Recent content by benwhite22

I'm in!

Thanks for all the input. As for the water, I've been noticing more sediment and such in the water but maybe that's just me. You're right about the rampant rumors though; according to some there is a steeple of an old church sticking out of the water somewhere in the middle of the lake.

I guess no one appreciates my drunkin rambling.

The bottling bucket is the secondary. The beer is fermented out; I'm just being cautious as I don't want any exploding bottles. I usually keg, so using the bottling bucket as the secondary is no big deal. This is my first time bottling. Guess I should have thought this out a little more. Oh...

Okay, so the beer is in the secondary fermenter which doubles as my bottling bucket (it has a spigot on the bottom). The hygrometer reading should be stabilized within a few days and the beer ready to bottle. The problem, however, is: how do I thoroughly mix my priming sugar into the bucket...

I've already got a good start on my winter weight: an unfortunate byproduct of good food and good drink and good friends. I put the pumpkin ale in the secondary yesterday and it smelled phenomenal. The Christmas ale just made it into the primary and I'm waiting to pitch the yeast. They probably...

The carb/head was good (carbonated at 26-28 psi at room temp). I'm going to try it again in a few days. Maybe I'll go get some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Sweetwater 420 to compare with.

I'll agree with "Complete Joy". I found it to cover all general topics and has procedures from begining extract brewing to advanced all-grain brewing along with many recipes. It was very approachable for a beginner and I recommmend it.

I just racked my wheat beer into the secondary after fermenting for a week. The yeast (WLP320) that I'm using didn't seem to settled out as much as other ale yeast but the cloudy appearance is one of the things that makes wheat beer unique. I will probably age in the secondary for 3-4 weeks as...

Yep. Definately too soon. Hopefully I didn't ruin it by force carbonating too soon.

This is my first batch of beer (pale ale) and after one week in the primary, one week in the secondary and one week in the keg for force carbonating, I can't wait any longer. I'm going to try it tomorrow. It was very clear and smooth and the aroma was great when I put it into the keg a week ago...

So far I have only used liquid yeast once (white labs american hefe) and pitched it directly into the wort at something below 70 degrees. (I left the wort in the ice water bath a little too long.) It took about 36 hours to really get going but it's bubbling away now. If turns out, I'll probably...