Alcohol

[Bonny]

On a different note, my first batch of Merlot (red wine) turned out quite well. Tastes pretty good and definately gets you buzzing. I started another batch on Sunday, a Shiraz this time.

[TheSidewinder]

Ooooo.... I'll take some!

 

A nice spicy Ialian meal, and a bottle of good Shiraz.

Mmm, mmm, mmm......

[tentacles]

Frank, do those little oxygen cylinders from MAPP setups use the same thread as a regular propane tank? I'm thinking of putting together an oxygenating system for when I do lagers. I have 3-4 propane torch heads, so using one of those would be ideal, considering the small amount needed every batch.

 

I'd still have to get a stainless steel airstone.

 

The lager is bubbling away slowly in the cold. How fast should I expect the airlock activity to get, considering the temperature? It's one of the round three piece airlocks, I'm getting a bubble every 8-12 seconds I'd say. I wonder how much of the slow speed is due to CO2 dissolving into solution at the colder temp?

[tentacles]

Bring it back from the dead! The bock is still in primary, doing it's yeasty business. I'm getting antsy to brew up another beer. The IPA is getting low. I plan on secondary-ing the lager in a keg. Another... 10 days or so on the lager in primary (4 weeks).

 

Planted the hops two days ago, both rhizomes were sprouting buds and looked good. One magnum and one cascade.

[FrankRizzo]

Frank, do those little oxygen cylinders from MAPP setups use the same thread as a regular propane tank? I'm thinking of putting together an oxygenating system for when I do lagers. I have 3-4 propane torch heads, so using one of those would be ideal, considering the small amount needed every batch.

 

I'd still have to get a stainless steel airstone.

 

The lager is bubbling away slowly in the cold. How fast should I expect the airlock activity to get, considering the temperature? It's one of the round three piece airlocks, I'm getting a bubble every 8-12 seconds I'd say. I wonder how much of the slow speed is due to CO2 dissolving into solution at the colder temp?

Sorry Tentacles, I didn't see this post. No, the oxygen cylinder thread is left -hand.

 

That airlock activity sounds good for lagering temps.

 

You're having better luck with the hop rhizomes than I. All (4) of my cascades came infected with a white mold. I soaked 'em in a low concentration bleach solution for a few minutes before planting, but only (3) of them actually produced shoots. (2) of those three are still living, one doing very well and the other doing OK. The other one sprouted, had 4 nice shoots, I trimmed it back to one to conserve energy to the roots, and that one shoot succumbed to a damping-off right at the shoot/soil interface and died. So, I'm batting 50% at the moment.

[tentacles]

That's too bad. Makes me concerned for my babies out there, all alone in the dirt.

 

In other beer related news, tasted a kolsch today, pretty good stuff. I went over to fix the LHBS kegerator again today, it was that damned defrost timer again so I bypassed it completely. He already was having to manually defrost so no big loss. Got a 5oz bag of Fuggles for my trouble

[Mumbles]

Yes, kolsch is some pretty tasty stuff. I bought a 6 pack or two a while ago. Mostly just to try the style. Pretty good I thought. Even the miller lite only type of people I am related to enjoyed it.

 

I bottled my maibock finally the other day. Looks like more of a Julybock now. Just been very busy with school and such. The hops are a little out there for a maibock, but they should mellow out. There might be a little too much munich in there too. Came out a tad darker and richer than I had hoped. In it's current incarnation it actually tastes quite a bit like a Sam Adams Boston Lager. This was just based off the room temperature uncarbonated taste of it though.

 

I've been pondering with the idea to make a big beer for next year when I graduate. It should have 10-12 months to age. I was thinking Russian Imperial Stout, but then I had Bell's Expedition Stout, and I sure don't want it to turn out like that. Way too rich, and doesn't have the same balance I've come to like in others. While not as big, I might try to do a saison. I had an Avery's 12th aniversary Ale, and my god was it good. It was one of the couple celebration beers I got for the end of the school year. I figure about mid July should be hot enough to do a saison.

