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[belvedere]

Ah, I was meaning reviews/brands of grain mill, not 2-row

I actually have the Cereal Killer and it's worked out great. If you have an A/C power drill laying around I'd highly recommend using one. Also, if you go that route you can save money on the cost of the CK by ordering it without the handle.

I know a lot of people swear by the Barley Crusher too.

HBT has some great impressions of both.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/best-grain-mill-338058/index3.html

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/cereal-killer-grain-mill-274722/index11.html

 

[andylsun]

Mill and buying base malt in bulk is probably my next step. Savings should be substantial.

My hop plant is under attack from grasshoppers. One stem has been stripped. Grrr

Have some neem oil thati will apply

 

[Angry Grimace]

My local supplier doesn't always have a lot of choices for 2 row so I'm usually buying Cargill.

You just missed a pretty good deal on the Ceral Killer grain mill too .
(It was $79 for a while)

http://www.homebrewing.org/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_2310.html

I'm sort of lucky in that since I have a VERY well stocked homebrew store nearby, I can just double crush to keep efficiency high. Handful of rice hulls and no stuck sparges. Its great.

 

[Snuggles]

I wanna get into this. My first goal is to try to brew some cider for this Fall. Better start researchin.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I wanna get into this. My first goal is to try to brew some cider for this Fall. Better start researchin.

Cider you just find a local orchard and throw some yeast in, really. I mean, its more complicated than that, but that's basically the gist of it since you can't really press the cider yourself.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Ah, I was meaning reviews/brands of grain mill, not 2-row

I ended up getting the barley crusher after hearing some not so great things about the build quality of the cereal killer. I have brewed about 10 batches with it and I think it works great. I will quote what I was told when I asked your same question: "If you ask 12 brewers their views on this topic, you will get 12 different answers."

People also recommended the Rebel Mill, Monster Mill or finding an old Philmill.

 

[fenners]

I ended up getting the barley crusher after hearing some not so great things about the build quality of the cereal killer. I have brewed about 10 batches with it and I think it works great. I will quote what I was told when I asked your same question: "If you ask 12 brewers their views on this topic, you will get 12 different answers."

People also recommended the Rebel Mill, Monster Mill or finding an old Philmill.

Yeah that's what makes it so complicated - because of the expense/durability, most home-brewers really just have direct experience of one, the one they bought. So that's what they recommend... Making good comparative reviews hard to find.

I'm sort of lucky in that since I have a VERY well stocked homebrew store nearby, I can just double crush to keep efficiency high. Handful of rice hulls and no stuck sparges. Its great.

Austin Homebrew is my local homebrew store, about a mile or two from where I work. Which rocks & I'm happy to give them my business - they're great guys, giving great advice & very friendly. But the twice yearly bulk grain/hop buys that get run here in Austin work out to be a discount of about 55/60% off buying a sack at AHS...

 

[gcubed]

anyone in the philly area? I am moving out west and need to sell my keezer. Has 4 perlick taps, digital temp controller, 15lb CO2 tank. Freezer is about 2 years old (my old one died on me). Can hold 8 corny's.

 

[ShinAmano]

How did I miss this thread? I am a noob in the home brew world, just opened a couple of bottles from my second batch and it turned out nice (Nut Brown).

Hope to get another batch going shortly.

 

[andylsun]

Making my first hefe tomorrow, 7lb wheat and 5 lb pilsner (edit: not 2-row). Got half a pound of rice hulls so will hope to not get a stuck sparge.

Wyeast 3068 1l starter crashed and ready to get to work

Edit: hurrah no stuck sparge. Took 1 hour to drain 7 gal of wort from mash tun. Boiling now

Double edit: fermented out in 2 1/2 days. 3068 is insane

 

[KingGondo]

GAF! Behold... My first homebrew!

A basic amber ale, and it turned out quite well. I think I'm gonna go for an Allagash White clone next.

 

[andylsun]

GAF! Behold... My first homebrew!


A basic amber ale, and it turned out quite well. I think I'm gonna go for an Allagash White clone next.

Awesome! Drinking your first ever homebrew is amazing.

 

[KingGondo]

Awesome! Drinking your first ever homebrew is amazing.

I can confirm that this is true.

 

[belvedere]

Grats man, looks good. Bet it tastes even better. : )

 

[KingGondo]

Started my second batch this weekend, a semi-clone of Allagash White (from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing book).

