Any Home-brewers?

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(01-23-2021, 02:42 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: You change anything in your grain bill on the American vs Bavarian hefe, or just the yeast?  

I've never really gotten into using a secondary.  Even if I'm aging on oak or adding fruit, I don't find the beer is ever on the yeast for more than 5-6 weeks, and I've never had an issue with that length of time (those beers are also usually higher gravity, but not always in the case of fruited beers).  I know most people swear by the method or were scared into doing it because they heard a horror story but I like to save time in transferring, avoid accidental oxygenation and reduce the number of vessels I need.  I'm curious if you've ever had an issue or just secondary out of habit/precaution? 

Just the yeast is different on this current first round. The next American Hefeweizen that I'll make in a week or so, I'll change it closer to the American recipe as I just followed the Bavarian recipe this time. I only use a secondary fermenter when I need beer sooner than two or three weeks apart and I'm re-using the yeast. Other than that, it just means more cleaning and more chances of an infection so I usually just use the primary from start to finish. One of my mentors when I first got back into brewing calls the secondary the "Clear Tank" to make a less cloudy beer, but, since I'm mostly just interested in the Hefeweizens, he said I probably wouldn't need to use one at all.

Most of my beers are 5% to 5.5% alcohol. I tried the higher gravity route for awhile when I first started up brewing again but once I made a beer that more or less followed the normal recipe, it tasted much, much better than my higher gravity versions as I did ye olde "side by side taste test". So now, I just shoot for the 6 lbs of extract and stay there. I'm in the process of putting together a cooler Mash Tun and already have the Hot Liquor Tank ready to go. I need to drill, sand or file the opening just a wee bit to match the fittings for the Mash Tun.

I've made around 175 batches the last 7 to 8 years and 130 to 140 of those were Hefeweizens (it's why I started up brewing again). I've MAYBE checked the gravity on 12-15 beers but that was only because friends asked me to make certain styles for parties or backstage gatherings at concerts and I knew people were going to ask. I rarely drink enough to get drunk so I just assume that I'm making the same 5% to 5.5% that I did when I measured them before. I bought some guy's kit a few months ago and he had a refractometer in there. I'll check these with that once they're all done because all of these will be in my office kegerator. It holds six corny kegs and I have a mini-fridge that holds two more. I want to have all eight slots full to have a variety at my office/recording studio for our radio station KEGR, The Kegger. I call it "Alaska's Homebrew". My next usage of the Bavarian yeast will most likely be a Dunkelweizen.

I've made four batches over the years that were pretty high gravity. Two Chaparral Red that were 7.9% and 8.1% and two HAC(High Alcohol Content) Honey Ales that were 11.4% and 12.9%(just shy of a Barley Wine). All of them except for the 7.9% were surprisingly smooth(left the hops in too long for that one) but the HAC were too much alcohol, took too long to make(well over a month for both) and cost almost twice as much to brew. I also got annoyed from waking up hours later in my recliner with half of a warm, flat second glass of beer next to me. I have too much of my German blood in me. My Mom took me to Germany when I was 15 and I learned from my relatives VERY quickly while recovering from my first hangover. . . "Germans don't like hanging around drunks. Just get a buzz and maintain it and then EVERYBODY has fun."

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-23-2021, 06:13 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Just the yeast is different on this current first round. The next American Hefeweizen that I'll make in a week or so, I'll change it closer to the American recipe as I just followed the Bavarian recipe this time. I only use a secondary fermenter when I need beer sooner than two or three weeks apart and I'm re-using the yeast. Other than that, it just means more cleaning and more chances of an infection so I usually just use the primary from start to finish. One of my mentors when I first got back into brewing calls the secondary the "Clear Tank" to make a less cloudy beer, but, since I'm mostly just interested in the Hefeweizens, he said I probably wouldn't need to use one at all.

Most of my beers are 5% to 5.5% alcohol. I tried the higher gravity route for awhile when I first started up brewing again but once I made a beer that more or less followed the normal recipe, it tasted much, much better than my higher gravity versions as I did ye olde "side by side taste test". So now, I just shoot for the 6 lbs of extract and stay there. I'm in the process of putting together a cooler Mash Tun and already have the Hot Liquor Tank ready to go. I need to drill, sand or file the opening just a wee bit to match the fittings for the Mash Tun.

