re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

You’ve got some patience. I get antsy if a beer takes longer than a week to ferment. I’ve got a Baltic Porter that I’m lagering that is killing me.

Anyone here have an RO system in their homes? I was watching the APEC RO system install and wondering if it's worth it? I've used RO water a couple times from an RO water dispenser outside of a winn dixie in the past, but i didn't find it made a big difference. Currently, i just treat BR water with salts.

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yes..... it makes a HUGE difference, especially with neipas(maybe this is why you have those issues you talk about). BR water is so high in bicarbonates, alkalinity and sodium.

BUT when you RO your PH is still high. so you would need to account for that.

once i got an RO system i havent brewed with straight tap water.

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Well i'm brewing more of a traditional west coast pale this weekend, i may bring my brew buckets with me to work and fill them up on the way home.

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Did your wife show you the art on my pots?

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She just did. Nice!

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but after all the work IDK if just ordering a custom pot from Spikes would have been cleaner. but 50$ a port is hard to swallow.

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That's the cool thing about the Blichmann kettles. You can pick and choose where you want the ports. However, you do pay blichmann prices.

yea same with Spikes. I have just never been a fan of blichmann. i think it is just the pretentious attitude of people with blichmann. I mean a RIMs tube has been around for ages and made from easily sources parts, yet they felt the need to design it to look completely different.

i have no doubt it is good stuff.

So i decided not to brew the stout this weekend. Cooler weather isn't going to be around for as long as i expected, and i can't see myself going through an entire keg of stout. I'll push this back a couple months.

I am still going with the Maine Brewing Peeper Ale clone. West coast-ish pale ale. I have my buckets in the truck to collect some RO water at lunch today. Really wanted to get a 2nd brew in this weekend, but can't think of anything to brew right now. I was thinking of doing an ESB, but don't want 2 bitter beers on tap at the same time. I have 2 empty clean fermenters, and 1 empty 6 gallon sour fermenter.

I would brew my sour base, but i need to keep a fermenter free so i can do some blending. It's a 3 day weekend, so i'll brew the pale ale, and probably do some blending. I just noticed, of all the sours, i only really have 2 that are mixed ferm blendable beers. The other 2 are brett beers with no acidity. Those 2 will be getting a blend of the 3 gallon soured mixed ferm beer before bottling. Other than that, i have a Solera, the biere de garde blend on cherries, that just needs more time before bottling, and 3, 1 gallon fermenters with dregs from previous sour batches. Those will be utilized for my sour base beers.

So it looks like, after i blend and bottle the 2 brett beers, and bottle the biere de garde on cherries, and then a few months from now, make another solera pull, i'll have to wait at least 9-12 months before my next sour is bottled.

Brew day yesterday went off without a hitch. Currently fermenting with a little bit of a blowoff. Used whirlfloc for the first time. This beer is going to be crystal clear.

Brewing again today for a friend. Giving him all the beer from this batch. A galaxy hopped american IPA.

So I'll have an Oktoberfest and this both fermenting, along with an imperial stout which is aging. Only one beer on tap now though, my margarita gose (added lime zest in the boil). I'm loving it right now. Very light with just a slight sourness and slight lime to it.