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Thread: Where are the good beer makers?

  1. #151
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Don't ever judge a flat beer on aroma and flavour. Those bubbles and the CO2 carried in them have the bulk of the flavour... your nose is where all that registers and CO2 really helps it get up there.

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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Yes, I'm hoping it to be better once carbed up. I'm mainly comparing to to my past experiences. The beers I've done in the past smelled like heaven at the bottling phase. We'll see in a few weeks though. I certainly didn't mind the taste. Drank the whole flat beer. Dont remember doing that before.

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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Wow, I have been reading over the thread, so much to learn. I am very excited as we are starting up our own brew company. By we I mean myself and a couple of neighbours and by company I mean, we are brewing beers in the pool house basement. But it sounds good if we call ourselves a company. Now, being the extremists we are, we are going all out. I must admit, the other two are far more knowledgeable then me at this point, but I hope to catch up. Right now we have bought all the top end equipment to mimic what micro brews would have. It was not cheap, but it should pay for itself fairly quickly. We are going to be able to brew two kegs per batch. Our plan is to start with IPA's. We love them and they do not take as long. we do have some specific recipes to get us going. So why I am I posting this? Well one, I am just really excited. The set up is ridiculous and I am brewing with two guys who love beer. Also, I am interested in any opinions or advice. And, if there is one IPA recipe that you would say we absolutely must try - a five star, which one would it be.
    Thanks, and hopefully over time I can contribute more. Our first brew is planned for next weekend, with all of our pre brew necessities being done on Wednesday night.

  4. #154
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Cool man, get us some pictures of your brewery. I'm very curious to see the equipment! Good on you for jumping and doing something you love for a job.

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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Ritchierich, that sounds awesome! What kind of gear did you get? By two kegs, I'm assuming you mean 110L or so per batch? In terms of recipes to totally love, I'd start with a clone brew of a commercial beer that you already know you think is spectacular. From there, you can get to know the malts and hops, and start experimenting and inventing your own recipes.

    Brew day this past Saturday: made 60 L each of an India Session Ale and a Red Rye Ale. The ISA went absolutely flawlessly - smooth mash, sparge, boil, everything. Even ran a yeast starter (Wyeast 1272 - American Ale 2). Man it smells good. The Red Rye will taste really good -- love the combo of the spicy astringent rye with the smoothness of the red -- but what a nightmare the sparge was. Rye gets GUMMY. Even with the awesome control of a mash my HERMS system gives with a nice long protein rest, the sparge stuck a few times. Yuck. Ended up losing a whack more sugar in the grain than I'd like to have done because we couldn't effectively rinse, so it's going to be lighter on the alcohol than planned. Lesson learned for next time: more rice hulls to ensure good filtration, and a long, long protein (60 minute!) rest.

    The summer wheat ale is very good - the citra hops on the nose and light on the palate just make it a spectacular summer brew. The amarillo pale ale is good, but not quite bitter enough for my taste so I'm going to be beefing it up. That's one of the huge advantages of kegging. So, I'll boil up an ounce more of hops in a pan of water for about 15 minutes, then pour that into the keg. Should add 10-15 IBUs and a whack of aroma. Nice!

  6. #156
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    So I decide that I'd like to have a few beers after work with the lads. Must clear it with the missus first... so I text her my intentions. I get positive feedback from the boss, so I'm all good. Three mass produced, work bought beer in and I get a text from the missus. "Can you bring me home a bottle of wine, pretty please?" I reply with "No worries. Can you put a homebrew in the fridge for me?" She replies..... "Just one?" I think how much I love her and reply "yes, just one. Thanks." A beer or so later, I text my wife again... " Might go to the Lumsden and have dinner. Wine delivery may be delayed." ** The Lumsden is the local craft beer bar. She knows I love it. My wife replies... " All good. Enjoy yourself." Well, what a great woman! I go to the pub and enjoy a nice meal with two different local IPAs. Beautiful. I get home and open the beer she put in the fridge for me.................. Its the ones that I keep on the top shelf of the pantry. The 2nd batch I ever made, well over two years ago...... The ones that I hope, beyond hope that will get better but I know they'll be crap forever. Those ones.... Shittiest beers I have ever made. Drain pour material.

    The morals of the story are... 1) dont keep beer you aren't prepared to drink unless you put them in a really inaccessible location, 2) no matter how well intentioned she is, dont let your wife choose your beer.

