Syracuse, ny - round 7 group grain buy

[CidahMastah]

I have wayyyy too many hobbies and I'm quite lazy so EVERYTHING tastes better kegged to me!

yeah the wife was about to kill me.

 

[brian4508]

Well I decided to finally do little bottling experiment. I brewed a Belgian Dubbel and Golden a few weeks ago and decided to keg half and bottle the other half in champagne bottles.... What a PITA that was last night haha. Unfortunately I was running short on champagne bottles and only bottled the dubbel. But twisting all those wire baskets got old. Purpose of the experiment is to see if I prefer belgian bottle carbed vs. force carbed. will let you know in 6+ mos haha.

Looks like i need to search out another few cases of champagne bottles!

I did a Belgian Dark Strong (brewed 2/15, bottled 5/1). It may be ready for Xmas (at least one bottle). I bought the plastic corks (and drank A LOT) of Belgians) for the bottles. So far the corks are working with the wire ties. Thought it would be a nice experiment as it was faster and easier

Now I'm in the middle of my 1st decoction for an Oktoberfest!! Mmmm

 

[CidahMastah]

I did a Belgian Dark Strong (brewed 2/15, bottled 5/1). It may be ready for Xmas (at least one bottle). I bought the plastic corks (and drank A LOT) of Belgians) for the bottles. So far the corks are working with the wire ties. Thought it would be a nice experiment as it was faster and easier

Now I'm in the middle of my 1st decoction for an Oktoberfest!! Mmmm

Nice! I may jump on another lager this weekend as well. I think this will be a triple brew day if my buddy shows (Roggenbier, Witbier and a lager). Gotta convert some grain to make room for the new order!!


yeah my thumb and index finger were showing signs of wear from all those wire baskets!

I am trying to decide if I should hit up waterloo container, or just buy from sunset.

 

[brian4508]

Nice! I may jump on another lager this weekend as well.

yeah my thumb and index finger were showing signs of wear from all those wire baskets!

I am trying to decide if I should hit up waterloo container, or just buy from sunset.

Waterloo is a lot cheaper

Also, I use a small screwdriver to twist the ties. Works wonders!

 

[brian4508]

Picture of finished product...

 

[TwoGunz]

Keg conditioning is always an option, If you're not force carbonating then it should be roughly equivalent to bottle conditioning.

 

[CidahMastah]

Yeah but then I still have to counter pressure bottle if I keg condition (I don't want dubbel on tap or I would be loaded every night and it would last a week haha). I already have to counter pressure fill a ton of 22's I got from waterloo containerwith my belgian specialty ale once it finishes dry hopping... wahoo!

Good idea with the screw driver - I might go back and tighten them a bit more with one.


Waterloo container is super cheap, just not sure if I want to make the drive for 1-3 cases of bottles tops. Anybody from the buy live near there? Perhaps interested in swinging by and picking some bottles up for me if I prepay or pay you via paypal?


Looks like a nice bottling job

 

[CidahMastah]

ah the heck with it. Just sent a request out for pricing on the champagne bottles and other stuff. Since I like belgians, it is worth the few extra bucks to class them up a bit. I still plan a rebrew of a belgian quad and plan to let many of these age 6 months. Maybe the extra work will make me think twice before I prematurely open and drink them! haha

All my champagne bottles I had before (about 100) I bought from waterloo a few years ago. I used about 15 to bottle a raspberry melomel, now I am about 13 shy of what I need! Doh! I bought some of the 7 volume ones for an apple champagne I like to make with cider and the 5 volume bottles are perfect for belgians.

Well that is 13 shy of what i need for bottling the golden. Then I will need another 25 or so for the quad


Brian - how was the pliny? I was planning a clone brew of that for when my brother rolls into town from Seattle this fall. Is it as good as I have heard?

 

[brian4508]

The Pliney was very good. Earthy pine nose and taste, but not overwhelming. My BIL brought me a few bottles and they are gone...

 

[Mparsons327]

Pliny is good but a bit over rated IMO. Every couple months a friend who lives out that way sends me beer mail. Next time I will have him send me a couple extra Pliny for you to try cidah. I do love Russian rivers funky and sour beers though.

 

[CidahMastah]

GRAIN SHIPMENT ARRIVED!


Just so you know, it looks like we just received grain, so plan on Saturday pick up for sure.

I still need to hear from a couple of you about your refunds/etc. Please get back to me asap

There will be an email update if we run into any snags with order fulfillment.

