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About the DC LME: my first batch using this product is actually fermenting right know, so I'll tell later about the final results. I used 4.5 lbs of it, along with 3.5 lbs of home malted barley, 1/2 lbs home roasted kinda amber malt, 1/2 lbs home roasted kinda pale chocolate, and 1/2 lbs panela (turbinado). I added the LME and panela half way into the boil. Hops: nugget+willamette. I also added some local chile (pasillas and guaque, 5 minutes boil..). Fermenting with S05. OG 1.052. I was hopping to make a kind of "chile brown ale", but it's a bit paler than what I had hoped... Here are my impressions at first sample (one week, grav. 1.012): it feels pretty dry, as I was hoping more residual sweetness from LME... Maybe it's the effect of the late addition into the boil + panela... The chile has not come up yet, I might add more into the fermenter for one week (kind of dry chilliing...).

This product is from Maltexco, a chilean malting company, which seems to produce good quality malts... This actually gave me the idea to speak with DC to see if they could import other products from this company (let's say base malt, plus a couple of specialty grains....). So I'm still waiting for an answer/proposal, but I think it would be possible if we could guarantee them that we gonna buy a certain quantity of the product... Well, anyway I'll update you about this when they give me an answer.
 
Good to know. I've been dreaming of scoring some more DME from Maltexco, it's by far the best of the 2 extracts and it's light extract, so you can color your beer to your liking. I'd be game on buying some as soon as I'm done paying for tuition this next month.

Late addition prevents kettle caramelization which usually adds to residual sweetness, a late addition will be akin to base malt with just over 1/2 a pound of light (10-20L) crystal malt; an early addition will be closer to base malt with about a 1/2 pound of medium (40-60L) crystal malt. Panela and other mildly refined sugars will usually give it a caramel smell but not much of a flavor, they'll usually dry the beer out and lower the FG to about 1.010 or less, depending on how much you use.
 
Thanks for those inputs Pacaya, next time I'll try a batch with 100% DC LME plus a little sugar, to see the results, maybe with an IPA...
 
For a full 5 gal batch, a full jug of LME and 1 pound of sugar puts you in british IPA territory with OG ~1.054. An early addition would be advisable for this as an IPA, since it'll increase the malt profile's complexity slightly.

I'd recommend using some coarse crushed biscuit/brown/amber/victory malt to accentuate the bready profile, maybe 6 oz steeped at mashout temperatures for about 40 minutes so you don't get as much tannin out of it.

I'd also recommend a prolonged low alpha hop schedule, maybe Willamete/Fuggles/Styrian Goldings/EKGoldings for british IPA or Centennial (later additions)/Cascade/Chinook (also later additions)/Citra/Simcoe/Amarillo for american IPA.
 
pacayaforhops said:
For a full 5 gal batch, a full jug of LME and 1 pound of sugar puts you in british IPA territory with OG ~1.054. An early addition would be advisable for this as an IPA, since it'll increase the malt profile's complexity slightly.

I'd recommend using some coarse crushed biscuit/brown/amber/victory malt to accentuate the bready profile, maybe 6 oz steeped at mashout temperatures for about 40 minutes so you don't get as much tannin out of it.

I'd also recommend a prolonged low alpha hop schedule, maybe Willamete/Fuggles/Styrian Goldings/EKGoldings for british IPA or Centennial (later additions)/Cascade/Chinook (also later additions)/Citra/Simcoe/Amarillo for american IPA.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pacaya for the recipe inputs! I'll try something like that!
 
rappyfreak said:
Curtis, what kind of stuff are you thinking for the group buy? I might def be game
Click to expand...

I will be ordering ingredients. Probably from Austin Homebrew. If we order some common base grains it might be worthwhile to share shipping on TransCargo.

I will definatelty be brewing more Pils this season so a Pils malt and very light DME are on the list.

