Home Brewing

[sparroa]

I actually don't boil my top up water; I buy bottled water and take my chances - so far, so good with otherwise thorough cleaning and sanitation practices.
I have thought about your suggestion on my own in the past, and I was not inclined to try it. The bittering level would be extreme if hops were boiled in plain water and I'm fairly certain you would extract plenty of harsh grassy flavours. Certainly, one could fiddle with the hop amounts until a desired level of bitterness could be reached but that experimentation could render a few batches undrinkable... Not only that, there must be numerous chemical reactions that occur between hops and wort to produce the outcomes we're seeking in a homebrew that just wouldn't be replicated with a plain water boil. (IMO)
The "Texas two step" split boil method is pretty much the same thing, except it eliminates the guesswork of the plain water hopping. With the wort divided equally between two pots it is a fairly simple yet laborious process.
Thanks for the suggestion, though. I don't think there is any easy solution to the problem, other than adaptation.
Hmm... I didn't think of insulating the pot. That could definitely be a help. Personally I wish I had a propane or natural gas range rather than the small piece of junk electric model that I have now - that'd solve all my boiling problems.
I appreciate your help.
PS: Baron - you are a lucky man. Those things can't take much pressure, let alone an impact - at least they heat up quickly...

 

[baronsamedi]

Oh yes. Another lesson. Make sure the yeast is done working before you cork up, otherwise you will wake up to the 1812 Overture going off in your house. Wife was not happy about that either. In addition to mead in the carpet, there were marks on the wall opposite the bottles where the corks were bouncing off.

 

[sparroa]

Lol.
I haven't had any bottle bombs yet, though there are plenty of times when I skip hydrometer readings and go on my gut alone. Again, so far so good as long as you give the beer a long primary fermentation and observe it closely.
Mead on the other hand is probably tricky as hell since its so prone to stuck fermentation and other yeast issues. Thanks for the warning! I'm sure you had you had to make up big time for that one.

 

[baronsamedi]

If you ever get a stuck batch of mead, a pack of EC-1118 and a dash of yeast energizer will usually unstuck it. Plus with mead there will be times when you think it's not doing anything because it's not bubbling, but it's just playing possum. When you use a powerful yeast and nutrients added, it will do most of it's work in the first couple weeks and then slow way down. That's normal. Beer gets finished pretty quick, but mead is a waiting game. A hydrometer is a good investment. So is a pH meter, but constantly fretting over pH and SG can also drive you crazy. It's very important in wine but with mead, patience is a better tool than either one. If you were to do it professionally you would have to adhere to those elements and temperature control very strictly, though, or you'd be screwed.For home stuff, I can taste if it's too acid (usually not a problem with mead) or too low alcohol though.

 

[roudoudou]

sparroa,
Me again (I know I'm quite a pain!!!) :roll:
Found this on homebrewtalk.com: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/ibu-values-partial-boils-239328/

Yooper (and she has hundreds of batches under her belt!) said : One thing you can do easily is add the bulk of the extract at the end of the boil. That way your wort doesn't darken and get carmelized-tasting and the hops utilization will improve as well.
I haven't read the rest of the post (surely other members have something interesting).
But the way, I noticed you're in Canada, maybe the Maritimes (you mention Sobeys in a post, so I'm just guessing). Where exactly?
Are there any other canadian brewers around? Morton is based in Regina if I'm correct.

 

[captainsousie]

Sparroa, have you considered using a HopShot or similar hop extract? It might make your IPAs and other hoppy styles more accessible.

 

[sparroa]

roudoudou,
I'm in Newfoundland.
I almost always do late boil additions with my extract. It is a good technique for lighter beers or for hoppy beers in general. Unfortunately, however, as long as you are still topping off with water there is a ceiling and you can't get your beers any more bitter. I should clarify that what I brew as an IPA is just a really aromatic pale ale, if you want to get technical BJCP style...
I never read through that link but I'm always Googling my homebrew problems so it is very possible that I've read it myself in the past. I used to be a regular lurker at HomeBrewTalk but my activity is nil of late.
captain,

I've thought about hop extracts but I haven't gone there. Supply might be an issue. I haven't seen any at my suppliers and northernbrewer and the other good HB online HB shops I'm aware of won't ship to Canada. Thanks for the tip, though.
Cool, I didn't realize Morton was Canadian - it's good to have a brewer here on the forums, either way.

 

[shawn622]

Baron. I couldn't stand being called junior member. It reminded me of little ummmmm member :rofl: My nickname in my band was Knucklehead because i was by far the craziest of the 4 of us. I asked the mods to chang my title to Knucklehead to make people laugh, plus I pretty much am a knucklehead. I brew up some mean libations though 8)

 

[roudoudou]

sparroa,
Late hop addition don't add that much in terms of IBUs (that's why there're called flavor and aroma). Have you try dryhopping (adding hops when you transfer from primary to secondary)? I did it a couple of months ago and wish I had done it much sooner! No sanitation required, just add hops in carboy then transfer. I would say that's what differentiates IPA from pale ales.