Thanks

 

[CidahMastah]

Pliny is good but a bit over rated IMO. Every couple months a friend who lives out that way sends me beer mail. Next time I will have him send me a couple extra Pliny for you to try cidah. I do love Russian rivers funky and sour beers though.

I would REALLY like to try the russian rivers and Pliny. Have heard a lot about russian river sours etc. as well. If feasible I would love the opportunity. PM me and I can toss you some cash etc. as needed. If it is a PITA I will take an extra anything or two

I wanted to try the RR brews prior to doing my belgian specialty ale with the brett. But could not find any.

 

[Mparsons327]

Cidah, I will talk to him about sending a second package. When you get some free time check out the Russian river website and let me know what your interested in. What I normally do is send him a package of east coast beers. We could probably work it out so he could just send the package to you. You could just send him some beers that he can't get.

 

[Mparsons327]

In the last package he sent me a couple green flash pallet wreckers. It's absolutely amazing! If you can get your hands on it you should def try it! I personally liked it more than Pliny.

 

[CidahMastah]

Cidah, I will talk to him about sending a second package. When you get some free time check out the Russian river website and let me know what your interested in. What I normally do is send him a package of east coast beers. We could probably work it out so he could just send the package to you. You could just send him some beers that he can't get.

Sounds good. Probably will look into it after the buy wraps up

If he has a wish list of brews from here please let me know. I know it will be really easy to fill up a box, about how many brews do you typically ship?

I will be sure to add the green flash pallet wreckers to my request list!

 

[Mparsons327]

I do about a dozen depending on bottle size. I've got a few bottles of Ithaca lebleu for him this time so probably less.

 

[CidahMastah]

I do about a dozen depending on bottle size. I've got a few bottles of Ithaca lebleu for him this time so probably less.

very cool. Will look forward to setting that up - thanks!

Ithaca lebleu looks like something I would love to try and my wife... would kill for

 

[Mparsons327]

The lebleu is fantastic! I got 2 cases when it was released this year. I traded away a bunch of it and have about 6 bottles left. If I decide to trade anymore your first in line. The problem being that they aren't brewing it again..... And my fiancé loves it!

 

[CidahMastah]

The lebleu is fantastic! I got 2 cases when it was released this year. I traded away a bunch of it and have about 6 bottles left. If I decide to trade anymore your first in line. The problem being that they aren't brewing it again..... And my fiancé loves it!

Drat!! It is probably not a very cost effective brew for them

Definitely keep me in mind if you do trade anymore. I see a long line of sours in my future. My wife likes the fruity tastes from belgians and sours but not from from apples beers or things like that. Just classic, beers that are super long to condition and finicky haha.

 

[Mparsons327]

Exactly how mine is..... The only beer she will drink at all Is sours. Have you and her tried rodenbach grand cru? My swmbo loves it.

Speaking of sours does anyone have a tried and true Flanders or Berliner weisse recipe?

 

[CidahMastah]

Exactly how mine is..... The only beer she will drink at all Is sours. Have you and her tried rodenbach grand cru? My swmbo loves it.

Speaking of sours does anyone have a tried and true Flanders or Berliner weisse recipe?

I have not. Sadly I have been holding back on buying more of the sours because every time she tries one she asks me to brew it... haha Takes too much real estate up to do more that every once in a while. Will put that on the list though.

 

[brian4508]

So, while chilling my Oktoberfest, my immersion chiller opened up in my kettle. My first lager. Such a disappointment (has to edit that part). So am hoping I can save it... Placed it in the fermentation chamber and waiting for it to cool down a little more, then I will pitch the yeast starter. Ended up with 6.5 gallons of whatever at 1.045. Was supposed to be 1.059 at 5.5 gallons

Time for another drink. W

 

[CidahMastah]

So, while chilling my Oktoberfest, my immersion chiller opened up in my kettle. My first lager. Such a disappointment (has to edit that part). So am hoping I can save it... Placed it in the fermentation chamber and waiting for it to cool down a little more, then I will pitch the yeast starter. Ended up with 6.5 gallons of whatever at 1.045. Was supposed to be 1.059 at 5.5 gallons

Time for another drink. W

ugh! I know that feeling. You could take a gallon off and boil it down to nearly nothing (or a half or so) and pour back in. Since it is a lager it shouldn't hugely impact your bittering (assume your hops were at 60 minutes only?). But you may as well just roll with it and have an extra gallon of beer.

My Torpedo is now actually a 150 minute IPA... I wasn't paying attention and oversparged. So I decided to just boil it down to my preboil volume then resume, about 150 minute total in boil time haha. Will see how it turns out.

