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1. Topics

   1. Oh no, not a water Q!

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      by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in BIABrewer Old Hands

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      Yeah, I hope this doesn't stir up a hornet's nest like the topic tends to in other forums. I'm doing a BIAB oatmeal stout tomorrow and realized I hadn't done water adjustment calculations yet.
      This is my water from our well:
      Starting Water (ppm):
      Ca: 2
      Mg: 1.1
      Na: 6.5
      Cl: 8.4
      SO4: 4.1
      CaCO3: 11
      
      Very clean, little in there. From experience, I know that I can brew malty beers without adding anything and be ok. I also know that if I do hoppy beers they come out with a flat hop taste. The...

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      I just started using this water spreadsheet but a brewing friend of mine swears by this. check out this web page and you can download it from there. Hope it helps ya.
      onclick= window.open(this.href);return false;
      
      That looks good, and the site is interesting too :)
      31 Replies
      29506 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   2. Yeast Bank

      by Two If By Sea, 14 years ago in Yeasts

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      I've washed yeast and stored and used successfully later yeasts from fermented batches. I want to try storing and freezing yeasts in a glycerin solution. I have been looking for containers to store them in, the 15 ml vials are expensive! I was wondering, are the vials that White Labs uses autoclavable (i'd be using a pressure cooker)? I was thinking about trying to save a culture of my German Ale yeast before I make the starter. I'd pipette some of the yeast into a sanitized (ok to use the word...

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      Hey All,
      
      This is very interesting topic and something I've been wanting to do in my own home brewing. I actually work in a microbiology lab that handles, E. coli and yeast. When we go to make a long term frozen stock, we make a 40% glycerol in water solution (50% works too) and then mix that 50:50 with our cell culture. This is then frozen and stored at -80 C. This technique results in viable cells for years. Unfortunately for glycerol to be effective for long term storage (> one year) you...
      15 Replies
      16144 Views
      CSchenk
      14 years ago
   3. Other "brews"

      by Two If By Sea, 14 years ago in General Chit-Chat, Nonsense & Rambles

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      Hrmmm....possible new forum topic? Anywho, what else, besides beer, have you brewed ? What do you want to brew .
      
      Have brewed
      1. Apfelwein -apple wine. I love this stuff and brew it regularly.
      
      2. Graff -malty cider. Again, love this stuff, a nice ABV kick. I plan on playing with gallon jugs for flavoring it sometime like oak or fruit. My process .
      
      3. Earl Grey Cinnamon Braggot I got hit with the bad Notty yeast on this batch and it really bummed me out. It has taken over a year for this to...

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      I've made cider with various store bought juices (most notable being Apple, Strawberry and Guava) and I currently have a Lemon Braggot kegged which is very very nice at about 3 months old. I have some Gruit style brews on my radar too! Just need the time and to actually get off my bum and order some herbs.
      4 Replies
      6128 Views
      NME
      14 years ago
   4. Decoction

      by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in From Mash to Lauter (Water to Sweet Liquor)

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      I'm going to try my hand at a true decoction for a clementine wit. I plan on decocting 3.00 lbs. White Wheat, 2.00 lbs. Pale Malt(6-row), and 1.00 lbs. Flaked Oats in one pot and mash 3.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) and 0.13 lbs. Sauer(acid) Malt in my BIAB rig. Any good advice, hints, anecdotes, horror stories, blogs, or whatever out there on decoction and BIAB?
      
      Thanks in advance!
      
      Plans so far:
      Get main mash to 122F (water volume still TBD)
      Cereal mash at 2.5 qts/# at 113F for 15 minutes
      Rise to...

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      Should make eis bock :)
      18 Replies
      19548 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   5. Souring

      by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in BIABrewer Old Hands

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      I've had this question in the back of my mind for a while now. I often partigyle my spent grains after a brew by adding in another pound of fresh grains and some hot water. I then mash 24-48 hours with my bag in a cooler to get a soured mash and brew a light beer where I add different things such as coriander, grapefruit peels, grains of paradise, etc. The plus is I can use all the same equipment since the souring is pre-boil so the bugs get killed off in the brew pot.
      
