Is it me or is this forum way less active than it was a few months ago?
Pietro, I believe you are correct in thinking that things are dead here on the forum. It seem that way to me also, I have been wondering why nobody is talking about what’s going on with their brewing. I have slowed down with my come back. I have my 5 come back beers brewer and kegged.
My oldest son brews with me from time to time. He called me to tell me that he want’s to come down and do the brew in the bag thing. He said he works with a guy that brews and he just started doing biab batches and he loves it. I told him I’m ready to give it try we can learn together. My brew pot is a 8 gallon ss pot with a triple clad bottom, I told him we will start out with a 3 gallon batch because of my pot size and we will go from there. I have never had a great interest in changing to all grain brewing. I don’t know if this old man can comprehend the water chemistry thing involved with all grain. All of these years I have extract brewed I would got to Wal-Mart and buy their bottled spring water and use that for the biggest part of my brewing.
Cheers
Jazzman
I almost burned myself out… Bottled 10 gallons, then brewed a robust porter. It’s getting too cold for me these days… I may start up in earnest next spring.
Has been pretty quiet around here lately.
You miss Ba’mer Pietro?
I’ve got 4 full kegs in the fridge, 2 lagering and 4 full carboys so I’ve been pretty busy the last couple months.
Jazzman you’ll enjoy BIAB. I did about 40 5 gallon batches in a 9 gal kettle before getting a larger one. I mash with a more traditional 1.25-1.50 gallons per lb mash rather than the full volume many biabers do, then sparge by pouring water over the grain bag to get the pre-boil volume. Works great for me and I get very high efficiency. My middle son brews with me pretty often and his new place has a backyard so he’s talking about getting his own setup too.
Forum may be a little quiet, but it’s worse to be deadski on the home brew front. I’m into the sixth week of having one arm immobilized after rotator cup repair. Hopefully just two more weeks and have my weak right arm to use again.
I’m down to 2.5 gallons of American amber ale. I chilled a dry Irish stout a few days ago, try it tomorrow. Might be under carbed though. Put a Dead Ringer in the frig today to test for carbonation after four weeks of conditioning. Still have three gallons of petite saison in the frig. My wife will help me bottle another 5 gallons of dry Irish stout tomorrow. It’s been in the primary six weeks now. She does most of the work, I hold the auto siphon and fill bottles. Doctor would yell if I told him about this.
Typing with one finger is also a pain.
I feel for you Flars. I watched both my son and my brother-in-law do one shoulder at the first of the year, now they both have to do the other side. I’m putting that off till after the first of year for me. Till then I’ve been stocking up. I have a back log I’ve been working on since I was off for 6 wks. because of the burns I got from boiling wort. Things will pick up Pietro, sometimes there is a lull in the action that I’ve not figured out yet, but better days are coming!
I agree. I noticed the slowdown also. I went through most of my beer, two kegs ,at my octoberfest party and did a double double Columbus Day weekend. Filled four five gallon buckets which are just coming on line. It was a lot of work but I had no choice. Now I hope to get back to once a month at least, I hate playing catch up.
Seems like the traffic is sort of cyclical here. And I think there are a lot of guys like me (2 years of extract brewing and just finished my first biab) that still don’t feel comfortable yet with throwing out too much advice. My thought is I would always rather give no advice than bad advice, and my experience is quite limited compared to most of the folks that I’m learning from on this forum.
But I can confidently give encouragement, so…
Jazzman, you won’t be disappointed with biab. I just sampled my first one this weekend–5 gal batch of NB’s St Paul Porter. Night and day difference between it and the extract version-for me at least. Real depth of flavor, no watery finish, I couldn’t be more pleased. Added some extra time to my brewday, but was worth it. Plus, like you, I am a bit intimidated by the water thing, and that’s why I started with a porter. As I get more comfortable with water chemistry, I’ll try some lighter recipes. But the difference was remarkable, and well worth the small extra effort and time. And brewing with your son, that’s priceless. I’d be finding ways to make the brewday even longer! Brew on!
Cheers,
Ron
I admit that I haven’t been too active on here since I have been extra busy at work this year and since I started a local club in May. The club has really taken off. We are averaging attendance in the 20’s and had to form a group to start working on bylaws.
@jazz, here’s my endorsement I wrote after a few BIAB’s.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=115208&hilit=biab+endorsementIts an awesome way to brew. The only change since I wrote this is I now twist the top of my BIAB bag instead of squeezing it (like how you would tie up a plastic produce bag), which helps get most of the wort out.
It is dead around here. I like lurking and stalking around here when things are active, cuz there is usually an interesting discussion or something to either learn or something to spark an idea to try.
I’ve been gearing up for holidays. Got four beers finishing up that will all be on tap.
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IPA: m.o./2-row combo with a little caravienne. Went with equal parts Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial (and a small bit of Amarillo) with a big hopstand. This batch I changed up my hopping to get all my IBU from 60/15 additions. The hopstand was cooled to 165-170 to not extract any more bitterness. I am hoping to get a more predictable feel from the bitterness this way. 1.065 OG, 72 IBU
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Belgian pale/amber. Took the grain bill from NB phat tyre, bittered to 25, with Saaz at 60/15, and used the Ardennes yeast. Fermented at 64-66 for a whole week then let rise just to 68-70. The yeast is subdued but just what I wanted. 1.055 OG
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Cream/blonde: Equal parts M.O., 2-row, and Belgian pils plus 3% C10. 20 IBU with light flavor addition of willamette/cascade. 1.05 OG
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Stout (on nitro): M.O. base. 9% dark Munich. 3 % C80. 4.5% roasted barley, 3.5% choc malt and 2% carafa III. Bittered to 35 IBU, OG 1.057. Used WY 1056 cuz I was originally going to add coffee and thought clean yeast would be best. Tastes better without the coffee though, so not adding it. I actually like the stout with 1056 more than I thought i would.