 

[jeffb418]

GRAIN IS IN AND COUNTED! :rockin:

All bags were accounted for, all grain splits were completed by Cidah and his buddy. All hops were split by TwoGunz and myself. Took alittle over 5 hours to count, sort, split, mark, and stack. Its not easy measuring out 220 1lb baggies of hops lol.

We are all set for THIS SATURDAY'S PICKUP. Pickup is from 10:15-12NOON June 2nd. Pull around to the NORTH side of the building (the right side if you are looking at the front door). We will load directly out the side door into your car/truck.

 

[CidahMastah]

Love that picture Jeff!

A couple things:
1. Please double check your order when you get it, make sure you got the right stuff an no one extras!
2. Make sure you grab the "right" Brian bags
3. Your pickup will be staged in three piles or so (2row pallet; Hops bag/box; splits).

PLEASE RESPOND ASAP

We need to clear the warehouse ASAP so it does not obstruct the business activities at Busch Products. PLEASE RESPOND TO THE THREAD OR TO ME DIRECTLY ABOUT PICKUP. We need to know who will be picking up SAT for 100% sure - Let me know your intentions.

Picking up Saturday:

Drmark50 - Need verification of pickup


bierhaus15 - Sat (hops, second person to grab the grain)
gcdowd - Sat
wheadman66 - Sat (twogunz picking up)
Racin_NY - Sat
Strecker25 - Sat
jdowling - Sat
DBush20 - Sat (self)
Cgondoli1 - Sat (self, CBK and Smashing)
CBK - Sat (cgondoli1 picking up)
Smashing - Sat (cgondoli1 picking up)
DannSchuler - Sat or sooner (self)
BryanJ - Sat (also erikrocks)
erikrocks - Sat (Bryanj)
t-booneyay - Sat (westos father)
Westo2 - Sat (westos father)
bellinmi88 - Sat (Brother Nick)
brian4508 - Sat (self)

-----------



Picked up Already:
Jeffb418
twogunz
CidahMastah
Rustbucket - at my house []
Copyright - at my house [maybe saturday]
Mparsons - at my house [picking up tonight]


-----------------------------------------------
HOP ALPHA ACIDS
-----------------------------------------------
HU-90CLM Columbus - 11.1%
HU-90MTH Mt Hood - 6.1%
HU-90GSZ Saaz - 3.4%
HU-90GMG Magnum - 14.5%
HU-90EKG East Kent Golding - 4.8%
HU-90CAS Cascade - 5.9%
HU-90CTP Centennial Type - 9.7%
HU-90FGL Fuggle - 5.3%
HU-90WLT Willamette - 5.0%
HU-90TNG Tettnang - 6.1%
HU-90NBR Northern Brewer - 8.6%
HU-90GPR Perle - 7.5%
HU-90WAR Warrior - 16%
HU-90MTF Mittlefruh (Hallertauer) - 4.5%
HU-90SMT Summit - 17.9%
HU‐90STG Styrian Golding - 4%

-------------------------------
Loose Ends
-------------------------------
rustbucket $93.23 92 [$1.23]

Cgondoli1 $189.69 204

 

[westo2]

Awesome - very excited to get this order to the house.

I finally got around to buying beersmith - so last night I went through and inventoried everything that I have on hand and got the program all set up.

Now just waiting on this stuff and I'll be going on 4 lagers in 3 days. I figure if I've got to set my fermentation chamber down for 2 months, I may as well fill it.

Thanks for all your effort guys! It had to be pretty cool seeing that many hops all together.

Cidah - I replied to Jeff's email this morning, but my father will be picking up during the specified time period for myself and T-Booneyay.

Also - for the next order, are we able to order bottle caps from them? I saw that they have them listed in a qty of 10,000 - I figure that would last me for years.

 

[bellinmi88]

My brother Nick will be picking up for me Sat.

If he can come early (today or tomorrow) do I need to arrange that ahead of time?

 

[brian4508]

I will be there Saturday!

 

[CidahMastah]

Westo - Not sure on the bottle caps. I think I recall them not being available based on a previous posting from another buy. However we can always ask (remind me).

I know waterloo container sells caps too, worst case I bet you could get a great deal from them, particularly if you can pick them up on site (they do ship). They also have SUPER cheap 12 and 22oz beer bottles, wine and champagne bottles and carboys.


SEE POST 1015 for the hop alpha acids

 

[CBK]

Cgondoli1 is picking up for me. Am pretty sure he will be picking up for Smashing as well.