What are you brewing?

[smellysell]

I'd love to start brewing right now but my condo is small and there's not much space for big buckets or carboys to be sitting around fermenting. When I get a house eventually I will start it up and I will definitely be interested in getting together to brew some beers.

Meester Beeeeerrrr.....! :whistling:

Was the Mr. Beer thread I pointed you to helpful at all Jon? I've never even seen one in use so I have no idea.

 

[DrummerJohn]

That blueberry with bananas sounds pretty darn good!

I have an ESB in the keg that is about ready to drink and I am brewing an experimental American wheat IPA this weekend with summit and cascades for the hops. It is a combo of my two favorite styles so we'll see how it turns out!

DJ

 

[souldog]

I'd love to start brewing right now but my condo is small and there's not much space for big buckets or carboys to be sitting around fermenting. When I get a house eventually I will start it up and I will definitely be interested in getting together to brew some beers.

Meester Beeeeerrrr.....! :whistling:

Was the Mr. Beer thread I pointed you to helpful at all Jon? I've never even seen one in use so I have no idea.

Ohhh yeah, between you and Q, and the Mr. Beer forum, I'm learning at a steady pace. I now know how to use a hydrometer, what steeping means, mashing (sort of), batch priming, beer thieving, auto-siphoning, how to estimate OG and FG, dry hopping, temperatures to pitch yeast at, but I'm still oh so very full of questions. It's been a hell of a fun experience.

Mr. Beer is great for starters just trying to get their feet wet IMO, and I have a feeling I may move to 5 gallon traditional setups by the end of this year if I keep going at the rate I am. I will say this, alot of guys on the Mr. Beer forum either treat their Mr. Beer like a regular fermenter in a smaller package and also use secondary and bottling buckets and make batches with DME or all grain, and then there are others who have the full 5 gallon setups and still use Mr. B once in a while for it's convenience.

Either way you salty bastards, I AM making beer and you can make fun of me all ya want! :laugh:

 

[DePasta]

Well, the Belgian Tripel is in the bucket and bubbling like crazy. I actually had krauzen come up through the bucket lid...a little mes that I cleaned and re-sanitized. Looks like I have the bug...went out yesterday and picked up 3 kegs that I will convert to Keggles!

 

[GregSVT]

My whole reasoning behind not getting a Mr. Beer or any other newbie kits is I don't want to spend that money and then have to upgrade in the future. I'd rather start with the right equipment.

So are you doing extract kits right now Jon? Is there a place to buy 2 gallon kits that are actually good?

I'd like that Mr Beer forum link if someone could post it or PM it to me. I think I found it though.

 

[smellysell]

Well, the Belgian Tripel is in the bucket and bubbling like crazy. I actually had krauzen come up through the bucket lid...a little mes that I cleaned and re-sanitized. Looks like I have the bug...went out yesterday and picked up 3 kegs that I will convert to Keggles!

Haha, sounds like me!

Google blow-off tube to prevent that mess in the future. Also, feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Martin2D]

My whole reasoning behind not getting a Mr. Beer or any other newbie kits is I don't want to spend that money and then have to upgrade in the future. I'd rather start with the right equipment.

So are you doing extract kits right now Jon? Is there a place to buy 2 gallon kits that are actually good?

I'd like that Mr Beer forum link if someone could post it or PM it to me. I think I found it though.

Don't even bother with kits. There are so many recipes online if you order through www.brewmasterswarehouse.com you can just scale the recipe to 2 gallons. If I were you, I would do like me and just make small 2 gallon batches of all grain. I make 2-3 gallon batches because it's a lot of beer.

 

[LilBastage]

My Guinness clone just isn't cutting it. The roast flavor is just too much and it is just too thin. Back to the drawing board on that. I think I'll try to make a sweeter stout anyway. I've grown a bit weary of Guinness lately. Onto something else for now...

