Random Brewing Thoughts

[beeraroundtown1]

Yah, both are Blaugies origin

 

[Skittle34]

When making Kombucha, what do you guys use for a fermentation vessel?

 

[beeraroundtown1]

When making Kombucha, what do you guys use for a fermentation vessel?

I used to make water kiefer which is similar, i was using half gallon mason jars.

 

[anteater1]

When making Kombucha, what do you guys use for a fermentation vessel?

I use a one gallon jar and a two gallon jar, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBWZDG4/?tag=talkbecom09-20

Anything glass with a wide mouth should work pretty well.

 

[Pneill3161]

Just found a mother ****** batch 1! This was an English IPA kit that I add extra Amarillo hops to. It came out initially tasting like a Belgian strong dark. Last one I had about 5 yrs ago had a very strong acetone flavor, thought it was my last until I found this.

Oddly the color has become a very dark mud brown, but taste is more of a brown aleish. That fact that it's even drinkable is quite astonishing, I guess I should never give up on a HB. Give it time and it may just become drinkable.

 

[More Betterness]

One of my employees gave me some homebrew to try and it's full of extract twang, chlorophenols, and acetaldehyde.. How do I break it to him nicely?

 

[Snarf1]

I guess I should never give up on a HB. Give it time and it may just become drinkable.

 

[Vogt52]

One of my employees gave me some homebrew to try and it's full of extract twang, chlorophenols, and acetaldehyde.. How do I break it to him nicely?

Tell him to be more patient next time. The beer is too young (acetylhyde). And maybe casually ask about chlorine in his water/fermentation temp.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Tell him to be more patient next time. The beer is too young (acetylhyde). And maybe casually ask about chlorine in his water/fermentation temp.

How did you determine the beer is too young?

 

[More Betterness]

How did you determine the beer is too young?

I'm thinking a combo of a rushed fermentation and oxidized, as it's a few shades darker than pictures he showed me and acetaldehyde can be a product of oxidation as well.. **** was straight Granny Smith apple

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

How did you determine the beer is too young?

pedometer

 

[jivex5k1]

One of my employees gave me some homebrew to try and it's full of extract twang, chlorophenols, and acetaldehyde.. How do I break it to him nicely?

What causes that extract twang anyway?

 

[Snarf1]

How did you determine the beer is too young?

If there is one thing I've learned judging beers, it's that making a definitive assumption about the cause of a flaw is a good way to make the rest of your (actually useful feedback) questionable as well if you are wrong.

What causes that extract twang anyway?

A great brewer will make great beer with extract, ****** brewers will make underattenuated or scorched or poorly fermented or whatever else we think of as 'extract' flavors brewing all-grain.

 

[drgarage1]

If there is one thing I've learned judging beers, it's that making a definitive assumption about the cause of a flaw is a good way to make the rest of your (actually useful feedback) questionable as well if you are wrong.


A great brewer will make great beer with extract, ****** brewers will make underattenuated or scorched or poorly fermented or whatever else we think of as 'extract' flavors brewing all-grain.

Agree with all of the above, but I will say that something ****** up with time, oxygen and/or pitch size has a strong connection to pretty much every fermentation-related flaw there is. Usually all three with really new brewers.

 

[Vogt52]

How did you determine the beer is too young?

I was really just taking an educated guess. Acetylhyde is produced early in fermentation and is cleaned up by the yeast with time.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

I was really just taking an educated guess. Acetylhyde is produced early in fermentation and is cleaned up by the yeast with time.

Better not let Evil Twin see you misspell acetaldehyde

 

[Vogt52]

Better not let Evil Twin see you misspell acetaldehyde

 

[MooseLang]

I was thinking about brewing an English Barleywine this weekend, using just Maris Otter and a 3-hour boil. However, I am getting cold feet, and am wondering if I should add at least a Crystal Malt and maybe a hint of a roasted malt (like, 0.25 lbs of black malt or something).

Has anyone had luck with the single malt and long boil technique? Anyone have a Barleywine recipe without an overly complicated mash bill? Water profile?

