Random Brewing Thoughts

[Snarf1]

To follow on my dream of making small batches of berliner weiss (the 1 gallon post I made earlier) are there any books I can read to get started? Seems like I can do full grain just because 1 gallon is so damn small that I can do it on my stove easily. I don't mind the work involved.

How to Brew is online for free and covers the basics, but also has some terrible info and makes things needlessly complicated. I'm not aware of a better beginning resource though. American Sour Beers is a great resource, but probably not very beginner friendly.

 

[user 305778]

I think I own How to Brew actually. I own some book. I guess before I play around with something complicated like Berliner Weiss, I should do a couple brews of simpler stuff?

 

[beerinnv]

I think I own How to Brew actually. I own some book. I guess before I play around with something complicated like Berliner Weiss, I should do a couple brews of simpler stuff?

It's good to do a few simpler beers to get your process down. That being said, Berliner is not overly complicated. If you are only looking to do 1 gallon batches, the challenge may be acquiring pitches of lacto and sacc that are intended for less than 5 gallon batches

 

[Snarf1]

I think I own How to Brew actually. I own some book. I guess before I play around with something complicated like Berliner Weiss, I should do a couple brews of simpler stuff?

There is nothing complicated about a berliner. I don't think you'd have any problem using an entire Wyeast lacto pitch (white labs lacto is total garbage) in one gallon, but I'd still make a starter with half of the lacto pitch to keep it going, otherwise you'll pretty quickly be looking at a $40 gallon of homebrew berliner. Dry yeast is your friend - US05 works great in a berliner. I'd send you some lacto, but mine is blended with pedio and you don't want that in what you're trying to make.

 

[SirDickButts]

Clean primary, then brett and some time for it to get established, then bacteria. If you don't have the American Sours book, the chapter breaking down methods of different breweries is really good. I need to get some oak to put in there now that I think about it.

ever thought about using an oak dowel?
http://www.midwestdowel.com/pages/shop/category&CatID=15&SubcatID=26
i wanna get into sours, but im afraid of cross contamination.
maybe i can brew them @ my friends place, since he loves sours so much now.

 

[Snarf1]

ever thought about using an oak dowel? i wanna get into sours, but im afraid of cross contamination.
maybe i can brew them @ my friends place, since he loves sours so much now.

Much of what we think of as 'oak flavor' comes from the way the wood is treated before it becomes a barrel. The best oak is dried in the open air for several years. During this time a number of microbes change the wood, creating the compounds that wil eventually become the flavors we want to be imparted on beer by the wood. Some cooperages that make wine barrels ship American oak to age in France, believing that the regionally specific microbes will produce superior oak. The bourbon boom has lead to a decrease in air drying time for a lot of the barrels and some say a decrease in the quality of bourbon aged in them. On a side note, the differenece in production techniques between US, French, and Hungarian cooperages is pretty vast.

I like to think that oak cubes are made from the leftovers from cooperages. Is that true? I have no idea.

 

[SirDickButts]

i have no idea myself. the link posted above has several oak/wood dowels to choose from.
im willing to try it for science..also found this cool little chart on HBT, in regards of toasting oak

 

[Snarf1]

Another Casey interview.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Another carboy. I just bought another ******* carboy...

******* it.

 

[TheMurdawg]

tips on WY3726, Temp, attenuation, flavor etc? bored with 3711, not a huge fan.

brewing a saison tomorrow with WY3726, gonna pitch that along with a slurry off the cake of 100% YB Amalgamation Brett Blend from a Red Ale I did a month ago w/ lacto brevis. Racking the Red Ale on frozen raspberries from the summer to sit for a couple months.

 

[Snarf1]

Another carboy. I just bought another ******* carboy...

******* it.

Will you feel better if I tell you I have 19 carboys/better bottles, a wine barrel, and a liqour barrel?

tips on WY3726, Temp, attenuation, flavor etc? bored with 3711, not a huge fan.

brewing a saison tomorrow with WY3726, gonna pitch that along with a slurry off the cake of 100% YB Amalgamation Brett Blend from a Red Ale I did a month ago w/ lacto brevis. Racking the Red Ale on frozen raspberries from the summer to sit for a couple months.

A win for the good guys! I am president of the 3711 haters club.

3726 is by far my favorite saison strain. If it isnt what HF uses, they use a version of it or something else isolated from Blaugies. Start 3726 at least at 70 and ramp it up. Ideally, let it free rise, but that can be hard to do this time of year in a cold house. 85 isnt too hot to finish. You hafta ramp temp for if to dry out. Do not let the temp drop or it will flocc out and underattenuate. Make an oversized starter if you still can. Don't underpitch. If you do lose control of temp, I've been very happy adding dregs at that point.

 

[FTowne1]

Another carboy. I just bought another ******* carboy...

******* it.

I was scoping out a badass conical fermenter at the LHBS the other day. I feel like it might be a Christmas gift to myself.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I was scoping out a badass conical fermenter at the LHBS the other day. I feel like it might be a Christmas gift to myself.

I hope you manage fermenters better than I do. I'm probably in the middle/highish end of the pack here, but I'm pushing about eight 6.5 gallon fermenters, with two five gallon fermenters and one 3 gallon fermenter. Once you start aging sours in primary fermeters, you run out of fermentes really quickly. Sucks, but you know it's for the greater good.

 

[Snarf1]

I hope you manage fermenters better than I do. I'm probably in the middle/highish end of the pack here, but I'm pushing about eight 6.5 gallon fermenters, with two five gallon fermenters and one 3 gallon fermenter. Once you start aging sours in primary fermeters, you run out of fermentes really quickly. Sucks, but you know it's for the greater good.

