Syracuse, ny - round 7 group grain buy

[CidahMastah]

just threw myself in for a pound of warrior and a second pound of cascade to close that.

Cidah, I would also be willing to open a split for amarillo, crystal, and simcoe if they are available?

Awesome!!

So we are at least ordering cascade


I should say that from time to time they run out of hop varieties. So what we will do is when we place the order we will do back up hops for a given variety or decide to bail based on availability. For example warrior is supposed to be a great replacement for magnum, etc.

Keep the hop orders coming in guys, they last forever in the freezer, mason jars or mylar bags!

 

[Mparsons327]

Yes keep the orders up! I just caught **** from my fiance for ordering a new food sealer. It didn't help that my reason for ordering it was hops that we MIGHT get!

 

[CidahMastah]

Yes keep the orders up! I just caught **** from my fiance for ordering a new food sealer. It didn't help that my reason for ordering it was hops that we MIGHT get!

Classic! haha

Whatever you do don't consider one of these

 

[zeno27]

you know me, and have read a bunch of my posts on hefes, still in search of finding the perfect hefe recipe for sure. Maybe I will try flaked wheat in an up and coming brew. I plan on cranking out several batches using several variations. IMO I think an outstanding hefe is a requirement for HBers. Sadly I have good versions, but not fantastic IMO. I think for me some of it is the hardness of my water. But I would love to reproduce a franciskanner dunkel in particular, regular hefe, or an ayinger bavarian hefe is pretty good too.

Let me know how your experiment turns out.

However beers that ask for soft water at my house will be far and few between in brewing I am afraind. Unless someone has a cheap water softener/filtering solution. haha

The Ayinger dunkleweizen is my "white whale" of home brewing. Obsessed with finding it, brewing it, and mastering it.

the Franziskaner has a special place in my heart too; I'll always remember the first time I tried one (now more than a decade ago). It really changed my idea of what the word "beer" even meant.

 

[CidahMastah]

The Ayinger dunkleweizen is my "white whale" of home brewing. Obsessed with finding it, brewing it, and mastering it.

the Franziskaner has a special place in my heart too; I'll always remember the first time I tried one (now more than a decade ago). It really changed my idea of what the word "beer" even meant.

I take it you have tried the FK dunkel? I haven't tried aynger's dunkel, but i bet it is very solid based on the bavarian hefe.

The white whale analogy works well on this one. Hefe's are a brew I don't feel I have perfected or even excelled at. and I have tried brewing them with temp control, etc. I do think hard water is one of my issues. I plan to dial the hops down big time for my next straight hefe attempt. I think my water accentuates the hops and in the past I have tended to go on the max IBU side of things for the style.

 

[zeno27]

Have you read Brewing With Wheat by Hieronymus, Cidah? I just came away from that book with the idea that it'd be tough to "clone" the German Hefe commercial process. Top-cropping over multiple generations might be what gives the beer it's unique characteristics, but it's a bit beyond my means at the moment. I like wheat beers, but i don't really need like eight batches worth. And forget about the open fermentation tanks some of those brewers use!

But hey, both Jamil and Gordon Strong seem to swear by a straightforward fermentation at 62 F for hefes, so maybe I'm just over-thinking this...

 

[drocu]

I'm also a huge fan of the Franziskaner Dunkel. If you do manage to perfect a recipe, let me know!

 

[CidahMastah]

let's hope for all our sake I, or you guys figure it out! haha. I always hear people say they get a ton of banana ester in their hefe, yet I have not tried ANY homebrew hefe that has that nuance like in a commercial hefe like ayinger or FK. Ommegang is able to get some of that nuance, but lot's of other places that are NY based have started making hefes or dunkels and they taste like mine do. Malty bready with some tartness, no significant banana/vanilla ish ester.

Oh well, guess we will have to wait and see. Expect at least 4-5 hefes from me over the summer. This one irks me! haha

Current plans are to do a batch that:
1. uses distilled or softer water than my own.
2. Shoot for the lower hop range.

I have done temp control in the 62F, 65F 68F, 72F ranges for my hefes last year. Played with pitching rates. Still haven't nailed it!

my well water is very similar to the dublin style water. When I brew wits I get a similar accentuated hop character and I really do think that my water is the culprit. Sadly. Here is a thread I started in effort to see if people out there were having great luck with this.

I guess it is good to have a brewing project.

 

[TwoGunz]

I guess I'm all alone, hefe's aren't my thing. I particularly dislike those heavy in banana and clove and prefer American versions.

I can't wait to try my first Witte I brewed about 2 weeks ago and will keg this coming weekend.

 

[jeffb418]

Think I might brew up a brown ale tonight.

I'm upgrading my false bottom from a 9" ss fb, to a 12" ss fb. Anyone interested in my 9" one? $15 and its yours if you are in the Syracuse area.

 

[CidahMastah]

Ah you have pulled the trigger on some more gear

twoguns, have you tried the FK hefe or dunkel? Do you refer to those as "banana bomb"? To me it is more a subtle after taste than overpowering banana. I admit, while I don't mind the clovey hefes, I don't buy them, or plan to brew them. Not my thing.

I do liek the america wheats quite a bit too though.

