12 years till:
april 2001

I had 500 sleeping pills snuck in my beer at the boxcar way out in the country.
I damn near made it home anyway, but 4 miles from my house everything went black.

I am writing a book on the visit I had with GOD, while I was 'out.'

I saw my old hound Cotton Joe,
He was all muscled up like he was while at his best in his life.
His coat just shined, but his eyes were full of tears.

Joe told me telepathically, {GOD, fixed it up somehow}

I can't beleive you are grieving for us after all these years,
I've been 2-3-4 dogs since then, and you are looking much older than you did when I was on the earth.

You never got anymore hounds,
you never set another trap,
You never hunted at all,
you ride that motorcycle you got after we died, up to that beer joint way out in the country.
You drink beer and you sit on the pack porch alone,
you don't have any friends,
and never talk to anyone.

You are missing your life.

Get you some hounds and go hunting!

and I woke up.


A lady I told that story to told me:

"Jack that was not your dog,
that was God,
God loves you and does not want to see you suffer,
and GOD, knows what is in your heart,
and he knows how to reach you.


That was the most beautiful and heartfelt thing I have ever heard.


I am after all glad that I was almost killed.

I saw cotton joe again,

It was worth it.



I NEED ME A HOMEBREW



J. Knife

 

[patrck17]

So are you gonna start hunting again?

 

[JacktheKnife]

[ I brew in 10 gallon batches. My glass carboy's which I use as secondaries are 5 gallon.]


Sudster dude,

10 Gallon batches, sounds like you have a 10 gallon ['glass'?]
carboy. Mine are 7.5 gallon and I fill it to the 5 gallon mark, {which is made on the glass with black electrical tape.} and then a gallon or so over the line.
This allows me to fill the 5 gallon secondary right to the top. The neck, the trub and krousen is left behind, in the primary. Still plenty of wort to fill the 5 galloner.

What are you using for a primary ferminter?


I gotta get me one of those.


Knife

 

[JacktheKnife]

Yup,

The people at the feed store here in Lancaster, Texas,
gave me another Walker Hound, Sandymay, she is asleep right here by me now, and she will be a good hound.
Last winter= 2 bobcats, 6 coon, and a yote, {I let two other yotes go}
My strength is coming back...


I'm in love again...

Her name is Sandymay

Thanks for asking

Knife

 

[JacktheKnife]

Sudster,
I finally figured it out, you use 2 - 6 gallon buckets for your 'primary'. As if me, with my setup, I were to make two 5 gallon batches one evening.

At 8.36 lbs per gallon, 10 gallons, at 83.6 pounds, is more than I want to be carrying around the kitchen in the middle of the night.

10 Gallons is a lot of work in one evening. I can re-rack 10, and bottle 10, but I have yet to brew 10.


Sorry, I do tend to ramble on sometimes.


Knife

 

[Sir Sudster]

Jack, I think you almost have it right. My brewing setup will brew 10 gallons of beer at once. Once I am done brewing the wort I drain it from my boil pot to my two 6 gallon primary buckets. It is all gravity fed so when one bucket is full I put the other bucket under the drain and fill it up. I only have to carry one bucket at a time. Capeesh?

 

[JacktheKnife]

Sudz,

Gravity does all the work, I see.
I am onto a profound new technology here.
No carrying 84 pound wet, glass carboys around the kitchen in the middle of the night. This is brilliant, I gotta see a set up like this.
And get me one.
I could, {dare I say it?}
rule the world.

Thanks
Knife

 

[brewhead]

No carrying 84 pound wet, glass carboys around the kitchen in the middle of the night

ok i gotta ask - what's up with the carrying around carbouys in the middle of the night???

 

[JacktheKnife]

Brewhead dude,

[ No carrying 84 pound wet, glass carboys around the kitchen in the middle of the night
ok i gotta ask - what's up with the carrying around carbouys in the middle of the night???]
__________________


Howdy,

Well, I, usually, am up brewing in the middle of the night, being a Scorpio.
And by 'carrying around' I may have mispoke. When I want to move a carboy back into my brewery, rather than actually 'carry', I 'skoote'.
Meaning I put the carboy on a doubled over towel and skoot it back into the brewery for fermintation.
Now in order to put the 5 or the 7.5 galloner up on the cabinet for siphoning,
I lift it on up there, and it is invarably wet, and heavy.