      I've always wanted to...

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      Thanks for the info both of you. I read the BYO article which of course made it seem a little more complicated. Excluding oxygen sounds like it would be tricky in my BIAB urn as I'd need 30L (A LOT) of mash to fill to the brim. I wonder about experimenting with lactic acid and, more likely, other bug strains post-primary for souring some beer. I've got a bottle of Mikkeler 'Yeast Series' Brettanomyces which I'd love to add to a big porter or old ale.
      8 Replies
      11016 Views
      Cameron
      14 years ago
   6. A spot of tea anyone?

      by Two If By Sea, 14 years ago in Creating Your Own Recipes

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      I'm looking for some advice from someone who has experience in brewing with tea. I did a braggot with Earl Grey and it came out fine, but that was a very big beer. I want to brew perhaps a pale ale with tea, probably a Bohea or Dianhong tea.
      
      Bohea: A heavenly, smooth USDA Certified Organic black tea with a sweet oakey note.
      Dianhong: The processed tea leaves have a dark red tint and the brewed tea is a golden orange color. The tea has a robust flavor with a hint of plum.
      
      So has anyone else...

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      No, I've never added tea to beer, but it does sound quite interesting. The subtle tea flavours would be quite OK in some beers I think, that's given me a bit to think about for the specialty category in the local comps!
      I've mucked around with star anise in dry stout, that's one I quite enjoy. Rooibos is a bit funky, my sister likes it but I can't drink it all the time. Search has found a few, the Lindemans Lambic sounds interesting.
      
      For a really nice smooth smoky effect, try Lapsang...
      2 Replies
      5228 Views
      Ralph
      14 years ago
   7. Two If By Sea Brewing's BIAB Rig

      by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in Gas-Fired BIAB

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      My bag material, Voile curtain material that I sewed up myself. $10 got me enough material for 2 bags.
      
      My bag in the kettle. Office binder clips hold the bag in place and allows me to put the lid on still.
      
      The canning rack in the bottom to hold the bag off the kettle.
      
      The whole rig
      
      My rig during the mash, Patriotic, no?
      
      My pulley system. They told me in the other forums that 11# of wet grain would be too much...nope. I've done 23# in my bag just using my back and arms. I won't say it...

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      Well, most of the beers behind the labels are long gone. *burp*
      23 Replies
      23880 Views
      Two If By Sea
      14 years ago
   8. Cheap bonus "beer" trick

      by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in Intermediate Brewing

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      I've been doing this bonus beer trick for the last four batches and I think I'll probably continue. It involves using your spent mash grains. It isn't exclusively BIAB, but having your grains in a bag does make it a bit easier. Here we go.
      
      After a BIAB brew mash, I open up the top of my now spent grain bag sitting in the 7 gallon kettle that came with my turkey fryer burner and continue with my brew day. As I am cooling the wort, I heat up 2 gallons of water to about 170F. I put the grains in...

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      Reminds me of trappist single beers, ie Monk's table beers :)
      4 Replies
      7129 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   9. Pine Needles

      by Two If By Sea, 14 years ago in Creating Your Own Recipes

      

      I've heard anecdotal stories of beer bittered with pine needles. Anyone have any advice or experience with this? I've got a spruce tip beer fermenting right now but using needles to get that piney taste intrigues me.
      6 Replies
      9321 Views
      SacSoul
      14 years ago
   10. Extract conversion question

       by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in BIABrewer Old Hands

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       I have a recipe that calls for 6.6 pounds of Briess CBW Traditional Dark Malt Extract Syrup that I'd like to convert to BIAB. There are no other grains in the recipe. I went to the Briess site and found this Produced from a big grist, this intense malty flavored extract is excellent for color adjustment. Ingredients: Base Malt, Caramel Malt 60L, Munich Malt, Black Malt. and 30 degrees (8 degrees Plato).
       