I've made around 175 batches the last 7 to 8 years and 130 to 140 of those were Hefeweizens (it's why I started up brewing again). I've MAYBE checked the gravity on 12-15 beers but that was only because friends asked me to make certain styles for parties or backstage gatherings at concerts and I knew people were going to ask. I rarely drink enough to get drunk so I just assume that I'm making the same 5% to 5.5% that I did when I measured them before. I bought some guy's kit a few months ago and he had a refractometer in there. I'll check these with that once they're all done because all of these will be in my office kegerator. It holds six corny kegs and I have a mini-fridge that holds two more. I want to have all eight slots full to have a variety at my office/recording studio for our radio station KEGR, The Kegger. I call it "Alaska's Homebrew". My next usage of the Bavarian yeast will most likely be a Dunkelweizen.

I've made four batches over the years that were pretty high gravity. Two Chaparral Red that were 7.9% and 8.1% and two HAC(High Alcohol Content) Honey Ales that were 11.4% and 12.9%(just shy of a Barley Wine). All of them except for the 7.9% were surprisingly smooth(left the hops in too long for that one) but the HAC were too much alcohol, took too long to make(well over a month for both) and cost almost twice as much to brew. I also got annoyed from waking up hours later in my recliner with half of a warm, flat second glass of beer next to me. I have too much of my German blood in me. My Mom took me to Germany when I was 15 and I learned from my relatives VERY quickly while recovering from my first hangover. . . "Germans don't like hanging around drunks. Just get a buzz and maintain it and then EVERYBODY has fun."

Using a little irish moss and doing a cold crash before kegging I've never had an issue with clarity on the beers that need it (Vienna lager, for example).  But the wheat beers and hazy IPAs are wonderful to not even have to give it a thought.  

Funny you mention gravity checks.  I like to check mine when I brew a new beer, to see how the recipe might need some tweaking or to check efficiency with a process mod.  But if I brew it twice and the OG comes out the same, I rarely check it again if I keep brewing it.  When I was doing extract it was outrageously consistent from one batch to the next no matter what.  When I switched to all grain it's a little more fickle, because the moisture content in the grain can vary, the age can make a difference, etc.  And when I moved to 6,000 feet elevation after living at sea level, that made a big change to my processes as well, because the boil point is lower, so it changed the hop utilization and boil-off levels.  I've been in Colorado for 5 years now, though, so I've gotten consistency back and all of my old recipes updated. 

I've gone back and forth over the years with big beers and small beers.  When I started, I know it was the "cool" thing for a while to see how big you could brew beers.  I wanted to buck that and make session beers with the same level of flavor.  So I was doing stouts, IPAs, etc and keeping all of them between 4.5 - 5.5%.  People could come to the house, sample everything I had on tap and still drive home after.  Then I spent some time learning higher gravity beers.  I don't brew them super often, but I've a russian imperial stout I brew which clocks in at 12.8% that I do different things with (I've done maple coffee and coconut bourbon - the maple is VERY much on point to Bell's Canadian Breakfast Stout), and I've done triple IPAs and some Belgians that over 13%.  

I've cut back considerably on my alcohol consumption lately so I'm not brewing every few weeks like I was.  Maybe a few times a year now.  But I love brewing with the seasons, or for events.  I just like having total control over what I'm drinking.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(01-24-2021, 03:08 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Using a little irish moss and doing a cold crash before kegging I've never had an issue with clarity on the beers that need it (Vienna lager, for example).  But the wheat beers and hazy IPAs are wonderful to not even have to give it a thought.  

Funny you mention gravity checks.  I like to check mine when I brew a new beer, to see how the recipe might need some tweaking or to check efficiency with a process mod.  But if I brew it twice and the OG comes out the same, I rarely check it again if I keep brewing it.  When I was doing extract it was outrageously consistent from one batch to the next no matter what.  When I switched to all grain it's a little more fickle, because the moisture content in the grain can vary, the age can make a difference, etc.  And when I moved to 6,000 feet elevation after living at sea level, that made a big change to my processes as well, because the boil point is lower, so it changed the hop utilization and boil-off levels.  I've been in Colorado for 5 years now, though, so I've gotten consistency back and all of my old recipes updated. 

I've gone back and forth over the years with big beers and small beers.  When I started, I know it was the "cool" thing for a while to see how big you could brew beers.  I wanted to buck that and make session beers with the same level of flavor.  So I was doing stouts, IPAs, etc and keeping all of them between 4.5 - 5.5%.  People could come to the house, sample everything I had on tap and still drive home after.  Then I spent some time learning higher gravity beers.  I don't brew them super often, but I've a russian imperial stout I brew which clocks in at 12.8% that I do different things with (I've done maple coffee and coconut bourbon - the maple is VERY much on point to Bell's Canadian Breakfast Stout), and I've done triple IPAs and some Belgians that over 13%.  

