Recent content by BigFloyd

What Yooper mentioned is one of the more consistent (and easily done) practices for ales. Simply let it ride 10 days, check gravity. Check it again in 3 days. If it's the same, it's ready for a cold crash or bottling/kegging.

Are you doing this at room temp or did you take steps to keep the fermentation cooler? Notty does well from upper 50's to mid-60's. Letting it get above 68*F (liquid temp which can be higher than room temp) isn't wise since it can kick off some pretty funky off-tastes. Notty is my go-to cider...

I do this and add that slightly-less-than 1/4oz of concentrate to a one gallon jug of distilled water. pH always checks out fine. No reason to make this any harder than it has to be.

Patience - One of the more important ingredients in a homebrew. :mug:

That is probably done for a higher gravity stout (lots of unfermentables there). Also, if it's a milk stout, one pound of lactose will add .07 to your FG result.

Yep. Which is why many go with the spa panel option. It was cheaper for me than a bare 50A gfci as well.

That's a tangible indicator, but can be deceiving. It means you have good pressure from the CO2 production. Now you have to give it some time for the CO2 to fully dissolve in the beer which is why a few days in the fridge before pouring is a good idea.

Please don't misinterpret. I never said the CO2 "B word" since I don't believe that especially over-used term accurately describes the conditions inside the headspace of an undisturbed primary fermenter. One does, however, by the finishing stages of fermentation have a much, much higher...

How hot was the water? Can you put this somewhere cold (like mid-30's) for a week or so? That may help drop out some of that gunk.

It may help. It can't hurt. In the future, until you get ready to make starters, many styles have a dry yeast option that will serve quite nicely. My most recent coffee porter was fermented with S-04 and was very tasty. Another advantage of dry yeast is that you need not be as concerned...

I'm not sure where folks get the idea that using an s-airlock during cold crashing is going to going to bring enough O2 into a primary fermenter to cause an oxidation issue. Unless you've been popping the lid off to mess with it too much, there's a lovely bit of CO2 sitting in that...

You're correct in thinking that you underpitched. Should have made a 1.75L swirled starter for this one. If you can grab a fresh vial of 002 and pitch it in the morning, that would get you much closer to a healthy initial cell count. You may be a little warm at 68* ambient when it's at high...

A 5500W element like this - http://www.amazon.com/Camco-02963-Heater-Ripple-Element/dp/B000BPG4LI draws 23A at 240V, so wiring it through a 50A breaker (instead of a 30A) at the box won't change what current gets to the element, only the amperage at which the breaker overloads and trips. Lots...

And?