Homebrewers

[solbes]

I got the NB catalog too and looked at all of their new kits. Quite the selection of Surly brews. I would like to try one out. I bet I would get to drink all but one, as the wife's not into the big hops/flavor.

It'll be bottling time around our house in the next 2-4 weeks as two batches should be ready. I want to start the German Hefe, but the house is still too cool.

I'm also thinking about picking up some hop rizo's to start growing our own. I see Midwest has these on pre-order right now. Sparky, any word on how easy this is to do? I was thinking getting one of Cascade, Williamette, and either Tettnang or Hallertau.

[goblueM]

i've never grown them myself but I've heard it takes a coupla years to get them going (sleep, creep, leap!) but once they are established - look out, they take over!

[solbes]

Yeah, I'm thinking of planting them on our property up north. Plenty of room up there and lots of options. If they take off, great. If not I'm only out $12 or $13. I guess you need to provide a vertical trellis for them to grow up, up to 15-20 feet tall!

I wonder if Deer like to eat the leaves? That's been my biggest problem up there with planting things. My white pine get topped every other year. Fruit plants seem to be tasty also.

[sparkyaber]

Solbes- yes, they are easy to grow, and yes dear seem to enjoy them, Nate, my brother-in-law, put some in the ground last year. Got about 6 feet out of them. Had to chase the dear off. He found a trick that kept them away, I will ask him what is was, I forgot. If I remember right, cascade and centennial do well here. I may have some more bottles for you soon. I had to go buy some because the pipeline is close to dry. Not for long though- I have 12 full carboys, and had to buy 3 more today because I am still brewing.

Blue- get your Furious quick- Simcoe will be impossible to find for the next year!

[sparkyaber]

Just got done bottling a batch of hard cider. Not going to be too strong, about 4.75 % but that's fine with me, I drink too fast. Thinking about going back to Granny Smith frozen concentrate. It gives a lot more of an apple flavor. This last batch I used some apple juice I got from Target, rather bland.

Could I get some more info on your cider? What yeast? temps? I have only dabbled in Apfelwein, never done a cider.

[Redlantern]

Sparky, I used wyeast Irish Ale #1084. My basement is around fifty to fifty five degrees this time of year. Didn't add any corn sugar to the batch (except for bottling). I think I will add a cup of it for my next batch. Also going to use the frozen concentrate again.

[minneman]

Are any of you familiar with kegging? i found some 5gal kegs for cheep and have the co2 bottle etc.

wondering do you add any sugar for carbonation or rely on the co2? right now im still using extract.

[sparkyaber]

Are any of you familiar with kegging? i found some 5gal kegs for cheep and have the co2 bottle etc.

wondering do you add any sugar for carbonation or rely on the co2? right now im still using extract.

Some add priming sugar to the keg, but most use the CO2 bottle to force the carbonation within the keg. Do you have ball lock or pin lock kegs? both fittings are readily available. I personally set the CO2 at 14 psi and leave it. Should be ready in about 1-2 weeks max. You could also "force" carb the keg, but that takes a lot more work and attention. This method could get you drinking in a week or less. Get your hands on those kegs fast, because when all of the old corny kegs from soda are bought up, the new ones are usually about 100 bucks.

If you are in the metro, stop by midwest on a Sunday and ask for Abe, I can get you pointed in the right direction.

As for the extract, the kegging system doesn't care, you could carbonate water if you wanted to.

[solbes]

My 3 hops varieties are in the ground and growing. I planted Williamette, Hallertauer, and Cascade. Time will tell if this experiment works out, but so far so good. These pics were from Mermorial weekend. We're heading up again on Friday and we'll see what the wind has done to them (50+ mph a week ago). Also hope those pesky deer don't see them for another few weeks.

Williamette was about 12 inches tall and had just started to train around the tree mounted trellis rope

Cascade was only 6" high and not yet up to the trellis

Hallertauer was apparently planted too deep. Wonder what dope did that? Anyway I dug it up and put the white bud just poking out of the earth. Hope it's growing now. If I don't manage to kill them, I'll try to post a couple more updates. Might get an ounce or two for dry hopping this year and will hope for better yields next year.

[riverwader]

Question? Did our first homebrew and 3 weeeks after bottling it tastes flat. I did some reading stating that we need to move it to a warmer (76) area and give the bottles a little swish to reactivate the yeast. Has anyone had any luck with the beer coming back.

[solbes]

Yep, that may help. Generally it will take 2 weeks minimum to reach a decent carbonation level at moderate temps, say 68F min. I am a little surprised to see it not be carbonated after 3 weeks, unless it was stored below active yeast range. Temp aside, here are some other things that will affect carbonation:

- Amount of sugar added. Beer will taste pretty flat until you get at least 2 volumes of CO2. Did you add at least 4 oz of corn sugar? Different sugar types will require different additions.

- What temp was the beer when you added sugar and bottled? The higher the temp, the more sugar you have to add since the residual CO2 level changes

- Was the yeast in secondary for more than say 3 months? If so they can take a long time to get back up to speed, or additional yeast can be added at bottling.

- Was there any issues with your bottle seals?

Fianlly, here's a good HSOforum I found for doing the sugar calculations for carbonation. Hope it helps.

