MSU Red Cedar Message Board

+2. I usually have a bucket of sanitizer going, and it takes 2 minutes to soak them and put them back on the dishwasher rack.

My Pops just brewed a Haus Pale ale, i didnt read through all these posts but anyone else a fan of this. Its an all wheat beer, very tasty

Just got done with a Russian imperial hazelnut coffee stout. Been in the bottle since tuesday. Really amazing tastes. 8.7%

Probably used the wrong yeast though, it was done in 24 hrs....tried to repitch, but no action.

Cut out the top, drill hole, put in a bulkhead (http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/weldless-kettle-bulkhead.html) and attach a valve. If you can weld, you can also weld a valve to it.

I would just bottle it, nothing wrong with a cloudy wheat beer. I've probably done 50+ batches and gave up on making crystal clear beers. Remember that the big brewers filter their beer, which we don't typically have the equipment to do.

If you really want to make it clear, transfer the beer to a secondary, refrigerate the vessel to 40'ish degrees and add some finings/gelatin 2-3 days before bottling (but you need to add fresh yeast in the bottling bucket). Best way I know how to do it.

Ahh, wheat beers are supposed to be cloudy.

Speaking of, it will be an exciting brew weekend for me. I will be brewing a Hefeweizen (Northern Brewer's extract kit) and bottling my first brew - an Amber Ale. I am pretty psyched to actually be close to trying my first brew - I hope I didn't screw it up.

And how did it turn out!?!?

Diving in with my first starter tonight for a Saison I'm brewing on Saturday, unless work ruins my weekend of course.

For the all-grain brewers, what do you use for your HLT? I have a patchwork of pans going at the moment, and it's hard to get 3 pans to hit 170 or so at the same time for my sparge (I batch sparge). I'm considering getting another brewpot, but I figured I'd ask if there's something that makes more sense. I mainly brew 3 gallon batches, but I'll probably go back to 5 at some point.

I'll be sure to let you know how the Fat Tire (and the Hefe) turn out. The wyeast can be used successfully without a starter, though after doing a bunch of reading it seems like starters are the preferred method for any liquid yeast and something I'll probably do moving forward. Nothing wrong with dry yeast though, I've done several good batches using dry.

Welp, I think Ill bottle my raspberry wheat next weekend and let it sit for a while. In the meantime, I found this recipe on another board for a beligan tripel, similar to dragonmead final absolution:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP500
Yeast Starter: no
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Used two WLP500 vials
Batch Size (Gallons): 6
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: ?
IBU: ?
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60mins
Color: Yello
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14days 69F
Additional Fermentation: .
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 Days @69F
Tasting Notes: Light banana, fruity with some spice hints...

Let me start of by saying, this recipe is simple to make. I converted over to extracts to save on prep time. I wanted something simple that most can make. The Belgian is going to be a clone of a 2006 Gold Medal winner in the World Beer cup in 2006 (Dragonmead Final Absolution). I was lucky enough to get the recipe. I converted the recipe over to LME and DME. I made a few changes to it also. I changed the 60mins hops from Hallertauer Mittelfruh to German Hallertau and used DME amber instead of munich malt. I didn't use a starter either, I opted for using two vials of WLP500 instead (so i wouldn't have to wait). I regret not making a starter though, because It took 24 hours before it took off. I had to stir it up a little bit then it started fermenting instantly.

Let me know what you guys think? I'm dabating on adding another 3.3lbs of Pilsner light LME to get around 10%. But I'm not sure how the the final gravity will end up at. I heard some people with attenuation of around 85%. I figure if i get 77% then this will be 8.2%. The recipe is supposed to be 8.5%. I think I just may leave this alone and see how it comes out then go from there. I will keep everyone updated on how it comes out.

Day 5: It has a very nice smell of a light banana, fruit hints with some spice! WOW, can't wait until this is done!
Day 6: Took hydro reading of 1.020 (thats 8% after 6 days) Smells very good! Has the look and consistancy of a Belgian but it's cloudy (but that's expected), has a very nice yellow color. I'm waiting until day 10 to 14 to rack into secondary.
Day 10: 1.016 gravity, going to give it a few more days before i rack it into the secondary.
Day 16: Reracked into secondary, 1.016 gravity still.
Day 32: Kegged it!!!! same gravity and all I can say is WOWWWWW
Here is a video review of the beer i'm cloning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-FDMgm2Q5w

Extract:
3 x 3.3lbs Pilsner Light malt extract LME
1 x 1lbs Amber DME
1 x 1.5lbs Belgian Candy
12.4 total pounds of fermentables

Hops: (IBU came out at 23 but you can range from 20 to 25)
2 oz. German Hallertau 3.8%AA 60min
1 oz. Styrian Goldings 3.4% AA 30min
1 oz. Saaz 2.8% AA 3min

Yeast:
2 x WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast

Im building my keggle this weekend and will try brewing this monster next weekend. Ill do the extract version.

No, I won't be able to make it up there. The problem is probably that the priming sugar you put in the bottling bucket was not evenly distributed. Some are more carbonated then others, I assume. Head retention is a function of ingredients and carbonation, mostly. Given that it is a wheat beer, I'd guess the carbonation may be off. For future bottling, my practice is to put the end of your siphone tube agains the wall of the bucket and make a half moon. When you siphon, it creates a whirlpool type action. I put the cooled priming sugar in as soon as I start the siphon and that tend to mix it pretty good. I also santize a spoon and gently stir a couple of times during bottling so the sugar doesn't separate. By no means are my bottles consistently carbonated, but I've found it does a better job.

I dont think they are cheap, I looked around for a while for one. The ones that are cheap are the super thin aluminum that dent if you touch the side.

If I was going to do this all over again...I think I would just spend the $$ and buy an already built kettle system. This process of getting the keg, finding the tools to cut off the top and drill the valve opening, then actually doing the cutting, then buying the bulkhead and valve...I am spending probably $100 on this stuff just to get it done, and 10x the aggravation

Thoughts on ramping fermentation temp for a Saison? Considering using a heating pad to try to get it up near 80.