Recent content by Brew-Jay

Leave it as it is. Theoretically, at this point you could boil some sugar in water and add that to boost ABV. But why bother. It would change the character of the beer. Next time go with a recipe with a higher OG.

I just recently experienced a problem where several batches kept tasting metallic as you described. I posted here on a thread named "Bad Tasting Batches." For me it turned out that the problem was the way I cleaned my brew kettle. I used oxy-clean which removed the oxide layer from the inside...

Your beer is fine. Sometimes it can take a while before visible fermentation starts. Also, don't worry about forgetting the OG reading. Since it was an extract kit you can be pretty confident that the OG would have been right on the money with what the kit says unless you added too much (or...

The zero isn't really necessary, but that's how everyone is used to seeing it. That gravity reading is pronounced, "ten fifty." Any equations that you do will use 50 gravity points. For instance, let's say your final gravity (FG) is 1.010 for the sake of easy math. Get the total delta in...

You will probably get multiple responses, so take it all in! :)

Enter a brewing competition.

60,245.5 + 65 = 60,310.5

Maybe I'm missing something but it sounds like the OP is talking about sanitizing stuff pre-boil. The only equipment that needs to be sanitized is the stuff that will touch the wort after it has been cooled. Boiling the wort sanitized everything before the cooling takes place. So don't bother...

Ready for the verdict? My APA has been kegged for a few days now, and I can confidently say that the off flavor is GONE! Really, the only thing I changed for this last brew was to boil water in the kettle for an hour to replace the oxide layer. Actually, I boiled water for an hour, then...

I originally thought it was water related, but I switched from filtered hose water back to water from my fridge and the problem did not go away. I suppose it could be chloramines in the local water supply, but I have had a bunch of good batches too. Why would it change all of a sudden. If this...

I've done BIAB using my Dark Star with an 8 gallon kettle. Here's what I have found. When I add the grain, the closer the water level is to the top of the kettle, the easier it is to keep a temp. My last batch was a 3 gallon BIAB so the kettle was not nearly full during mash. I had a heck of...

I don't think it did. But I wanted to eliminate that as a potential cause anyway. I suppose the inside could have been filthy even though I try to keep it as clean as possible. There's no telling what's inside those 20 feet of copper. I used it on this last batch, though. I think the problem...

The three gallon batch (APA) has finished fermentation. FG appears stable at 1.013 and the sample did NOT exhibit the metallic off flavor. I got kegging equipment for Christmas so I've used this batch as my first kegged beer. I will take another taste after a few days and see if it tastes...

Q: What do you call a fly with no wings? A: A walk

That may be the worst joke I've ever heard. Yet I still haven't stopped laughing at it.