Re: Brewing with Crystal Malt Extract
Posted by Brewess - Wed 5/6/98 17:46 - 1 of 6

Jon,

That's good to hear. I don't like Cascade, either. But I was never too fond of Juicy Fruit gum, either. Or grapefruit soda.

Anyway, I didn't mean to dis EKG. It's probably my favorite hop. I think it's not used much for bittering primarily because it's relatively low in alpha acids. You have to use a lot to get much bitterness, and that gets expensive.

Al's recipe only uses one ounce of Goldings, so it's not going to come out very bitter. That's probably OK because I suspect his gravity would be low, as well.

But I sure wouldn't dump all that Cascade on top of the Goldings. It would be a waste of the Goldings. Actually, I wouldn't put Goldings and Cascade in the same beer, but I know people do.

BTW--I like to use Northern Brewer as a bittering hop for IPAS and stouts, then add Fuggle and Goldings for aroma. Seems to work great, and you don't wind up with so much hop mass. Northern Brewer isn't really too bad on it's own.

And you're right. I'm relatively new to brewing and read a lot of books.

Brewess

Re: Smoked
Posted by Ron - Thu 10/15/98 20:13 - 2 of 6, Reply to 1

I have recipes for a traditional lager and also an ale. I haven't brewed either one, but would be happy to pass them along. If you have a preference let me know.

Re: Pennies in the Kettle?
Posted by chipper - Tue 4/20/99 3:50 - 3 of 6, Reply to 2

use 1979 and older pennies or a piece of copper tubing from your last plumping job that was left over, a elbow or such .

Low SG on Porter
Posted by Bernie - Tue 10/16/01 13:42 - 4 of 6, Reply to 3

I read once that if you increase your grain by 30% you can brew an all grain batch without the sparge and still get the correct SG and also get a more full-bodied beer. Well, I tried it this weekend on a Porter and, it didn't work out so good. In retrospect, I probably should have stepped the steep up from 150 to 170 for another 15 minutes (I steeped at 150 for an hour) but, anyway, the end result was that I got an Sg of 1.040 instead of the 1.055 I should've gotten. So now, my question is, should I add some DME to bring the gravity up? If so, how much would I need to add to bring a 5 gallon batch from 1.04 to 1.055? If I don't add the DME, what effects will the low SG have on the beer, other than lower alcohol content?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

Re: Brewmaxer, or anyone- process of flaming the mouth
Posted by bearcat - Sat 11/23/02 0:34 - 5 of 6, Reply to 4

I think you'll see a better lagtime with the starter. Try making it the night before the brew session. Make sure you get it all mixed up/shook up before pitching it into the main brew.

I think safale is in 10g packs, so you did pitch a lot of yeast there, but don't worry much about the taste after only 1 week unless it tastes like vinegar. Usually it cleans up fine. If I'd dumped all the beers I thought tasted wierd after a week, I'd have missed out on some good beers.

Re: Lager Yeast
Posted by Dave - Sat 2/19/00 23:00 - 6 of 6, Reply to 3

Hi Outlaw,
I really think that to maximize the desirable qualities in our brews, we should always make it a priority to establish prompt, healthy fermentation. One of the most obvious reasons is to prevent off flavors produced by bacterial/wild yeast contaminations. By minimizing the lag time (the period between pitching and log phase AKA high krauesen), we allow our yeast to outcompete the few contaminants that do find their way into our cooled wort.

I really don't think that you should worry about the situation. You worked hard on this brew; do the best you can at this point by pitching a fresh, healthy starter at room temperature, holding the wort at room temp until the early signs of krauesen, then slowly decreasing the temp to about 50°F (optimal for White Labs Pilsner)for the remainder of primary fermentation.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor. I think that a perfect beer is somewhat boring; I rather enjoy my homebrew because I can sit back with glass in hand and contemplate the procedures I performed well, and which I could improve upon the next time I venture a new batch. Good luck! Let me know how your Pils turns out! -Dave