The airlock wasn't bubbling, but I opened it and confirmed it was foaming.

Should be ready right around the first home game for my OSU Cowboys, can't wait to share it at the tailgate!

 

[Angry Grimace]

Angry Grimace's Beer of the Week recipe:

Kern River Citra DIPA. This is the actual recipe scaled to 5 gallons (transcribed and scaled by theveganbrewer on HBT)

This is the last beer I made and I've made this a few times.

Grain Bill

All Grain, 5 gallons

10 lbs 6 oz Great Western 2 Row
9.2 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
9.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
9.2 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain
4.4 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 6 2.2 %
4.4 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.2 %

Hops

Kettle hops:

1.00 oz Nugget [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 34.3 IBUs (Note that I substitute ~.75 oz. of Warrior for Nugget because I have Warrior on hand)
0.60 oz Citra [10.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 16.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [10.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 8.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [10.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 6.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [10.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 3.6 IBUs

The big 12-day Dry Hop

1.15 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 12.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 12.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
0.70 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 9.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
0.90 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 6.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.10 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs

WLP001 OR US-05

This recipe will only produce 5 gallons of beer, so you'll end up with ~4 gallons after trub and hop loss unless you scale up to 6 in BeerSmith (I'll post the scaled version later on if there's interest).

I've been playing around with a ton of variations on the hop bill but this is the best IPA I've ever made; I really love the grain bill on this one.

 

[EatChildren]

Oh hey a homebrewing thread.

Latest brew bottled the other day. It's a bock, first time giving it a try. A change was in order from the last batch, which was a lager, and didn't turn out half as well as we hoped.

 

[operon]

Oh hey a homebrewing thread.

Latest brew bottled the other day. It's a bock, first time giving it a try. A change was in order from the last batch, which was a lager, and didn't turn out half as well as we hoped.

Nice, I'm still a kit brewer though hoping to go BIAB next year

 

[codswallop]

Other than dumping a wheat beer on top of some squished cherries, any guidance on making a cherry weizen?

Nice, I'm still a kit brewer though hoping to go BIAB next year

BIAB is pretty easy, I've been doing it for a year now (about a dozen brews this way).

 

[op_ivy]

got these from a friend of a friend but i'm not sure what to do with them. can i use the one with a cut top as a boil keg? its got a few holes drilled near the bottom, i imagine i could install a valve to move the chilled wort to the fermentor?

how about the other two? one looks like it may be fully intact, the other the "innards" have been removed. i have seen online that some people use a keg as a mash tun, but wouldnt that lose too much heat? i could use them as fermentors, but i would prefer to use the carboys i already have. anything i'm missing that i could use them for?

 

[B For Bendetta]

got these from a friend of a friend but i'm not sure what to do with them. can i use the one with a cut top as a boil keg? its got a few holes drilled near the bottom, i imagine i could install a valve to move the chilled wort to the fermentor?

how about the other two? one looks like it may be fully intact, the other the "innards" have been removed. i have seen online that some people use a keg as a mash tun, but wouldnt that lose too much heat? i could use them as fermentors, but i would prefer to use the carboys i already have. anything i'm missing that i could use them for?

You lose some heat but you can easily build a foil insulator. Other one you can use as a hot liquor tank for your sparge water. Get someone to cut the tops off

 

[operon]

Other than dumping a wheat beer on top of some squished cherries, any guidance on making a cherry weizen?


BIAB is pretty easy, I've been doing it for a year now (about a dozen brews this way).

Just have a few kits to use up, a shed to get and a big pot to turn into a boiler.

 

[B For Bendetta]

Other than dumping a wheat beer on top of some squished cherries, any guidance on making a cherry weizen?


BIAB is pretty easy, I've been doing it for a year now (about a dozen brews this way).

Only advice is to sterilize everything and you can always add more, but you can't take any out once you add them so go light. I imagine a little will go a long way

 

[andylsun]

Couldn't wait and tapped my German hefe keg last night. Despite the Belgium glass it tasted fantastic. Not too clove or banana dominated and ended up exactly in the middle. Another week of carbing to make it perfect.

First time using wyeast 3068 but had good fermentation temp control

 

[Angry Grimace]

Other than dumping a wheat beer on top of some squished cherries, any guidance on making a cherry weizen?


