u/blackarrow_1990

I used to have a package of red Sichuan peppercorns that I used for kung pao. The aroma was very nice, but the numbing effect wasn’t particularly strong.

After about 8 months, I ran out and bought a new package, this time from a different producer. Both packages are labeled as red Sichuan peppercorns, but they are very different.

The old package had quite a lot of black/dark pieces mixed in, which I had to pick out (my older daughter got that job 😄). The new package has almost none of those black pieces.

The aroma of the new peppercorns is also completely different. To me, it’s almost citrusy.

I used the same amount of the new peppercorns in a kung pao recipe with ingredients I’ve used many times before. The result was extremely numbing, almost unpleasant, and the aroma was so different that it honestly tasted like I had used a completely different spice. To my wife as well.

So I’m wondering what could explain such a big difference when both products are sold as red Sichuan peppercorns?

And, more importantly, is there a way to mitigate the strong numbing effect and get closer to the flavor/aroma of the older product?

Thanks!

Hello everyone!

This was my first time brewing a porter, and I definitely made quite a few mistakes with the grain bill. Still, I was hoping the beer would turn out okay. This is the recipe I used: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/1vlobbo/help_diagnosing_an_overly_sweet_beer_5_lactose_s04/

After two weeks of fermentation, I cold-crashed it for two days and then let it carbonate for two weeks. I chilled it to 4°C for two days before trying it.

The first time I tasted it, it was quite sweet, but thankfully that unpleasant sweetness is gone now.

The foam is there, but it disappears very quickly. The bigger issue is that there isn't much aroma or flavor, and the carbonation seems quite weak. Overall, the beer feels pretty flat.

I don't think the grain bill alone would explain all of this, but I'm not sure what I might have done wrong. Except I need to wait.

Any ideas what could be causing the lack of carbonation, aroma, and flavor?

Thanks!

Hello,

I own Cafelat for two years and in last few weeks I noticed that it is very hard to rotate the lower removable part with coffee to lock properly in place. The silicon ring looks fine, everything is clean. How sure what could be the problem here? It is actually hard to find sweet spot where the lower part clicks in and rotates itself.

Thanks.

Hello,

Since my first attempt at making something similar to a porter did not yield very good results (the beer ended up being overly sweet) I would like to try another batch.

My goal this time is to make a clean, malty beer with very little hop character, just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness. I am aiming for a distinctly malty and slightly sweet beer, with some chocolate character and very light roast notes. I know this is not traditional porter but those are the goals.

I do not have all the traditional ingredients for a porter, since I mostly brew German-style beers, but this is what I came up with:

• Pilsner — 60%
• Munich — 20%
• Caramunich — 5%
• Carapils — 5%
• Flaked oats — 5%
• Carafa III — 3%
• Chocolate rye — 3%
• Lactose — 2%

The idea behind the recipe is to use Munich and Caramunich to achieve sweeter caramel and malty notes. I added Carapils and some oats for better head retention. The Carafa and chocolate rye should provide some light roast and chocolate character, while the lactose should improve the mouthfeel and add a little sweetness.

I would mash for 1 hour at 65 °C and boil for 60 minutes, aiming for around 25 IBU. The target OG would be 1.048.

For yeast, I currently have S-04, S-05, S-33, and M15. I was thinking of using S-05 because it should give a clean profile and attenuate more than S-04 or M15. I suspect S-33 would be too fruity for what I am aiming for.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Hello,

This is the recipe I fermented for two weeks, followed by two days of cold crashing, and it has now been in bottles carbonating for one week.

I couldn’t resist, so I cracked one bottle. The carbonation is fine, I’ll fix that next time using a pressure gauge, so I know where this part is finished.

The beer is very clean, but the taste is overly sweet. I understand that lactose is not fermentable and contributes a lot to the sweetness, but I’m wondering whether it’s mainly the lactose or if some of the sweetness could also be coming from the malt bill.

The recipe was:

60% Pilsner

10% Caramunich II

10% Munich

10% oats

5% chocolate rye

3% melanoidin

2% flaked wheat

5% lactose on top of the grain bill

I fermented at 18°C with S-04.

I mashed for 30 minutes at 67°C and boiled for 30 minutes with Kent Goldings, aiming for around 20 IBUs.

EDIT: OG 1.053, conditioned at 25°C.

Hello,

I only have one pressure gauge to monitor when carbonation is complete. My setup uses swing-top bottles, and the pressure gauge is integrated into the swing-top system.

My question is: once Batch 1 has finished carbonating and I move those bottles into cold conditioning, can I remove the pressure gauge from one of the Batch 1 bottles and put it onto a bottle from Batch 2 that is still carbonating?

