Home Brewing / Micro Brewery / My own beer

[Gothan]

I'm so chaffed with myself now. Maybe i should use a stocking next time i fill the bottles

 

[SukkaFoo]

I'm so chaffed with myself now. Maybe i should use a stocking next time i fill the bottles

No, don't do that. Clarity really isn't a huge deal and doesn't affect taste. Been a while since I did extract, but if you are boiling make sure you get a nice strong rolling boil, use some whirfloc and give the fermentation lots of time. All these things will help clarity. If you really feel you want to filter the beer get a 1 micron water filter, but seriously there are far bigger improvements you can make to your beer early on than worrying about clarity.

Mostly though, give your fermentation time, nothing wrong with 4 weeks if you have the patience. (For the record all the research I've done says autolysis on modern yeast is a myth, 4 weeks will not do ay damage)

 

[MongooseMan]

Not sure if it's been posted here, but there's a new show out by the guys from BrewDog.
2 episodes so far, and it's not bad, IMHO
http://tv.esquire.com/shows/brew-dogs

 

[ToxicBunny]

Saw this at work a few days ago, and was meaning to post this...

Its not exactly cheap, but its still a step in the right direction if you ask me :

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1708005089/picobrew-zymatic-the-automatic-beer-brewing-applia

 

[Gothan]

Quick question for the people in the know, I am looking at an extract brew recipe, but one of the ingredients have me a little puzzled as to what it means:

Grain/Extracts

6lbs Light Dry Malt Extract added to the boil
1lbs Crystal 60 add the grains to the water and steep until the water temp reaches 170 and pull them out.

The 1lbs Crystal 60. I know the grain/malt is crystal, but what does the 60 mean?

 

[Pooky]

Quick question for the people in the know, I am looking at an extract brew recipe, but one of the ingredients have me a little puzzled as to what it means:

Grain/Extracts

6lbs Light Dry Malt Extract added to the boil
1lbs Crystal 60 add the grains to the water and steep until the water temp reaches 170 and pull them out.

The 1lbs Crystal 60. I know the grain/malt is crystal, but what does the 60 mean?

I believe it is how dark the roast is.
For Crystal 60 the readily available equivalent here would be something like CaraMunich II.

 

[Gothan]

Ah ok, thanks

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

I believe it is how dark the roast is.
For Crystal 60 the readily available equivalent here would be something like CaraMunich II.

+1
The number after the name is the lovibond rating & it is a measure of the color of the malt.
Crystal/Caramel goes from 10L (lightest) to 120L (darkest)
CaraMunich III is actually closer to Crystal60 ... see http://www.brewstock.com/brewstockbrewing.html

 

[Pooky]

My IPA is ready to bottle but I am in a pickle with regards to how to do it.

I have a plastic bucket that I turned into a bottling bucket but the tap I have sucks so much that it's not gonna work, so I'm basically stuck with bottling from the fermenter.

Now, my problem is that the priming sugar needs to be stirred in, and I don't want to stir up the trub from the bottom of the fermenter. Anyone have any ideas on how to proceed?

 

[Necropolis]

I'm assuming you are batch priming.

Just add the sugar solution - and stir gently - then let it sit for an hour or so, so that everything can settle back down before you bottle.

 

[Pooky]

I'm assuming you are batch priming.

Just add the sugar solution - and stir gently - then let it sit for an hour or so, so that everything can settle back down before you bottle.

Cool will do that.

 

[Beachless]

I would take out a liter or 2 and mix with the sugar for the amount of bottles you have then pour the measured amount into each bottle.

No I lie I would just buy bottle primer drops if I dont have a keg.

 

[Gothan]

+1
The number after the name is the lovibond rating & it is a measure of the color of the malt.
Crystal/Caramel goes from 10L (lightest) to 120L (darkest)
CaraMunich III is actually closer to Crystal60 ... see http://www.brewstock.com/brewstockbrewing.html

Thanks, this will help a lot

 

[Gothan]

Cool will do that.

What about carbonation drops? I used for my first batch and its working very good

 

[Pooky]

What about carbonation drops? I used for my first batch and its working very good

Also used them for my first batch. I think that might be easier this time. Will see if I can get some.

 

[Gothan]

Is there a benefit to using sugar as the primer instead of carbonation drops? Except for cost of course

 

[Pooky]

Is there a benefit to using sugar as the primer instead of carbonation drops? Except for cost of course

Nope, not unless you want to achieve a specific carbonation level, be it more or less, for a specific style of beer, or you want to use a different type of sugar to prime with for taste purposes.

 

[Necropolis]

Is there a benefit to using sugar as the primer instead of carbonation drops? Except for cost of course

I find batch priming is just quicker and easier than individually priming the bottles...

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

I only used those drops with my first batch .... will never again as I prefer batch-priming.
I didn't like the fact that those drop weren't the same in grams (g), so I found one beer more & the next one less carbonated than what it should have been for that specific style

I've also always used dextrose to prime, but since the last 5x batches moved over to normal table sugar, as dextrose became way to expensive ... carbonation is good & I don't taste anything different ... you just have to stick to a carbonation chart to make sure you're adding the correct amount for priming

 

[Necropolis]

I generally just use an online calculator to see how much dextrose to use for priming