BeerBorg

bpgreen wrote:As far as I know, Beer Machine refills are the only source of prehopped DME.

FYI: Muntons (UK) makes hopped DME.

mashani wrote:

bpgreen wrote:As far as I know, Beer Machine refills are the only source of prehopped DME.

FYI: Muntons (UK) makes hopped DME.

I stand corrected. It's probably better than the beer machine version.

bpgreen wrote:

mashani wrote:

bpgreen wrote:As far as I know, Beer Machine refills are the only source of prehopped DME.

FYI: Muntons (UK) makes hopped DME.

I stand corrected. It's probably better than the beer machine version.

I don't know if the Beer Machine ones try to incorporate "flavor/aroma" hops into the DME, but the Muntons isn't like that, think of it as pre-bittered in such a way that it makes a good English Pale/ESB with you just steeping some crystal and throwing in some flavor/aroma hops.

There isn't anything inherently "wrong" with it as long as you treat it like that. As in DME with built in IBUs.

mashani wrote: I don't know if the Beer Machine ones try to incorporate "flavor/aroma" hops into the DME, but the Muntons isn't like that, think of it as pre-bittered in such a way that it makes a good English Pale/ESB with you just steeping some crystal and throwing in some flavor/aroma hops.

There isn't anything inherently "wrong" with it as long as you treat it like that. As in DME with built in IBUs.

I think the Beer Machine mixes were supposed to have the flavor and aroma hops as well as the bittering hops. If I remember correctly, if you use the mixes with their product, you just dump the mix in, add water and yeast and close it up. I think it was a closed system and retained the CO2 produced during fermentation for carbonation and included a small cartridge for dispensing.

I didn't use them that way, though, which may be why I had more success with them than others. I used them sort of the way you describe the Muntons version. I used the mix as a base, then added LME and my own hop boil.

And the snow keeps coming..... Wife and I were in Erie, PA (not very far from us here in western NY where we live) doing last minute shopping Sat. the 23. It started snowing bad and a lot of traffic that day, I kept telling the wife to hurry it up and we should get back home. By the time we left in late afternoon it was coming down hard, not as bad after we got closer to home but still not that good. I am no stranger to be driving in bad conditions, but I try not to if possible. We have got over 4 ft. of snow since Christmas but Erie got it worse this time. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/re ... er-n833011 Now calling for up to Two feet more for us this weekend and back in the minus digits.

Snowing on Long Island now.

I just shoveled about 5 inches of light fluffy white crap from my driveway. Just gald it wasn't the wet and heavy crap.

We’ll hit the mid 20’s Tuesday and Wednesday mornings if that makes you feel better. December was a tiny bit below average but it’s always an up and down month.

My dog went outside for 10 minutes and came back in with a full 1" of snow covering her.

tomorrow is the day, all week I planned on brewing and everyday something came up and couldn't, one reason why I don't grind grain until I can do it....

Why do I have such a hard time trying to replace my bottling bucket? I want a replacement like the one I have now and have been using for too long. It is a 6.5 true Brew bucket with a cover and a 1/2" spigot. I looked on-line from the 2 places I usually buy from and don't have what I am looking for and my LHBS only has one with a 3/8 spigot.

berryman wrote:Why do I have such a hard time trying to replace my bottling bucket? I want a replacement like the one I have now and have been using for too long. It is a 6.5 true Brew bucket with a cover and a 1/2" spigot. I looked on-line from the 2 places I usually buy from and don't have what I am looking for and my LHBS only has one with a 3/8 spigot.

I picked up several spigots a couple years back, .5". I keep them clean/stored in a baggie to avoid problems. Every couple batches or so, I replace with a new 5 gallon bucket. I think they are $10 at Lowe's, all marked food grade. I have used these buckets to ferment in, replace after a couple batches also. I use a step drill bit to put holes in da new buckets. These will hold a tad over 5 gallon and work for me, I rarely go over 4.5~5 gallons of brew at a time. Actually, I've shrunk my batches down to 3 gallon mostly, so these work perfectly.

Stinky weekend for me..... went to get a beer and the keg is empty. That's fine as I have lots more in line. BUT, when I put a new keg in... no pressure.... what the heck??? Checked my gauge and it reads 0.. well poop. This 10 gallon tank was filled last summer, they usually last me a lot longer than that. So... no problem, I have a bar full of good single malt so off I went, disaster averted. That was on saturday... yea.... when in rains it pours. Went to retrieve a brewski I bottled bout a year back... what did I see? A case of beer that the caps were about to blow, I mean the caps looked like ballons... grrrrr... checked another case, same thing.... grrrrr This was 2 different batches bottled atleast 6 months apart. Well heck, opened up a 12 pack of Hard Cider I had on reserve... grrrr, those ALSO were about to blow. Nice... NOT! I thought to self, Self, open one from each case and see if they are truly going to blow. Slowly opened, or thought I was, the cider. Had to go change shirts...... it blew big time! opened the other 2, while each did not blow hard, they foamed until about empty. What a day this is. Every bottle from the 2.5 cases blew or foamed badly. Tried to drink some after the foam subsided... not to be. Nasty....... grrrrrrr Ok, time for a bottle of Crown. I sure hope that don't blow, oh wait, it's already open.

Me thinks it's time to review my cleaning/sterilizing procedures. I'm going to clean out the brew room and toss all the bottles, rarely use them anyway.

That sucks FIT! Maybe it has to do with the bottling wand or hose. Hope it’s an easy fix.

My deepest condolences FIT! Never easy when good beer goes bad.