Will removing the gauge cause me to lose a significant amount of CO₂/pressure from the Batch 1 bottle? Or is it basically fine to remove it once carbonation is complete?

Thanks.

Hello,

I have simple InkBird setup with a fridge and heating pad. I do notice time lag especially in cooling, since even if the fridge is being turned off through InkBird, it will cool it down further. So the heater will be turn on which will again have some lag. So I was thinking to omit putting heating pad under the fermenter and just use fridge controlled by InkBird.

Since most of the fermentation occurs between 10 and 18 c, and my basement has even in winter 18 c and in sommer much more, I am not sure if heating pad helps at all.

Any thoughs on this? Thanks.

Edit: Probe is attached to the stainless steel fermenter with a strap and sponge to be able to measure inside temp as good as possible.

Hello,

I lauter using a stainless steel bucket and false bottom with holes which is located around 5 cm above the bottom of the bucket, since I need space for the spigot. I brew around 3 gallons batches. I pour the mash into bucket, put all my sparge water in it, wait 15 minutes and lauter. After the wort is clean (vorlaut) I slowly begin lautering.

I get around 70 to 75% eff.

I am however not sure if this is good technique or should i try to do lauter and then add sparge water and rinse the mash.

Thanks.

Hello,

I will be buying second fridge with InkBird to cold condition my beers. For Hefeweizen and Witbiers I will not do cold crush, the beers are so far quite clear and some of the yeast has to stay suspended.

For alles I would be able to do cold crush after the fermentation. The idea is to let the thing ferment, check for gravity and once is fermentation over, let is sit 3 days at 2 degrees C. After that, ramp again to 18 degrees C and carbonate with sugar. After two weeks of conditioning (will check this with pressure gauge) back to fridge for cold conditioning at 4 degrees C until ready to drink.

Is this a reasonable approach?

Currently I have some sweet stout which is fermenting about 10 days for now (s04). It does not look very clear, so I think it could benefit from cold crush.

Hello,

I plan after fermentation of 2 weeks and carbonation of 2 weeks to cold condition 1 week at 5 C. After that again at room temp.

Is one week still fine? I have fridge so I need space for new batches to brew.

Thanks.

Edit: I bottle.

Since I'm always home on Sunday evenings, my plan is to brew every Sunday on a fixed rotation. I have one fermentation fridge with an Inkbird controller and a heating pad, so that same fridge would also be used for cold conditioning.

For now, I'm sticking to styles like witbiers, hefeweizens, and porters rather than lagers.

My planned schedule is:

2 weeks of fermentation 2 weeks of bottle conditioning/carbonation at room temperature 1 week of cold conditioning in the fridge Then back to room temperature for long-term storage/conditioning

With only one fridge, this would let me brew every 5 weeks.

I know a longer cold conditioning period (2–4 weeks) is often recommended, but I'm wondering how much of a difference it really makes for these styles.

My main goals with cold conditioning are to improve clarity and help the beer clean up a bit before it goes back to room-temperature storage. My cellar stays around 25°C (77°F) in the summer and about 18°C (64°F) in the winter.

For those of you brewing similar styles, do you think one week of cold conditioning is enough, or is there a noticeable improvement from extending it to 2–4 weeks?

Hello,

After brewing around 25 batches, I finally feel like I know how to make beer. So far I've had no infections, very few obvious off-flavors, but also not many beers that I would call truly great. Most of them have been technically sound, with only a few that I was really happy with.

I adjust my water, measure mash pH, crush my own grain, have fermentation temperature control (fridge + Inkbird + heating pad), and use a refractometer. The area where I feel I'm struggling is recipe formulation. I've picked up bits and pieces of information from forums, books, and websites, then tried to put together recipes that seem like they should work.

I mostly brew styles that I enjoy drinking: wheat beers and dark, malty beers. I'd like to continue focusing on those while getting a better understanding of recipe design, especially the basics of what belongs in a grain bill and what doesn't.

I've already read How to Brew by Palmer and Designing Great Beers by Daniels. Now I'm looking for a book or resource that I can use as a reference to better understand why recipes are built the way they are.

I also have practical limitations. I can't realistically keep 30–40 different malts on hand, I'd rather build a versatile inventory of around 10 malts and learn how to use them well.

I'm considering Brewing Classic Styles or Modern Homebrew Recipes by Strong. I really enjoyed his Brewing Better Beer.

Any recommendations for books, websites, or other resources that helped you improve your recipe formulation?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a French cheese that comes in a thin wooden box and is designed to be heated in the oven or microwave until it melts, so you can dip bread into it.

The problem is that the variety of cheeses available in this format is quite limited. I was wondering if it would be possible to buy or make a reusable container (for example, stainless steel) that could replace the wooden packaging.