       Recipe is for 5 gallons @ 1.046-1.050 20 SRM
       
       Any idea how to figure out the percentages...

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       My personal choice would be to have 1kg of Munich, because I love the flavour it imparts. The reason I kept it low was to stick to the original recipe you had 1046 - 1050 OG.
       
       You could always use a dark munich and use more while cutting back on the crystal. Make the recipe along the lines of 75, 15, 5 & 5% ???
       
       I don't have a rule of thumb, I just fly by the seat of my pants :)
       3 Replies
       5586 Views
       hashie
       15 years ago
   11. Long term aging

       by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in BIABrewer Old Hands

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       Ok, so I am 2 weeks into the ferment of my RIS that I am going to age for 5 years. What things can I do to help successfully aging that long?
       The specifics:
       OG: 1.104
       IBU: 111
       FG:TBD
       Right now it sits in a 6 gallon betterbottle.
       
       Normally I would bottle this after 4 weeks in primary. Since this is going to age, bulk aging would be a better idea for a bit? How long?
       Bulk age on the yeast or transfer to secondary? When?
       Would it make sense to drop campden tablets in this at some point to kill...

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       Meh. If I waited to get things I cannot afford, I wouldn't be brewing. O2 is on the list, but there are other things needed first. This would be the first time I ran into O2 issues...if that is indeed what this is.
       13 Replies
       13324 Views
       Two If By Sea
       15 years ago
   12. Easy uh-oh stopper in the carboy fix

       by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in Fermentation (Wort to Still Beer)

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       Ever get a stopper stuck in a carboy?
       I did.
       Don't panic, super easy fix.
       1. Get a plastic shopping bag.
       2. Shove it handles up into the carboy top, leaving enough to grab.
       3. Tip carboy upside down and shake to get the stopper to lie in the opening against the bag.
       4. Gently pull the bag out, the stopper will get caught in it and pop right out easy peasy.

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       Ha ha, I had that happen to me once, can't remember how I got it out, but I know there was a lot of swearing.
       2 Replies
       4822 Views
       hashie
       15 years ago
   13. Wort transfer

       by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in Chilling

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       I've thought about trying No Chill in a cube but one hurdle is there that I haven't explored yet.
       
       What do you guys use to transfer your near boiling wort?
       
       I have a big aluminum kettle and I don't want to drill it for a spigot. I know my plastic autosiphon would not stand up to near boiling water, nor would my tubing. Silicone would solve the tubing problem. Stainless steel would solve the siphon problem, although a little tricky I bet.
       
       TIA

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       In cause anyone is interested there are instructions for a DIY jiggle syphon here:
       
       Looks pretty easy. Of course you'd have to scale it appropriately for different diameter hoses and maybe substitute the glass marble for a stainless ball. Maybe not though.
       
       Brian
       
       PS - And just a thought, but the wire might not be required. I think crimping the copper fitting, or cutting then folding a small tab on either side would be sufficient to hold the marble/ball in place.
       19 Replies
       19836 Views
       lackluster
       15 years ago
   14. Hoses

       by Two If By Sea, 15 years ago in Cleaning and Sanitisation

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       How do you guys clean, sanitize, and store your siphon hoses? I'm always a little nervous with mine when I can see moisture in them days after I've washed and/or rinsed them. I usually stick the whole hose in sanitizer right after I transfer wort or beer then I plunge the sanitizer with my autosiphon through it a number of times. I then whip the hose around in the air and hang it up to dry. On brew day, I do the same with my cleaning solution then again with my sanitizer just before I transfer....

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       I have a silicone hose for transferring hot wort to the no chill cube. This gets cleaned after transferring, and cleaned before brewing, both times with sodium pre-carbonate.
       
       My vinyl hose for racking to secondary and keg, gets soaked in cleaning solution the day before. Then when I fill my secondary up with idophor to sanitize, I firstly rinse the tube then hook the hose up to the tap and drain the idophor out through to a small bucket and into a spray bottle. I then submerge the hose in the...
       2 Replies
       11350 Views
       outbreak
       15 years ago

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