Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

What about just buying a cheap pump and setting up a recirculation system?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Next time I'm in Austin I'll have to visit the store. Is it pretty nice? I'm brewing their Bavarian Hefeweizen.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Ya it is HUGE compaired to the old location. I would say only a 1/4 of the warehouse is the store front with the other part being storage for all of the mail order biz that they do. Place is ALWAYS packed. I think you would like it....

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Im brewing my 1st Barleywine (American style) today. I will report back in a year to let you know how it turned out!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

It hit 50 degrees here yesterday, so I ventured out for my first brew session of 2011. I put together a "light American Ale" recipe to plan on sharing with friends & people from work who aren't much into craft beers.

3# Briess Pilsen Light DME
1# Rice Extract Syrup
8 oz 10L Crystal Malt
8 oz Malto-Dextrin

¾ oz Willamette (20 min)
¼ oz Willamette (10 min)
¼ oz Cascades (10 min)
¼ oz Hallertauer (flame out + 10 min)

Nottingham dry ale yeast

OG = 1.041, IBU = 13

I'm hoping the Nottingham will give it a lager-like quality. This will no doubt be the lightest beer I have ever brewed.

Drank some good homebrew & smoked a nice cigar while doing it :tu

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Picked up Northern Brewer's cream ale kit this morning and brewed it this afternoon. My girlfriend doesn't like dark or hoppy beers, and the guys at NB said this should be good. And, I'm sure I'll have one or two too :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Primary fermentation started in less than 12 hours and finished in two days. Damn. :=: I've had good results previously with Nottingham, so I'm hoping it just quickly ate up the minimal sugars that were there and that it's not stuck. Won't find out until I rack it this weekend.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Racked a sierra pale ale clone over to secondary on Sunday. I tasted the beer and it was very "fruity", probably esters. I hope this subsides a bit in secondary.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just racked it SG = 1.013, so I guess we're on track. Tasted like Budweiser. I know, I know, but it is kinda what I was going for.

I think I may use this for my boss's daughter's wedding brew. :tu

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I have a Imperial Stout that has been fermenting for 3-4 weeks now,,, Started at 1.115 and I measured it last weekend @ 1.060... still going though.
In the mean time I made this...
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_5...1000000034.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_5...1000000037.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_5...1000000036.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_5...1000000038.JPG

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Wow Tim, awesome... looks like it works like a charm too.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Cool!


Now, what is it, and how do you use it? :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

have you sampled any yet?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

It's a stir plate for yeast starters.

http://www.brewmorebeer.com/building...e-for-brewing/

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Interesting :hm For years I've just done the old manual labor version!



You kids these days and your newfangled toys.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

This weekend I'll be brewing an Irish Red Ale. Hopefully I'll be able to sample my Bavarian Hefeweizen by then. It will be bottled 2 weeks on the scheduled brew day.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottling my Surly Furious clone this weekend. Gonna try a hefeweizen next, but not sure when I'll get to it. Looking at the Paulaner Hefe clone from Austin Homebrew Supply.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Started my first batch last week. An Irish stout. Fermentation has slowed considerably. Wondering when to start taking gravity readings. (tapping my foot impatiently)

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Credit where credit is due... I was inspired by Justin's build.
I've put this off forever. Hell, I have a full electronics lab capable of building ANYTHING electronic right outside my office door.

My total cost... $0.
I'll look into the actual cost of the individual pieces and possibly build up a handful to a dozen more.
I expect that I can make these for $20-30 or less.
Stay tuned.
Time and motivation will be my limiting factors.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I usually wait 3 weeks before taking gravity readings now.
In my impatient times, I started measuring after 10 days.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Cool. One other thing in my OG was higher then the recipe stated it should be. (I'm guessing not enough water?). Do I need to adjust the FG to know when I'm done or use what the recipe states for that?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

What was your starting gravity?
What yeast did you use?
What temperature have you been fermenting at?
Was this an extract batch? Did it have steeping grains?

Answer those and I can give you a target range for Final Gravity... and the method for figuring it out. :tu

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

What was your starting gravity? 1.065 ( recipe said 1.046 - 1.050)
What yeast did you use? Wyeast Irish ale prop. ( on a starter)
What temperature have you been fermenting at? Around 68 - 70
Was this an extract batch? Did it have steeping grains? Yes and yes ( steeped at 150)

Answer those and I can give you a target range for Final Gravity... and the method for figuring it out. :tu

Thanks!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I'm surprised at the three weeks wait time, that is pretty brew dependent right? I just bottled my SNPA clone after two weeks, one primary, one secondary and it was dead on for the expected final gravity (1.016 FG, 1.058 OG). I know I am impatient, but am I missing something?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

mkay, Wyeast 1084 will have 71-75% attenuation and all of your conditions look great for that yeast so you could expect a 1.019-1.016 final. I would lean towards the higher side of middle since it is extract with steeped grains. If you hadn't done a starter, I would say the high end.

