Recent content by BluegrassyBrewer

Just a quick question on how much time in the bottle is good. I made an IPA about a month ago, a week and a half in the primary and 2.5 weeks in the secondary and I'm going to bottle it tomorrow, in hopes it will be done for Christmas. How many days in the bottle until it is carbonated enough?

There was also a very alcoholy taste to it, and it felt very warm in my stomach for about 30 seconds after drinking. Didn't do a hydrometer reading on this batch, but it seems a little high (not that I'm complaining). Any thoughts?

So my JAO was just bottled up, read the newspaper through it today. But there were a few signs that did concern me. The taste is wonderful, but with a slight off taste which I hope will die down. But there is a very strong smell to it, and I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'm assuming that...

Yes, juvinious, that's the one. It just seems odd to me that bottling would take place after only 10 days in the fermenter. The bread part I get, we just use yeast for it now. But wouldn't bottling that early cause the yeast to still be very much active in the mead risking explosion of the...

So while perusing the library here at school I happened upon this book in the shelves. Very interesting to say the least, a must read for everyone who makes mead. One especially caught my eye, An Excellent White Meathe. In this recipe, he states that after a week to seven days he bottled this...

So the JAO 1-gallon that I started a month a a few weeks ago cleared over a week ago. I was wondering if I should wait the 2 months, although the recipe states that when it clears, it's good to go. Would there be any harm in bottling this now that it has cleared? I would hate to have bottles...

Sounds like a good recipe to me. I would advise (with my background in forestry) to wait until the summer to try out any blackberry recipes though. Mid/late summer is the peak time for blackberry fruiting, and trust me that blackberries picked when the are ripe in the woods taste a hell of a...

So after my first beer was done, a pumpkin spice ale, I got to thinking about reasons it went wrong and I came across one that might explain the sour taste and smell coming from the beer. When pouring the wort into the fermenter, I did not have a strainer at the time, so all the hops that we...

So just popped open the first Pumpkin Spice Ale today after 1.5 weeks in the bottle. There were sludgy strings which I assume to be yeast in the glass when poured and a super sour smell. It was in the primary for 10 days, then has been in the bottle for about a week and a half. I assume that...

Thanks for all the input. I'm going to be using 2 oz. of Cascade for the dry hop. What I was planning on doing was leaving it in the primary for a week to a week and a half, then transferring to the secondary for a week or two, dry hopping it during that time. 3 oz. of Cent for continual hop...

So I'm going to be making an IPA sometime today and was just wondering what would be good to put in the secondary? I'm going to dry hop it in the secondary, but looking to be some extras in there too. I was thinking that maybe some cloves would go well in there, seeing as how it is almost the...

I'm also making a Bell's clone today, and I've doing all bittering and aroma with Cent and then using Cascade for dry hopping. Probably won't turn out exact, but hey, it'll be damn good.

So to get the last bit of beer on the bottom of the carboy, my roomate and I tried to siphon it out using my mouth. Now, I swigged listerine around for a good 2 minutes. But while starting the siphon, some beer went in my mouth then into the bottle bucket. I was wondering what the chances of...

I noticed the other morning when I woke up that there was condensation in the airlock. I have Southern Comfort in it (only alcohol I had to fill it up with), and was wondering if this is due to the weather changing outside (getting colder) or what? Any suggestions?

So my first batch for the first 2 days was going along nicely, at about 2 airlock bubbles per second. But then this morning I woke up and it had stopped. Sat there for a good two minutes and saw no bubbling in the airlock, and it's only the third day. I'm making a pumpkin spice ale, is this...