Craig Mac
BoM 4/10 7/11 12/14
That will be next month :grin:
Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
- Thread starter BeerAdvocate
- Start date
It went 11 days in the bourbon barrel. The final 3 days with a special Coffee from Hawaii...
Getting great reviews right now Aquarich and CC Jefe approve!
Still aging in the cellar its been bottled for about 3 weeks
Craig Mac
BoM 4/10 7/11 12/14
If Rich approves that is saying something!! Bobby... not so much....
Hoshneer
Drew Estate NotRex
That sounds like it will be amazing!
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
Justin,
Assuming your kegerator is ready to go (i.e. has a faucet and hoses). You need:
A keg, aka a soda keg, ball lock is my preference
A gas disconnect, barb
A liquid disconnect, barb
Some small clamps to connect hose to the above
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/kegging/soda-kegs-fittings
That page has everything.
You can find soda kegs on Ebay or Craigslist for much cheaper. I paid $30 for mine that was used. Just a good soak with Oxy clean, check and replace gaskets is need (also can buy those kits from NB).
If you want to get fancy, you get get threaded fittings for your disconnects, but you need various threaded fittings. I did that on one of my handles so I can easily swap it back and forth to a commercial keg without cutting tubing and reconnecting. Just unscrew from the soda keg, and screw them back onto the sanke keg coupler. But you do need a few extra connectors that are threaded to do this.
One thing to check before you start buying is the diameter of the hose you have on your kegerator right now. Sometimes the tubing is larger and wont fit the 1/4" disconnects. It actually can fit, just have to definitely use a clamp to ensure no leaks.
I am rolling with my kegerator and love it. I purchased all of my kegs used for around $40 each, he threw in extra o rings and seals.
I force carb my kegs but not the shake method. I usually put them in the fridge and set the CO2 to about 30 psi for 2 or three days then lower it down to around 8 PSI. Has been working well so far.
There is a lot to know about kegs as far as line size and length, different temps and PSI will effect your CO2 level in the beer. The nice thing is if you had one keg you can start with that and add more as you go. Do not purchase anything from this site though kegkits.c@m. Trust me.
Read up on kegerators and shop around for the lowest prices and find out what you want. I converted a old fridge and it will hold 4 corny kegs and some bottles. I have a secondary CO2 regulator so I can run all my kegs on different pressures. It is more expensive but it is what I wanted. I also went with the Pelick 525ss faucets and they are slick. Once again a little more but it is what I wanted.
I force carb my kegs but not the shake method. I usually put them in the fridge and set the CO2 to about 30 psi for 2 or three days then lower it down to around 8 PSI. Has been working well so far.
There is a lot to know about kegs as far as line size and length, different temps and PSI will effect your CO2 level in the beer. The nice thing is if you had one keg you can start with that and add more as you go. Do not purchase anything from this site though kegkits.c@m. Trust me.
Read up on kegerators and shop around for the lowest prices and find out what you want. I converted a old fridge and it will hold 4 corny kegs and some bottles. I have a secondary CO2 regulator so I can run all my kegs on different pressures. It is more expensive but it is what I wanted. I also went with the Pelick 525ss faucets and they are slick. Once again a little more but it is what I wanted.
I am happy to say that my sour saison made with a lambic style mixed wild culture is good to drink finally. The damn thing had developed an exopolysaccharide complex in the bottle which gave it the viscosity of imitation maple syrup. It has a nice level of acidity at this point and I like the bitterness associated with the beer since it is a base recipe for a saison. I brewed it back in October or November. Sure beats bulk aging a full goddamn year like conventional wisdom on the net concerning sour beers. I need to get a new batch going after I bottle up the other sour beers when they're ready to package. My high ABV flanders brown/purple is getting VERY close to ready and the flanders red/purple is about three months behind that. I also have a slight fuck up with my dubbel I made around January that I accidentally caused to develop into a sour beer. That beer is developing a gnarly looking pellicle on the top now. Hopefully that will be done with in six months or so. I'll have lots of sour round theses parts!
Tomorrow I'm brewing up a citra/centennial IPA for a friend's graduation party.
Tomorrow I'm brewing up a citra/centennial IPA for a friend's graduation party.
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
I force carb. Crank it up to 30psi and leave it for a day. Never been able to get the shake method to work.
So I have a fridge I could use for fermentation temp control but that fridge is full of beer that I drink on a daily basis.
So with summer upon me and having brewed an IPA on Sunday I had to figure a way to control temps of the beer so I didn't taste like solvent with my potential 75F and higher fermentation temps. I had a submersible pond pump from when I ran an immersion chiller, I still have the immersion chiller, and I have a couple 36 qt coolers. So I decided to drill two holes through the cup holders in the cooler lid and drop the pump in there with some vinyl tubing. I have one tube hooked up to the pump out that runs up to my immersion chiller that is wrapped around my 10gal fermentor that is sitting in a 25 gallon party tub filled with water. Then I just ran a return back to the cooler from the immersion chiller. Then I just filled a bunch of used 16oz water bottles and froze them. I just swap them out every so often when they thaw and I replace with frozen ones again. This allows me to circulate cold water up through the immersion chiller cooling the water bath in which the fermentor is sitting. It works amazingly well.
I will make an effort to take a pic if anyone is interested.