  7. #157
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Any of you guys ever carbonate with DME? I made a Pilsner recently and I used DME to carbonate instead of sugar and I haven't had much luck with carbonation yet. Any tips or thoughts on this? Its been 3 weeks now.
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  8. #158
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Three weeks? Should be ok by now. What is the abv and what temp is it sitting?

  9. #159
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Quote Originally Posted by fantasyhockeygeek View Post
    Ritchierich, that sounds awesome! What kind of gear did you get? By two kegs, I'm assuming you mean 110L or so per batch?
    yes the smaller kegs. We did our starter last night and are set to do our first batch tomorrow morning. As for the gear I am still familiarizing myself. But it is a great set up. We have the magnetism mixer for the starter, gravity checker, all the controllers for temp. We just went and got a freezer that we will act as a fridge, it will hold 4 of the big glass cylinders. I will let you know how the brew goes. Very excited.

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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Quote Originally Posted by Atomic Wedgy View Post
    Three weeks? Should be ok by now. What is the abv and what temp is it sitting?
    ABV is around 4%. It is sitting at about 68 degree. I had one the other day, a little bit of carbonation, not enough though. My friends have commented my other beers have a been a little over carbonated (who knew) so I thought I would check out DME carbonation to see how it differs or is the same.
    10 Keepers

    10 Team, 10 Keeper
    Head to Head: G,A,P,PPP,SHP,BS,FW,GAA,SV%,SO
    Daily changes: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G
    C: Malkin, Pavelski, Domi
    LW: Gaudreau, Drouin
    RW: Kessel, B. Ryan, Nyquist
    D: Hedman
    G: Holtby
    Don't mistake opinion for fact.

  11. #161
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    First ever brew today. With the exception of one small problem all went well. Although it took way longer then expected.

    Recipe: Mash was 24 lbs of 2-row malt and 2lbs of crystal 40

    We then did continuous sparging.
    Once the boil started we added 2 lbs. US northern brewer at the start of boil
    2 lbs. Amarillo with 30 min. to go
    2 lbs. Chinook with 15 to go
    2 lbs. centennial with 5 to go
    2 lbs. Cascade at the end

    This is were are problem began. We began to run it through the wart chiller but the hoses got blocked up. We were using a hop blocker but still had problems. We think we must have bumped the hop blocker so it was not on right. Also, next time we may have to empty a little into a bucket originally so any build up of hops will go into the bucket first. This was very frustrating. We started with 13 gallons but after the boil and our screw ups we were left with about 8 gallons we were aiming for 10. We dumped our yeast starter in at the end and it is now fermenting. We plan to dry hop one batch and leave the other before cooling.

    Frustrating experience, but one we will look back at soon and think, wow, what were we thinking, the first batch is always a learning experience, at least I hope.
    On a positive note, the gravity came out perfect.

    Can't wait to drink it.

  12. #162
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    We are really getting into this now. I think we might have a problem.... how do we drink all this beer. We now have 4 kegs down. We just got two more carboys so we can keep going. So now we are looking to try some new beers. So far we have done really hoppy beers. We were thinking trying something light like a corona and I would like to try a white beer such as shock top. Do any of you have great web sites you recommend for recipes or just good reading. I found fermentation riot which seems good, but any other recommendations would be great.

  13. #163
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Quote Originally Posted by Atomic Wedgy View Post
    Three weeks? Should be ok by now. What is the abv and what temp is it sitting?
    Update:

    This actually turned out perfectly. I had not used DME for carbonation before and I was a bit nervous. This one turned out so good. Easy to drink and well balanced. I might use DME as a staple for carbonation.
    10 Keepers

    10 Team, 10 Keeper
    Head to Head: G,A,P,PPP,SHP,BS,FW,GAA,SV%,SO
    Daily changes: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G
    C: Malkin, Pavelski, Domi
    LW: Gaudreau, Drouin
    RW: Kessel, B. Ryan, Nyquist
    D: Hedman
    G: Holtby
    Don't mistake opinion for fact.

  14. #164
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    It usually turns out alright. Patience is your best ally. I have never used DME for carbonation. Glad to hear it worked well. I may experiment.

  15. #165
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    Default Re: Where are the good beer makers?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ritchierich View Post
    I think we might have a problem.... how do we drink all this beer. .
    The BEST problem to have.

    As for recipes, I have never used one. I like to make my own recipes. I know where there is a big list of recipes tho. Cannot testify as to quality, but HBT as a website is pretty good.
    http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f82/

    happy hunting.

    PS... if you are really stuck for ideas on how to drink the beer, send me a PM.

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