Salud from Nevada

[TheHopRanger]

As a young padawan brewer I thought I would find a source to seek enlightenment from a jedi. master.

 

[Pappers_]

Welcome, Ranger. Have you brewed anything yet or still collecting info?

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[TheHopRanger]

I've brewed about 10-12 to batches so far.

 

[BenHoppin]

Fairly new brewer here in NV too. Good brewing.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Welcome fellow Nevadans. Where are you guys? I'm new. We're on beer number 3. In Carson City here.

 

[TheHopRanger]

Welcome I'm in Carson as well. I have a couple of beers Incubator (a doppelbock) and Octobeer (a marzen with cherries) destined to be bottled in the not too distant future. Up next an oatmeal stout and Just Peechy (a dubbel with peaches). Happy brewing probst!!

 

[CmdrTrekk]

My brewing partners really want to make a Marzen, how difficult is that? You need a lagering fridge, right?

 

[TheHopRanger]

Its not particularly difficult to make. Are you still extract brewing? Partial mash? You don't necessarily need a fridge to lager a marzen in you could use an ale yeast rather than a lager yeast which would eliminate the need to lager. It will just depend on how true to style you wish to stay. I did use a lager yeast in mine as I do have an extra fridge in the garage with a tempeture control. The recipe I used as is follows.

6lbs Munich DME
1# Caramel 90
1/4lb Chocolate
1/2lb Toasted ( I used biscuit)
1.25oz Mt Hood 60 minutes
1/2oz Hersbrucker 10 minutes
3lbs fresh cherries steeped for 10 minutes after boil
White Labs German Bock yeast WLP833

It smells absolutely amazing. With exception of the cherries which came from my girlfriends mom's house. I bought all the ingriedients at Just Brew It here in town for around $30. If you haven't been there I would recommend checking it out if Trevor doesn't have it he'll order it for you.

Hope this helps

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Its not particularly difficult to make. Are you still extract brewing? Partial mash? You don't necessarily need a fridge to lager a marzen in you could use an ale yeast rather than a lager yeast which would eliminate the need to lager. It will just depend on how true to style you wish to stay. I did use a lager yeast in mine as I do have an extra fridge in the garage with a tempeture control.

It smells absolutely amazing. With exception of the cherries which came from my girlfriends mom's house. I bought all the ingriedients at Just Brew It here in town for around $30. If you haven't been there I would recommend checking it out if Trevor doesn't have it he'll order it for you.

Hope this helps

Awesome! this is great. Do you have any recommendations for an ale yeast with this one or should I just go with a regular one?

Oh yah, I definitely know Trevor, I probably go there more than I need to. And will have to go again soon because I'm out of starsan and broke my racking cane.

We call ourselves Nevada Street Bucket Brewing on Facebook, you should check it out.

Thanks for the recipe, I think I'll definitely want to use that. Looks crazy good.

 

[TheHopRanger]

I personally am a big fan of California Ale yeast, you could however use whatever you would like. But then I'm all about experimentation in brewing. Right now I'm kicking around a couple different ideas for an IPA and a porter.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Trevor's porter recipe is awesome. If you make one, you should at least use his as your base for modification if not a good starter. It's very simple but very rich in beer taste, a tad of chocolate coffee flavor after it ages. Trevor really likes his specialty grains to get that beer flavor.

My Imperial IPA makes the whole house seriously smell like bread right now. It's in a carboy covered by a box and I still get hit in the face with it when I open my front door.

 

[TheHopRanger]

What did you decide to do for yeast in a marzen?

 

[BenHoppin]

Sparks area here.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

What did you decide to do for yeast in a marzen?

Thinking about using White Labs' German Ale yeast. It's a lagering yeast, so it'll give me lagering affects with better temperature range. Probably wait until it's colder outside to make it, that way I can ferment it in my outdoor laundry closet. Maybe. Haven't decided yet.

 

[TheHopRanger]

Sounds great! Just be careful to monitor the tempature outside if your going to lager outside if it gets too cold fermentation will stop. Even with the controller I have on the fridge in my garage I still have to keep on eye on it during the fall and winter months. A light bulb or possibly a brooder light might be enough to keep the conditions in the closet ideal.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

A light bulb or possibly a brooder light might be enough to keep the conditions in the closet ideal.