So with summer upon me and having brewed an IPA on Sunday I had to figure a way to control temps of the beer so I didn't taste like solvent with my potential 75F and higher fermentation temps. I had a submersible pond pump from when I ran an immersion chiller, I still have the immersion chiller, and I have a couple 36 qt coolers. So I decided to drill two holes through the cup holders in the cooler lid and drop the pump in there with some vinyl tubing. I have one tube hooked up to the pump out that runs up to my immersion chiller that is wrapped around my 10gal fermentor that is sitting in a 25 gallon party tub filled with water. Then I just ran a return back to the cooler from the immersion chiller. Then I just filled a bunch of used 16oz water bottles and froze them. I just swap them out every so often when they thaw and I replace with frozen ones again. This allows me to circulate cold water up through the immersion chiller cooling the water bath in which the fermentor is sitting. It works amazingly well.
I will make an effort to take a pic if anyone is interested.
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
So for anyone wanting to try a pretty big stout, the great guys at Jester King GAVE me their recipe to Black Metal Imperial Stout.
This is the original version of BM. They recently switched to a lower ABV farmhouse version (I have that too if anyone wants).
Adam, this is different than the one I shared with you.
This is getting brewed in June with a bunch of the boys...
Jester King Black Metal Imperial Stout Recipe
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.60
Anticipated OG: 1.108 Plato: 25.46
Anticipated SRM: 69.5
Anticipated IBU: 63.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 85 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
64.7 10.7 lbs. Maris Otter UK 79.77 4
14.5 2.4 lbs. Dextrose Generic 99.55 0
6.0 1.0 lbs. Roasted Barley Great Britain 67.93 550
4.0 0.7 lbs. Chocolate Great Britain 65.07 458
4.0 0.7 lbs. Black Malt Great Britain 67.09 500
2.0 0.3 lbs. Brown Malt Great Britain 73.47 65
2.0 0.3 lbs. Caramalt UK 67.84 37
2.0 0.3 lbs. Dark Crystal UK 67.84 75
0.8 0.1 lbs. Carafa III Special Germany 73.09 525
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Magnum Pellet 14.10 59.2 90 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 7.00 4.5 Whirlpool
Yeast
-----
WLP007
Notes
Mash at 154F
Ferment at 70F
Start dosing in dextrose approximately four days into fermentation
This is the original version of BM. They recently switched to a lower ABV farmhouse version (I have that too if anyone wants).
Adam, this is different than the one I shared with you.
This is getting brewed in June with a bunch of the boys...
Jester King Black Metal Imperial Stout Recipe
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.60
Anticipated OG: 1.108 Plato: 25.46
Anticipated SRM: 69.5
Anticipated IBU: 63.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 85 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
64.7 10.7 lbs. Maris Otter UK 79.77 4
14.5 2.4 lbs. Dextrose Generic 99.55 0
6.0 1.0 lbs. Roasted Barley Great Britain 67.93 550
4.0 0.7 lbs. Chocolate Great Britain 65.07 458
4.0 0.7 lbs. Black Malt Great Britain 67.09 500
2.0 0.3 lbs. Brown Malt Great Britain 73.47 65
2.0 0.3 lbs. Caramalt UK 67.84 37
2.0 0.3 lbs. Dark Crystal UK 67.84 75
0.8 0.1 lbs. Carafa III Special Germany 73.09 525
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Magnum Pellet 14.10 59.2 90 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 7.00 4.5 Whirlpool
Yeast
-----
WLP007
Notes
Mash at 154F
Ferment at 70F
Start dosing in dextrose approximately four days into fermentation
That makes much more sense than when I first looked at it this morning.
twenty5
BoM 11/09, 4/10 BoY '10
Im happy dextrose dosing was mentioned. I would like to brew a 120ish beer in the next couple of months and have been doing some reading on dextrose additions. My only questions is in the process, as I see it, you add dextrose every 12 hours until you hit the yeast max or what the recipe calls for, but is this boiled like you would for priming sugar or just added? I see a sanitation issue if it is not boiled but I have read several threads where people just dump it right in....
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
I've never seen it boiled in this type of addition, just added. I believe the assumption is the dextrose is sanitized in it's bagged form.
Adam probably has more experience with this one though...
Adam probably has more experience with this one though...
http://www.homebrewchef.com/120minuteIPArecipe.html
I'd be inclined to boil it, but at 20% abv I don't know many contaminant organisms that can survive that level of ethanol. I don't know about the boiling thing a whole lot. If you want to minimize water addition I'd boil to have the most sugar dissolved into the smallest volume possible. Unless when you say dump it in, you mean just dump in the powdered sugar. I would think that'd clump at the bottom and not be readily fermented.
I'd be inclined to boil it, but at 20% abv I don't know many contaminant organisms that can survive that level of ethanol. I don't know about the boiling thing a whole lot. If you want to minimize water addition I'd boil to have the most sugar dissolved into the smallest volume possible. Unless when you say dump it in, you mean just dump in the powdered sugar. I would think that'd clump at the bottom and not be readily fermented.
I gots to brew a saison again soon. That and a tripel and a gratzer. I have never brewed a gratzer but I really want to give it a go. I love smoked beers.
Well I was reminded to check on my Imperial Stout that I brewed back in December. It's been six months now and well the beer has made it a long way. It went from 1.117 and it's down to 1.026. I hope the brett doesn't drop the gravity any further. The bitterness was super intense about 4 months ago but the hop bitterness has smoothed out big time. The roast is there big time and there is a hint of dark cherry flavor from the brett. I think I will package it up around August or September.