BIAB is pretty easy, I've been doing it for a year now (about a dozen brews this way).

I suggest you use a pre-made puree vs. some squished fresh cherries. The flavor of fresh fruit is variable and often difficult to sanitize.

 

[andylsun]

Was given Brewing Classic Styles book for birthday. Awesome book! Not sure which to brew first. The table in the back for starter size is a great reference. Pitch cool for lagers is recommended so I will try that next time (and a huge starter)

 

[op_ivy]

its homebrew day!

got a moose drool/R&R inspired coconut brown ale going today! while i'm mashing, i'l be bottling a pliny clone.

i'm enjoying the last days of summer.

 

[op_ivy]

shit, forgot to aerate my wort!

starting gravity is 1.056, i did do a starter (about 36 hours), and i remembered within a couple hours of pitching into the carboy. I've since removed the air lock and covered with a sanitized piece of foil and shook the hell out of the carboy until i saw foam several times every 10 minutes. i should be fine, right?

UPDATE: i was fine.

 

[thcsquad]

Making a witbier this week, but since it'll be ready in October I want to give it some fall flavor. I'm thinking of starting with an Allagash White base and mixing in some more fall-ish spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, allspice, etc). Maybe even a pumpkin wit. Anyone tried something like this?

 

[andylsun]

On second step of my Oktoberfest starter. Shooting for 600b cells for brewing next weekend.

 

[codswallop]

Making a witbier this week, but since it'll be ready in October I want to give it some fall flavor. I'm thinking of starting with an Allagash White base and mixing in some more fall-ish spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, allspice, etc). Maybe even a pumpkin wit. Anyone tried something like this?

Did you ever make this? I meant to respond but totally forgot. My personal opinion is that those flavours wouldn't gel too well with a wit, but some could be workable with a wheat.

I'm unfamiliar with the Allagash White though, so maybe it's suitable. I'm just thinking about a 'regular' wit (e.g. Hoegaarden style) and don't think it'd be that suitable.

 

[andylsun]

Took pre-boil gravity measurements and first/middle/end runnings measurements while brewing my octoberfest (brewing classic styles page 71)to try and figure out my low brew house efficiency. Followed the recipe exactly, and my pre boil gravity was 12 points lower than expected. Made it up with an aggressive boil so my OG was only 5 points low, but it's odd. Sparge was slow and steady (1 hour) for 7.5 gal into [fermenter] edit: kettle

With leaving a lot of sludge (and some valuable wort) in my kettle, only got around 4 gal in the fermenter. Cooling to 44F to pitch the yeast.

Will look at pH of the mash as the next step.

 

[Yaboosh]

Took pre-boil gravity measurements and first/middle/end runnings measurements while brewing my octoberfest (brewing classic styles page 71)to try and figure out my low brew house efficiency. Followed the recipe exactly, and my pre boil gravity was 12 points lower than expected. Made it up with an aggressive boil so my OG was only 5 points low, but it's odd. Sparge was slow and steady (1 hour) for 7.5 gal into fermenter.

With leaving a lot of sludge (and some valuable wort) in my kettle, only got around 4 gal in the fermenter. Cooling to 44F to pitch the yeast.

Will look at pH of the mash as the next step.

Crush is the number one thing you should check.

 

[andylsun]

Crush is the number one thing you should check.

I get the same efficiency from grain crushed at two different LHBS. Crush does seem to look good, with plenty of white and the husks are well distributed and in fragments, not whole.

I'm looking at getting my own mill soon, and buying base malt in bulk. I know that one of the LHBS use the same crusher for their own brewing (they have a tap room) so I will ask what kind of efficiency they get.

I should have scaled the recipe for my normal brew house efficiency (58%), but as it was a new one and I had been tweaking my sparge after you mentioned I was sparging to fast, I decided to follow it for the recipe efficiency (70%).

Edit: just tried the brewers friend mash chemistry calculator. Put in the town water report, the recipe and it gives an estimated Mash pH. For the recipe I made today, it estimates a mash pH of 5.28 which seems a good value.

When I get my own mill I will report back on any efficiency changes. Will continue to scale recipes for my current efficiency

 

[codswallop]

Interesting about efficiency. I'm getting around 63% normally (BIAB) it would seem. I get the LHBS to crush the grain so I just assume it's right, but I think it's my poor mashing vessel that's the problem, I started mashing yesterday on a weissbier brew at around 66c, and after an hour it'd fallen to 58c.