Any help would be “much obliged”

 

[axeman91821]

I was thinking about brewing an English Barleywine this weekend, using just Maris Otter and a 3-hour boil. However, I am getting cold feet, and am wondering if I should add at least a Crystal Malt and maybe a hint of a roasted malt (like, 0.25 lbs of black malt or something).

Has anyone had luck with the single malt and long boil technique? Anyone have a Barleywine recipe without an overly complicated mash bill? Water profile?

Any help would be “much obliged”

You certainly can make a great barleywine this way. My first run at one was a grain bill split between Maris Otter and Golden Promise and a 5 hour boil. The most recent iteration of that had me add in .25lbs of Special B and a pound of Biscuit (still with the 5 hour boil). I'm due to brew it again in a couple months and I'll probably cut back on the biscuit a little bit, but otherwise I'll be settled with it. Don't remember the target #s, but my next batch will look something like this:

14.5lbs Maris Otter
14.5lbs Golden Promise
0.75lbs Biscuit Malt
0.25lbs Special B

Challenger hops @60-90 minutes (depending on AA% and total target IBUs)
1oz each EKG and Fuggles @15-20 minutes

Pitch an equal amount of Wyeast 1056 and 1968 @ 62F, ramp to 68F after three days. Ramp 2F a day thereafter until you hit 74F and hold there for a few days to let it finish. A good yeast rousing at 4-5 days helps as well with the way that 1968 typically flocs. Leave it in primary 3-4 weeks and then let it spend some time bulk aging in secondary before packaging.

 

[MooseLang]

You certainly can make a great barleywine this way. My first run at one was a grain bill split between Maris Otter and Golden Promise and a 5 hour boil. The most recent iteration of that had me add in .25lbs of Special B and a pound of Biscuit (still with the 5 hour boil). I'm due to brew it again in a couple months and I'll probably cut back on the biscuit a little bit, but otherwise I'll be settled with it. Don't remember the target #s, but my next batch will look something like this:

14.5lbs Maris Otter
14.5lbs Golden Promise
0.75lbs Biscuit Malt
0.25lbs Special B

Challenger hops @60-90 minutes (depending on AA% and total target IBUs)
1oz each EKG and Fuggles @15-20 minutes

Pitch an equal amount of Wyeast 1056 and 1968 @ 62F, ramp to 68F after three days. Ramp 2F a day thereafter until you hit 74F and hold there for a few days to let it finish. A good yeast rousing at 4-5 days helps as well with the way that 1968 typically flocs. Leave it in primary 3-4 weeks and then let it spend some time bulk aging in secondary before packaging.

With your 5 hour boil, did you top off with water? Or collect enough runnings to boil down to your target volume?

I have some Munich and a touch of Crystal 60 on hand, so I am thinking of going Maris Otter, Munich, and a half lb of Crystal 60, along with a 3 hour boil.

I also have some S-04 on hand. Debating whether or not I should go your route with the 1056 and 1968, or be lazy and cheap and go with S-04...

 

[FTowne1]

You certainly can make a great barleywine this way. My first run at one was a grain bill split between Maris Otter and Golden Promise and a 5 hour boil. The most recent iteration of that had me add in .25lbs of Special B and a pound of Biscuit (still with the 5 hour boil). I'm due to brew it again in a couple months and I'll probably cut back on the biscuit a little bit, but otherwise I'll be settled with it. Don't remember the target #s, but my next batch will look something like this:

14.5lbs Maris Otter
14.5lbs Golden Promise
0.75lbs Biscuit Malt
0.25lbs Special B

Challenger hops @60-90 minutes (depending on AA% and total target IBUs)
1oz each EKG and Fuggles @15-20 minutes

Pitch an equal amount of Wyeast 1056 and 1968 @ 62F, ramp to 68F after three days. Ramp 2F a day thereafter until you hit 74F and hold there for a few days to let it finish. A good yeast rousing at 4-5 days helps as well with the way that 1968 typically flocs. Leave it in primary 3-4 weeks and then let it spend some time bulk aging in secondary before packaging.

