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Creeps McLane

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Posts posted by Creeps McLane

  1. 5 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    The words I have for this are too explicit for public use! Awesome. 

    You know what, i was pretty excited about this but today I had a moment when I got super excited for this. Not knowing if they were even going to be in business had me kinda bummed out. Then like 8 hours later they sent me an email. 

    If you haven’t noticed, im a sucker for father, son time with my dad. This is so cool that he gets to come brew at a real brewery with his son. Not to mention, a beer his son made and named after him. Makes me so happy

    • Like 2

  2. 7 hours ago, Jdub said:

    @Cato got the grains shipped to me for an Altbier! gonna see what the fuss is all about. 4 gallon batch. 2nd up in my brew queue.

    Im certainly not going to disagree with your methods. Its exactly what I used to do also. And brewing changes all the time. Common practices change, ingredients change, things progress. However, the brewing network had a rep from white labs on a number of years ago and she practically dropped when Justin said he makes a starter three days before. She said one day is all you need. She mentioned autolysis. That is pretty much an unheard of thing these days though. Thats why everyone did a secondary with every single batch. They figured the quicker you got the beer off the yeast the better. But now they say the longer contact with the yeast, the more itll clean up its own off flavors. So again, in the words of Method Man & Redman:


    ”Do what ya feel and ima follow”



    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

  3. 51 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    Sounds like a plan, what I was leaning towards. Which mantra do you prefer: starting it early and refrigerating, or start the day before and pitch active?

    Day before and pitch active. I paid for that starter, it gets added to the beer. I dump nothing!!!

    • Thanks 1

  4. 9 hours ago, Big Sarge said:

    I plan on brewing this weekend. I am kicking around the idea of making a starter, my first attempt at one. I want this fermentation to be efficient and figured now was a good time to give it a whirl. I know I'm throwing this around all loosely, but I mean business. 

    The beer I'm brewing should come in around 1.060 OG. BeerSmith yeast starter calculator quotes a 2.5L starter. I don't have the equipment for one that large. It's not a big beer by any means, so am I good making a 1L starter? I mean, 1L is better than no starter, right? Someone talk me off the ledge here. I'll be brewing with Wyeast 1272, American Ale II. I'm not interested in doing a two stage starter, just trying to keep it simple. 

    I appreciate and advice. Thanks. 

    Its an ale, 1L should be fine. I say do it. Better than no starter for sure

    • Like 2

  5. Gonna brew this weekend. Itll be a dumpster beer but itll be great. Ill brew it this weekend, and then crack a bottle every birthday that the world is still spinning and im still sucking some version of air. 

    probably a pale malt, wheat, rye and dextrin grist. Then add some old moldy hops from the first year i grew hops. Prop up some Jester King yeast and let it work for a few weeks then add some brett. Throw a shirt over it and forget about it until maybe march of next year. 

    • Like 1

  6. Question, what does hop utilization have to do with mashing? Unless your mash hopping but still your not hot enough to get utilization are you? Youre just stealing the oils and flavor. 

    now, hop utilization vs gravity would be a discussion on partial volume boils vs full volume and wed be back to talking about max saturation points again. Cant get away from the topic 

  7. 57 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    Looked up a Brülosohpy article about an exbeeriment between no and batch sparge. The numbers all hit but the blind triangle test yielded notable taste differentiation (telling which one was different). 

    My next question: is no sparge a good way to go with my cooler and bazooka screen? I feel like the efficiency will be significantly less without the bag. 

    So youre telling me truly batch sparging vs biab yielded the same gravity worts?


    as for your question, I think the cooler is your bag then. You know? Theyre doing the same thing right? Only thing would be if the density of the wort is stronger at the bottom below the bazooka screen. Unless you tip it?

  8. 2 hours ago, Jdub said:

    it's really not that big of a deal. your #'s that BS calculates for your efficiency is all based on what you tell it your set up is and your technique. I do 1 round of sparging via vourlaf. not hard at all. My First Wort is always very sweet, and I'll telling you that my 2nd wort runnings still has quite a bit of sweetness in it. why leave that behind is what i would say. of course, i'm usually brewing beers at ~6-8% ABV, so I'll take all of the sugars I can extract. very simple brewing.