However mine sort of went the other way -- my target OG was 1.043 and I hit 1.045, but had 1L less go into the fermenter than anticipated. Still trying to adjust the numbers in Beersmith at this stage.

 

[Yaboosh]

Interesting about efficiency. I'm getting around 63% normally (BIAB) it would seem. I get the LHBS to crush the grain so I just assume it's right, but I think it's my poor mashing vessel that's the problem, I started mashing yesterday on a weissbier brew at around 66c, and after an hour it'd fallen to 58c.

However mine sort of went the other way -- my target OG was 1.043 and I hit 1.045, but had 1L less go into the fermenter than anticipated. Still trying to adjust the numbers in Beersmith at this stage.

Lhbs crushes are almost always super coarse in order to be as widely useable as possible. They often lead to low efficiency numbers.

 

[andylsun]

Lhbs crushes are almost always super coarse in order to be as widely useable as possible. They often lead to low efficiency numbers.

Buy my own mill it is then. Also need a banjo burner. Yum, upgrades!

 

[fenners]

In the last 15 minutes boil of my chinook amber - basically using up some hops I had in the freezer. Going to be called "Pining for the Fjords", I think. A filler to keep the pipeline full now the kids are back in school & we have more folk over for dinner etc.

While that chills down, I'll be transferring my dark IPA, "Vader's Lament" to secondary so I can dry-hop, and then steal some of the yeast slurry for my amber.

Once /that's/ all done, I need to start a few gallons of cherry-apple aplewein going for a Christmas party.

A busy brewday I think this is the first time in a /long/ time I'll have three fermenters full.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Lhbs crushes are almost always super coarse in order to be as widely useable as possible. They often lead to low efficiency numbers.

I usually just double crush it.

 

[andylsun]

I usually just double crush it.

Will try that on my next one

 

[codswallop]

God Beersmith can be infuriating. I tell it the size of my mash tun, want to add top up water at the end so tell it that, and it STILL tells me to mash with more water than the tun can hold, and it won't let me edit that.

Maybe one day I'll find why everyone likes it so much, but today's not that day.

Lhbs crushes are almost always super coarse in order to be as widely useable as possible. They often lead to low efficiency numbers.

Ahh. Might tell them next time I order it's for BIAB and see if they doing anything different.

 

[thcsquad]

Did you ever make this? I meant to respond but totally forgot. My personal opinion is that those flavours wouldn't gel too well with a wit, but some could be workable with a wheat.

I'm unfamiliar with the Allagash White though, so maybe it's suitable. I'm just thinking about a 'regular' wit (e.g. Hoegaarden style) and don't think it'd be that suitable.

I did brew it, and didn't end up putting pumpkin in it, essentially due to doubts about the end flavor. I still added some fall-themed spices in addition to the usual wit spices. The final spice bill was: coriander seed, sweet orange peel, grains of paradise, cinnamon, and cloves. It's still in primary, and I'm hoping to bottle it this weekend.

You're not too far off from Allagash if you're thinking of Hoegaarden. Allagash is definitely spicier and in my opinion far better than Hoegaarden, but they both include the standard wit spices of coriander seed and orange peel.

I actually consider Allagash White the gold standard for wits, at least among beers commonly available in New England. It's worth seeking out if you've never had it, and if you're in the US it shouldn't be that hard to find.

 

[fenners]

In the last 15 minutes boil of my chinook amber - basically using up some hops I had in the freezer. Going to be called "Pining for the Fjords", I think. A filler to keep the pipeline full now the kids are back in school & we have more folk over for dinner etc.

While that chills down, I'll be transferring my dark IPA, "Vader's Lament" to secondary so I can dry-hop, and then steal some of the yeast slurry for my amber.

Once /that's/ all done, I need to start a few gallons of cherry-apple aplewein going for a Christmas party.

A busy brewday I think this is the first time in a /long/ time I'll have three fermenters full.

Kegged the amber tonight. Hit 1.010, which rocks, but it's a little cloudier than normal because I forgot to add my whirlfloc during the boil. Definitely not my best brew, but the plan was a quick easy brew. Definitely pine flavour from the chinook.

