Recent content by BPenny

I’ve used an Ooni on a cheap plastic folding table before and it was fine because the underside of the Ooni doesn’t get as warm as you’d expect, but generally I prefer to use a little square metal bistro table so that I can set the door down on the same table during use without worrying about...

I have been doing a sour solera type setup with carboys for the past 3-4 years or so and while I have not found the trub to be a problem, I still try to transfer the beer off the trub every 1-2 years. It makes sense that trub contributes to the long term health of the culture and my personal...

I have left wort to cool overnight in a kettle and it doesn’t appear to be a problem, even with very pale hoppy beers. I mostly brew mixed fermentation saisons and sour beers though, so I’m not too worried about the potential for “contamination”, and I suspect ambient cooling may not work well...

My understanding is that the Killer factor in CBC will not effect yeast from a different genus such as Brett, so they should more or less be able to coexist peacefully.

While I’ve never had too many carbonation issues with beer, I’ve had ciders that took several months or even a year to carb, but it always happens eventually. Actually the only ciders I’ve ever made that carbonate in less than 1-2 months are when I bottle them at the tail end of active...

For a thermometer, I would definitely recommend a ThermoWorks ThermoPop. It’s water resistant, and definitely fast and accurate enough for a mash, plus it’s made by the same company as the ThermaPen, but it is much cheaper ($21 plus shipping, or $35 plus shipping for the upgraded version), and...

It depends on the beer, but generally it’s not too thick. Most of the beers I make have an sg of around 1.035-1.050, which only requires around 8-11 lbs of grain for a 5ish gallon batch. If I mash with 2.5-3 gallons of water and then dunk sparge with another 2-2.5 gallons, it’s never seemed...

I frequently do partial boils with AG batches and then I will add a gallon+ of frozen or nearly frozen water to bring the temp down quickly

Personally, I agree that super rich, high calorie beers don’t make me feel great, hoppy beers do tend to make me more relaxed or sleepy. In other cases though, I have noticed some beers feel healthier or easier to metabolize, whereas others hit me pretty hard despite a similar ABV or rate of...

I made one beer with a supposed Kveik yeast that I bought on ebay a year or two ago and it was the only beer I’ve ever made that I couldn’t get down. It was also a very difficult smell/flavor to describe, intensely phenolic in a sharp musty way, almost like a combination of rotting tomatoes...

What was your basic recipe? And what about it would you say is an acquired taste? I made a raw ale years ago but it had brett, lacto and other crazy stuff in it, plus I aged it for several months, and ended up blending most of it. so I didn’t really get a good grasp of how the raw aspect...

When I think about some of my early experiments that somehow turned out fine, I am also curious as to how one could brew only bad beer. Then again, I have only been brewing for the last 6 years or so, so I’m allowing for the possibility that a few decades ago there may have been some potential...

To Toblerone’s point, brewing got a lot more enjoyable and less stressful for me when I adapted my brewing styles and processes to fit my circumstances, which included brewing with yeast and styles that did well fermenting at warmer temps. One of the first beers I brewed was an English style...

I agree. Do you have any S-type airlocks? Those things can usually go months without topping off. Also, if you can find them, vented silicone stoppers never need to be topped off.

I routinely leave wild fermented beers in the primary fermentor, on the trub for 9-12 months in my basement (which ranges from about 58-75 F depending on the time of the year) with no issues. I probably wouldn't try that with a clean beer but, I did leave a clean Belgian Golden Strong ale in the...