And that reminds me...


Boys, I have a story, and it is a good one for beginers and advanced brewers as well. One time a long time ago,

I was brewing some ale and was doing fine. The wort and the boiled water were cooling and I was changing the record from Johnny Prytko, to the Milwalkee Rascals.
Opening up another homebrew and waiting on the band to kick into one of my favorites, 'Don't throw beer bottles at the band'
I was shaking the wort and the carboy was resting on a thick pad of towels.
I was shaking and shaking and listening to the music.

'Oh don't throw beer bottles at the band,
' because we're playing the best way that we can'
'Other night ve had beer bottle var'
'Broken glass was all over the floor'

I was just grooving out to the rascals when it happened.
I was shaking the 5 galloner...
The glass which is thick on the bottom and less thick on the sides was tilted over during one paticularly violent shake...
and the damn carboy broke!
In my kitchen floor!
3:30 am
The band was going crazy and {as I told a dozen people at this bar way out in the country a few years later:} the glass broke and it was like slow motion...
The big pieces of glass just came apart...
The bottle broke apart,
I saw it as if it were in slow motion...
The glass came apart, and the wort..
Fresh sticky wort, just rolled out across the kitchen floor,
like a vast tidal wave....
Rolling out across the kitchen floor and washing up against the walls...
and my legs...
and rolled back...
I was in shock, and couldn't believe what was happening...
I tried to go back in time, mentally, and make it to have not happened,
but it didn't work that time.
I mopped and I mopped and Immmoopppedd.
I mopped all night I did.

Months later I remember walking across the kitchen floor to get a chair...
Reaching for it and lifting...lifting.////fifting uhhh!! Sccccciiittttthhh!!!
and the chair was torn loose from the floor, being held down by a spot I must have missed.

Its not funny!


J. Knife

 

[SwAMi75]

Boys, I have a story, and it is a good one for beginers and advanced brewers as well. One time a long time ago,

I was brewing some ale and was doing fine. The wort and the boiled water were cooling and I was changing the record from Johnny Prytko, to the Milwalkee Rascals.
Opening up another homebrew and waiting on the band to kick into one of my favorites, 'Don't throw beer bottles at the band'
I was shaking the wort and the carboy was resting on a thick pad of towels.
I was shaking and shaking and listening to the music.

'Oh don't throw beer bottles at the band,
' because we're playing the best way that we can'
'Other night ve had beer bottle var'
'Broken glass was all over the floor'

I was just grooving out to the rascals when it happened.
I was shaking the 5 galloner...
The glass which is thick on the bottom and less thick on the sides was tilted over during one paticularly violent shake...
and the damn carboy broke!
In my kitchen floor!
3:30 am
The band was going crazy and {as I told a dozen people at this bar way out in the country a few years later:} the glass broke and it was like slow motion...
The big pieces of glass just came apart...
The bottle broke apart,
I saw it as if it were in slow motion...
The glass came apart, and the wort..
Fresh sticky wort, just rolled out across the kitchen floor,
like a vast tidal wave....
Rolling out across the kitchen floor and washing up against the walls...
and my legs...
and rolled back...
I was in shock, and couldn't believe what was happening...
I tried to go back in time, mentally, and make it to have not happened,
but it didn't work that time.
I mopped and I mopped and Immmoopppedd.
I mopped all night I did.

Months later I remember walking across the kitchen floor to get a chair...
Reaching for it and lifting...lifting.////fifting uhhh!! Sccccciiittttthhh!!!
and the chair was torn loose from the floor, being held down by a spot I must have missed.

Its not funny!

Nothing personal.....but better you than me!!

 

[AlaskaAl(e)]

"It's not funny."

Oh, but I disagree!