Here's my recipe for the next brew.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Honey Amber Ale
Brewer: Alan Onken
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 4.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.58 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 16.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 81.69 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
6.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
2.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
2.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
0.50 oz Galena [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 27.6 IBU
0.99 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
4.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 2.82 %
1 Pkgs Munton Fison Ale (Munton-Fison #-) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 8.63 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.94 qt of water at 165.6 F 155.0 F
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm looking for a beer on the sweet and malty side without being cloying or too high ABV. I think this is going to be pretty tasty and even TheWife© will like it. I got some advice on HBT, but I want to know:

What do our resident brewers think?

 

[souldog]

My whole reasoning behind not getting a Mr. Beer or any other newbie kits is I don't want to spend that money and then have to upgrade in the future. I'd rather start with the right equipment.

So are you doing extract kits right now Jon? Is there a place to buy 2 gallon kits that are actually good?

I'd like that Mr Beer forum link if someone could post it or PM it to me. I think I found it though.

Don't even bother with kits. There are so many recipes online if you order through www.brewmasterswarehouse.com you can just scale the recipe to 2 gallons. If I were you, I would do like me and just make small 2 gallon batches of all grain. I make 2-3 gallon batches because it's a lot of beer.

This!

 

[DrummerJohn]

I like that recipe Bastage- your IBUs and SRM is right in the range for an American Amber. I would suggest adding a 20 min hop addition to balance the bitterness/aroma. With 1 60 min and a 2 min, you are going to get a lot of bitterness but it will be unbalanced. While you are looking for a malty flavor profile, it may end up a little too much with all those specialty grains. Also, for an American Amber, it would work better to use citrusy American hops like Cascade or Crystal.

As far as the malt bill- 1060 is going to be pretty high in alcohol content so I would lower the number of specialty grains to lower the OG to about 1045. This will also get your BU:GU ratio more in line with the American Amber style. By choosing maybe 1 or 2 specialty grains and using a little more of those you will get more character. Anything less than 2% of the grist will not give you much flavor addition anyway, so more of fewer ingredients will still give you the complexity you are looking for without being overbearing.

My brewing mentor explained it like this- Creating a recipe is like painting with water colors... You can mix red and blue to make purple or red and yellow to make orange , but too many different colors mixed together at once will always end up as gray. Kind of like using too many spices at once can make it hard to distinguish any single flavor profile. Not sure if that makes sense, but he wins just about every contest he enters, so it is a good strategy.

Hope that helps!
DJ

 

[LilBastage]

I like that recipe Bastage- your IBUs and SRM is right in the range for an American Amber. I would suggest adding a 20 min hop addition to balance the bitterness/aroma. With 1 60 min and a 2 min, you are going to get a lot of bitterness but it will be unbalanced. While you are looking for a malty flavor profile, it may end up a little too much with all those specialty grains. Also, for an American Amber, it would work better to use citrusy American hops like Cascade or Crystal.

As far as the malt bill- 1060 is going to be pretty high in alcohol content so I would lower the number of specialty grains to lower the OG to about 1045. This will also get your BU:GU ratio more in line with the American Amber style. By choosing maybe 1 or 2 specialty grains and using a little more of those you will get more character. Anything less than 2% of the grist will not give you much flavor addition anyway, so more of fewer ingredients will still give you the complexity you are looking for without being overbearing.

My brewing mentor explained it like this- Creating a recipe is like painting with water colors... You can mix red and blue to make purple or red and yellow to make orange , but too many different colors mixed together at once will always end up as gray. Kind of like using too many spices at once can make it hard to distinguish any single flavor profile. Not sure if that makes sense, but he wins just about every contest he enters, so it is a good strategy.

Hope that helps!
DJ

Thanks for the advice. I used a Honey Amber kit recipe as the base for this recipe and the only thing I added was the Honey Malt. The kit only had the 80L Crystal (but 10oz.) so I split that. I was told that splitting the Crystal between the two would give the beer a little more of the malty character I was going for. The Roast seems to be there mostly for color.