Here's how I came up with that:
FG = -(((A%/100)(SG-1))-SG)

Note the negative symbol in front of the parens. it'll work without, but yield a negative number.

FG is the final gravity for a given starting gravity (SG) and a given attenuation (A%).
Yeast strain attenuations can be found on their respective manufacturer sites. I always plug in the high (75% in this case) and low (71%) to get the min/max and make judgments based off of conditions.

What did the recipe say final would be? 1.012-1.015?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Nope, not missing anything. I just wait 3. Normal beers may be done at 10 days to two weeks, but the additional week wait isn't going to hurt anything.
I have a beer now that is going on 4-5 weeks fermenting... and it still isn't done... but it started stoopid high gravity.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

close. 1.011-1.014 :)

thanks for the help. i'll keep ya posted :)

was i correct in assuming that the OG was off due to not enough water in the final wort? i.e. too much boiled off?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Funny, I rounded up and they truncated. My actual calcs were 1.0115 and 1.0145.

That is the most likely thing that coulda done it. Although, you woulda had to have lost quite a bit due to boil off to get that high. Cold break and trub in the sample can also give false high gravity readings. I always manage to screw up temperature factors on warm readings too (calculation error?).
If you run short again you can always add plain, boiled water to the wort to top off prior to fermentation and after the boil.
Regardless, it'll be fine.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

gotcha. i did add some, but i wasn't sure how much liquid i was dealing with and didn't want to bring to total over 5 gallons.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Heres another one I thought was cool.:D

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ciga...r-plate-46130/

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I put gallon markings on the sides of my fermenter, so I can pretty much estimate how much wort I'm dealing with. I also do full boils, starting with about 6-7 gallons of wort. By the time I'm done, something under 6 gallons is usually in the primary and I'll eventually end up racking 5 into the bottling bucket.

As for gravity readings, I used to take a lot of them. But then I realized it was more of a pain in the ass than it was worth, so I just wait and eyeball fermentation activity at the airlock. I take three readings: O.G. before pitching, when I rack to the secondary, and F.G. after adding priming sugar to the bottling bucket. I've never had a stuck fermentation, so I suppose I'm lucky in that regard--it might make me change my technique.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

that's a great idea. i may have to steal it :) what'd you use to measure a gallon? I guess I could use the 1000mL flask i have but that'd take a while to fill.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

A plastic gallon-sized water bottle, or a milk jug would work--I sometimes use spring water or distilled water in my brews and had one laying around. I just put some painters tape right below each gallon line as I filled, and numbered it on the tape. I had to shine a flashlight through the backside of the plastic fermenter, to make sure of the level.

Your homebrew shop might carry clear vinyl stickers that work well on glass carboys. I think they're numbered 1 - 6, with plain line sticker for half-gallon increments.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I used weight to calibrate the volume in my fermenters. I wanted 1/4 gallon marks so I built an excel spreadsheet that calculates the weight of 1/4, 1/2, and 1 gallon of water based on the temperature of the water.

For example:

1/4 gallon of 60 degree F water will weigh 2 pounds 1.4 ounces
1/2 gallon of 60 degree F water will weigh 4 pounds 2.7 ounces
1 gallon of 60 degree F water will weigh 8 pounds 5.4 ounces

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Guess I got lucky and the buckets that came with my kit had markings on the side. To fix our boil kettle measuring issue Matt and I just marked our mash paddle by scarring it with a knife.


Coffee question: I have a porter in primary and I'm going to add bourbon chips at secondary. If I wanted to add coffee should I add this at secondary as well? I have read that some folks actually brew the coffee and add it at bottling but I feel for some reason it would be better if fresh ground beans were added.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Albert, I've done this three different ways

1. The first time was with a stout: I brewed an entire pot of Sulawesi coffee, cooled it, and added to the secondary. The result was bitter, oily and lacked head retention. It took years before that beer came around, fortunately it was high ABV. I still have 3 bottles left (from 1995...! :tu) The last time I had one, it was really good. After 15 years in the bottle, it's hard for me to open these--like that really expensive or rare cigar sitting in the back of your humi. One day.... ;)
2. The next two times were with a porter. Instead of hot brewing, I let some Sumatra coffee steep overnight in a French press. I added this at bottling and the result was much better than the first batch--good aroma & flavor, no problems with bitterness although I still had head problems. Maybe it's just a coffee thing, I dunno.
3. Last time, I cracked about 1/2 pound of whole beans inside a ziploc bag using a rolling pin, put them into a hop bag and dropped it into the secondary. Kinda like dry hopping with coffee. That did really well for aroma, but nothing really special in flavor. Probably have better results just mashing some roasted malt.