Carbonation Calculator

What kind did you brew? Gotta love beer

[riverwader]

We made the copper ale from midwest supply. We followed the directions to a T. We did add the correct amount of suger. The temp was 69 when we added the suger and bottled. no idea on the yeast. The bottling went perfectly. We are going to try another bottle this weekend. I will let everyone how it turns out.

[sparkyaber]

Scott- nice looking hops! My brother in law used dog hair placed around the hops to keep the deer away. Deer never touched them after that.

I still have the kolsch and the tripel waiting to be sampled. I think I may try that kolsch shortly.

Wader- as for the carbonation, a few questions:

When you opened the top, was there the typical "fssst" at all?

Also when you say not carbonated, is that at all, or just not to the levels of an american light lager?

Most homebrews are carbonated well below the volumes of say a BMC light.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction!

[solbes]

Sparky, those hops are off and growing. The Williamette is 3' tall and the Cascade is catching up at around 2'. Both are wrapping themselves around the trellis rope beautifully. You can see them get taller by the day, kinda cool. Hallertauer is maybe 6" and needs to get a move on before the days start getting shorter. Good call on the dog hair, I have plenty of that available.

Kolsch turned out good, clean but nothing too exciting. Your all grain version was better. I cracked open my first Tripel a week ago. I can tell it will be good with more aging, but it's clearly not ready yet. Still has some of that harsh alcohol in the background that should mellow out when the bottles get good and dusty. It was starting to dry out though, so that's good.

Although I'm in NO RUSH for fall to arrive, it will be brewing time again with cooler temps.

[sparkyaber]

Good to hear on the tripel. I figured at least September. You got any plans next weekend? Saturday the 25th I am looking to brew, but my brother in law has plans already, so I need one other to help me carry the wort downstairs to cool. Open invite to any homebrewer wanting to see how all-grain works. I have not settled on a recipe yet, so am open to ideas. I am brewing 10 gallons of an APA on the 24th.

[solbes]

Yeah quite possibly I could come over next weekend. First weekend in about 6 weeks where we'll be at home. My oldest daughter is having a birthday party on Sunday, but otherwise the weekend is looking open. I'll email you later in the week to see if it still works.

Just looking through Midwest's site, here are 3 that I may be trying in the fall: Peace Coffee Java Stout, Red Hook ESB clone, or Noble Trappist Ale (love that 3787). Haven't tried any of them yet, except for a mini batch of the trappist ale (used as my starter for tripel).

[sparkyaber]

I have done a version of the coffee stout, doctored it, and it was amazing. I was thinking of an ESB, so I like the sounds of that, as of the Trappist you know my feelings on Belgians. I will look for your email.

[Jim916]

Is anyone thinking of brewing more since the state might be running out out beer? Or just take a beer run to Wisconsin?

My neighbor and I brewed 2 beers to test out from Midwest. One was the Belgium Witbier, and the other was the Grand Cru. We wanted to see which one we liked better. They will be ready to drink on Friday. I can't wait!!

[solbes]

Both of those batches sound delicious, let us know how they turn out. Am I going to brew more, YUP!! But not because of the loss of Coors and Miller products from MN shelves. They won't lose any business from me

I shut her down back in April as we're always busy up north and with kids activities. I'm starting to get the itch though. Here are my current thoughts on planned or possible Fall/Winter/Spring extract brews:

Patersbier (NB)

Carmelite Tripel Grain Tripel (Partial Mash from NB)

Honey Kolsch (NB)

Red Hook ESB clone (MS)

Peace Coffee Stout w/ added Raspberries (MS)

And still need one or two more to keep me busy.

[goblueM]

so here's a puzzler for you guys

i'm having carbonation issues ever since I moved to Virginia. Never had them before - and I havent changed ANYthing other than location - but now almost all my beers are far overcarbonated

could it be higher elevation? warmer temps? any ideas?

[solbes]

Are you up in the mountains or down at sea level in Virginia?

If you're up in the mountains, I could see there being a larger pressure differntial when you crack one open. Same internal CO2 before the move, but lower external pressure after opening, which could cause foaming as the CO2 comes out of solution.

I don't see temps causing a change, maybe the rate at which it carbonates if you are bottle conditioning. If you're kegging, the carbonation should be identical. Interesting anyway.

[goblueM]

up in the mountains...2200 feet.

the issue isn't transported beer - i'm having issues with beer I'm brewing here. I'm bottling, not kegging.

I even cut my priming sugar down by 25% for the last 2 batches, and still had over-carbonated beer. A complete mystery, I can't figure it out

[Northlander]

Man you guys making your own stouts make me jealous. I would love to try some of them. I love darker beers.

[solbes]

Northlander,

But you've got all those great micro brews up in Duluth. Lots of options anymore on the North Shore.

As to the over carbonation, that does seem kinda weird. I could see there being less pressure at say 4000-5000 feet, but 2200 is probably only an extra 1000-1200 over when you were in Minny. It should carb to the same internal pressure whether you were at sea level or 5000 feet, based on amount of sugar added assuming there was adequate time and temperature to max out. Guess if it's consistent, just cut back further on the priming sugar and enjoy the savings.