The kit also had 1lb of honey in it, but I'm more interested in the flavor of the honey and not the fermentables the sugar would give me. I want some honey in there so I can call it a Honey Amber with a straight face, but the Honey Malt will contribute more to the flavor I'm looking for according to everything I've read.

The hops and schedule are just what the kit suggested. I don't have enough experience with hops to really make an educated guess at a change there. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you mean that I should add a 20 min addition or should I eliminate the 2 min addition and do the 20 min addition? I really am not a big hophead, so whatever I can do to work that out will be helpful.

Beersmith is predicting it at a little less than 6% ABV at the end of fermentation, and I can live with that. 1.060 OG and 1.014 FG are at the high end of the style guidelines (along with the predicted ABV), but they are within the guidelines according to Beersmith. To be honest, the guidelines don't concern me all that much. I just want good beer. I'm not sharing with any judges unless they come over and hang out.

I'm new to making recipes, so your help is greatly appreciated. I'm just explaining my reasoning. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I've got Designing Great Beers on my list, but I haven't gotten around to ordering it yet.

 

[smellysell]

Any of you guys have an electric setup? i'm looking to convert my BK and HLT kettle to electric controlled by PID/SSR but would love some help with this.

 

[LilBastage]

Any of you guys have an electric setup? i'm looking to convert my BK and HLT kettle to electric controlled by PID/SSR but would love some help with this.

I do. All electric. Are you looking at 5 gallon batches? You'll probably need 240v for the BK.

I don't have a HLT, but PID/SSR setup is pretty simple.

 

[DrummerJohn]

The best part about homebrewing is experimenting, so go for it and see what you get. If you like it, then it is good beer. If not, change something and brew it again.

I was suggesting to try moving that 2 min to a 15 or 20 min. You will get a smoother, more refined bitterness without adding too many IBUs. You will still be way on the malty side as far as balance with your malt bill. The honey should taste nice.

Here is a good Amber recipe you can use for guidance. Note the simplicity of the malt bill. A lot of guys (especially on message boards) will tell you that adding 15 specialty malts will "add complexity" to the malt bill, but I have found that too many different specialty malts can muddy the flavors and overwhelm the palate. Also, you would want to play with the hop amounts to stay around 30-35 IBU.

Designing Great Beers is a wonderful book and I would consider it a must read if you are wanting to create recipes. I had been brewing for about a year and a half when I read it, and that book easily doubled my knowledge of ingredients and how to effectively use them to create the flavors I wanted.

Please do not take this as me telling you what to do.... just wanting to lend a hand to a fellow BOTL. Let me know how it turns out!

DJ

 

[LilBastage]

I take no offense. I'm learning. This is exactly the kind of response I'm looking for. I'm certainly not ashamed to ask for help from those more experienced.

Thank you for all the advice. I understand what you're saying about adding too much stuff. I think I may just go back to the original Amber recipe I was building on with just the 80L. It's less stuff to buy, anyway.

Thanks for the clarification on the hop schedule. I thought that's what you meant, but I wanted to be sure.


I'll get the stuff for this ordered here pretty soon and try to get it brewed next week. I'll definitely be letting everyone here know how it turns out no matter the result.

Thanks again! :thumbs:

 

[smellysell]

Any of you guys have an electric setup? i'm looking to convert my BK and HLT kettle to electric controlled by PID/SSR but would love some help with this.

I do. All electric. Are you looking at 5 gallon batches? You'll probably need 240v for the BK.

I don't have a HLT, but PID/SSR setup is pretty simple.

Yep, 5 gallons and I'm gonna use 240V for both. Would it be possible to just use one PID and a switch to go back and forth between the HLT and BK?

 

[LilBastage]

Any of you guys have an electric setup? i'm looking to convert my BK and HLT kettle to electric controlled by PID/SSR but would love some help with this.

I do. All electric. Are you looking at 5 gallon batches? You'll probably need 240v for the BK.

I don't have a HLT, but PID/SSR setup is pretty simple.

