Home Brewing

[Bounce]

Since I was the one that threadjacked the Sous Vide thread, let me start this new one with a copy of the post that did it.

My bad.

Oh yeah. It also makes beer.

Tom,

My Picobrew Pico should be here next week. Will see how the home brew goes with the smoked meat and sous vide.

Holy cow! They say it's also a sous vide! WinWin!

 

[Bounce]

Bounce...damn! A Pico Brew. Food and beer is a combination that works for me. What is the beer batch size?

Fred nailed it. 5 liters. I have a pilsner on day 4 right now. The machine lets you tweak a couple of the things in each recipe (ABV % and bitterness). The pils is normally 4.5% and upped it only 1 notch to avoid ruining things since I'm new. I've a friend who is an avid home brewer but I just want to enjoy the results I don't want it to be a big hobby that takes up a room with all the gear.

A friend was into RC planes in the 80s but they seemed more interested in building the models. I just wanted to learn to fly. I sold my first kit and never looked back. like with RC airplanes in the 80s,

With this you just insert the pack with it's recipe. 2 or 3 hours later it's in the fermentation keg. A few days later, you hook that and the serving keg back up to the machine, seal the serving keg when full, toss it in the fridge with a CO2 cartridge and after that, serve it up.

If wanting to, a new batch could be stewing for a few days by the time the serving keg runs out (so almost ready to rack).

I really don't want it any more complicated (or scattered around) than that.

...

I needed to add something to my essential supplies for my bug in bag.

 

[Bounce]

From Fred W:

Looks like it makes 5 liter keg batches.
I was thinking about this the other day: Back when I was a passionate homebrewer I built an all electric Recirculating Infusion Mashing System (RIMS) using a hot water heating element in a 2" copper pipe housing, and a small electronic circuit (designed by a guy named Rodney Morris), that was pretty inexpensive to build.

The RIMS has a temp probe that goes in the heated recirculated wort, and was able to tightly maintain and control the liquid mash temperature in a big picnic cooler to within 1 degree F, which is critical to maintain the mash at the correct temperature for the type of amylase enzymes (alpha or beta) you wanted to promote for the style of beer you were making. That was with a 40 quart rectangular cooler 3/4 full of semi-liquid mash. That rig should be able to sous vide a whole lot of meat at once.

A lot of the challenge in beer mashing is that a large part of the volume is solid, and relatively small amount is liquid. In the case of sous vide your liquid can be as large as you want, so temp control should be a snap. My typical mash schedule would begin as low at 132F (for protein rests) and might step up as high as 158F at mashout, so that controller should be just the ticket for someone wanting to make a home-made sous vide recirculator.

I've given my old RIMS setup to my son in VT to use home brewing, but they now have a spiffy 15 gallon three level, gas fired, test brewing rig at the brewery, so I might see if I can get it back and try cooking a la' sous vide with it.

If you like what this thing makes for beer, watch out. It could easily become bigger than any of these cooking hobbies we are talking about lately.

In my case it turned into a brewing career for my son, but before that I was cranking out (and drinking) 10 gallon all-grain batches on a regular basis of about one per month. That won't do anything approaching flattering for your waistline. DAMHIKT

 

[Bounce]

From Knifemaker:

If you like what this thing makes for beer, watch out. It could easily become bigger than any of these cooking hobbies we are talking about lately.

In my case it turned into a brewing career for my son, but before that I was cranking out (and drinking) 10 gallon all-grain batches on a regular basis of about one per month. That won't do anything approaching flattering for your waistline. DAMHIKT

I just can't drink beer like I did when I was younger. I think somewhere I mentioned that my daughter (and her husband) who live in Washington state are serious home brewers. They even altered a chest freezer into a five tap "kegorator"...that holds five- 5 gallon containers of their homemade beers. I don't know how two fairly skinny 30 somethings can have 25 gallons of beer at their fingertips on a daily basis and not be, um, "bigger"....I thought of trying the whole homebrew thing myself awhile back, but now I guess I've passed that window of opportunity. I can drink maybe two beers with a meal, but that's it. Oddly I have no problem putting down a half bottle of red wine, or two or three glasses or single malt....

 

[Bounce]

From TomInPA:

I have 5-gallons of Russian Imperial Stout home brew in a keg, but the finish is too sweet. I'm considering pulling it off the gas, letting it warm up and dry out a bit. Very high alcohol in this one, and I should have let it finish longer in secondary at a bit warmer temperature. It was only at 68 degrees and I think the yeast just got tired before the sugars were gone.


Hey Bounce, how about changing the title of this thread to "Sous Vide and Homebrew". I apparently can't edit after this much time.

 

[Bounce]

From Fred W:

Not uncommon for an ale yeast to poop out as the AA gets up there. Have to use a hardy strain to deal with it or Krausen it with a second yeast to finish it. Keeping tabs on the specific gravity in the secondary will help you avoid excessive sweetness, but balancing the maltiness with adequate bitterness is another option. Russian Imperial is not supposed to be a session beer.

 

[Bounce]

From TomInPA:

The cost of refratometers is getting better. On the Christmas list. I have never been able tto keep a glass floating hydrometer in one piece very long, so I'm flying blind...or that might be the high alcohol. My editing ability seems to go away within a few hours. Maybe I pissed someone off.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

Nothing will make you fatter than a BBQ or home brewing hobby. Combining them can't be good for your waist line, but could be really good for your tastebuds!

