Recent content by clept

Just a quick update: I'm very happy to report that nearly a year after I originally brewed this beer it is now pretty awesome! After first bottling it I wasn't very happy with it, but some age sure is doing my red wine oak aged BW some justice.

Okay yall asked, so here's an update... I brewed this beer back in early August. I gave it about a month in primary, then racked it to secondary where it sat for another month. Then I added 2oz medium toast Hungarian oak cubes that had a 2 week sit on about 4 oz's of French Cab. I left...

Well I emailed the guys at Stone yesterday and got a very informative and friendly reply today, man I love Stone, can't wait for their Louisiana launch next month. Anyhow this definitely points me in the right direction.. So here's my plan, I'm going to take some lightly toasted french oak...

Still nobody with any experience trying this sort of thing? If I was to go at this alone I'm thinking of soaking about 3oz of french oak in a sweetish red zin for 2 weeks and then dumping the oak into the carboy for about a month? Too long? too little oak? bad win choice? help?

It had to be a California wine... either a Cab, Merlot, Pinot Noir or possibly a Zin.. I'm not sure, I wonder if I email the people at Stone if they'd be willing to share that info with me...

Made a hoppy AG American style barley wine about a month ago... Some details below OG 1.080(had terrible efficiency due to my mash tun being too small for 20lbs grain) FG 1.011 abv. 9%(right where I wanted despite the low efficiency, woo hoo attenuation!) 97 IBU's W001 Anyways, I made 6...

I hope this makes sense.. plug black to bottom switch top switch to freezer black plug white jumped to freezer white ground jumped to ground

When I'm worried about hops and other partials I've used a grain bag inside of my bottling bucket to remove the excess. Never had any problems carbonating in the bottle after using this method.

Just an idea, but could it be that your carboy wasn't completely clean from your last batch and started fermentation via some old yeast left behind?

For your location I'm sure you can find Kentwood or Abita Springs water in the local stores.. Both of those brands come from the same place pretty much and its what Abita Brewing uses in its beers, Its also what I use.

I picked up a Honeywell 678A on ebay for $25 with free shipping. It works great and wiring is as simple as wiring a light switch... There are several different brands that are all essentially the exact same controller. Buuuuut, if you're looking for the easiest method that is still cost...

I was in SD back in April on business and I made it a point to stop by Stone Brewery. We don't get Stone distributed in Louisiana, but I've known about Stone's beer for a long time so I knew I had to visit this beer mecca. While I was there I had a 2008 Old Guardian Barleywine that had been aged...