I like this software: http://www.beersmith.com/

Quote from: Punx Clever on August 31, 2011, 01:49:13 PM
I like this software: http://www.beersmith.com/

I've been tinkering around with it for a bit. I decided to try my hand at deciding a recipe. Either I messed up royally or theres a glitch in the program.

I tried making a red-colored IIPA using hops based of descriptions of flavor and aroma, etc.

Either I didn't fully enter in something correctly or the program is flawed. I entered in my equipment as follows:

10 Gallon rubbermaid cooler mashtun  w/ false bottom, .5 gallon loss
15.5 Gallon keggle with a trub loss of 2 gallons (I didn't have a downspout inside the keg at the time, and I use an immersion chiller so I like to pour only clear beer into the carboy)

My OG was supposed to be 1.080, came in at 1.055. So I went back to the drawing board, and redesigned my equipment profile as follows

10 Gallon rubbermaid cooler mashtun  w/ false bottom, .5 gallon loss
15.5 Gallon keggle with a trub loss of .5 gallons (Equipped a pickup tube in kettle with attached screen to filter

When plugging the new equipment profile into the same recipe, the gravity doesn't change, which I find interesting. Why wouldn't it change if I'm not using 3 extra gallons of water for mashing and boiling/etc. I would have assumed the OG would have sky rocketed and I'd have to lose some grain, but alas, not.

Can't wait to try the recipe again with the pick up and screen. IIPA's are sure expensive to brew though.

Our pumpkin ale is aging nicely, and I just through the Morebeer double barrel ale clone in the keg, and it tasted pretty good.

EDIT: I'm also trying my hand at culturing some yeast from my pumpkin ale. I used "Denny's favorite 50" or something like, and I love that yeast! The beer is crystal clear and the yeast is tightly compacted at the bottom of the bottle and barely stirs when you pour, which was GREAT characteristics for this beer since we're giving about 80% of it away to friends and family, and they don't really know all about not pouring that LAST sip. lol.

mmmmm yeast farts....

Bottled the Oktoberfest yesterday.

Having an unveiling in 3 weeks to see how it turned out.

Quote from: PhoenixS4R on September 18, 2011, 03:36:31 PM
I've been tinkering around with it for a bit. I decided to try my hand at deciding a recipe. Either I messed up royally or theres a glitch in the program.

I tried making a red-colored IIPA using hops based of descriptions of flavor and aroma, etc.

Either I didn't fully enter in something correctly or the program is flawed. I entered in my equipment as follows:

10 Gallon rubbermaid cooler mashtun  w/ false bottom, .5 gallon loss
15.5 Gallon keggle with a trub loss of 2 gallons (I didn't have a downspout inside the keg at the time, and I use an immersion chiller so I like to pour only clear beer into the carboy)

My OG was supposed to be 1.080, came in at 1.055. So I went back to the drawing board, and redesigned my equipment profile as follows

10 Gallon rubbermaid cooler mashtun  w/ false bottom, .5 gallon loss
15.5 Gallon keggle with a trub loss of .5 gallons (Equipped a pickup tube in kettle with attached screen to filter

When plugging the new equipment profile into the same recipe, the gravity doesn't change, which I find interesting. Why wouldn't it change if I'm not using 3 extra gallons of water for mashing and boiling/etc. I would have assumed the OG would have sky rocketed and I'd have to lose some grain, but alas, not.

Can't wait to try the recipe again with the pick up and screen. IIPA's are sure expensive to brew though.

Our pumpkin ale is aging nicely, and I just through the Morebeer double barrel ale clone in the keg, and it tasted pretty good.

EDIT: I'm also trying my hand at culturing some yeast from my pumpkin ale. I used "Denny's favorite 50" or something like, and I love that yeast! The beer is crystal clear and the yeast is tightly compacted at the bottom of the bottle and barely stirs when you pour, which was GREAT characteristics for this beer since we're giving about 80% of it away to friends and family, and they don't really know all about not pouring that LAST sip. lol.

mmmmm yeast farts....

Your gravity doesn't change because you loose less in the kettle... unless you are "topping off" with water once you are done boiling?  Shouldn't need to do that.

Probably what is going on is that you didn't input the efficiency of your setup properly.  IE: 60% vs 75% or whatever.

Racked the Gingered Honey Ale today

secondary fermentation started off nicely and rapidly droped to 1 bubble every 90 seconds... hhmm

<lightbulb>

its 50 degrees outside...turn on heater

and

presto a bubble every 4 seconds for about an hour

and then nothing... hhmm

<lightbulb>

Doh! heater too close to carbouy

turn off heater..wait...wait...nothing...pressure in lock reverses... shit I killed

3 hours later

bubble every 90 seconds...whew

Racked the Octofist into the secondary last night also.

Didn't take any readings, but had a good smell of high alcohol content. Hells yes.

Then I noticed the haziness and realized I forgot to add the whirlfloc tablet in the boil.

Good thing I don't give a shit about cloudy beer.

Quote from: Punx Clever on September 27, 2011, 08:58:26 PM
Your gravity doesn't change because you loose less in the kettle... unless you are "topping off" with water once you are done boiling?  Shouldn't need to do that.

Probably what is going on is that you didn't input the efficiency of your setup properly.  IE: 60% vs 75% or whatever.

Ya I was under the assumption that the amount of grains used at, lets say 5 gallons, would run out of sugar and woulnd't give me the proper sugar I needed at 10 gallons, which wasn't true. It did turn out to be really, really bad efficiency.

Can't wait for my own grain mill

Wife: "Hey, we have these grapes in the back yard, think we can make wine?"

Guy at the local brew supplies store: "Of course! Here's a one-stage kit, and you can do secondary fermentation in a 1 gal jug. You'll probably want more grapes though."

Me: "Can I also do beer?"

Guy: "Of course! But you'll want a bigger secondary vessel depending on the beer you want to brew. No use brewing 1 gallon at a time."

Needless to say, looks like I've got my new winter hobby lined up.

Stopping at the brew store for two carboys & a couple airlocks.  Doing another batch of Apple-Honey wine!

JM

Today's purchase:

Only one, they didn't have any other carboys on hand.


JM

I've been thinking of picking up another 2 fermentation vessels so I can keep a steady stream of homebrew going. Thinking about 2 better bottles instead of glass carboys though

This is my first.  The local brew supply has the 5 gallon ones for $35

JM

Quote from: the_Journeyman on October 08, 2011, 04:44:50 PM
This is my first.  The local brew supply has the 5 gallon ones for $35

JM

Did you pick it up for beer? EDIT: nevermind, I see the champagne yeast now... sorry.

If you brew 5 gallon batches you'll need a blow off.

I finally found a localish homebrew shop that does a decent crush. 85% efficiency batch sparge baby! Much better then the 55% i was getting at Morebeer....

Yea, they had 5 and 6 gallon, but since I currently make wine, I stuck with the 5 gallon.

JM

Glass carboys are harder to find and more expensive these days...  and I'm not a terrible fan of better bottles.  I like being able to scrub the glass carboys.  I've got two of each.

OTOH, this years pumpkin brew will be done no-chill in a plastic tote. We'll see how it goes.