 

[Fred W]

From Fred W:

Not uncommon for an ale yeast to poop out as the AA ABV gets up there. (AA is hop alpha acid content. ABV is Alcohol By Volume). Have to use a hardy strain to deal with it or Krausen it with a second yeast to finish it. Keeping tabs on the specific gravity in the secondary will help you avoid excessive sweetness, but balancing the maltiness with adequate bitterness is another option. Russian Imperial is not supposed to be a session beer.

Needed to correct what I mistyped on my iPad. Thanks for moving this to its own thread, Bounce.

Of course some people will get torqued off that we are discussing more off-topic subjects in the off-topic forum area.

 

[Bounce]

I think the hardest thing about the Pico is the whole new lexicon needed to learn just to ask a question.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Damn. Looks like a souped-up Keurig coffee maker; prepackaged ingredients and everything!

Won't replace my 20-quart cookpot on the gas range, or the Uncle Hud classic collection of 5-gallon buckets that rest in a bathtub filled with ice water for two weeks.

 

[Bounce]

Nor should it. But with that in mind, that kind of contraption (and ever-exanding space it takes up) is what I wanted to avoid.

I've seen them call it a "brew appliance" and I can live with that.

 

[TomInPA]

I have never made a truly bad batch of home brewed beer, but I'm working on a bit of a project today. I have a Russian Imperial Stout that stuck, and I racked it to a keg last week and put it on carbon dioxide. It just didn't help with the sick sweet taste. So I pulled the keg and am going to transfer back to a secondary with a Trappist yeast that tolerates alcohol up to 12% and try to dry this stuff out. I'll transfer and pitch today. I just let the beer warm overnight and took it off CO2. If anyone has experience with restarting a kegged batch, I'd like to hear from you.

The other carboy is a 7 Deadly C's IPA. It has all the 'C' hops: Cluster, Centennal, Columbus, Cascade, and will dry hop later this week with Chinnook, Citra and Crystal. This is in a wort with O.G of 1.075 with white wheat, carapils and crystal malts. The grain bill is 15 lbs of American Pale Malts. It just went to secondary yesterday afternoon, and I won't pitch the fragrance hops until about 3 days from racking.

 

[Fred W]

Restarting with the new yeast shouldn't be a problem. I would suggest letting the beer warm up, rack it back into a carboy (if you have another) and shed most of the forced CO2 before you pitch the new yeast. That will give you time to propagate the new yeast in some boiled and cooled extract as a starter medium.

Almost forgot to mention, the new yeast will need some O2, but you also don't want too much aeration or your DO will be high when it's done. Not a huge problem is kegging and drinking it up soon, but high DO results in rapid beer oxidation and spoiling.

Knowing what your SG is now will help you determine how far you want the new yeast to go. While refractometers are cool as the dickens, I could never see parting with that much cash when a good old glass hydrometer does the job. I never broke one in all my years of home brewing, though I did have one so old that the inner scale detached and moved. I just always kept them in their plastic cases when not in use. And I did take some measurements in pretty hot wort now and then (and make the appropriate temp correction)

 

[TomInPA]

I use starter cultures in an Erlenmeyer flask, so I don't think the 1/2 liter culture will do much to raise D.O, in the beer. My bigger concern is with pH changes from the initial carbonation and de-carbonation. WTH, there should be enough alcohol in this stuff that taste won't matter.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, aerating the starter will get the yeast moving, but it will also need O2 in the beer when you pitch it or it will fizzle out. That's what I meant about DO in the beer. Letting the beer de-carbonate will reduce the carbolic acid. .

 

[Bugman]

Tom, I would use White Labs WLP051 because I do not like the phenolics produced by the trappist yeast. That and I would not mix beer styles. If you want more attenuation then you could try WLP090. It will attenuate as high as 83% with alcohol levels to 15% while still having low esters with a clean taste.

 

[Fred W]

I was going to say something similar, but figured that he knew what he was going for.

Have you ever tried Allagash Black before? It is quite good, but you do have to like the estery Belgian yeast flavor to enjoy it (which I do).

 

[TomInPA]

I need to start these threads before I jump all in. The yeast is a Safbrew S-33. From the S-33 Spec Sheet, Fermentis states: “General purpose ale yeast with neutral flavor profiles. Its low attenuation gives beers with a very good length on the palate. Particularly recommended for specialty ales and trappist type beers.”From the S-33 Spec Sheet, Fermentis states: “General purpose ale yeast with neutral flavor profiles. Its low attenuation gives beers with a very good length on the palate. Particularly recommended for specialty ales and trappist type beers.”

It is currently in a 800 mL starter and should be ready to pitch tomorrow. The beer is improving and continuing to pressurize the keg, so I think in addition to de-carbonating, it is also krausening. This ale had a O.G. of 1.093. Currently it is showing 1.032 gravity, and the targe is less than 1.02, preferably 1.015- 1.017. (I replaced my hydrometer). Actual gravity may be a bit more accounting for CO2 in solution, so I'll let the sample sit a bit. Bottom line is it's still sweet. It might finish without additional pitching, cut I have an alcohol tolerant yeast getting ready that should not impose too much taste character since fermentation is at least 80% complete.