I’m looking forward to getting these all on tap. What I need, though, are some ideas for names. Having an adults-only party so creativity can take any take any twist, if you know what I mean!
[quote=“Steeler D”]It is dead around here. I like lurking and stalking around here when things are active, cuz there is usually an interesting discussion or something to either learn or something to spark an idea to try.
I’ve been gearing up for holidays. Got four beers finishing up that will all be on tap.
-
IPA: m.o./2-row combo with a little caravienne. Went with equal parts Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial (and a small bit of Amarillo) with a big hopstand. This batch I changed up my hopping to get all my IBU from 60/15 additions. The hopstand was cooled to 165-170 to not extract any more bitterness. I am hoping to get a more predictable feel from the bitterness this way. 1.065 OG, 72 IBU
-
Belgian pale/amber. Took the grain bill from NB phat tyre, bittered to 25, with Saaz at 60/15, and used the Ardennes yeast. Fermented at 64-66 for a whole week then let rise just to 68-70. The yeast is subdued but just what I wanted. 1.055 OG
-
Cream/blonde: Equal parts M.O., 2-row, and Belgian pils plus 3% C10. 20 IBU with light flavor addition of willamette/cascade. 1.05 OG
-
Stout (on nitro): M.O. base. 9% dark Munich. 3 % C80. 4.5% roasted barley, 3.5% choc malt and 2% carafa III. Bittered to 35 IBU, OG 1.057. Used WY 1056 cuz I was originally going to add coffee and thought clean yeast would be best. Tastes better without the coffee though, so not adding it. I actually like the stout with 1056 more than I thought i would.
I’m looking forward to getting these all on tap. What I need, though, are some ideas for names. Having an adults-only party so creativity can take any take any twist, if you know what I mean![/quote]
IPA- Hopstandistan
Belgian pale- Jean Claude Goddamit
Cream/Blonde- A blonde gets served at a bar…
Stout- I’m a little teapot
Just off the top of my head. Is there a thread out here just for clever beer names? That could be fun. Maybe some of the death of activity on the forum has been some of the grumpy negativity in a couple of threads (there was one about Breiss malt not too long ago, and another that I can’t even remember the subject, just the tone was not what I like about this forum.)
It certainly isn’t dead for the spammers. I’ve been killing them at the rate of 3 per day.
I brew steady all year but I prefer this time because the ground water is so much colder and I can chill super low and fast. I try and always keep at least 5 beers on tap at all times. Then there is my MullerBrau Bierkeller
http://www.mullerbrau.com/Bierkeller.html
for a reserve of 600 bottles.
Put a dunkel in the fermenter yesterday (90% efficiency!) and brewing a Celebration type thing next week. Submitting a proposal for the next book today.
I definitely haven’t posting as much cause work has been killing me lately. Brewing a Weizenbock this Sunday. Gonna be a cold a$$ brew day!
[quote=“MullerBrau”]It certainly isn’t dead for the spammers. I’ve been killing them at the rate of 3 per day.
I brew steady all year but I prefer this time because the ground water is so much colder and I can chill super low and fast. I try and always keep at least 5 beers on tap at all times. Then there is my MullerBrau Bierkeller
http://www.mullerbrau.com/Bierkeller.html
for a reserve of 600 bottles.[/quote]
that’s a beautiful thing greg!
Same here, although our ground water isn’t as cold as yours.
Kegged a saison w/Pacific Jade last week and brewed a rye saison. Getting ready to press apples today.
I understand about the work issue, been working out of town 4 days a week. Three days off is great, but they get filled up quick.
Don’t get me nervous… I just started posting more. Dammit, it happens every time, I show up to the party just as everybody is leaving.
I have a NE Brown that I just kegged (fantastic if I must pat myself on the back) and just kicked a keg of California Common.
And I am getting my ingredients this weekend in preparation for the extended holiday weekend brew session. I cannot wait to sit in the garage sip a few pints, listen to some music, have neighbors cautiously drive by and wonder what the guy is cooking in his garage. Maybe I’ll don my Heisenberg Pork Pie Hat.
Anyhow, I am brewing a recipe involving PB2 peanut butter power; and this recipe is direct from a book that a certain somebody in this very forum co-authored. Brilliant book by-the-way!
I brew year round or until they stop selling propane. Which is rare in my neck of the woods.
:cheers:
I’m one of the lurker types who only really post when I have questions. not up to the point of throwing out advice or really starting topics.
Although I have been a busy brewer. Sipping on a vanilla porter that I did the vanilla “dry hop” on (ended up leaving for business and forgot to take it out. Strong, but not a bad strong.
Just bottled a Baltic Porter. And have the Rebel Rye Porter fermenting right now.
This place ebbs and flows for sure. But I like that it’s not as busy as Homebrew Talk – I can’t even try to keep track of stuff there, so I rarely visit.
I’ve currently got an IPA I need to bottle and a tripel and a steam beer fermenting. I’m thinking of using the steam beer yeast for something like New Belgium’s 1554
