Comments for 48bottles.com http://48bottles.com home brewed Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:24:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 Comment on Batch #30: Oatmeal Stout by mac http://48bottles.com/2011/01/16/batch-30-oatmeal-stout/comment-page-1/#comment-280 mac Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:24:21 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=136#comment-280 poured at ~45*F pretty energetic carbonation gave a nice tall head on the pour. Coffee flavor is present on the front end, but its in good balance. Dry finish without much lingering maltiness. Maybe the barest hint of phenols somewhere in there with the hoppy finish. A really drinkable stout, I think I'd classify it on the drier end of the spectrum, not the big-bodied malty brew I had in mind from the name. poured at ~45*F
pretty energetic carbonation gave a nice tall head on the pour.
Coffee flavor is present on the front end, but its in good balance. Dry finish without much lingering maltiness. Maybe the barest hint of phenols somewhere in there with the hoppy finish. A really drinkable stout, I think I’d classify it on the drier end of the spectrum, not the big-bodied malty brew I had in mind from the name.

]]> Comment on Batch #30: Oatmeal Stout by Ken Flowers http://48bottles.com/2011/01/16/batch-30-oatmeal-stout/comment-page-1/#comment-276 Ken Flowers Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:28:48 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=136#comment-276 Enjoyed the tasting. It was a nice smooth stout - very slight coffee notes. Enjoyed the tasting. It was a nice smooth stout – very slight coffee notes.

]]> Comment on Smash! by tgl http://48bottles.com/2011/01/31/smash/comment-page-1/#comment-265 tgl Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:34:16 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=174#comment-265 Lots of letters to Zymurgy concerning glass carboy safety. One suggested to wrap the carboy in packing tape, to keep the glass together if it would break. I use the handles that clamp on the neck, for my 6 1/2 gallon carboys. I give thanks every time I move a full one without incident. Lots of letters to Zymurgy concerning glass carboy safety. One suggested to wrap the carboy in packing tape, to keep the glass together if it would break. I use the handles that clamp on the neck, for my 6 1/2 gallon carboys. I give thanks every time I move a full one without incident.

]]> Comment on Bock by mac http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-257 mac Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:46:55 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-257 dag. those are like half the price of the guys on midwest's site. @halfmanbot: how you gonna get yer beer through? dag. those are like half the price of the guys on midwest’s site.

@halfmanbot: how you gonna get yer beer through?

]]> Comment on Bock by tgl http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-256 tgl Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:39:55 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-256 http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php

]]> Comment on Bock by halfmanbot http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-253 halfmanbot Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:03:09 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-253 Ok, gotcha. I have an immersion chiller, and it works reasonably well, but have been thinking about upgrading to a plate chiller. I thought you were cursing the plate chiller, but since you are cursing the Tube/tube chiller I can still consider the plate. Ok, gotcha. I have an immersion chiller, and it works reasonably well, but have been thinking about upgrading to a plate chiller. I thought you were cursing the plate chiller, but since you are cursing the Tube/tube chiller I can still consider the plate.

]]> Comment on Bock by mac http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-249 mac Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:31:20 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-249 My buddy got me the counterflow chiller as a very thoughtful and generous gift. The one I have is the tube-in-a-tube type, where there's about 50 feet of 3/8" copper tubing inside of a garden hose jacket. The wort goes through the copper, the cooling water goes on the outside in the garden hose. It works fast, like basically as fast as you can siphon, you can chill. You adjust the outflow temp by tweaking the cooling water flow. The main problems are twofold- 1. Sanitizing is a big pain. You need to sanitize the entire inside of the copper tubing, which means siphoning saniitizer through the chiller before and after use. 2. Starting and maintaing a sanitary siphon in boiling hot wort is tricky at best. The first time I used it, I turned my plastic ferm-tech autosiphon into a surrealist sculpture. This last time i bought a stainless racking cane, and was able to get the siphon going by prefilling with sanitizer and using the drop-to-start method, but as the vinyl tubing around the racking cane got hot, it started drawing air in, eventually breaking the siphon. Now I was really screwed, because I was halfway through the batch, so using sanitizer to start the siphon again wasn't really an option. I tried all kinds of crap, couldn't get it going reliably again, so i had to dump the remaining hot wort into my bottling bucket so i could just attach to the spigot and do away with the siphon. If I had a brew pot with a spigot at the bottom, it would be much easier to use for sure. It's still kinda a pain to sanitize, and you lose a bit of beer at the beginning and end of the batch. Also, getting the liquid out of both sets of tubes to store the thing is impossible without a compressor or something. The Therminator (from Blichman I think?) seems like it might be a better option, it looks like it contains a whole lot less volume of water and wort. I'm happy with my new larger (50ft x 3/8") immersion chiller. My buddy got me the counterflow chiller as a very thoughtful and generous gift. The one I have is the tube-in-a-tube type, where there’s about 50 feet of 3/8″ copper tubing inside of a garden hose jacket. The wort goes through the copper, the cooling water goes on the outside in the garden hose. It works fast, like basically as fast as you can siphon, you can chill. You adjust the outflow temp by tweaking the cooling water flow.

The main problems are twofold-
1. Sanitizing is a big pain. You need to sanitize the entire inside of the copper tubing, which means siphoning saniitizer through the chiller before and after use.
2. Starting and maintaing a sanitary siphon in boiling hot wort is tricky at best. The first time I used it, I turned my plastic ferm-tech autosiphon into a surrealist sculpture. This last time i bought a stainless racking cane, and was able to get the siphon going by prefilling with sanitizer and using the drop-to-start method, but as the vinyl tubing around the racking cane got hot, it started drawing air in, eventually breaking the siphon. Now I was really screwed, because I was halfway through the batch, so using sanitizer to start the siphon again wasn’t really an option. I tried all kinds of crap, couldn’t get it going reliably again, so i had to dump the remaining hot wort into my bottling bucket so i could just attach to the spigot and do away with the siphon. If I had a brew pot with a spigot at the bottom, it would be much easier to use for sure. It’s still kinda a pain to sanitize, and you lose a bit of beer at the beginning and end of the batch. Also, getting the liquid out of both sets of tubes to store the thing is impossible without a compressor or something.

The Therminator (from Blichman I think?) seems like it might be a better option, it looks like it contains a whole lot less volume of water and wort. I’m happy with my new larger (50ft x 3/8″) immersion chiller.

]]> Comment on Bock by halfmanbot http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-247 halfmanbot Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:54:26 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-247 Also, you are hating on the counter-flow chiller. Can you expand on this? I was gonna get myself one. Why doesn't it work out for you? Also, you are hating on the counter-flow chiller. Can you expand on this? I was gonna get myself one. Why doesn’t it work out for you?

]]> Comment on Bock by mac http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-246 mac Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:37:33 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-246 The kegerator (mini fridge) is empty at the moment, so I've got it in there. Kind of a unique opportunity for me to make a lager. too bad I may have screwed this one up The kegerator (mini fridge) is empty at the moment, so I’ve got it in there. Kind of a unique opportunity for me to make a lager. too bad I may have screwed this one up

]]> Comment on Bock by halfmanbot http://48bottles.com/2011/01/29/bock/comment-page-1/#comment-245 halfmanbot Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:26:31 +0000 http://48bottles.com/?p=166#comment-245 Do you have a fridge for temp control when you do a lager? Do you have a fridge for temp control when you do a lager?

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