Recent content by Biggles

I'm surrently crashing a brut IPA with this yeast. The krausen never went away after fermentation. I gave the carboy some agitation to try and settle it down and incorporate the dry hop charge, but after a couple of weeks and a cold crash, it's not clearing up at all. I'm unsure why a medium...

Yep, that was it, 1.0005. Thanks guys, I now have a much better understanding of the refractometer, and how it works. I love making beer, every batch I learn something new to use on the next one, the only thing that makes me sad is that my gear is all tied up, so I missed the wet hop order...

It's good. Alcohol is less dense than water, so it makes sense. FG is actually 1.001 when the temp was normalised

Update. I took a hydrometer reading. 1.000!!!!! Why is there such a discrepency between hydrometer and refractometer?

I have it sitting at 88 right now, and it seems to have stopped. I added in some dextrose in solution and the yeast ate it right up, so I'm guessing that fermentation is just done.

All grain recipe (http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/farmhouse-saison-9) I used Belgian yeast, not French. Mash was done at 151F. I'll pull a sample and see how it tastes. I've been using a refractometer for readings, so I will see if the hydrometer agrees (I don't see why it wouldn't). Thanks all.

Oh brew wizards, I have a problem. I have brewed a Belgian Saison using the Wyeast 3724 on July 21st (which is notoriously sticky), and my gravity stuck at 1.025. I know what I did wrong, and what I have attempted, but I don't know what to do next. OG was 1.055 I put the brew in my workshop...

I did that, and it's helped a little (1.025 down to 1.020). I think I may need to warm up the carboys to get it going.

I'm brewing a Hefe and a Saison right now, the Saison is using the Wyeast Belgian Saison (3724) and the hefe is using the Weihenstephan Weizen (3068). I pitched the saison on July 21st, and the Hefe on August 1st, and both of them are sitting at 1.020 (started at 1.056 and 1.053 respectively)...

I've had that happen before. Give it another week. the fermentation is probably just trickling along nice and slow right now.

the 1L swingtop bottles seem to be able to take the pressure, the rest (a mix of 330mL and 650mL bottles) seem stable now. The belgian (Duvel/Draak) style bottles are all intact, thicker glass I guess. I don't really want to throw it all out. I'll try crashing it and see what it tastes like...

So I have a bit of a problem. I was a couple degrees shy of the ideal fermentation temperature for the saison I brewed, and after 14 days, the gravity was totally stable at 1.017, which is 5 points higher than anticipated. At this point, since the beer didn't need any finishing, I bottled it...

How much of a difference does the double enhanced decoction make to the beer over a simple batch sparge?

I've been thinking about my low efficiency problems and what I can change, and the last couple of batches have used the dough in procedure you outline, and I have realised a potential pitfall of that method: If your HLT water is too hot, then you could end up with a mash that's too thick...

Humidity is a concern, I live in Vancouver BC, and it's wet here, so adding more isn't desirable. It looks like it's going to be nice the next few days, so outdoors is good.