I've cut back considerably on my alcohol consumption lately so I'm not brewing every few weeks like I was.  Maybe a few times a year now.  But I love brewing with the seasons, or for events.  I just like having total control over what I'm drinking.

I have some Irish Moss concentrated into powder and some actual Irish Moss that you need to "activate" before tossing into your brew, but, since most of my brews are Hefeweizens, I rarely need it. We're close to the ocean so elevation has never been needed to factor into my brewing. Interesting problem to adjust to. I'll mention it to my mentors the next time I talk to them.

I've never liked the stronger flavored beers. Outside of a couple of local IPAs that don't try to show off how much they can over hop their beers, I don't touch them. Almost all of the West Coast breweries over hop all of their beers. I never noticed it until I came back from 20 days in Germany and ordered up a local Pilsner that I had loved for years. Took one drink "Yech! Is this a specialty brew?" Later, when I got back into brewing, I cut every recipe's hop suggestions in half and have really enjoyed the results. When I make a batch ordered up by friends, I explain everything to them followed by "Do you want what the recipe asks for or do you want what I brew?"

If you are ever in Anchorage, King Street Brewing Company is the best brewery at staying close to the original recipes. The rest are too extreme for my tastes. One of the KSBC owners commented "Let's have a contest and someone can squeeze out every last drop of hops into a glass, serve it up, declare 'I win' . . . and then can we get back to normalcy?" The other owner worked as an assistant brewer at a brewery in the Czech Republic for 2 and a half years. One of the few breweries with a Pilsner as a regular beer . . . Needless to say, they've received a lot of my money over the years.

The only reason I brewed up a Brown Ale yesterday was because I bought a kit from somebody and he had a pre-hopped Brown Ale in a 3.75 lb can so I added a small container of Pale malt(about 2.5 lb) and no hops to balance it out (far left in the pic). It's the darkest beer that I've ever brewed and it will probably stay that way. Not a fan of Porters or Stouts but do make the occasional Dunkelweizen mostly out of boredom and when I've already re-used a Bavarian yeast cake several times. 



BTW . . . never throw away yeast when you are done. It is OUTSTANDING plant food. Pour it into a container, fill it up with water, stir it up well and pour it into house plants in the Winter, garden in the Summer. A friend asks me to bring some over every Spring and he strings out his badminton court in his back yard. We pour it along the string, remove the string and for the rest of our short summers, the grass along the line is greener than the rest of his yard and it ends arguments with his kids on "In or Out". I found out the greener grass trick completely by accident. I had heard that some home brewers used it as plant food, poured out some in my yard and had an erratic spiral pattern in my yard that was darker for the rest of the Summer.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Also, if using a secondary carboy for a non-Hefeweizen, I like to prop up the carboy with a screwdriver underneath it. This gives you one side with less yeast and easier to siphon the beer without getting much yeast into your keg. I understand you don't have that issue with your set up. I didn't do it with the Pale Ale in my fermentation chamber because I knew that it was going to be full and didn't want to cause a spacing issue.

Cheers

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-24-2021, 09:14 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Also, if using a secondary carboy for a non-Hefeweizen, I like to prop up the carboy with a screwdriver underneath it. This gives you one side with less yeast and easier to siphon the beer without getting much yeast into your keg. I understand you don't have that issue with your set up. I didn't do it with the Pale Ale in my fermentation chamber because I knew that it was going to be full and didn't want to cause a spacing issue.

Cheers

Love it!  I'll have to try that with the yeast.  I've dried my grains before and given them to neighbors as chicken feed, but I've never done anything with the yeast.  I suppose you could also make some marmite from it  

What's fun and interesting to me about American brewing vs European is that European brewing is steeped (no pun intended) in tradition.  Hundreds of years of the same yeasts and recipes, passed down over generations.  New methods introduced in some cases, but always with tradition at heart.  German brewing especially is very grounded in science.  American brewing falls more in the "art over science" category.  Experimentation, making new rules, finding new ways.  It's constantly evolving.  What was popular as an IPA 10 years ago isn't now, and will be different again in another 10 years.  I really do appreciate that aspect of being continual pioneers, even if I don't love everything that's being produced.  The number of sour beers being produced now as a great example.  Everyone is doing them, because with kettle souring it can be done quickly, so every brewery is getting their hands onto them and trying new things.  I love a classic style of any beer, but I appreciate people trying new things and pushing the envelope a bit, too.  