I would love to experiment with more varieties of cheese instead of being limited to the few that come in these boxes. Yes, munster cheese as well, so nice when melted :)

Thanks!

Hello,

for the second time I brewed dark lager using M84. 60% Munich, 22% Pilsen, 10% Caramunch 2, 5% Melanoidin, 3% Carafa 3. OG 12.5 Brix. Single infusion mash 67 C for an hour. IBU 22 with Saaz at 60 minutes (begin of boil).

Two weeks at 12 C, two days at 17 C in fermentor. "Lagered" at 20 C in my basement for 4 months. Came out perfect, clear and crisp. Mellowed caramel and easy to drink, very malty beer. Foam could be better though, will try witg 5% Carapils next time.

However, it is a long time to wait. I tried the beer after a month, but it was just not ready. Same after 2 and 3 months. I guess malt bill is quite hard on adjuncts, so it needed some time to mellow.

Any alternative in form of ale dry yeast to get something close but faster?

Thanks.

Edit: faster in terms of faster conditioning. Fermentation time and temperature is not that important, I have fridge and InkBird.

Hello,

since I really need to sanitize my bottles (although I rinse them 3-4 times immidiately after pouring out the beer) I am looking for a solution in spray and possibility to not have to rinse.

I was thinking about making 1 liter of star san solution which I can spray my equipment as well as beer bottles before bottling my beer.

Is this fine? Should I spray them and leave them bottlenecks down to insure they dry out or can I bottle if the bottles are not completely dry?

I try to avoid having to mix star san everytime with huge amount of water, soak the bottles, etc. Spray would be very convinient.

Thanks.

Hello,

we are lucky enough to be able to travel often to eastern part of France (Alsace/Vosges area). I fell in love with Munster and would like to try similar cheeses.

So something strong and more "funky" but soft.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty thorough when it comes to cleaning my brewing equipment. I take everything apart as much as possible after each batch. After fermentation, I clean the fermenter, bottling wand, spigot, and airlock. Once everything is dry, I spray it with 80% ethanol before storing it.

The only thing I don't do a deep clean on every time is the bottles. After drinking a beer, I immediately rinse the bottle 3–4 times with warm water (around 50°C), then leave it upside down to dry. Before bottling the next batch, I spray the bottle necks and flip-top caps with 80% ethanol.

I've brewed about 20 batches this way and haven't had a single infection. But after reading how thoroughly some people clean and sanitize every bottle before bottling, I'm starting to wonder if I've just been lucky.

Am I setting myself up for an infection here?

I'm having trouble trusting my refractometer readings during the boil and I'm wondering if I'm missing something.

I use a Krüss refractometer and calibrate it with clean water before every brew day.

My process is:

• After lautering, I stir the wort well and measure the pre-boil gravity.
• During the boil, I periodically take samples to fine-tune the target OG by adjusting with water if needed.

The problem is that the readings don't seem consistent. Sometimes I'll measure an OG that's lower than expected, but then 10 minutes later it suddenly measures noticeably higher without me making any changes (other than continuing the boil). 10 minutes is not enough to gain more sugar concentration by that much...

For example, on my last brew I measured too low, so I added water to hit my target OG. Later, the gravity ended up being lower than intended because the earlier measurement apparently wasn't accurate.

On the brew before that, I also measured too low. I added water, measured again, and somehow it was still higher than my target.

I'm clearly doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.

EDIT: Took a small syringe and drew 2 mL of wort. I let it cool down and took a measurement 10 minutes into the boil (after stirring well and before adding the hops). I then took another measurement 10 minutes before chilling, and the reading was consistent. I only had to make a small adjustment because my efficiency was slightly higher than usual today. So I think this solved the problem. Thank you all!

Pozdrav,

u poslednjih par godina odnos sa mojim roditeljima se pogorsao i prosto ne znam odakle da pocnem. Oni sad imaju oko 60 godina. Posle zavrsetka fakulteta u Srbiji napustio sam zemlju, otisao na dalje studije u inostranstvo i nasao posao. Tokom studija radio i bez stipendije za inostranstvno sigurno ne bih mogao otici van. Prica zenina je vise manje ista. Dobili smo ovde i decu. Posle desetak godina dosta skromnog zivota uspeli smo da resimo stambeno pitanje (to znaci na zapadu kredit koji mozemo da otplatimo za jos nekih desetak godina). Pomoci drugih nemam, od saniranja stana do dece, ali ne zalimo se i zadovoljni smo zivotom ovde. Cilj je da deca imaju dobre sanse za zivot, bolje nego sto smo mi imali.

