Recent content by Cyclometh

Glass==Easy to clean, non-permeable surface. Soak it good, get a scrub brush in there if you need to, then rinse in hot water, then sanitize.

Volume might be a bit lower because of the longer boil, but that just means higher ABV. ;) You're fine. RDWHAHB.

Do not use any open-flame burner indoors. It WILL kill you. Carbon monoxide is odorless, tasteless and you won't even realize what's going on until you're overcome. If you can't use a burner outdoors, you may be stuck with partial-boil options. The problem with getting a larger electric...

Eh, people brewed for millennia without hops. However, I was being figurative because many recipes call for different hop schedules, no aroma or no flavor hops, and so on and really, sometimes it's better to just not be a pedant.

Beer brewing: 0. Sanitize. 1. Buy extract or mash grains and sparge. 2. Boil. 3. Add hops (optional) 4. Pitch yeast and allow to ferment. 5. Store and Condition (bottle, keg, whatever) 6. Enjoy. It really is that simple. All the rest is window dressing; if you hit these points you'll...

Since it was an extract, I feel pretty confident it was close to the recipe OG (that LME/DME had to go somewhere and it didn't go anywhere but the boil and the carboy). It may have been off some, but I doubt by more than 1-2%.

That's the recipe OG; I couldn't get a good reading when it was first done because after putting it into the carboy I realized I'd forgotten to take a sample and all that was left was some pumpkin chunks and slurry. It was at 1.022 a few days ago, but has been quiet for two days now.

It didn't taste bad, just a bit astringent. Maybe that's the fusel alcohol, or maybe it's just green. It's less than a week old and doing well, though!

When using a steeping bag I pull the bag out, let it drain by gravity, then gently squeeze the top above the grains, then move down and do it a few more times, until when I release my hand the bag doesn't drip for several seconds. That way I'm gently squeezing the water suspended in the...

I keep it in my office, which stays pretty much at 69-70 24 hours a day. Don't know what the target FG was supposed to be because I modified the recipe; I assume the pumpkin changed it some. I figured I'd just wait and see what it came out at. :D

So I just did the math on the pumpkin ale batch I racked to secondary this afternoon. The recipe was a Scotch Ale at 1.076 OG, with the addition of pumpkin and some spices. I used a starter mixed up the day before. The SG today was 1.012. That comes out to about 8.4% ABV, after pitching on...

I figure I'm running the risk of some bad flavors; I'm OK with that. I'm more concerned about safety. However, I looked into it more and it seems that the recommended amount of zinc daily is about 9-11 mg. The parts in the wort weighed less than 100mg, of which the vast majority was steel...

Hey folks, some insight requested. I have a batch of pumpkin ale based on a Scotch Ale recipe going. I put it in to ferment on November 1. When I did so, the drilled stopper ended up deep in the neck of the carboy. When I needed to remove it to put on a blowoff tube, I used a small toggle...

Yeah, after further research it's done in a mold. I thought the bubbles and the imperfections were indicative of at least a semi-manual process. Ah well, it's still cool, as you say. :)

Well, then it's not as strange as I thought. :) I thought the marks on the bottom were indicative of age, but it turns out is something associated with O-I's manufacturing process.