I'd like to spend a little more time exploring some of the German techniques, like decoction mashing.  I've never needed to do it for the beer I love making in the styles, but perhaps it could better with a decoction and only one way to find out!  

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(01-24-2021, 11:42 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Love it!  I'll have to try that with the yeast.  I've dried my grains before and given them to neighbors as chicken feed, but I've never done anything with the yeast.  I suppose you could also make some marmite from it  

What's fun and interesting to me about American brewing vs European is that European brewing is steeped (no pun intended) in tradition.  Hundreds of years of the same yeasts and recipes, passed down over generations.  New methods introduced in some cases, but always with tradition at heart.  German brewing especially is very grounded in science.  American brewing falls more in the "art over science" category.  Experimentation, making new rules, finding new ways.  It's constantly evolving.  What was popular as an IPA 10 years ago isn't now, and will be different again in another 10 years.  I really do appreciate that aspect of being continual pioneers, even if I don't love everything that's being produced.  The number of sour beers being produced now as a great example.  Everyone is doing them, because with kettle souring it can be done quickly, so every brewery is getting their hands onto them and trying new things.  I love a classic style of any beer, but I appreciate people trying new things and pushing the envelope a bit, too.  

I'd like to spend a little more time exploring some of the German techniques, like decoction mashing.  I've never needed to do it for the beer I love making in the styles, but perhaps it could better with a decoction and only one way to find out!  

What is your system for carbonating a keg? I've had very consistent results in every stage of my brewing EXCEPT for carbonation. I've kind of settled on 12 lbs pressure for a week to 10 days as it's been the most consistent but that is still mostly hit and sometimes miss. My neighbors only bottle and they've nailed the carbonation every time that I've had a bottle.

It's because of those neighbors that I've made my first American Hefeweizen after over 100 batches of White Labs Bavarian and Hefeweizen IV. The other 30 to 40 batches of Hefeweizens that I've made were a few Witbiers and the rest were Wyeast batches that I don't like very much because of an aftertaste that bugs me. I went a few years of not using Wyeast and tried it again a couple of years ago wondering "maybe my tastes have changed?". Nope. Still bugs me.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Also, your last post describes my experience with King Street Brewing Company. Like I wrote earlier, Dana spent two and a half years working as an assistant brewer in the Czech Republic and he doesn't stray away from what the recipes are intended to produce. They have a few experimental brews that are seasonal, but everything else is by the book. Consistency. I know what I'm getting when I walk in the door. That's why I keep going back. Well, it also helps that they started up a few hundred yards from where I live. It's what I call "Staggering distance from home."

It's kind of funny. I thought of starting a home brew thread a few days before you started this one. I got sidetracked, went to a different forum and completely forgot about it. A couple of weeks later, I popped in here to start one and here it was. Well done, sir.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(09-07-2020, 07:57 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: I used to brew, and towards the end I was doing 5 gallon kegs instead of bottling.  I still have all my stuff, but don't have anywhere to properly ferment it, so I don't do it anymore.  I do occasionally get the itch to do it, but I really don't drink much beer anymore (bourbon is my deal), so it goes by pretty quickly.

If you have a few hundred dollars to play with, you should seriously consider investing in a fermentation chamber or building one yourself out of a mini-fridge. I bought my very large one off of Craigslist for $350. As pictured above, I have six in mine right now and could squeeze in one more carboy if I wanted.

Lots of used mini-fridges are cheap, the temperature control units can get spendy, though, so shop around and look for reviews before investing. If cost is an issue, it would probably be cheaper to buy someone's used fermentation chamber that they've already put together. In this Covid market, many people are motivated

http://www.lewybrewing.com/2011/07/son-of-fermenter-build.html
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/diy-fermentation-chamber.679010/
These are close to mine that I bought, but the guy that built it put it up above the ground on four legs(4" X 4" posts on wheels) and it's high enough to store all of my equipment underneath. This makes kegging pretty easy as it involves minimal movement of the finished brew. He also made it deeper and constructed a large, insulated door that has hinges on the bottom, clamps on the sides and opens downward. The one pictured on the first link uses the door from the fridge but looks like a big back ache trying move the carboys around. Mine are all about waste high and, with the large door, all carboys are very easy to access. He also put a dry-erase board on the door so it's easy to monitor your beers if they are all brewed on different days.