Any ingredients that might be useful for you?
 
nsaubes said:
About the DC LME: my first batch using this product is actually fermenting right know, so I'll tell later about the final results. I used 4.5 lbs of it, along with 3.5 lbs of home malted barley, 1/2 lbs home roasted kinda amber malt, 1/2 lbs home roasted kinda pale chocolate, and 1/2 lbs panela (turbinado). I added the LME and panela half way into the boil. Hops: nugget+willamette. I also added some local chile (pasillas and guaque, 5 minutes boil..). Fermenting with S05. OG 1.052. I was hopping to make a kind of "chile brown ale", but it's a bit paler than what I had hoped... Here are my impressions at first sample (one week, grav. 1.012): it feels pretty dry, as I was hoping more residual sweetness from LME... Maybe it's the effect of the late addition into the boil + panela... The chile has not come up yet, I might add more into the fermenter for one week (kind of dry chilliing...).

This product is from Maltexco, a chilean malting company, which seems to produce good quality malts... This actually gave me the idea to speak with DC to see if they could import other products from this company (let's say base malt, plus a couple of specialty grains....). So I'm still waiting for an answer/proposal, but I think it would be possible if we could guarantee them that we gonna buy a certain quantity of the product... Well, anyway I'll update you about this when they give me an answer.
Click to expand...

awesome! the rep i spoke to here said she could have them bring in anything the guatemala HQ carries. light DME would be my top preference. so keep us posted. between me and my friends, we'd probably be good for orders of 2-3 5 gallon batches a month.
 
Curtis2010 said:
I will be ordering ingredients. Probably from Austin Homebrew. If we order some common base grains it might be worthwhile to share shipping on TransCargo.

I will definatelty be brewing more Pils this season so a Pils malt and very light DME are on the list.

Any ingredients that might be useful for you?
Click to expand...

Curtis: I was thinking about getting a good bulk of base malt, plus maybe a couple specialty grains in a more moderate quantity (medium caramel + chocolate maybe)... I was actually checking the possibility of getting a 50 pounds sack of base malt... I think pilsen malt would do the job too for base malt, though I would prefer 2 row... Would you guys be interested in sharing the 50 lbs? Though you should know that the shipping within the US for such a weight is quite expensive: e.g. with Midwest it almost double the price... though the price for the 50 lbs sack without shipping is only 36$... Then I don't know if Austin is selling the whole sacks. Let me know if you're interested by the idea...
 
nsaubes said:
Curtis: I was thinking about getting a good bulk of base malt, plus maybe a couple specialty grains in a more moderate quantity (medium caramel + chocolate maybe)... I was actually checking the possibility of getting a 50 pounds sack of base malt... I think pilsen malt would do the job too for base malt, though I would prefer 2 row... Would you guys be interested in sharing the 50 lbs? Though you should know that the shipping within the US for such a weight is quite expensive: e.g. with Midwest it almost double the price... though the price for the 50 lbs sack without shipping is only 36$... Then I don't know if Austin is selling the whole sacks. Let me know if you're interested by the idea...
Click to expand...

I might be interested in that. Austin Homebrew offers inexpesive shipping w/in the US.

I will check into the details via AHB.
 
Curtis2010 said:
I might be interested in that. Austin Homebrew offers inexpesive shipping w/in the US.

I will check into the details via AHB.
Click to expand...

AHB list their 2-row at 1.45/lb so about 72.5 for 50lb. Dont know if they offer any price breaks on larger amounts, but their shipping is only $4.99 for orders over $100 and $6.99 if less.
 
I don't know what happened to my last post, so I'll introduce myself here. I am very new to brewing and have very basic kit here. So far I have been making Woodfordes Wherry and Woodfordes Norfolk Nog from kits, and both have turned out very good, although after Gallo/Moza/Cabro/(insert GT beer name here), it's bound to taste good! I'm very excited to hear about other people brewing here, and where to get supplies. We all know about getting stuff here without bribing friends into putting it into their luggage when they come to visit. I've been here about 4 years and am still learning about where to get stuff and how to get it out here to the lake. We make a lot of fermented foods and herbal medicines, so I have an idea about some things. I was originally a chemical engineer, so brewing seems to be the next step, let alone to say one of the more enjoyable things to do with my education ;-) Now I will go back and have a good read of all the other posts to find out more about what I need to get hold of next. Cheers all!
 
Curtis2010 said:
AHB list their 2-row at 1.45/lb so about 72.5 for 50lb. Dont know if they offer any price breaks on larger amounts, but their shipping is only $4.99 for orders over $100 and $6.99 if less.
Click to expand...

