re: Home Brewing: After a few delays, the time has come (Update P. 2)

Did you use a crystal malt? Im thinking 1 lb either 40L or 60L or Caramunich with 6lb base (probably Munich) and some wheat in the 1.5-2lb range to go with 2lb brown malt (or victory). With some vanilla extract added in primary and secondary.

I think I may go with some pecan extract to get some of the pecan flavoring.

I think I have settled on Munich as the base, Crystal 60L, Some Victory and Wheat (for a nice head). Im going to shoot more for a nut brown ale. small amount of cane & brown Sugar would make a good addition. I want the vanilla in there too.

I'll have to research which hops and yeast I will go with.

I was actually thinking closer to 1 lb of victory in it.. I just havent been able to punch in the numbers yet. More I look at it I may decrease the Munich as well and add in some 2 row to make it 50/50 on that.

quote:

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but i got my hops up this morning

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Was this intended?

UPDATE: 4/25/11

Well, i should have already brewed by now, but i hit a snag.

I got all the cleaning and sanitizing finished. Was ready to brew, started boiling 3 gallons of water in my aluminum pot on my stove...My damn stove won't get hot enough to boil the water.

I've tried twice so far, and both times, it gets the water hot enough to steam, but after 2 hours on the highest heat, no boil. I'm wondering if the problem is the stove or my 20 qt aluminum pot.
The stove i have is a glass top electric stove. The pot is aluminum. Is the stove too weak, or is the aluminum pot losing too much heat too quickly?

In order to combat this i'm either going to have to buy an outside burner and propane tank, or get a stainless steel pot. What advice could you give me?

Also, I bought my hops and yeast last wednesday. I've been keeping them in my fridge. How long do they stay good for? Will keeping them in the fridge ruin them?

Hmmm, I have a 28 qt. stainless pot and I brew on an electric stove. It boils no problem, but it's not a glass-top stove.

The hops and yeast will be fine for a while in the fridge. No worries there.

The pot has nothing to do with it.. Sounds like something wrong with your stove.

I have a glass top electric and dont have an issue with that much water..

Every pot should be able to boil water on your stove. Water boils at around 212 degrees. Your burner should be getting much hotter than that. Have you taken a temp reading after an hour to see where it is at.

As for the hops what kind pellet? leaf? How are they stored? If sealed dont worry about them since you will hopefully be brewing soon.

Freezer is better than fridge though.. You want as cold as possible and without oxygen for optimal storage. Pellets also break down much slower than the rest.

So not Vacuum Sealed?

If you get to boil in the next few weeks you would be fine. If vacuum sealed really no need to even put in freezer or fridge for a good while (although its a good idea)

You dont have anything to worry about there.

If you cant get the water up to boil (Really on electric I find 4 gallons is the max)

You could always split the volumn in two pots.

When i'm using star san. Could i just fill up one container with star san, and then pour that into another, and then another, and then another, instead of making 3 different batches of star san solution?