Make me a double IPA.

Surplus equipment you say? Have a spare CO2 tank or temperature controller sitting around?

Bout time you show up.

^This.

Wow, it appears I need friends that homebrew.

I love just about all beers except sours, or at least, that's what I think. I had one Duchesse De Bourgogne. Tasted like raspberry vinaigrette. Gross.

Over the summer I'll try to get some equipment so I can make something. Eventually, I would like to be part of this exchange. Don't worry, I'll make sure it's at least decent before I send it out :firedevil

Ok I am here.

First off, Ryan, fuck off! This is beer we are talking about. The holy ambrosia of the anointed chosen. When shipping via UPS, claim it as "books."

I have a 1/2 barrel system. I use converted kegs for my boil kettle, my mash tun, and my hot liquor (water) tank). All but one of these sort of fell into my possession and were converted. My system, in true caveman style, uses fire for heat - camp chef propane burners to be exact. I use the stainless steel baker's rack shelving available at the likes of Storables to hold my HLT and Mash tun up in the air. I don't apply direct heat to the mash tun, it's wrapped in a hot water heater blanket and has expandable foam on the bottom. I found a giant wok lid at a restaurant supply store for its lid.


The baker's rack setup is so that everything is gravity fed and I don't have to run wort through a pump. It's all high enough so I can drain into the boil kettle, and the boil kettle is still high enough to then drain into a 5/6 gallon carboy. I may move to a pumped-wort scenario in the interests of time savings.

Surprisingly, I find I haven't any good pictures of my setup in action. My fail. Apologies.

I have a relatively mediocre dunkelweisen to offer for exchange. It doesn't have as much head as it should (and, really, who among us does ???). I'm not sure why. I hit all my targets with regard to temp. Possibly to much crap entered the boil and screwed that part up. Maybe my failure to remember to add Irish Moss, the FLUX CAPACITOR of home brewing, is to blame.


Edit: in case it is not obvious, which it is to true brewers (probably NB owners all) I am an all grain brewer. Going back to DME is ... only for emergency purposes

What happens if you bottle the bear in plastic bottles instead of the glass ones? Only interested because it would probably be safer and easier to ship it in plastic bottles. Far less chance of the bottle breaking.

Plastic isn't good for long-term storage because it is porous, but it is fine in the short term. Some beer brew kits like the "Mr Beer" kit come with plastic bottles.
Plastic can also leech small amounts of chemicals that can alter the taste slightly (coke in plastic vs glass kind of thing).

Humm... what to make. I've had my eye on a great big porter for a while, but its not exactly winter out here anymore. ;)

Make something like this, and I will love you long-time.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1425487442

I went out for a 2 mile run real quick before I had to leave for work. Part of the reason was to check the spring where my beer water comes from to see how it's flowin. Flowin ain't the word. Looks like I might be brewing on Sunday. I wanted to do a crooked tree replica, but I gotta see what hop pellets and grain I have. Maybe I'll just fathom something wild up. I want to experiment early with small 5 gallon batches, then during the summer, I'll produce 10 gallon batches once I come up with something that I find suits mine and everybody else's liking.
Crap I think I have laying around to throw a batch together for this weekend is:
Maybe 20lbs rahr pale ale grain, chinook hop pellets (2oz maybe), centennial pellets (maybe 4oz) and I have no idea what else. I know I have no yeast, and I'd have to mill my grain as well, but the 1/2" drill I use on the mill just burned up the other day (typical garbage freight).
Stand by later in the week with setup/ ingredient updates.

These feels, I has them. The best water I've ever consumed in my life comes from here:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1426570879

That rock wall on the right with the moss on it has a spring that flows out of the limestone, separately from the waterfall. When the falls go dry in the summer, water continues to leak from the mountain year round. Unfortunately, that location is about an hours hike into the backcountry from highway 1 in Big Sur, and water weights about 8.3lbs/gal. Humping 66lbs of water through that country would probably kill me at this point, but I can still dream.

Something interesting that the brewers at Bells told me, is that their beers are unfiltered and still have live yeast so you can make a starter from one of their bottles.

After I typed that, I came across this from Bells.
"Stealing" Bells yeast

Also, I am bottling on Friday. Books will be sent in the mail shortly after.

I made a starter last year from the sediment that I took out of a firkin of raging bitch. It didn't turn out as expected, but using that sediment actually worked to ferment a tiny batch.

I love pirating yeast. Last year I helped one of the local yeast nerds out with a bottle of Westvleteren (blond IIRC) who then proceeded to isolate and plate it. The first time we tried it from a bottle of Westy 12 but most of the yeast were retarded from the alcohol exposure. The blonde worked WAY better.

I have a Belgian Triple in primary right now that I have high hopes for. Also some Berlinerweisse and a flemish red sour in the pantry along with with apple cider/wine that I simply call "Fermented Apple Beverage" or, in miata parlance, "FAB" for short. I'd be interested in making some trades.

add some vodka to it and call it FAB9

:party:

FTFY :hahano:

I can't imagine a Triple full of vodka, that's just, yikes.

Update: Bottle conditioning is taking longer than I expected, but the batch is finally becoming drinkable. I'll probably call it good in a week or so. Anyone want to trade?

I really, really wish I had something to trade right now. My lack of mobility has prevented me from brewing anything. Building a brewstructure is very high on my list of "things to do" as soon as I find a design I like that I can build on the cheap.