52 replies to this topic

[Captn_Awesome]

camembert

http://www.countrybr...ategory22_1.htm

My fermenting fridge is being used for this for the next 6+ weeks

first time I'm doing it with powdered milk though so not sure how it will pan out...

[Captn_Awesome]

P.S. I can't believe your going the nerdy path LOL.
Its all down hill from here.
Just wait...

I dry my own fruits

I've made cider (brilliant!)

I make a lot of breads - basically i just use my left over pizza dough as a yeast sponge and make ciabatta and sour dough tin loafs.

I make bulk, Im talking metric crap loads, of tomatoe sauce for pastas etc. Looking to try making a concentrated paste next time. Canning and preserving is easy when you have your brewing gear

I've tried (and failed at) curing proscuitto

I've succeeded at smoking all kinds of stuff.

I'm looking at buying a mincer/sausage stuffer to make sausages and fermented sausages like salami

Backyard mad scientist / inner hippy is addictive. Theres all kinds of cool crap you can do!

[Captn_Awesome]

Honestly having just checked ebay for mag stirrers - buy one! when i was in the market they were like $500+ without heater but at <$180 delivered with hot plate I wouldnt bother fucking around trying to make one.

Why do you want round bottom flasks? Im interested as I was always under the impression that flat bottom for the type of use you and I would be using one for are preferred. Dont forget a good strong magnet to hold the stir bar when pouring or to remove the stirbar from the erlenmeyer flask.
Link me up for your glasswear as I've just been buying mine from the LHBS and paying astronimical prices...

Edited by ~Sparkles~, 26 May 2011 - 11:30 PM.

[Cide]

Mmmmm camembert, i love cheese!

do you make your own mozzarella or bocconcini for your home made pizzas?

no real reason, i just like the look of round bottoms (florence flasks) over the conicals (erlenmeyers) and used them mostly back in school chem so was just researching florence flasks.

yeah, i've just been feeling extra geeky of late and wanted to dabble in some backyard chem. once i get myself a good ball mill/mortar and pestle i'm going to investigate black powder

my fam also use to dry fruits, not so much these days. we still have the dehydrators so i might get back into it. use to knock up fairly good fruit leather and some great sun dried tomoatoes!

gimme a sec, i shall get your links

Edited by Cide, 27 May 2011 - 12:12 PM.

[Cide]

~Sparkles~, on 26 May 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:

Link me up for your glasswear as I've just been buying mine from the LHBS and paying astronimical prices...

See that's your problem, you've been going about this like a brewer. i couldnt find the sites i had originally got the glassware prices from but i did just find these two sites which absolutely blow them out of the water!

www.livingstone.com.au

www.labdirect.com.au/

both require you to register but there glassware prices are insane! you could get yourself a 5000mL conical flask for $110!!!

[Captn_Awesome]

I havent as yet but it is planned.
Camembert, brie and soft blue mould cheeses are supposed to be the easier cheeses to make so that why you begin with them.
I want to see how this batch goes with powdered milk as its obviously far far cheaper than buying normal milk. Supposedly provided you rehydrate the milk properly and let it sit chilled for a few days its as good as buying bottles of the stuff any way (most milk is reconstituted any way).
Its a shame we cant get unpasturised milk in Australia (other than for animal feeding...) as that allows way more flavour profile to come through. Its stupid we can import and buy cheeses made from unpasturised milk from OS but your not legally allowed to make it here in Australia.

[Captn_Awesome]

Pigpharma Im looking at buying a T500 still - is $665 delivered a good price for the 25L boiler and the T500 reflux head?

[Captn_Awesome]

So I've just completed my first brew back doing (psuedo) 3V with a brand spanking beer belly 50L stainless steel mashtun. Currently 'no-chilling' in a cube in the freezer.

OMFG! I mashed last night but couldnt complete the boil so I just boiled the wort to steam the lid to sanitise it to sit over night and completed the boil this morning.
Man 3V brewing is so much nicer than BIAB. Dont get me wrong there is nothing wrong with BIAB and I could have happily kept brewing that way for quite some time. But 3V gives way more control.
I batch sparged and after resettling the grain bed I was obtaining nice clear wort for the kettle.

Plus I've had some aluminium laser cut to shore up the MM3-SS-2.0 and its making a very nice crushed grist for mashing. Going to have to reset the rollers for a finer crush but I banged out 70% efficiency straight off the bat no bad when basically I'm using all new gear in the brew house. I'm hoping once I get my HERMS finished and a seperate HLT so I dont have to batch sparge I should see a big increase in brew house efficiency recirc wort should help with clarity and also with stepped mashes (got to look into PC controlled temp controllers for term rises).