Recent content by dantose

You'll be fine. The beer might end up a bit sweet tasting, but you can fix this if you have some spare hops. (If you order now you should be fine) After fermentation, sterilize a ladle or a wine thief and sample the flat beer. If it tastes overly sweet, bio some hops in a small sauce pan for...

Your probably finethe amount of dissolved oxygen in tap water should be about the same as the same volume of air. You wouldn't be adding enough to get any discernable off flavors

First off, you are probably overreacting and the yeast is probably working just fine. That said, if your nervous, pitching a bit more yeast is fine.

I'd disagree on yeast critique. Yeah, one pack is normally 5 gal, but a 1 gal batch with half a pack is much easier to eyeball thank trying to figure out 20% of a pack

Astringency from 1 lb of (I assume) special grains is going to be negligable.

I think everyone has to have one batch not bubble. I remember when I had mine; I'd been rewind long enough I knew what the answer would be, but had to ask anyway. I was told the same thing you just were, sometimes the seal isn't the best. The airlock is not a reliable indicator of yeast not...

The 2 beer buzz method is about as reliable as anything but proper gravity testing. That said, unless you are brewing profeasionally, why do you need an accurate abv?

Here's the fundamentals from both sides. When I was brewing for a brewpub, I logged and measured every ounce of product used. I set timers for boils, chills, fermentations, etc. Everything was done with an eye towards being able to exactly replicate the results. I made great beer. When I brew...

Oh, and as for starters, most yeasts you can direct pitch, so starters can get things going quicker, but you aren't really going to screw anything up if you flub your starter.

Performance wise, they are identical. It's largely personal preference. I like dry personally, but used mostly liquid when I was working as a brewer.

I've had a similar issue when too much yeast is transferred to the bottles. On opening, the carbonation makes some bits of yeast cake float up, with provides more nucleation sites for further foam development. Hence the initial pour being fine, but then a slow build of foam. I'm guessing if you...

A little shake of yeast champagne yeast per bottle should work. I haven't done it myself but had a brew buddy who had to do that once.

Great, now I need to invent a keg reactor.

If anything, that grain bill seems a shade low. But yes, grain scales pretty linearly. Hops you generalyl get better utilization out of, so you can often back off on those a bit, but you will still be looking at several pounds per batch.

So I had a request for a chili porter and I'm looking for some help. My target is to have the flavor be primarily porter, with a hint of chili. I'd like it to be where if they aren't told that it's a chili beer, at least some people won't immediately place it, but when they are told, it will...