I'm disappointed by my Vader's Lament Nowhere near as dark or clear as I wanted

 

[codswallop]

I actually consider Allagash White the gold standard for wits, at least among beers commonly available in New England. It's worth seeking out if you've never had it, and if you're in the US it shouldn't be that hard to find.

I've only got one Allagash beer (Curieux) as I live in Australia, and I haven't tried that yet. As for wits, I had the St Bernadus Celis signature and the Belgian-brewed Celis Wit in Belgium recently (haven't found the US/Texas Celis Wit in Australia though) and they definitely have a better taste than Hoegaarden too, but it's an easy shorthand for the flavours.

I'll be interested to see how it turns out, especially with the nutmeg and cinnamon, but then I've been surprised in the past (by things like thyme, rhubarb, etc, got a truffle beer in the cupboard right now)!

One trick I've seen from brewers in the past few months is them mixing the grains in a bowl (not even touching beer at this stage) to get the mix of flavours right, and then sampling them with either one they've brewed or off-the-shelf versions of a beer they're aiming for. Might be a plan for the future, particularly with flavours that seem a bit left of centre.

 

[thcsquad]

One trick I've seen from brewers in the past few months is them mixing the grains in a bowl (not even touching beer at this stage) to get the mix of flavours right, and then sampling them with either one they've brewed or off-the-shelf versions of a beer they're aiming for. Might be a plan for the future, particularly with flavours that seem a bit left of centre.

I've been thinking of doing that with the tea beer that I intend to make at some point. Essentially, brew different types of strengths of tea and mix them in varying amounts with whatever commercial beer is somewhat close to what I'll be brewing, and test it out that way. I didn't think to do something like that with this beer.

I tasted it before bottling, and it was good but the spice profile actually seemed a bit weak. I'd rather error that way and simply end up with a decent wit, of course, but it would have been nice to get a little more spice in there. I did notice that some of the spice had settled at the bottom, so the last couple of ounces had a stronger spice flavor.

It's been in the bottle for one week, and its debut will be at a party we're throwing next weekend, so I'll have more of an update then. Of course, I'll probably open a bottle to taste before then to get a more complete impressions before I serve it to all of my friends

 

[Milchjon]

Beersmith looks a bit unintuitive and, above all, ugly.

Any alternatives?

 

[MacGurcules]

Beersmith looks a bit unintuitive and, above all, ugly.

Any alternatives?

Brewtarget is free, open source, and fairly friendly. I've never gotten deep into Beersmith, so I can't comment on how thoroughly it compares, but Brewtarget does the job for me.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Beersmith looks a bit unintuitive and, above all, ugly.

Any alternatives?

People like Brewtoad as well. I will say, having used various online tools for a couple years before finally breaking down and buying Beersmith, once you get your profiles set up, it is by far the most robust, tweakable and accurate (as far as formulas can be when it comes to brewing) pieces of software out there...it's really not even a little bit close.

 

[fenners]

Yeah it took me a while to get used to Brewsmith & thought I'd wasted my money for a while. It took taking the time to figure out the equipment profile for my set-up, getting a mash schedule etc that matches what I use normally etc combined with plugging in a couple of recipes I'd brewed with good notes so I could compare its numbers with mine to see what's going on.

I definitely don't use it to its full potential, but as a repository of my recipes combined with the target numbers it gives me for everything from OG/FG to IBUs etc, I love it.

 

[codswallop]

Beersmith looks a bit unintuitive and, above all, ugly.

Agreed (and made a similar comment five above yours). It's counterintuitive, a lot of things just don't make sense and it's just awful to use. But then, it's considered the best at what it does, so I bought it anyway. I haven't had it for long enough to say that I've made better beer with it. My next brew will be the first one I've modified in Beersmith (not a totally new one, but tweaks to an existing brew).

People like Brewtoad as well.

I've used Brewers Hub, Hopville and since Hopville moved to Brewtoad, Brewtoad. They're all OK, but they only really give you a vague guide of what it'll be. Beersmith seems to be a lot more specific in that regard, which is both the reason people love it and hate it. I think you really need to understand what you're inputting to get the most out of it. It's not for beginning brewers.

Yeah it took me a while to get used to Brewsmith & thought I'd wasted my money for a while.

Me too. I'm still in that period. We'll see!