Topics

1

Yeast and Fermentation / yeast starter temperature and gravity

« on: February 06, 2013, 11:28:36 AM »

In "How to Brew" Palmer states that you should make your starter to match the conditions of your intended batch fermentation (gravity and temperature), but in "Brewing Classic Styles" the authors state that the OG of the starter should be 1.03-1.04, and temperature for lagers should be a little less than 70 degrees.  How to make sense of this?

2

Kegging and Bottling / cornelius vs firestone

« on: February 01, 2013, 04:58:21 PM »

What's the difference between a firestone and cornelius keg?  They look the same, but the posts are different. 

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Signs of Infection

« on: January 31, 2013, 05:16:15 PM »

What are some signs of infection? Everyone advices that we anally watch over our wort so that infection won't set in.   But what would be a sign that your beer was infected?  I just put a light lager in the secondary to begin the lagering phase.  I noticed some little target like looking films on top of the fermented beer.  It literally looked like a perfect round target.  I felt it with my hand and it was very cohesive.  Not sure if this means my beer is infected.  It took forever (about one week) for the fermentation to begin.  I had to check the gravity several times to see if anything was happening.  Any thoughts?

4

Yeast and Fermentation / No lager activity

« on: January 14, 2013, 05:55:59 PM »

It's been 72 hours and no bubbling or krausen yet.  It's a 1.04 light lager based on the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles.  I pitched the recommend 3 Wyeast packages at 44 degrees, and slowly brought the temp up to 50, where it is now.  NO activity at all.  The smack packs did not swell very much initially.  I wonder if the yeast were inactive.  The package said Sep of 2012, so they had been stored in a cold fridge for 4 months.  Any help?  Not sure what to do.....

5

Ingredients / Pumpkin

« on: September 11, 2012, 03:26:37 PM »

I brewed the Papazian pumpkin ale (curcurbito pepo) last weekend.  I roasted the pumpkin for an hour.  I wondered if the pumpkin was soft enough?  SHould it be soft like a microwaved sweet potato?  ALso, do you expect much gravity contribution from the pumpkin?  Much flavor?  Mouthfeel? 

6

General Homebrew Discussion / Krausen

« on: July 14, 2012, 08:10:14 AM »

I brewed a Bell's Two Hearted Ale clone 6 days ago.  The Krausen is still high and mighty.  The airlock has definately slowed down, but I'm wondering when that Krausen will fall.  I wanted to transfer to the secondary and dry hop on day 7, but I'm wondering if I should wait for the krausen to fall? 

7

Ingredients / Carbon filtered water

« on: July 03, 2012, 03:04:19 PM »

Zymurgy's Two Hearted Ale recipe in 2011 called for carbon filtered water with 4g Gypsum added to it.  What is the purpose of carbon filtered water?  Isn't that just Brita filtered water?  If so, wouldn't I need to know Bell's water report to know if I need to add gypsum to it? 

8

General Homebrew Discussion / Apples

« on: April 20, 2012, 03:23:22 PM »

Hey.  Why does my friend's beer continue to have an apply smell/flavor?  He's made several beers in the past with similar results.  The last beer, an oatmeal stout, he brewed with me at my house.  He then transported the cooled wort back to his house for fermentation and later carbonation.  I read that acetaldehyde can cause it???

9

General Homebrew Discussion / Begian Dark vs Quad

« on: December 03, 2011, 07:50:06 AM »

Is there a difference between a Belgian Quad (like Rochefort 10, St. Bernadeus Abt 10) and Belgian Dark Strong Ale (like Chimay Grande Reserve, Thelonius)?They seem quite similar.  Just Curious

10

Kegging and Bottling / Belgian Bottling

« on: November 11, 2011, 10:51:17 AM »

Hey, just made a Belgian quad and I want to make it look nice and authentic.  I've got a bunch of belgian bottles and corks with the little metal twisties to go on top......Question: How do I get the corks in?  I don't want to go buy some expensive wine/champagne corker.  What dare the forum say? 

11

All Grain Brewing / decoction mash

« on: November 10, 2011, 01:00:30 PM »

Does anyone have much experience with decoction mashing?  I saw a recipe in "Recipe of the Week" called "Tara's Slam" that uses a decoction mash.  It seems strange to me, if I understand correctly: you set the mash at a low mash temperature, pull off a small % of the runnings, heat it up and let that sit for a little whille, then boil that small run off and add it back to the main mash thereby raising it's temp up to a higher rest......and so on.  Did I get that right? 

12

General Homebrew Discussion / Temp question: How exact?

« on: November 10, 2011, 07:36:58 AM »

Many recipes call for certain fermenation temperatures or temperature ranges.  I've heard that the temperature in the fermenation is a bit higher than the surrounding temperature.  So, how does everyone look at this.............are those fermentation temperature guidelines referring to the surrounding temperature, or do they expect you to consider the inside environment of the fermenting beer?  I tried placing a temperature probe inside the primary to get the exact temperature once for an octoberfest.  This worked miserably, and the beer didn't finish down to the appropriate gravity.  Should we lower the outside temperature to account for the higher inside temperature??? Hmmmmmm

13

Kegging and Bottling / Rush carbing

« on: October 27, 2011, 05:02:27 PM »

Hey guys/gals.  I looked through the last 10 pages regarding my question and wasn't finding an answer even though I know it has been discussed before.  So, I need to serve some kegged brews at a party this saturday.  I'm kegging a saison.  It was put in the keg on Tuesday.  I cooled to 34 overnight and turned the psi up to 25 wednesday evening.  I checked it today and there really is not much carbonation.  I rocked it a bit at about 28 psi today (thursday).  I'm worried this beer will not be ready on saturday evening.  Any thoughts?

14

Pimp My System / Pimp'n system

« on: April 01, 2011, 02:38:28 PM »

Did you guys read about Andrew's system?  How amazing is that!  That makes my rubbermaid cooler system look like baby talk.  He does not have all of the heavy lifting and everything is tightly regulated. Must say I'm envious.  But where do you even start?  Seems like you almost need to be an engineer to creat something like that.  I'm sure there is also some monetary investment needed. 

15

Kegging and Bottling / Regulator Repair

« on: February 18, 2011, 03:14:30 PM »

Just curious:?  I dropped my regulator a while back. It seems that it not reading properly.  I found that out the hard way: I way over carbonated a beer on just 10PSI.  So do you guys know how to recalibrate these things?