No worries about fusel alcohols at such a high temp?

 

[JulianB1]

With your 5 hour boil, did you top off with water? Or collect enough runnings to boil down to your target volume?

I have some Munich and a touch of Crystal 60 on hand, so I am thinking of going Maris Otter, Munich, and a half lb of Crystal 60, along with a 3 hour boil.

I also have some S-04 on hand. Debating whether or not I should go your route with the 1056 and 1968, or be lazy and cheap and go with S-04...

I did a big barleywine a few years ago with S-04 that turned out well.

 

[axeman91821]

With your 5 hour boil, did you top off with water? Or collect enough runnings to boil down to your target volume?

I have some Munich and a touch of Crystal 60 on hand, so I am thinking of going Maris Otter, Munich, and a half lb of Crystal 60, along with a 3 hour boil.

I also have some S-04 on hand. Debating whether or not I should go your route with the 1056 and 1968, or be lazy and cheap and go with S-04...

I collect enough for the full boil. It ends up being more than the capacity of my boil kettle, so I put the rest in a bottling bucket and periodically feed the boil as more room is created.

If you go with just S-04 and not an American strain as well I would aim a little lower with the OG so you don't get stuck at too high a FG

No worries about fusel alcohols at such a high temp?

Nope, fusels are mostly created in the first 2-3 days of fermentation, which is why I hold off on raising to 68 until three days in. The subsequent temperature hikes are just to help fermentation finish out.

 

[SirDickButts]

Next year...I think I'm going to take the leap, cut my current pay 70% and work for a brewery. I need the experience to do my own thing successfully.

I have my doubts, but I don't wanna live life knowing I didn't give it a shot. That would suck.

EDIT: and depending on neckbeards to pay the bills will also suck.

 

[Snarf1]

Next year...I think I'm going to take the leap, cut my current pay 70% and work for a brewery. I need the experience to do my own thing successfully.

I have my doubts, but I don't wanna live life knowing I didn't give it a shot. That would suck.

EDIT: and depending on neckbeards to pay the bills will also suck.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Erm, um, I mean, uh, good luck?

 

[SirDickButts]

uhmmm, thanks? lol

 

[Thorpe]

Next year...I think I'm going to take the leap, cut my current pay 70% and work for a brewery. I need the experience to do my own thing successfully.

I have my doubts, but I don't wanna live life knowing I didn't give it a shot. That would suck.

EDIT: and depending on neckbeards to pay the bills will also suck.

Best of luck! I'm a few months away from getting things going though it's just a side adventure for me so I'll still have my regular schedule as well, but I'm looking forward to it!

Getting the last of my equipment delivered tomorrow and then it's just waiting on TTB!

I'll make sure to post back on whether it was all worth it, though my circumstances are pretty unusual (though of course no two breweries have the same journey) so I'm not sure how everything will translate to others.

 

[SirDickButts]

sweet and congrats! looking forward to hearing/reading updates!

I would have totally went the part time route had my current job kept my 4 day work week.
My schedule is changing again for the 4th time and I will be working 5 day weeks now :-/

 

[More Betterness]

Best of luck! I'm a few months away from getting things going though it's just a side adventure for me so I'll still have my regular schedule as well, but I'm looking forward to it!

Getting the last of my equipment delivered tomorrow and then it's just waiting on TTB!

I'll make sure to post back on whether it was all worth it, though my circumstances are pretty unusual (though of course no two breweries have the same journey) so I'm not sure how everything will translate to others.

Stoked your finally starting! Learned a lot from your blog!

 

[Thorpe]

sweet and congrats! looking forward to hearing/reading updates!

I would have totally went the part time route had my current job kept my 4 day work week.
My schedule is changing again for the 4th time and I will be working 5 day weeks now :-/

Bummer about work, but awesome that you'll hopefully be doing something more fun and rewarding this coming year!

Stoked your finally starting! Learned a lot from your blog!

Thanks! I've been meaning to post on the blog to provide an overview of the project and link to the brewery's Facebook page. I'll make sure to do that soon.