Yep, 5 gallons and I'm gonna use 240V for both. Would it be possible to just use one PID and a switch to go back and forth between the HLT and BK?

I've not done this, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I don't think it would be a problem. If you split the DC output from the PID to each SSR and had a thermocouple in each vessel, it would work. You would need either a submersible thermocouple that you could move from vessel to vessel or a permanently installed TC in each vessel with a plug on the end so you could switch them. TCs generally don't work very well through switches, so I wouldn't go that route.

The PID only outputs DC to an SSR, the SSR carries the electrical load of the element. The only thing would be that the PID would not be tuned for the most efficient use as you couldn't tune it to both vessels at the same time.

I would probably run the DC output through a switch so that the element I wasn't using at the time would not be activated or use an override switch to completely isolate the AC output of each SSR.

If you wanted to run both elements at the same time, you need more advanced equipment that costs more than just buying two simple PIDs.

I hope that makes sense. Keep in mind, I've not wired anything like that and I'm not an electrician.

 

[smellysell]

Any of you guys have an electric setup? i'm looking to convert my BK and HLT kettle to electric controlled by PID/SSR but would love some help with this.

I do. All electric. Are you looking at 5 gallon batches? You'll probably need 240v for the BK.

I don't have a HLT, but PID/SSR setup is pretty simple.

Yep, 5 gallons and I'm gonna use 240V for both. Would it be possible to just use one PID and a switch to go back and forth between the HLT and BK?

I've not done this, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I don't think it would be a problem. If you split the DC output from the PID to each SSR and had a thermocouple in each vessel, it would work. You would need either a submersible thermocouple that you could move from vessel to vessel or a permanently installed TC in each vessel with a plug on the end so you could switch them. TCs generally don't work very well through switches, so I wouldn't go that route.

The PID only outputs DC to an SSR, the SSR carries the electrical load of the element. The only thing would be that the PID would not be tuned for the most efficient use as you couldn't tune it to both vessels at the same time.

I would probably run the DC output through a switch so that the element I wasn't using at the time would not be activated or use an override switch to completely isolate the AC output of each SSR.

If you wanted to run both elements at the same time, you need more advanced equipment that costs more than just buying two simple PIDs.

I hope that makes sense. Keep in mind, I've not wired anything like that and I'm not an electrician.

I don't want to have to mess with switching plugs around so I guess I'll just go with two PIDs. Expect some PMs in the coming weeks bro.

 

[LilBastage]

I don't want to have to mess with switching plugs around so I guess I'll just go with two PIDs. Expect some PMs in the coming weeks bro.

Yep, do it right or don't do it is what I always say. You'll be happier going that route.

I'll help you as much as I can. I'm no expert, but the wiring is really very simple for this sort of thing. I can PM you the stuff I used if it would help. The only thing you'd need to change would be the SSRs; I used 120v, of course. You could also use RTDs instead of thermocouples. They are supposedly more accurate. I used a TC because it cost less and I'm not concerned about accuracy of +/- .3-0*C. They do have a quick disconnect for easier cleaning.

Check out Auber Instruments for components.

 

[smellysell]

I don't want to have to mess with switching plugs around so I guess I'll just go with two PIDs. Expect some PMs in the coming weeks bro.

Yep, do it right or don't do it is what I always say. You'll be happier going that route.

I'll help you as much as I can. I'm no expert, but the wiring is really very simple for this sort of thing. I can PM you the stuff I used if it would help. The only thing you'd need to change would be the SSRs; I used 120v, of course. You could also use RTDs instead of thermocouples. They are supposedly more accurate. I used a TC because it cost less and I'm not concerned about accuracy of +/- .3-0*C. They do have a quick disconnect for easier cleaning.

Check out Auber Instruments for components.

Yep, I've been reading up on HBT and am planning on going through Auber. I think thermocouples will be fine, especially for the BK, but probably for the HLT too. I like how small and out of the way they are.