In any event, I would recommend sticking with a low-acidity coffee. Good luck!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Maybe I'll try a combination of 2 and 3 for extra aroma :hm

Thanks Gerard

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Lack of head retention was probably due to the oils in the coffee. I have read that using oats will soak up oil and maintain head. Is most of the coffee flavor in the oils? Soaking them up might be a problem if it is.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I used yet another method for coffee in my Imperial stouts:

I cold pressed coffee and added it at flame out and it sat through the primary and secondary stages. No coffee aroma due to primary fermentation results, but decent subtle flavor.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I went a bit mad last weekend...
Creme Brulee Milk Stout
Flanders Brown
And
Nut brown ale with rum.

60 liters all up, exhausting but I can't wait to keg them all!!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/...76e811f2b0.jpg

well I can finally post in here...first batch ever...went for a mini-mash right off the bat...5.5lbs grain bill + 3lbs LME. It was a lot of fun, deathbrewer's mini-mash technique worked like a charm and my mash only lost 2ºF over the course of an hour.

I'm hooked...can't wait to get this one out of primary and have another go!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Lookin' good, Stefan! :tu

Today I'm going for my Hopslam clone, using yeast I cultured from the bottle newcigarz bombed me:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...pslamYeast.jpg

It's a partial mash, too, so I better get started!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled a Sierra Nevada Pale clone 9 days ago. This morning I was walking up the stairs past the rubbermaid tote I keep my filled bottles in and all of the sudden I want a beer. Open the top and there is a shattered growler. I've bottled my last two batches with unrefined raw sugar to get a little molasses flavor. First batch was undercarbonated so I added a 1/4 cup more. Guess that was too much. I cracked all the growlers to let some pressure out. Hopefully that saves the rest of the beer.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled a Surly Furious clone yesterday morning. It smelled really good. It looked a little cloudy racking into the bottling bucket, but hopefully it tastes as good as it smells.

I think the next brew will be a hefeweizen. I really like Paulaner hefe, so may need to shoot for something similar.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Got the Hopslam clone in the fermenter yesterday around 6, and pitched the yeast starter. Already had airlock activity this morning, and it smelled pretty good :noon Here's what I'm going with:

6# LME
3# 2-row pale malt, U.S.
1# 40L crystal
8oz Cara-Pils
4oz Aromatic
4oz Honey malt
8oz malto-dextrine
24oz clover honey

Did a multirest mash on the grains (110/30min-140/20min-158/40min), and hit a gravity of 1.036, a bit higher than expected. I'll add the clover honey either to the primary after 3 days, or in the secondary.

Hop schedule:

Centennial 1/2 oz at 55min & 20min
Citra 1/2 oz at 45min & 10min
Simcoe 1/2 oz at 30min & 15min
Amarillo 1/2 oz at 5min

Will dry hop with 1/2oz Amarillo + 1.5oz Simcoe. IBUs = 72, which is in the ballpark for what Bell's reports is in Hopslam. They say that they use high-alpha US strains, and I figured they used a burst technique so hopefully I got it close. Except for the Amarillo, all the hops are 11-13% AA. It smelled and tasted great out of the kettle, so I think I'll be happy even if it's not a match!

OG = 1.076 without the honey, which is on target exactly for 1.087.

Fingers crossed that it goes well. I thought about splitting the batch and pitching half with WLP1 California ale, but I didn't. No guts no glory.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

My next project is building a cooler mash tun and hopefully upgrading to a 10 gallon brew kettle. If/when I get a new brew kettle I will probably install a weldless bulkhead with valve to drain the wort.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

It doesn't look like much now, but in a few months (with a little luck) this will be the beer we serve at my daughter's wedding. It's a Belgian Golden Ale. I used Wyeast's Trappist Blend, which includes Brettanomyces. This is my first time brewing with belgian funk. This should come out along the lines of Orval, which is liquid beauty in a bottle. I'm going to call it "Wedding Bells Belgian Ale."

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ll-gianAle.jpg

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

My crazy ass RIS is almost ready for secondary. I'll move it next weekend.
I brewed it on 01/02/2011 and it weighed in at 1.121. I added an additional pound of honey after fermentation hit full bore.
Yesterday I took another SG reading and it is sitting at 1.035.
I'm going to secondary it for 3 months before bottling and letting it condition until Christmas.

I hope it turns out. :p

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Whipped together my second batch yesterday, I did a partial mash version of this recipe from HBT:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/belg...-clone-137219/

Hit 1.087 OG...did a 24hr starter and 9 hours after pitch this thing was crankin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrkRBs3MF4I

That's probably 95% sanitizer...just some golden goodness burped down the tube into it.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Did you use the WLP 500?
This yeast sounds pretty damned interesting.
Let us know how this turns out please.