 

[CBK]

Cidah Glad you enjoyed the scotch ale.
I am totally bummed out right now. Just tapped my second batch of your celebration and it is totally undrinkable. Need to figure out what caused my first infection. Plan on replacing the auto siphon and tubing. I ferment in glass carboys so they can be cleaned. Will also replace silicone tubing. I also washed this yeast so am reluctant to use in case the yeast was the culprit. The beer looks fine but has a nasty aroma and taste. It smelled and tasted fine when I kegged it which makes me suspect the auto siphon.

 

[CidahMastah]

Cidah Glad you enjoyed the scotch ale.
I am totally bummed out right now. Just tapped my second batch of your celebration and it is totally undrinkable. Need to figure out what caused my first infection. Plan on replacing the auto siphon and tubing. I ferment in glass carboys so they can be cleaned. Will also replace silicone tubing. I also washed this yeast so am reluctant to use in case the yeast was the culprit. The beer looks fine but has a nasty aroma and taste. It smelled and tasted fine when I kegged it which makes me suspect the auto siphon.

ugh that is terrible. Do you think it could have been something on the hops for dry hopping? or part of that process?

 

[CBK]

ugh that is terrible. Do you think it could have been something on the hops for dry hopping? or part of that process?

I used fresh hops newly opened 1 lb packages. Also I did rack to a 5 gallon secondary for dry hopping so definitely could have been part of that process. Took a close look at the auto siphon and see what appears to be hairline cracks running lengthwise on the larger outside tube. Will be making a run to Sunset today before work. Thinking about trying Walkers transfer method using a stainless racking cane, carboy cap and co2. Hopefully the the rye ipa I kegged last weekend will be ok.

 

[CidahMastah]

ugh man that is awful.

Hope your rye comes out well. I brewed that and it is jsut about ready for dry hopping - looking forward to it.

Don't toss the celebration yet though, unless you are tasting vinegary stuff. I had an amarillo IPA that I swore had mold on the top and smelled funny. Then I racked it and left the mold behind. Dry hopped it 7 days and drank it quick with friends over the next month or two. There was nothing wrong with it flavor wise in my case. You might be right but this is just my experience on that one batch.

What is walker's method? I have read him say he keeps it in a closed system, racking and fermenting and such under pressure but never actually saw his method.

 

[jeffb418]

For dry hopping, how do you guys make sure your hops dont infect your beer? Freeze them for a long period of time? Or just hope.

 

[CidahMastah]

For dry hoping, how do you guys make sure your hops dont infect your beer? Freeze them for a long period of time? Or just hope.

I pull mine from the freezer, but there is some hoping involved

 

[CBK]

Here is a thread he started a few years ago. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/siphoning-carboy-cap-2910/

 

[CidahMastah]

Here is a thread he started a few years ago. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/siphoning-carboy-cap-2910/

Oh I thought you were talking about pressure fermenting with a spunding valve. That just seems like too much effort for me. This is straight forward and easy (I watch my fermenters in my chambers too much, no way I am taking on spunding haha)

 

[copyright1997]

For dry hoping, how do you guys make sure your hops dont infect your beer? Freeze them for a long period of time? Or just hope.

Usually I just hope. Sometimes, I take the hops, put them in the bag, and then take them and put them in a (fairly shallow) cup of StarSan to soak for a minute.

 

[jeffb418]

Only 13 batches away before I get to my 100th 5 gallon brew since I started homebrewing 6 years ago. Hmm need to start thinking of a special 100th recipe. Any suggestions?

 

[drocu]

Only 13 batches away before I get to my 100th 5 gallon brew since I started homebrewing 6 years ago. Hmm need to start thinking of a special 100th recipe. Any suggestions?

5 gallons = approx. 2 cases of beer = 48 beers
48 beers x 100 = 4800
4800 beers / 6 years = 800 beers/yr = about 2 homebrews a day.

Niiiiice. And early congrats.

 

[TwoGunz]

Only 13 batches away before I get to my 100th 5 gallon brew since I started homebrewing 6 years ago. Hmm need to start thinking of a special 100th recipe. Any suggestions?

Something big so you can tuck some bottles away. Nice imperial stout, a quad, a scotch strong... Can you tell I'm a malt head?

 

[TwoGunz]

Actually, I vote a higher gravity saison!

 

[bierhaus15]

Imperial Witbier!

Sorry, I just find that **** funny...

 

[copyright1997]

Only 13 batches away before I get to my 100th 5 gallon brew since I started homebrewing 6 years ago. Hmm need to start thinking of a special 100th recipe. Any suggestions?

Congratulations! This past Friday I just did my 21st batch (since July). Thank goodness I didn't drink it all myself.

My biggest problem is having a recipe ready for the next batch, since I want to try new things...so I'm always looking for "known good" things to try.

 

[CidahMastah]

I am with twogunz, maybe a belgian quad/dubbel/golden, imperial stout/porter. Something that will need some shelf time

 

[Mparsons327]

Barleywine?

 

[jeffb418]

Hmm all good choices! Def wanna do something I can bottle up in some 22 oz bottles and age for a bit.

 

[bierhaus15]

Gulp... I got the CEO and head brewer of the "4th largest US craft brewery" coming over to my place tonight for a tasting of my beer! Guess I'll really find out if my stuff is any good...

//Freaking out//