Home brewing!

[tzonehunter]

bumab -

I happened to run across this post while googling. As an advanced home brewer, I have to chime in.

1) Stainless Steel absolutely will NOT impart a flavor on the beer unless it is scoured with a harsh brillo pad or steel wool or something like that. The pH in beer is way too high to react with stainless steel. Nearly every commercial brewery in the world, including the American big 3 (Miller, Anheiser-Busch, and Coors), use stainless steel in all or most of their process vessels!

2) You mentioned you mash at 168 F. I would STRONGLY suggest mashing at temperatures closer to 155 F. At 168 F, the starch degrading (a.k.a. sugar making) enzymes that are naturally present in malted barley begin to de-nature and are rendered useless!

3) You suggested buying a plastic bucket as a primary fermenter. I would stongly suggest spending the extra $10 and buying a glass carboy from the get go. Plastic gets scratched easily. Bacteria can live in those scratches and infect your beer. Granted, nothing pathogenic can survive in beer, but it will taste quite funky if your beer catches a cold!

4) You refer to 'adjunt' grains. This is a bit nit picky, but I think you're actually speaking of speciatly grains. 'Adjuncts' are defined as any source of starch that can be used to make fermentable sugars. Potatoes are adjunts!

Just wanted to clear a few things up. Enjoy your brew!

Chad

[Turtle]

___Bumab said, "Also- any good breweries in Portland besides Bridgeport? I'm going to be down there for a conference with my brewing partner, we're looking for one to check out. "
___Plenty in portland; my roommate Frosty says McMenamens(sp), Widmore,...uhhh...we can't come up with anymore just now, as we are drunk!
___May I heartily recomend Dead Guy Ale from the Rouge Brewery in Newport Oregon (Frosty says Deschute Brewery not bad either). I am currently under the influence of Dead Guy, & in fact I have something of a diet going; I call it the Dead Guy, sausage stick, cheezy poof diet.

[C1ay]

Most of this is pretty much true for cooking corn whiskey on the stove as well.

Originally Posted by tzonehunter

bumab -

I happened to run across this post while googling. As an advanced home brewer, I have to chime in.

1) Stainless Steel absolutely will NOT impart a flavor on the beer unless it is scoured with a harsh brillo pad or steel wool or something like that. The pH in beer is way too high to react with stainless steel. Nearly every commercial brewery in the world, including the American big 3 (Miller, Anheiser-Busch, and Coors), use stainless steel in all or most of their process vessels!

2) You mentioned you mash at 168 F. I would STRONGLY suggest mashing at temperatures closer to 155 F. At 168 F, the starch degrading (a.k.a. sugar making) enzymes that are naturally present in malted barley begin to de-nature and are rendered useless!

3) You suggested buying a plastic bucket as a primary fermenter. I would stongly suggest spending the extra $10 and buying a glass carboy from the get go. Plastic gets scratched easily. Bacteria can live in those scratches and infect your beer. Granted, nothing pathogenic can survive in beer, but it will taste quite funky if your beer catches a cold!

4) You refer to 'adjunt' grains. This is a bit nit picky, but I think you're actually speaking of speciatly grains. 'Adjuncts' are defined as any source of starch that can be used to make fermentable sugars. Potatoes are adjunts!

Just wanted to clear a few things up. Enjoy your brew!

Chad