Maybe adding half (or third) the extract at the beginning, then add bittering hops then add the remainder of extract at the end, and then dryhopping would give you both IBUs and hop aroma?
The search function on homebrewtalk doesn't work great. When I'm looking for something, I google:

subject site:homebrewtalk.com

It works much better!
I knew a guy from St-John's while I was in Ottawa. Very nice guy and from what he told me about the city: I gotta visit it one day! Those colored houses look awesome!
Santé!

 

[roudoudou]

As for my next set up: www.theelectricbrewery.com
But I'll need to win the lottery first!

 

[baronsamedi]

For you beer guys, you should do a Braggot, which is an ale-mead. Add a lb of Munich malt to your primary and hop it with some Hallertau hops. You can make it still and cork it like wine or sugar it at the end and make it like beer. If you do that, though, use beer bottles and a capper! You can use Champagne corks and wires, too, but bottling it like beer is cheaper.

 

[sparroa]

roudoudou,
Yeah, I always dry hop whenever I do a hoppy style of beer - usually several ounces for up to 10 days.
I already do late boil additions with my extract - saving the vast majority of the extract until the last 10-15 minutes. You have basically described my routine.
Here is the problem: supposedly you can only get approximately 100-110 IBU in a beer. So even if you hit the highest possible hop extraction in a partial boil beer, as soon as you top up you are still going to dilute it down to 50 or less. Technically that is not an IPA if you are dealing with 6% alcohol or more...
So unless one does a full boil or split batch, that is the best you will ever get. (Reducing the gravity is another step to make it more bitter, but that's not always desirable)
The worst part about it all is even if I hit the IBU target, by using more hops (thus more plant matter) during the boil I am left with a harsher and grassier bitterness than someone who is doing a full boil...
Nice setup by the way. If I could get a "system" out of the box tomorrow it'd be a Sabco BrewMagic. If it is good enough for Sam Calagione it is good enough for me!
Baron, I haven't made any strong beers yet because I don't have an oxygenation setup but I'll keep the braggot in mind...
Regarding mead, would you ever bottle mead in Grolsch-style swingtops or regular crown capped beer bottles for long term storage? Some say corks are more reliable but in my experience they can be just as faulty as any other closure - if not more. (Considering cork taint, cork expansion with the seasons et cetera)

 

[brewshooter]

My house IPA keg just kicked, looks like it's time to throw on the dunkelweizen before it gets too old!!! Oh, as for homebrewtalk.com. If you see a guy over there named Shooter, say hello. I'll be sure to say hello back! :wink:

 

[roudoudou]

Kegging! I'm thinking of installing one when we'll renovate the kitchen (beer/CO2 in the basement with lines going up to the kitchen). + my girlfriend would find this cool. :D
Have any of you used peat malt? Since I'm a big fan of Caol Ila/Lagavulin, it would make a nice addition to my beers. From what I read, you gotta go light with it (2-3%).
I'm a flip-top fan. Reusable, reclosable, no need to buy caps. I have the 1 liter ones (much faster at bottling time). But I've noticed the new ones are thinner than they used to be (EZ are saving on glass).
I don't drink much, just one bottle (or two during the weekend) a day. That's what I tell the doctor (he didn't ask the size of the bottle!)

 

[brewshooter]

Kegging is definitely nice if you have room for the setup. I've never used peat malt myself. Probably because I've never had a beer with peat malt in it that was any good. I like smoked beers for the most part, but peat just seems overpowering, even in the smallest amounts.
Well, the dunkelweizen turned out pretty danged good.

 

[pipesicle]

Wow, reading this...has really got me thinking. But I don't know if the wife can take one more hobby on my part....But maybe she doesn't have to know. :wink:

 

[shawn622]

Brewshooter, I have a friend who brews all kinds of exotic beer. You said something about smoked beers. He has made varieties that have used smoked malted barley. He has also smoked his own hops and used brown paper bags full of corn sugar and/or powder barley malt and smoked the entire bags. I haven't drank in 6 years really but it all sounds interesting. I used to brew a lot in my 20's. I still have all the equipment.

 

[brewshooter]

Wow, reading this...has really got me thinking. But I don't know if the wife can take one more hobby on my part....But maybe she doesn't have to know.

Tell me about it, I have WAY too many hobbies!!!

You said something about smoked beers. He has made varieties that have used smoked malted barley.

Yeah, smoked beers can be quite good. However, I'm not a particular fan of peat smoked malts. I do love scotch, but just don't like it in my beers for some reason.

 

[shawn622]

Never tried em Brewshooter.

 

[roudoudou]

pipesicle,
Since beer brewing takes me around 6 hrs (all grain, around 3 if you're doing extract), I'm sure your wife will notice! Maybe you could brew at your mistress' house?
Seriously, specially if your wife is not beer addicted, you should try cider (or mead). It's much quicker, around 10 minutes (juice + yeast, then wait). And apple harvesting is around the corner (my B&M is usually selling fresh juice from an apple orchard around sept 20, probably sooner in the US). I actually brew cider for my girlfriend.
shawn622,
Have you tried Innis & Gunn? Don't know the recipe but it think it's aged in Irish whiskey cask. I've tasted quite a lot of beers (including Duff beer, I'll have to find the pic and post it) but this one is totally different and unique. You have to try it.
Smoking hops??? Now I'm intrigued!