[tentacles]

If you're looking for big you could try a dubbel or trippel. And I wouldn't worry about styles, all that's going to do is limit you.

 

Rhizome news: The Cascade has already broken soil! I have two shoots coming up. I am not sure if I will trim either back this year, since I don't expect to get much if any yield. The magnum hasn't broken soil yet but we shall see! It was a thicker rhizome but short, it did have shoots started so maybe I put it a bit deeper or something.

[Mumbles]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about sticking to the styles, just wasn't quite expecting what I got. I am sure it will be quite tasty none the less.

 

In related news, those blue moon clones you guys provided the recipe for is really turning out well. They didn't seem to be as carbonated as preferable, but still extremely tasty.

 

I still have some time to figure out what kind of beer I want to make for next year. Perhaps I'll make a few small batches of a gallon or two and have a nice variety. It will make some of the biggest beers far less demanding on the boil pot and mash tun. Using 4L jugs will also allow me to actually do some lagering, so perhaps I'll have a dopplebock or something.

 

So many ideas, it will be hard to choose.

[Mumbles]

Off the topic of thoretical delicious aged beers, and on to the current.

 

Being that my family primarily consists of drinkers of miller lite and *cringe* coors light, I've decided to brew up some lighter beers for the 4th of July. I'll have my mai june Julybock for myself, so I figure I might as well make something for them as well. I know most of them wont be digging it. They have to put up with my fireworks enough, I figure they might as well be in a good mood when the police show up. Eventually I will find something they all like, and can produce a bunch of that for them. Then I will be free to enjoy my flavorful beers.

 

I was planning on producing a blonde ale, and a hefeweizen. I figure at least one will be considered tolerable by them. If not, I'll have something to mow the lawn with or I'm sure I can convince a few people to come over for a cook-out. I was hoping you guys had some recipe suggestions. Between frank, tentacles, and frozen, I'm sure you have some ideas floating about in those genius brewing minds of yours.

 

 

Here is what I was thinking. Both got pretty good reviews from the respective threads.

 

Wheat:

 

Ingredients:

------------

Amount Item Type % or IBU

6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)

2.50 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)

0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)

0.25 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)

 

0.25 oz Magnum [14.00%] (60 min)

0.25 oz Magnum [14.00%] (5 min)

0.25 oz Simco Hops [12.00%] (5 min)

0.25 oz Cascade [5.50%] (0 min)

 

SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05)

Mashed in at 155 degrees for 70 minutes.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=34642

 

 

Blonde:

 

Ingredients:

------------

Amount

7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)

0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)

0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)

0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)

 

0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)

0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)

0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)

0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)

1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)

 

Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841

[Richtee]

Off the topic of thoretical delicious aged beers, and on to the current.

 

Being that my family primarily consists of drinkers of miller lite and *cringe* coors light, I've decided to brew up some lighter beers for the 4th of July. I'll have my mai june Julybock for myself, so I figure I might as well make something for them as well. I know most of them wont be digging it. They have to put up with my fireworks enough, I figure they might as well be in a good mood when the police show up. Eventually I will find something they all like, and can produce a bunch of that for them. Then I will be free to enjoy my flavorful beers.

Back when I was active in brewing..I tried to appease the "barley-pop" crowd. Came to the conclusion it's easier and cheaper to just buy them a six...

[tentacles]

The LHBS owner here makes what he calls "Stupidly Simple Lager". It's just like 8-10lbs of 2-row and some hops, maybe with a little irish moss to help clarify. It tastes fine, and I think it'd appeal to the BMC crowd quite nicely, and it's certainly cheap to make!

[Mumbles]

That is also an option. I was hoping to slowly turn them on to better beer. If I just wanted to make something to replace the miller lite, I could definatly do that, well with a clean ale yeast at least. I am still bottling, so I have about a two week extra buffer period before drinking that I have to include over kegging. I was hoping for more of a "wow, this is really good. Lets dump that coors light in the toilet where it belongs" type of response

 

I've already gotten pleased results from a few commercial blonde ales, so perhaps I will stick with that one, and make myself a real hefe later in the summer.