What do those do? A regular light bulb or a heat lamp? Do tell of this technique

 

[TheHopRanger]

If it is too cold in the closet which you might use to lager in the use of a light bulb ( work light, old lamp) or a brooder light ( its used to help chickens maintain body heat in coops) might raise the ambient tempeture of the closet enough to prevent possible fermantation issues such as stuck fermentation

 

[CmdrTrekk]

If it is too cold in the closet which you might use to lager in the use of a light bulb ( work light, old lamp) or a brooder light ( its used to help chickens maintain body heat in coops) might raise the ambient tempeture of the closet enough to prevent possible fermantation issues such as stuck fermentation

Great idea. I'll have to take a bunch of readings during a weekend like every hour of the day to see how it fluctuates.

 

[TheHopRanger]

If you decide to use heat source that also produces light don't for get to cover your fermentor. I'm in the process of devising a recipe for a toasted apricot oatmeal stout I put the porter on the back burner for now.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Hey TheHopRanger, we just found some "wild" hops in a friend's ranch that she's going to let us harvest and tend to. Do you have any experience growing hops?

 

[BenHoppin]

I don't, yet. I know here there is a nursery that sells them in the spring as does the home brew shop. I am planning on growing some this next spring.

 

[TheHopRanger]

Before the dog decided to eat them yes. What would you like to know? You'll want to harvest them before the first frost.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Before the dog decided to eat them yes. What would you like to know? You'll want to harvest them before the first frost.

That's kinda funny but sorry to hear it.

Anyway, so we kind of inherited a hop garden. Do you know of any way to tell what kind of hops they are other than smelling them?

 

[TheHopRanger]

Unfortunately their is no other way that I know of. I do know most varieties thrive here. The dog didn't think it was very funny after a pummeled him with a rhizome.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

Heh.

Well, it's in pretty bad state of disrepair, it's been wild for at least a year. So I might have some more questions but I've been doing a lot of reading and there's just enough hops on the big overgrown bines for 1 beer. So we'll probably harvest it soon then prep it for winter. Probably transplant it to face South instead of West (the sun is blocked by a big ass tree....and the only hops that grew are bleeding off the side of the building facing south and north anyway).

 

[TheHopRanger]

After you transplant it you won't have much yield the first year as it is establishing itself again. Bottled the cherry marzen it is damn good it might not make it long enough for me to try it fully carbonated.

 

[CmdrTrekk]

After you transplant it you won't have much yield the first year as it is establishing itself again. Bottled the cherry marzen it is damn good it might not make it long enough for me to try it fully carbonated.

Hmm, maybe I'll train it to go up the side North and South side of the outhouse but leave the rhizomes in the same place? Some diagrams I've seen show diagonal bines. But the outhouse isn't really tall enough anyway, it's only like 10ft. tall. People suggest 25ft.

Ponder ponder ponder...

We're going to make our Jameson Irish Red first, but now I'll really try to make the Marzen ASAP.

 

[TheHopRanger]

Sounds like you have a plan. You might want to try to get as close to 25 feet as possible with the possible growth you might experience I would err towards the side of caution.

How are you going to incorporate the Jameson's into your red?

 

[CmdrTrekk]

I suppose to get the extra feet, I could....either get large trelleses but that seems complex if I'm leaving the rhizomes....or maybe trolley lines between the barn/garage and the outhouse (which the bines have managed to grow onto anyway).

Not sure. Maybe transplanting is unavoidable. What do you think? If you want to see pictures, find Nevada Street Bucket Brewing on Facebook, I've got some photos up there.

Most people suggest putting the Jameson in before bottling for flavor only. But you have to be careful about the high level of alcohol killing beer yeast. It's almost better just to mix it in the glass it seems. My co-brewer wants to use oak chips but I really don't feel like waiting 3 months for a basic 4-week recipe. Also I don't think you'd get Jameson taste from that. Seems smarter just to purposely cause diacetyl taste and add some whisky type spices to it to simulate the whole thing.