Ja sad imam 35 godina i kada pogledam unazad, nije nam bilo divno ali nije bilo ni najgore. Kada slusam ljude koji su stariji, tipa godista 70tih, koji su i mogli zakaciti neku mobiliziciju i sigurno nisu sa stipendijama odlazili napolje, mi smo dobro prosli. Ali se secam da mora nisam video do 15 godine a cokolade su bile za praznike. Kao i vecina ljudi u Srbiji verovatno u to vreme, izuzev onih jako blizu vlasti (mozda je i sad tako, nisam u Srbiji duze od 10 godina). Kada pogledam svoje babe i dede, tek su oni dosta tezak zivot imali (pogotovo strana koji su bili seljaci). Ali moji roditelje vide sebe kao zrtve tog nekog proslog vremena, jer eto drugi su dobili i vise, pogotovo od drzave, a njima je uvek bilo tesko.

Zasto sve ovo pricam? Zato sto ne mogu da razumem svoje roditelje koji se ponasaju pa skoro kao boomeri sa zapada, kojih sam se ovde sit nagledao. Ocekuje se da stalno saljemo neke pare za njihove odmore (more, banje), nekakve stvari za komfor u kuci, angazovanje majstora za nesto sto smo uvek radili sami (krecenje, betoniranje, ciscenje po kuci i slicno). Otac jeste bio bolestan neko vreme ali je ozdravio i potpuno se oporavio. Kada su moji roditelji bili mojih godina, dobili su na poklon plac, automobil, i sto je najbitnije, babe su nas cuvale, a dede gradile kuce i finansijski pomagale, a tokom kriza i kroz hranu itd. Nas su uvek ucili da su oni bili jako vredni, ispostavilo se da je veliki deo posla prosto bio prebacen na babe i dede i rodbinu koja je isto pomagala. Trudili su se, ali definitivno ne kao mi, u puno losijim okolnostima i sami, jedino rat nismo imali (otac nije bio mobilisan). Da emigriraju nisu hteli.

Uglavnom roditelji stalno ponavljaju kako su umorni, kako se taj umor moze resiti jedino konstantnim odmorom, kako sad treba ziveti punim plucima, jer tesko je u srbiji. To naravno mi sve moramo da finansiramo, jer nama je ovde lako a i mi smo njihova deca, dugujemo im to. Ne samo da na taj nacin treba da vratimo dug prema njima, nego i prema rodbini od kojih su oni uzimali pomoc dok su bili mladi. Tu se misli pre svega na rodbinu sa kojima ja sad nemam veliki kontakt ali od kojih oni i dalje traze pomoc, tipa da odlaze na odmore kod rodbine na moru. Tu mi je i izmedju redova receno da dobro razmislim o svemu, jer kuca u kojoj zive ne mora da pripadne meni i bratu, nego samo bratu (hvala Bogu ne zavisimo od toga).

Necu da glorifikujem previse rad i nekakvu mantru kako je rad uvek put do uspeha. Pogotovo ovde na zapadu u tom nekom neoliberalnom smislu je to (hvala bogu) vec otcana floskula, pogotovo kako se urusava socijalna drzava ovde. Ali imam osecaj da roditelji preteruju i da se ponasaju veoma lose prema meni i mojoj zeni, izmedju ostalog, ocekuju i da mi idemo (pored svog posla i obaveza) u Srbiju sa decom, jer kako ce deca da ne vide srbiju i njih. A nemaju nikakvih obaveza, u penziji su. Kada dodju ovde, nasa deca ih u principu ne zanimaju, kupi se par igracaka i ostatak vreme se gleda u telefon ili spava. Pogadjate, umorni su.

Brat je posebna prica. Njemu sam pomagao koliko god sam mogao da ode iz zemlje i takodje uspe da zavrsi studije. Na kraju je ispalo da sam ga udarao po usima a iskreno, sve stvari koje sam ja mogao da savladam, njemu je bilo kroz moje iskustvo servirano na tacni. On se naravno odlicno slaze sa roditeljima, po njemu su oni neupitni po bilo kom osnovu. Dece i zene nema, letuje sa roditeljima, prosle su godine dok nije nasao posao, ziveo je za dzabe kod devojke sve to vreme. Svakom svome, ali nemam nikoga sa kim bih mogao da popricam o roditeljima a da ima neki uticaj na njih. Ja nemam.

Uglavnom, voleo bih da cujem vasa misljenja, da li ja to sve vidim jako crno ili ne i kako bi se ova situacija mogla popraviti. Za sada resenja nemam.

P.S Posto je neko komentarisao dole a ja se nisam dobro izrazio, naravno da ne mislim da je more i cokolada danas sto ostvaruju ljudi koji su blizu vlasti u Srbiji, za nas je to bilo sigurno devedesetih tako, pocetkom 2000-tih nesto bolje. Naravno da je danas omer drugaciji.