    Well, dont quote me on this but I believe we’re achieving the same result in different ways. I think you have less water therefore less area for the sugars to go. They have no choice but to stay in the grain. With more water in BIAB im giving the sugars more places to go. Did I explain that right?


    everything has a max saturation point, if thats the right word. Im trying to think of an analogy... 



    two bowls, one gallon each, one has two drops of food coloring and the other has one. Representing first runnings and then sparging. Combine, should be the same as:



    one bowl, Two gallons of water, three drops food coloring. 

    thats not really right. I guess youll say the efficiency wont be the same but I think its close enough to not care. Whats more important to me is getting things like my boil off rate dialed in. They both determine the gravity right?


    plus i need to justify my 20 gallon kettle. 

    • Like 1

  9. 10 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    Are you saying you don't try to hold a particular  temp for x minutes with biab? 

    You bet your ass i do! Its probably the most worrisome part of my brew day. My herms coil is great but I didn’t use it last batch and i recirculated the wort differently to accommodate. But with a cooler, shouldnt be a problem 

    • Like 1

  10. 7 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    So I'd take out the bazooka screen, just leaving the ball valve naked to drain from. I'm good with not sparging, just as long as I'm getting everything out of the grain and hitting targets efficiently and consistently. I'm not against pressing the last of it out. My initial thoughts we to treat it like a botch sparge with my usual equipment (minus the bazooka screen): mash in, drain, add sparge water, rest 10 minutes, drain to boil volume. If you say F sparging, I can go with that. 

    As far as upgrades, if I'm not going with electric in the kettle, are you saying there are upgrades I should make to the cooler mash tun?

    Im just wondering what size cooler and what size batches you are doing. If its a 10 gallon cooler you should be ok right? With a 5 gallon batch? Maybe not. I cant remember. I brewed a 10 gallon batch last weekend at 6% and had to sub 5 lbs of two row for extract for comfort. 

    sparging sounds like such a terrible word right now. I havent sparged in probably a year, maybe two. But your proposed method seems legit. 

    i wanted to say too, step mashing sucks in a cooler. Youre adding volume to a tight squeeze as it is and have to heat a seperate thing and by the time you add the water and stir youve lost another 5 degrees and youre short of your target again. 

    in short, all im leading to with all this is simplicity. Add water, add grain, pull grain boil. Why complicate it. Thats why I love BIAB. One kettle. One thing to clean. Bad enough I have to use a pump and a chiller and i curse them every time i have to use them

  11. random thoughts while I have a minute 

    F sparging


    Take a recipe in beersmith, scale it to the  BIAB set up, done. 

    i squeeze a bit cuz 20 minutes is very valuable to me. Pull basket, drain for a second, then I push with my metal plate until i reach my target volume. Takes 4-5 pushes. No mess. Drip dry in the sink, take it to the compost in the morning. 

    little confused on the bag inside the cooler comment. I guess then it’ll drip instead of sparging? Or crushing the bazooka screen? What size is the cooler again. In my experience, when you go BIAB, whatever youre mashing in needs to be upgraded. 

  12. 15 hours ago, Jdub said:

    i have e-mailed omega several times and they are great about getting right back to you if i'm not sure if i should make a starter or not.  i usually make a starter for liquid yeast because i'm usually brewing 7% abv or so. been using dry yeast lately b/c i've been lazy.

    Yup, same here

  13. 45 minutes ago, Bonsai & Brew said:

    Interesting thread.  So far after using Wyeast smack packs, I've had a couple duds as well -- 1214 (Belgian strain) and Czech Pils both required a follow-on pitch of Fermentis to safeguard against a failed fermentation.  Both packs were near the end of their 6 month shelf life though so that could have been the issue.  The cynic in me wonders if this is why everyone recommends making a starter, even though 100 billion cells should be more than enough for a high OG 2-3 gallon batch.  Thoughts?

    Yeast health, not quantity right? Thats why I tend to make a starter if the yeast is getting older.


    however, I know the time and energy these companies put into the research of how to package their product and they want to say they are superior. Thats why I also have no problem chucking it in straight if I just dont feel like making a starter. 

    having a dud is one thing, but ive had batches that just dont finish out. Especially on lagers. Ive had two that are a tad sweeter than I expected and Im guessing its because of yeast that got tired. 