I got one hell of a deal on mine. He had it listed for $400 with six carboys when I went to his house to buy his kegerator. A week later he dropped it to $350 and I pounced. I'll try to get a full pic of it but we own a No Car garage that is full of shit. I'll need to move some stuff to get a full pic.

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-25-2021, 02:57 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: What is your system for carbonating a keg? I've had very consistent results in every stage of my brewing EXCEPT for carbonation. I've kind of settled on 12 lbs pressure for a week to 10 days as it's been the most consistent but that is still mostly hit and sometimes miss. My neighbors only bottle and they've nailed the carbonation every time that I've had a bottle.

It's because of those neighbors that I've made my first American Hefeweizen after over 100 batches of White Labs Bavarian and Hefeweizen IV. The other 30 to 40 batches of Hefeweizens that I've made were a few Witbiers and the rest were Wyeast batches that I don't like very much because of an aftertaste that bugs me. I went a few years of not using Wyeast and tried it again a couple of years ago wondering "maybe my tastes have changed?". Nope. Still bugs me.

There are some charts out there on getting the right volume of carbonation I've used as a guideline for specialty styles (if it needs to be higher or lower than the typical mid-point).  Consistency is never really an issue I've had, though.  One thing I did notice was that again, altitude played a little difference in my rig when I moved here.  I also get a little fluctuation in the summer vs winter when it's warmer or colder in the garage and changes the actual tap temperature (not the temp inside the keezer).  But I've been kegging at this point for about 10 years so don't really give it much thought unless a friend asks me for help because they're getting too much foam or wrong carb levels.  

I started with WL when I started using liquid yeast.  A buddy swore by Wyeast so I tried them but didn't like the smack packs.  Had a lot of issues with them.  I'll go WY of WL is out of stock for a style I need, but prefer WL whenever I can get it.  I was just reading about a new yeast strain (Omega Lutra Kveik) to warm ferment lagers which I find super intriguing and want to check out, but I haven't brewed since October so not sure when I'll get to it.  Maybe I'll try a summer lager with it.  

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(01-25-2021, 12:12 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: There are some charts out there on getting the right volume of carbonation I've used as a guideline for specialty styles (if it needs to be higher or lower than the typical mid-point).  Consistency is never really an issue I've had, though.  One thing I did notice was that again, altitude played a little difference in my rig when I moved here.  I also get a little fluctuation in the summer vs winter when it's warmer or colder in the garage and changes the actual tap temperature (not the temp inside the keezer).  But I've been kegging at this point for about 10 years so don't really give it much thought unless a friend asks me for help because they're getting too much foam or wrong carb levels.  

I started with WL when I started using liquid yeast.  A buddy swore by Wyeast so I tried them but didn't like the smack packs.  Had a lot of issues with them.  I'll go WY of WL is out of stock for a style I need, but prefer WL whenever I can get it.  I was just reading about a new yeast strain (Omega Lutra Kveik) to warm ferment lagers which I find super intriguing and want to check out, but I haven't brewed since October so not sure when I'll get to it.  Maybe I'll try a summer lager with it.  

If you need to brew a beer quickly for an upcoming event, Wyeast Wehenstephaner is by far and away the most voracious yeast that i’ve ever brewed with. My first batch was done after 9 days and the next one was done in 11. Every other batch of beer that i’ve brewed was a minimum of two weeks in the fermenter. Outside of that, i’m a White Labs brewer. I haven’t tried Imperial yet but I will someday just to see what it’s like. The Brown Ale was my first venture into dry yeast so I’ll see if there’s a dry yeast for German or Bavarian Hefeweizens that has a good rating if this one doesn’t suck.

I’ve used a Wit bier yeast with only using wheat malt extract and nothing else. As a Wheat beer, it’s awful but if you put in your mind “I’m drinking a weird Pale Ale”, it’s an enjoyable beer.

The Omega Lutra Kviek you were mentioning is either a Norwegian or Finnish creation if I remember correctly. I heard that it can ferment quality beer at up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. My Steam Lager and Pale Ale were both used with WL California yeast. That OLK is a game changer since the temperature on the planet as a whole is getting warmer. It’s going to open up the brewing season to year round, especially if they can figure out how to engineer more strains off of that one.