Recent content by Casedeville

The freezer in there is not just plastic, it's actually the entire cooling element with coolant running through it. You can't remove it, you'll need to bend it down and out of the way to fit your kegs in. With that said, I HIGHLY recommend paying the extra $50 unless you are experienced with...

The sour mash probably wouldn't be necessary if you're using WLP630. If you haven't started yet, you might want to try the recipe and process listed on Milk The Funk for their Berliner Weisse.

Are you brewing a hefeweizen? Which yeast did you use?

Keep venting it 2-3 times per day. Before the last vent of the day, pour a couple ounces to see if it's still overcarbed. Eventually the beer will drop its carb level to where you want it, then you can reapply serving pressure. For what it's worth, carbing up a beer in 3 days isn't usually...

Haha! I liked your "Well, actually" comment. :) Yeah, it's debatable for sure. In the end, it's up to the brewer and whatever works best for his process. Just for the sake of debate, I've never seen cocoa nibs sink. If they do end up sinking after they get saturated, you'd probably have...

It's really not that much exposure opening the carboy for a sample. You have already gotten way more exposure by racking to secondary, so any small amount of oxygen getting into the carboy during a sample will pale in comparison (assuming you're using a thief and not stirring the beer around)...

Yeah, I agree. I was writing my reply when he disclosed his target OG, so I didn't see it till after. It wouldn't ruin the beer by any means, but it wouldn't be the ideal pitching rate. He should make a starter for best results. To be honest, I'm a fan of doing starters for even lower gravity...

Thought this might be helpful for your concave vs. convex definitions. :) If that jar works on a stir plate, it might be a good option. I would prefer a 2L Erlenmeyer flask since it can be direct-heated and is only a couple dollars more. It's big enough for most ale batches, but it would be...

I agree. If you're using this Double Pitch pack, then you're starting with 200 billion cells which should be more than enough to direct pitch. If you just want to make a starter for the fun of it, then you can use 1000mL (~33floz) with 100g (~3.5oz) of DME which will fill up about half of...

Depending on the intensity of coffee flavor you want, I would try 6 grams or .2 ounces of beans in a bottle. You should have the coffee flavor extracted in 18-24 hours. I'm basing the weights on using 4oz of whole beans in a 5 gallon batch. Mine took longer to extract at 35°F and infuse 5...

Ingredients from Jiff Chocolate Peanut Butter Powder: ROASTED PEANUTS, SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE (SUGAR, UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE, DEXTROSE), SUGAR, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, SALT. The sugar is most likely what kicked off a second ferment and subsequent krausen.

It sounds like the right amount of cacao nibs for a subtle contribution. The timing you suggested is plenty to extract the flavor out of them, but always let your palate be your guide. Taste it after 2 days to see if you like it, then every day after to get a feel for the time it takes to...

The huge vortex isn't necessary. As long as your stir plate is able to keep the yeast in suspension and stir the wort to keep oxygenating, you'll be fine. The only reason I can think of that you can't see the vortex during high krausen is because the krausen itself is blocking the view. It's...

I also follow Jamil's suggestions to chill wort to 64°F, pitch, then let it free rise to 67-68°F for the bulk of active fermentation and then when it slows down, allow it to free rise to 70°F. I find that my lag times are a little longer that way, but I also notice cleaner and more highly...

I found this article reassuring. My LHBS recently gave me an expired vial of White Labs Alt yeast (only a few days past expiration), and I did a two-step starter, pitched it, and the beer attenuated down to 1.004 and tastes great. I even repitched some of that yeast into another beer and it...