Search found 285 matches

by Gravity Thrills
Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:05 am
Forum: General
Topic: Headed for London
Replies: 5
Views: 9364

Beware the keg!

Say no to keg beer in England. Stella Artois, Tennent's, Carling's, and
by Gravity Thrills
Fri Aug 15, 2003 1:40 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Headed for London
Replies: 5
Views: 9364

Gawd Yess!!

I envy you! The Real Ale tour of England my wife and I took a decade ago was a highlight of my life. In London, be sure to get as much Fuller's and Young's varieties as you can, as well as that wonderfully sulfery Draught Bass. Some of my favorites around the rest of the country (some you;ll find in...
by Gravity Thrills
Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:09 am
Forum: Techniques, Methods, Tips & How To
Topic: Virgin Brewer
Replies: 5
Views: 8155

seal the deal

Welcome to the Guild. Seal your bucket and use the airlock filled with mild sanitizing solution. In the vigorous first stage of primary fermentation (high krausen), your head of foam (the krausen) will protect your beer from any aerobic air-borne beasties (that's hoe English-style open fermentation ...
by Gravity Thrills
Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:03 am
Forum: Techniques, Methods, Tips & How To
Topic: how do YOU make a starter?
Replies: 6
Views: 9217

simple method

Here's what I have been doing for the last couple of years -- not elegant, but efficient. My wife splits her adult beberage time between beer and wine, and so I have a steady supply of the larger (1.5L?) Sutter Home wine bottles. I clean and sanitize as i would a carboy and fill (use a funnel) with ...
by Gravity Thrills
Sat Jun 21, 2003 11:14 am
Forum: News, Events & Announcements
Topic: Pheonix Theatre Benefit "Brew Ha-Ha" This Weekend In Indiana
Replies: 5
Views: 21986

mea culpa

A pox on me for abandoning a brew brother in time of need. I had better do something about that or I'll have bad beer karma following me around....
by Gravity Thrills
Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:21 pm
Forum: Equipment
Topic: All Grain System Design
Replies: 3
Views: 7251

mash out but relax and don't worry...

mashing out is an important step, but from what I have concluded it is notimportant because of enzyme deactivation. If you think about it, your sweetliquor will be extracted and the brought to a boil for 60 minutes or more. Really, is there any point worrying about deactivating the enzymes a little ...
by Gravity Thrills
Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:21 pm
Forum: Ingredients, Kits & Recipes
Topic: can a newby brew stout?
Replies: 2
Views: 11128

absolutely!

Hey, welcome to a great hobby/obsession! I think that dark beers are actually a lot more forgiving than lighter styles for new brewers. Probably 4 of the first 5 beers I ever brewed were porters and stouts, and they all came out decent enough for my newbie tastes. There are lots of extract stout rec...
by Gravity Thrills
Tue Jun 10, 2003 8:23 pm
Forum: Ingredients, Kits & Recipes
Topic: Old Malt too Old???
Replies: 1
Views: 4802

Get some fresh stuff

Welcom back to this crazy hobby. I took a similar hiatus for a few years while I finished up my dissertation work and had a couple kids and whatnot -- what the heck is wrong with our priorities anyway? Humidity and temperature during storage would have been the critical issues. But, even if these we...
by Gravity Thrills
Tue Jun 10, 2003 5:45 am
Forum: Ingredients, Kits & Recipes
Topic: Irish Red Ales?
Replies: 7
Views: 18523

microbrew freedom

I think the Irish micros are taking a lesson from those in the States and are bending stylistic rules to make the beers they want to, More power to 'em! A decade ago when I was in Ireland, I think Smithwick's was about the only thing close to a traditional Irish red - even though it's a mega it seem...
by Gravity Thrills
Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:06 pm
Forum: Ingredients, Kits & Recipes
Topic: Irish Red Ales?
Replies: 7
Views: 18523

diastatic power?

Does even a lightly kilned caramel malt like 10% have enough diastatic power to work as a base malt? I didn't think it did. Even with low-colored specialty malts like that I have always tried to keep under 15% to keep husky astringent flavors to a minimum. I know a lot of brewers get the red color i...
by Gravity Thrills
Tue Jun 03, 2003 11:38 am
Forum: Techniques, Methods, Tips & How To
Topic: boiling hops more than 60 min
Replies: 2
Views: 5846

I dunno...?

You probably have extracted just about all the bitterness you're gonna get by 60 minutes, but I don't know what if any adverse effects a longer boil would produce. I do wait until I have had a good hot break, 15-30 minutes into a boil before adding bittering hops so they are not volotilized away or ...
by Gravity Thrills
Wed May 14, 2003 6:55 pm
Forum: Brewing Science
Topic: Isinglas... from the fish's mouth...
Replies: 2
Views: 7603

Fish Stories

I was probably the only person on the site actually interested in tehse gory details, Eric. And I still am. I will anxiously await the isinglas inventory, and no I figured you never did forget. I want to know these silly things out of professional curiosity. The oceanographic instutution where I wor...
by Gravity Thrills
Tue May 13, 2003 8:34 pm
Forum: Techniques, Methods, Tips & How To
Topic: clearing agent options in secondary?
Replies: 5
Views: 10223

If you don't have the time

I agree with canman that a month or more of lagering near freezing temp will give you a crystal beer. But, in general, for quicker turnaround ales I have become a faithful follower of the polyclar/bentonite one-two punch. That combination will drop all the solids out of your beer and pretty much haz...
by Gravity Thrills
Wed May 07, 2003 9:48 pm
Forum: Brewing Science
Topic: Sparge water
Replies: 4
Views: 11376

let me backtrack...

My approach was taken from Dave Miller's guidelines. He says you'll rarely see a pale malt grist lower then 5.3, and you'll often see dark malt grists get down to 5.0 and be very hard to correct upward with calcium carbonate. He says anything in the 5.0-5.5 range is on target. So his reccommendation...
by Gravity Thrills
Wed May 07, 2003 1:04 pm
Forum: Brewing Science
Topic: Sparge water
Replies: 4
Views: 11376

match ending mash pH

Treat the sparge water to get it close to the final pH of your grist at the end of the mash. In the ballpark is more than adequate here, I think. A little bit of food grade phosphoric acid does the trick with my system, water, and the styles I usually brew. My working understanding is that the gener...