AHB doesn't seem to sell whole sacks, so you don't have any price breaks, but the flat rate shipping is pretty interesting indeed, so the tradeoff seems to be fair... I guess it would be almost the same, given that at Midwest one sack costs about 38$, but you have to add 39$ for shipping, which give us 77$... Yeah it's the same! Let's order from AHB. But how should we proceed? I guess we should make one single order right? Any suggestion?
 
Patzaquel said:
We make a lot of fermented foods and herbal medicines, so I have an idea about some things. I was originally a chemical engineer, so brewing seems to be the next step, let alone to say one of the more enjoyable things to do with my education ;-) Now I will go back and have a good read of all the other posts to find out more about what I need to get hold of next. Cheers all!
Click to expand...

Welcome, it seems great minds think alike... JK, in all seriousness though I also started out studying chemical engineering, but switched over to food tech engineering a couple of years ago (hopefully I'll be done by the end of next year), a few years after I started homebrewing.

Some of the knowledge gained in college has gotten me out of a pickle a few times, sometimes it's made me MacGuyver some stuff that didn't work out as well as I thought it would (my ghetto counter-flow chiller for example, which I'll get to work yet...).

All in all, considering my lack of funding, I think I've done well with what I have (hopefully if you can join us on 09/07/13 you can judge for yourself).

Good to have you on board, if you need any help, feel free to let us know.
 
:off: sorry, this just made me think of how much I love Guatemalan coffee, especially Antigua and Huehue. Ya'll should put that in a stout or porter!
 
I had a look through the threads, sept 7, but where? I may be able to make it, it will depend on business at the time. If you want some organic atitlan coffee from my land to try in your porter, let me know. Did anyone ever try a roasted amaranth or ramon nut in a brew? I saw about rosa de jamaica and maracuja, i was wondering about other easily available grains here.
 
roastquake said:
:off: sorry, this just made me think of how much I love Guatemalan coffee, especially Antigua and Huehue. Ya'll should put that in a stout or porter!
Click to expand...

Yes, a coffee porter I think's a fine idea...haven't brewed one yet but have thought about doing one w Diesledorf Kaffee (awesome coffee from Coban).

I have brewed a Chocolate Stout using cocoa powder from the highlands...it was delicious.
 
Patzaquel said:
I had a look through the threads, sept 7, but where? I may be able to make it, it will depend on business at the time. If you want some organic atitlan coffee from my land to try in your porter, let me know. Did anyone ever try a roasted amaranth or ramon nut in a brew? I saw about rosa de jamaica and maracuja, i was wondering about other easily available grains here.
Click to expand...

Time is not set yet, but location is Cheers on calle 13 in Zona 10.
 
nsaubes said:
AHB doesn't seem to sell whole sacks, so you don't have any price breaks, but the flat rate shipping is pretty interesting indeed, so the tradeoff seems to be fair... I guess it would be almost the same, given that at Midwest one sack costs about 38$, but you have to add 39$ for shipping, which give us 77$... Yeah it's the same! Let's order from AHB. But how should we proceed? I guess we should make one single order right? Any suggestion?
Click to expand...

I am already putting an order together so can include the 2-row in that order. AHB will pack into seperate heat sealed bags on request so I am thinking break it into 10 x 5lb bags...this is easier to use and store and to divide up.

Not sure exactly what the shipping will be w Transcargo but will check. We can just allocate shipping costs based upon # lbs of grains taken (5 lb, 1 bag, min).

Work for you? Anyone else interested?
 
Curtis2010 said:
I am already putting an order together so can include the 2-row in that order. AHB will pack into separate heat sealed bags on request so I am thinking break it into 10 x 5lb bags...this is easier to use and store and to divide up.

Not sure exactly what the shipping will be w Transcargo but will check. We can just allocate shipping costs based upon # lbs of grains taken (5 lb, 1 bag, min).

Work for you? Anyone else interested?
Click to expand...