Aging in primary? You have a thing for autolysis?

 

[Beerontwowheels]

and my spelling has really degraded after a few beers and my computer is slow as ****. **** it.

 

[FTowne1]

I hope you manage fermenters better than I do. I'm probably in the middle/highish end of the pack here, but I'm pushing about eight 6.5 gallon fermenters, with two five gallon fermenters and one 3 gallon fermenter. Once you start aging sours in primary fermeters, you run out of fermentes really quickly. Sucks, but you know it's for the greater good.

I've only got 2 three gallon fermenters and 2 one gallon jugs the moment

 

[Beerontwowheels]

TNGabe you move your lambic style beers out of primary? I haven't. Interested to hear...

 

[Snarf1]

Do you move your lambics out of primary? I haven't. Interested to hear...

I've never made a lambic. I don't have a coolship nor do I live in Belgium.

You walked into that one…

I wouldn't leave anything made with a commerical blend on the lees again. I did that with my first bug county beer and it went through a pretty bad phase that lasted for many months. I have another turbid mash beer that was fermented in the barrel, using a 5 gallon batch I fermented only with lambic dregs. I racked the starter beer off the lees and into the barrel. So far no notable autolysis issues, but it's also only 10 months in at this point. Next time I do a barrel ferment, I will fill it all the way so it blows off a lot of what settled into this one trying to conserve beer.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I've never made a lambic. I don't have a coolship nor do I live in Belgium.

You walked into that one…

I wouldn't leave anything made with a commerical blend on the lees again. I did that with my first bug county beer and it went through a pretty bad phase that lasted for many months. I have another turbid mash beer that was fermented in the barrel, using a 5 gallon batch I fermented only with lambic dregs. I racked the starter beer off the lees and into the barrel. So far no notable autolysis issues, but it's also only 10 months in at this point. Next time I do a barrel ferment, I will fill it all the way so it blows off a lot of what settled into this one trying to conserve beer.

Adjusted, Adam!

I've got a turbid mash that's been sitting about 13 months in primary. Will sample again soon, but last sample was more than present. My understanding was that with these type of bugs, the 'autolysis' actually makes for more funk, rather than legit off flavors. Hope I'm right!

 

[Snarf1]

Adjusted, Adam!

I've got a turbid mash that's been sitting about 13 months in primary. Will sample again soon, but last sample was more than present. My understanding was that with these type of bugs, the 'autolysis' actually makes for more funk, rather than legit off flavors. Hope I'm right!

What did you ferment with? If there was any sort of large sacc population and it's left on the lees, off flavors are a concern IMO.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I need a simple session style pale using Kohatu for a brew day on Saturday. Already have two starters (001 & 002) so that I can split a 10 gallon batch. Looking for something in the 5% range. Any suggestions?

 

[Beerontwowheels]

What did you ferment with? If there was any sort of large sacc population and it's left on the lees, off flavors are a concern IMO.

1st batch was 5 gallons using roselare from Wyeast (Brewed 09/2013) and the 10 gallon batch was using east coast yeast bug farm (brewed 02/2014). Both have remained in primary since day one. No concerns thus far, but will do some quality control testing very soon.

 

[Snarf1]

1st batch was 5 gallons using roselare from Wyeast (Brewed 09/2013) and the 10 gallon batch was using east coast yeast bug farm (brewed 02/2014). Both have remained in primary since day one. No concerns thus far, but will do some quality control testing very soon.

I get a pretty broad seasonal temp swing from 48ish to 72ish, so maybe that's a factor. I don't think the off flavors in my bug county beer showed up until the yearish mark. I've had a couple mixed ferment beers from other people that had wet cat food and spoiled meat flavors so I'm a little paranoid about autolysis. I don't think there is a right way to do this stuff, just what works for you. Other than buckets. Don't age beer in a bucket. Not that you don't know that already.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I get a pretty broad seasonal temp swing from 48ish to 72ish, so maybe that's a factor. I don't think the off flavors in my bug county beer showed up until the yearish mark. I've had a couple mixed ferment beers from other people that had wet cat food and spoiled meat flavors so I'm a little paranoid about autolysis. I don't think there is a right way to do this stuff, just what works for you. Other than buckets. Don't age beer in a bucket. Not that you don't know that already.

Fine advice. I might move 5 of the gallons from the bug farm batch into secondary and see what differences between the two carboys takes place. Haven't considered that much before, but I'm all ears to your experience. A good experiment in any event. Will think it over this weekend.

 

[doobiegoobie]

Wait.. brett trois isn't brett?? Need this White Labs report to come back ASAP.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Wait.. brett trois isn't brett?? Need this White Labs report to come back ASAP.

Oh, you didn't know? (No idea what you are talking about...please xplane)

 

[doobiegoobie]

Oh, you didn't know? (No idea what you are talking about...please xplane)

This is probably the best write up I've seen http://embracethefunk.com/2014/12/11/brettanomyces/

 

[Snarf1]

Wait.. brett trois isn't brett?? Need this White Labs report to come back ASAP.

WLP645 (white labs) had lacto and a non-brett wild yeast (I can't remember the name of) according to Yakobsen when he looked at it, too. So maybe White Labs isn't the most reliable. Of course Yakobsen also make a big deal about making non-bacterial brett beers at first and that didn't exactly work out so….

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Almost bought a vial of 644 today. Interesting read for sure.

 

[abawol01]

Anyone ever used WLP670?

Any tartness at all from it or should I co-pitch some lacto and/or pedio?

Thinking a grisette is in order...