  14. 43 minutes ago, Big Sarge said:

    As I ponder the idea of biab, it brings up some new concerns. How trying is maintaining a single infusion mash temperature for the full term (60 or so minutes) with gas on a kettle? It would likely be a little easier maintaining step temps for a shorter period, or is it? Then comes grain absorption. I feel like I struggle to get that right when using the calculators, albeit I haven't figured out my mash tun (cooler) wort loss factor yet. Is there more accuracy in the calculators when your simply removing the grain?

    I obviously have too much time to think...

    Maintaining an exact temperature with a propane burner? Pretty much impossible. Well, unless you’re stirring and watching every second of the mash. Aint nobody got time for that. But its not all negative. Ive completely F-ed up mashing on the propane burner, ended my mash after 20 minutes and i was at 180, but guess what, that beer was just as good as any other ive brewed with my electric set up. 

    grain absorption is the easy part. Beersmith has pretty much been exactly on after a lil bit of squeezing the bag in my experience. 

    i have 4 kettles, i only use 2. Why? Cuz its easier. I hate cleaning. Awhile ago I had to remind myself that brewing is a hobby. Im supposed to enjoy it. Not curse the world while im cleaning that third kettle or laying awake worrying about my mash temps.

    • Like 2

  15. 12 hours ago, Cato said:

    Check it out Sarge!

    I've gotten bags and their ratcheting pulley for my Garagewerks Brewery.


    I have that exact pulley. I really like it. I was using a winch from harbor freight and that kinda sucked. I also have it on a closet rod so I can slide it right over to my sink to drip while I brew. Wanna see it in action? Skip to 2:30



    • Like 2

  16. 1 hour ago, Big Sarge said:

    I'm going to attempt brevity, but I have a lot on my mind. First off, as you read, gather your thoughts on the topic. I've come across recipes that call for the step mash technique, but I'm trying for simplicity if the the juice isn't worth the squeeze. 


    Given (my gear):

    Picnic Cooler mash tun with bazooka screen. 

    10 gal BK w/ball valve (nothing additional)

    5 gal HLT (old BK)

    Propane Burner


    I know how to step mash. It would be easier with electric or if I mashed in a kettle. I'd like to translate the step mash instructions/temps into a single infusion temp. I'd rather do that than mess around with boiling water additions. Yes, BeerSmith has calculators to help. I worry about missing targets. I worry about making the mash too thin with extra water. Do I start at a lower liquor to grist ratio? Is this even a valid concern overall? 

    My best guess is to pick a single infusion temp consummate to the style of beer I'm making, unless there's a magic number that can be derived from the step mash temps? 

    Thanks for your time. Work can get a little slow and I wanted to solicit your thoughts. Stay safe everyone. 

    I waited to offer my opinion, but I cant wait any longer. 

    just stick to single infusion. Its more straight forward and easier with your setup. Beersmith should already figure in your volumes for boiling water additions but I still never liked it. The only reason I step mash is when Im doing traditional german lagers. It also raises my abv, which is nice.


    scrap the setup, use the 10 gal bk as a 5 gallon biab setup. You can step mash all you want with that. 

    • Like 2

  17. 4 hours ago, Cato said:

    Jeez, I  wake up at 3:15 a.m. why? Am I concerned about Covid-19, my tumbling stocks, what? No, it's my Red IPA recipe! It's not right, it's got flaws! I review it and refine it and remake it off and on until 4:49 and then I'm wide awake.


    Got up, it's pouring outside, no golf today,  make coffee.


    By 5:30 I've thought it out had more coffee and on the computer in BS revising my recipe and printing out the brew steps.


    With no BJCP guidelines or comps to influence me I've morphed a Red IPA and APA hybrid that will feature Pink Boots hops. That mountain of weight is off my shoulders and I can prep for brewing tomorrow. 


    I feel at ease now. Think I'll make a sausage and fried egg sandwich while you guys are still sleeping.

    You still gotta get up earlier than that. Though our motives for waking up are way different. I envy yours


    • Like 1
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