Messages

31

Yeast and Fermentation / more aeration on day 2-3?

« on: October 08, 2012, 08:54:44 PM »

My understanding is that higher gravity beers have a longer respiration period so they need more oxygen than the usual 8-11 ppm (I believe under aeration will result in fusels if I'm not mistaken, so that could be your issue) I would go ahead and try aerating the second day but I would aerate on the low side to ensure there's no excess to create those off flavors

32

Yeast and Fermentation / Fusel alcohols

« on: October 04, 2012, 08:04:39 PM »

No headaches, but yes according to the temperature strip on my carboy

33

Yeast and Fermentation / Fusel alcohols

« on: October 01, 2012, 04:01:13 PM »

I did use nutrients that batch, I attributed the stall to the drastic temp change. I didn't adjust ph at all. That batch is fine and being drank ATM anyways, I actually ended up having to repitch yeast but it ended up great.

34

Yeast and Fermentation / Fusel alcohols

« on: October 01, 2012, 02:33:17 PM »

Well it was my first cider and I heard they leave more apple character fermented cold which is why it wasn't initially put in the cooler. Around 52-54 but that is not including fermentation heat

35

Yeast and Fermentation / Fusel alcohols

« on: October 01, 2012, 01:39:13 PM »

I have dabbled with the swamp cooler technique once and day 2 i put the carboy in the cooler and the yeast shocked and fermentation stalled around 1040. Is there a good trick to prevent that or will that issue not occur if  the carboy reaches the same temp of the cooler water prefermentation or prekrausen?

36

Yeast and Fermentation / Fusel alcohols

« on: October 01, 2012, 09:25:58 AM »

I have been reading through yeast by Chris white and I was reading about Fusel alcohols which is an area I have Limited knowledge in. Almost all my beers have a "hot" alcohol taste, even the low gravity ones. I've always attributed this to me using extract and assumed it would go away when I jumped to allgrain(almost there). In the book he mentioned hot fermentation temperatures can make some hot alcohol flavors and I ferment at 66(coldest room in my house) would this be the culprit of my hot alcohol flavors?

37

Ingredients / Single Hopped beer tasting notes

« on: September 27, 2012, 10:27:46 AM »

Loving it!!

38

General Homebrew Discussion / Bottling With Bottles That The Caps That Twist Off

« on: September 27, 2012, 10:17:30 AM »

They work fine if you regularly cap with normal pry off caps. It doesn't work as well with twist off caps(I don't even know where you would get those)

39

General Homebrew Discussion / Newb Question - Original Gravity

« on: September 22, 2012, 07:01:35 AM »

I know this might be hard since this is your first batch, but leave it alone for two weeks.  It'll probably be done at that point.  Opening the fermenter a bunch of times can just introduce more opportunites for oxygen and contamination.

+1
I remember the anticipation for my first batch... And I did so many things wrong! Turned out to be decent beer in the end though

40

Beer Recipes / Anyone brew Graff?

« on: September 22, 2012, 06:40:10 AM »

I saw the same video. I'm planning on brewing some today! Here's the recipe I just pulled out of my *ss, I'm using stuff I have on hand.

.25lb crystal 40
.25lb crystal 120
.1lb special b
3 lbs dark DME
1lb wheat extract
60 min  1oz saaz
10min .5oz Saaz and Irish moss(better safe than sorry I guess)
Flameout-.5oz Saaz
3 gallons apple cider

I totally made this up and it may taste like crap but I'm going for it

41

Kegging and Bottling / Cleaning lines

« on: September 10, 2012, 01:01:03 PM »

I just acquired 6 kegs from a former homebrewer(jackpot!) but he has not brewed in 10 years and the lines are very dirty, how would I go about cleaning these? Would I just push my iodine solution through the lines and do I need to clean the air lines? They do look dirty but I'm not sure if it matters

42

Other Fermentables / First cider and some questions

« on: August 31, 2012, 08:53:11 PM »

I actually used a notty and a Windsor for the yeast, I'm using the swamp cooler technique to keep it cold as possible

43

Other Fermentables / Re: First cider and some questions

« on: August 31, 2012, 05:38:52 AM »

ok ill definitely look into maltodextrin and i will be bottling this because my stout is residing in my keg. would me adding more dark brown sugar after fermentation slows down help sweeten it since it has a percentage of unfermentable sugars? or would it just dry it out more?

44

Other Fermentables / First cider and some questions

« on: August 30, 2012, 09:19:13 PM »

I made my first cider today. it's for thanksgiving, so I made it with a mix of cinnamon ginger nutmeg and allspice(about 1.5oz total) and 1.5 cups dark brown sugar(I plan to add some more after fermentation)NOTE: 3 gal batch. Trying to get into the autumn spirit. Has anyone ever tried this or something similiar? How did it come out? I have also heard complaints of cider being too dry while I was researching online and wondered if anyone has tried steeping some crystal in their cider before. Did that fix up the excessive dryness?

45

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Old Extract?

« on: August 27, 2012, 02:46:10 AM »

Yes unfortunately some (actually most i believe) brew shops charge more for DME. I'm sure if you really want to cut out the LME then you can find some cheap DME online