[asilentbob]

An update on my hops rhizomes:

The brewers gold has 4 "bines" sprouted out of it, 1 about 2 ft, 2 about 1ft and the last around 8 inches long. The sterling has 1 that is around 1.5ft and the other 3 are around 3 inches long. I only have 3 trellis strings strung out, so I'll probably cut off some of the bines and/or add more trellis strings. I havn't been watering them as often as I should.

[tentacles]

My magnum was poking up above the soil ever so slightly. The cascade grows visibly every day. It's got a leaf forming on one of the bines poking up. For the first year I'm just going to train them onto some small trellis. Next year I will build some tripods.

[Mumbles]

I'm a little jealous of you guys and your hop growing areas actually. I've been doing a lot of reading about it, and was all set to go when I ran into a slight dilema. Of both parents homes, and my own, I only have 1 area that is suitible for growing. It happens to be the backyard where the dog runs wild. Well, she's lazy so its more of a careless trot. Dogs and hops do not get along well. If I killed the dog, my mom would never forgive me, no matter how good the beer from the hops tasted.

 

My grandparents actually have a perfect spot, a random birdhouse that gets full sun all but an hour before sundown. Unfortunatly there is no one there to trim back the first few shoots, or train them onto the rope/trellis. Much of my family lives there, but they are also all very lazy. Perhaps I will have to "accidentally" kill the tree in my dad's backyard.

[TheSidewinder]

With respect to growing hops, and the necessary climate for it?

 

Northern Minnesota has a freeze warning tonight. *sigh*

 

Global warming my ass.....

[Mumbles]

Mostly with respect to the sunlight requirement for growth is what stops me. Full sunlight is best. Well, actually my place would be perfect, but the lease expires a month before harvest time so I'll be out of there just a little bit too soon.

[tentacles]

TS: Hops like a northern latitude.. In fact, there are several commercial hops which were bred from a wild-found Manitoba hop plant. Hops, like the related cannabis plant, bloom based on day length, so you actually can't grow them very far south. You need 15 hour or longer days, basically.

 

I'm going to drive by and check on my hops later today.

[TheSidewinder]

Ah, ok, thanks.

 

I thought that Hops were one of the Family of plants that didn't like freezing temps at all. Must be mixing up my plant Families again.

 

But I can blame that on age, now, instead of stupidity.

[Mumbles]

Well, I am sure they still don't like freezing temps. Frost is generally bad for most manner of leafy greens. A lot of the hops are grown in NE US in oregon and washington.

 

As a side note. I just cracked open the maibock. I have a feeling this is going to be a very fast 2 cases. It's very good, and with aging will just get better. We'll see if I can put aside a few until the end of summer.

[tentacles]

I picked up some of the local craft brewery's wares yesterday, and a Holsten Festbock, all of them are *great*. The festbock was amber, with a medium body and very sweet/caramely and 7%. The Half Pints Weizenheimer was amazing, super banana esters, 5.0%, wonderful taste. I'll be picking up a couple/few more tommorow so I can share one with Frank when I go down stateside. There was also a weizenbock (6.4%) that was pretty good but nothing like the other 2.

[asilentbob]

Brewed a gallon of yeast carbonated creme soda today... not meant to end up alcoholic, but its fermentation so I figure I'd put it here.

 

Poured out some old homebrewed wine that had been in the fridge... from my "don't write it down or label it, just brew it period" so... I had no idea what it was... kinda grapey... really dry... too yeasty... over a year old for sure. Also poured out some really old also un-labeled mead... smelled great, but didn't taste good at all. Now atleast I have a bit more fridge space...

[tentacles]

HOPS!

 

Cascade

http://www.apcforum.net/files/DCP_2542.JPG

 

Magnum

http://www.apcforum.net/files/DCP_2543.JPG

[TheSidewinder]

Hmm... July 17th 1999. A good year.

 

Seriously, though, they look to have a good start. We expect updates.