Curtis: That would work for me but when I was thinking of the 50 lbs sack, I was thinking about sharing it... So if you still order 50 lbs, you would keep a share, right? I'm cool with 20-25 lbs... So if you're placing the order yourself I could deposit money (quetzales) if you have a bank account here in Guate. What do you think? Moreover, I was also thinking about getting some Chocolate, Black patent, crystal 10, crystal 60, 3 pounds each... Do you think you could add that to the order too?
 
About Transcargo's fees: I had checked with them, and they charge per volume, not per weight... They charge a minimum fee of 40$ if you are under 4 cubic feet, and beyond 4 CF they charge 12$/CF...
 
what do you all ferment in? i have been using the 5 gallon water jugs with a #10 stopper and airlock. so my batches are usually 4 gallons to leave room for fermentation and headspace. it would be nice to find something bigger

and what methods do you use to keep ferm temps down?
 
I usually use corny kegs to ferment, have a couple of blow-off hoses made for the sole purpose of using the kegs as fermenters, then I clean the beer and re-keg/force carbonate. For the longer drawn out funky stuff I use my old bucket fermenter.

The only time I keep tabs on temperature is when I'm brewing lagers and even then it's just for the first week, then I let it go and cold condition in the temp controlled beer fridge that I don't usually use the temp control on any more, 'cause my folks have veggies in it most of the time...
 
Another question, did anyone try disinfection of equipment or bottles with MMS or ozone? I have been using MMS, then oven drying for bottles, which seems to be effective. MMS is sodium chlorite, used in meat industry for disinfecting carcasses without damaging flavour. I have an ozone generator here, which we use to disinfect our drinking water after filtration. Apparently I could put veggies in water and ozonate it to disinfect (I actually prefer to use MMS for this), I was thinking about trying the same with bottles. just wondered if anyone else had tried it.
 
Don't usually bottle any more, unless it's samples for that same week, so I don't usually bother sanitizing bottles any more (just soapy water and rinse with water). If I do need to sanitize a keg 'cause I'm switching to a different yeast, I use straight bleach and rinse with lots of water.
 
nsaubes said:
Curtis: That would work for me but when I was thinking of the 50 lbs sack, I was thinking about sharing it... So if you still order 50 lbs, you would keep a share, right? I'm cool with 20-25 lbs... So if you're placing the order yourself I could deposit money (quetzales) if you have a bank account here in Guate. What do you think? Moreover, I was also thinking about getting some Chocolate, Black patent, crystal 10, crystal 60, 3 pounds each... Do you think you could add that to the order too?
Click to expand...

Yes, I was assuming we would share the 50lb. Im Ok w placing the order and then sorting out the cash at the reunion. If you cant make it I can leave it w rappy or pacaya in the City. I do have a BAM acct. I need some specialty grains too so we can combine that as well. Once we know how much I can email TransCargo for an approx cost. I need to do a little recipe work to confirm how much I want. Will post in a few days.

I would ask AHB to package all grains in one box and other stuff in my order in another. I need some specialty grains too.

Im OK w about 20lbs...we can spilt up the rest and then place another order if this works out OK...reduces storage issues too.
 
hopbrad said:
what do you all ferment in? i have been using the 5 gallon water jugs with a #10 stopper and airlock. so my batches are usually 4 gallons to leave room for fermentation and headspace. it would be nice to find something bigger

and what methods do you use to keep ferm temps down?
Click to expand...

I use mostly use kegs for ferm and conditioning now. Use carboys for mead.

Living on the Rio Dulce temp control is more important for me. I use chest freezers w external thermostats.
 
rappyfreak said:
Hey Curtis, I would be in for around 20-25lbs of base malt and 2 or 3 specialty grains. I found this place that might be a bit cheaper because it is in Orlando: http://www.heartshomebrew.com/
Click to expand...

Checked their price and shipping. Their 50lb bag is a less at about $50, but their cheapest shipping option to Miami is $25.38 = 75.38 total so only a few $ better. AHB flat rate shipping is hard to beat.
 
Curtis2010 said:
Yes, I was assuming we would share the 50lb. Im Ok w placing the order and then sorting out the cash at the reunion. If you cant make it I can leave it w rappy or pacaya in the City. I do have a BAM acct. I need some specialty grains too so we can combine that as well. Once we know how much I can email TransCargo for an approx cost. I need to do a little recipe work to confirm how much I want. Will post in a few days.

I would ask AHB to package all grains in one box and other stuff in my order in another. I need some specialty grains too.

Im OK w about 20lbs...we can spilt up the rest and then place another order if this works out OK...reduces storage issues too.
Click to expand...

Curtis: sounds good to me! I live in the city, and it seems like rappy will be part of the order so I can easily coordinate with him. By the way we could upgrade to 60 lbs 2 row, as we are 3 people willing to get about 20 lbs each... And yes it will be a nice test, as I'm curious to see what are the costs of transcargo for grains... If it works great we could easily repeat the operation soon, as getting ingredients and brewing the beer leads to more struggle than drinking it, hehe!
 
hopbrad said:
what do you all ferment in? i have been using the 5 gallon water jugs with a #10 stopper and airlock. so my batches are usually 4 gallons to leave room for fermentation and headspace. it would be nice to find something bigger

and what methods do you use to keep ferm temps down?
Click to expand...

I'm using the same system to ferment: salvavida 5gals bottle+stopper+airlock... Works great but yes, these are 4 gallons batches, 4.5 if you use a blowoff tube.
About the sanitizer: I use a vegetable cleaner that I buy at the supermarket, it's called Biocyde... It says it's made of salts of: Poly (hexamethylene biguanide) and alkyldimethil benzyl amonium. 16.40 gramos por 1000ml... This sounds like chinese to me but you guys know about chemistry... I would actually be interested to have your opinion about the product!
 
nsaubes said:
Curtis: sounds good to me! I live in the city, and it seems like rappy will be part of the order so I can easily coordinate with him. By the way we could upgrade to 60 lbs 2 row, as we are 3 people willing to get about 20 lbs each... And yes it will be a nice test, as I'm curious to see what are the costs of transcargo for grains... If it works great we could easily repeat the operation soon, as getting ingredients and brewing the beer leads to more struggle than drinking it, hehe!
Click to expand...

Ok w me. So, we order 60 lbs in 6 x 10 lb bags...this makes it easier to transport and store. Work for you guys?

I always order mine milled...you too?

What specialty grains do you want?

For me I like to keep some Carapils on hand and plan to brew a dark lager this season so could use some darker grains too. I will likely still order some Pils malt as well and some light DME? You guys?

I think we should make this 2 orders (or at leasts 2 packages...one base, one specialty etc) so that SAT does not decide it is a commercial order and jack up the duties...Ive never had that issue w TransCargo but have w other shippers when shipping lots of stuff.
 
nsaubes said:
I'm using the same system to ferment: salvavida 5gals bottle+stopper+airlock... Works great but yes, these are 4 gallons batches, 4.5 if you use a blowoff tube.
About the sanitizer: I use a vegetable cleaner that I buy at the supermarket, it's called Biocyde... It says it's made of salts of: Poly (hexamethylene biguanide) and alkyldimethil benzyl amonium. 16.40 gramos por 1000ml... This sounds like chinese to me but you guys know about chemistry... I would actually be interested to have your opinion about the product!
Click to expand...

I use the salvavida jugs for meads....these are usualy smallish batches anyway so works great and I can pick them up cheap...a local tienda used to carry another brand that folded so they have a bunch of old ones in storage.
 
Curtis: that works for me. About specialty grains I was thinking Chocolate, Black patent, crystal 10, crystal 60, about 3 pounds each..
 
nsaubes said:
About the sanitizer: I use a vegetable cleaner that I buy at the supermarket, it's called Biocyde... It says it's made of salts of: Poly (hexamethylene biguanide) and alkyldimethil benzyl amonium. 16.40 gramos por 1000ml... This sounds like chinese to me but you guys know about chemistry... I would actually be interested to have your opinion about the product!
Click to expand...

I went for MMS as it eventually breaks down into sodium chloride and oxygen and so little is used I feel it would have a negligible effect on taste. At that level it's safe for internal use (can be used to cure malaria in fact). Maybe I'm a little over cautious at the moment, I am very much a beginner. I'm not sure what the breakdown products of the biocyde would be, but it sounds a little too full of organic compounds for my liking (especially when it contains the word benzyl). That is just a personal opinion, and if you have been getting the results you want then maybe it's OK.
 

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