Recent content by dktoller

Appreciate the feedback everybody. Think I have located another local brewer with a spare US-05. So a two packet US-05 is the plan.

I just finished making a Barleywine. I had planned to use the Notty yeast cake from a prior batch. When I transferred that batch into a secondary it becam clear it was infected. The BW OG is 1.100. I have one packet of Notty on hand and one packet of US-05. What is my best option? Should I...

Hi all, Just brewed an American Stout. The recipe called for bittering hops at 60 minutes, and then 1.0 oz of Centennial at 5 minutes. Due to a screwup we continued the boil an extra fifteen minutes. This effectively makes the Centennial a "20 minute" addition in some respects. How...

I brewed a couple of batches back in the mid nineties and never got past the extract stage. Ultimately gave it up because I liked drinking beer a lot more than the process of making it. Fast forward nearly twenty years. The craft scene is in full force, online supply shops are everywhere...

UPDATE: The beer is WAYYY to smoky. It is pretty much undrinkable. I dumped 1 oz of it into another light craft brew and the smoke was still quite noticeable. I think I would go for about a tenth of the smoke level, either through using less of the smoked malt, or by smoking it for far less...

Did a Imperial Stout last night (1.100). Pitched two packs of Notty dry and stuck it in a fermentation chamber at 64 F. The airlock was bubbling vigorously at 12 hours, and when I rechecked at 18 hours it had blown the airlock. Is this normal? I immediately fashioned a kind of blow-off...

Update time. Bottled this a few days ago. Upon opening the bucket I noticed two things. 1. There was a distinct krausen ring on the inside of the bucket. Not sure why I didn't notice this earlier. 2. The lid had a small crack at the grommet for the airlock. Thus no bubbles. So yeah, it...

I chugged 3/4 of a glass and got none of the usual buzz. Ok, ok. Yeah I will bottle this up and hide it in a closet. Interesting long-term experiment on how the smoke mellows at least. I'm fooling with the idea of bottling some unprimed too, so I can play around with blending smokiness...

Seriously, this 'beer' doesn't seem to have any alcohol. I'd guess no more than 1%, if that. I wish there were a good test for ABV. Mind you, I brewed a 3% ESB and I can definitely detect the alcohol in that one. I've already resigned myself to dumping the batch. Any wild theories out there?

I've got several partial mash kits under my belt and am getting ready to go all-grain. Thinking I had everything under control I tried to make a 3 gallon all-grain smoked pale. It was a bit of a disaster. Recipe: A basic pale ale (cascade) scaled down to 3 gallons, withsmoked malt...

Used a different batch of grain from the first successful experiment. Just bought it, but it might have been 'old', or in some other way not viable. I wonder whether putting in a bag and/or having it densely packed (several inches deep) would perhaps prevent sprouting. That said, there...

The hops I planted April 1st just poked through the ground yesterday (April 15th). Hurray for the mild spring. Already wishing I had space to plant more. Probably will get a light frost or two yet, but that shouldn't be a problem if I can remember to protect them ; )

Just threw out five pounds of smelly Quinoa. Arghh! I had run a small malting experiment a while back and was confident I could scale up a bit and then start brewing. Unfortunately after about four or five days the grain developed a funky (rancid? fermenting?) smell. I'd say less than 5%...

Great! Thanks for the input. I love this place. So I created a starter of the 1084 last night. Now if only I could get my crappy DIY stir plate to work! And I may have to rethink where I put the fermenter, this spring has been unseasonably warm for us. 64 F... I'll take it as a challenge.

Just realized I don't have the recommended yeast on hand for two upcoming brews. But I do have a few choices on hand. Looking to brew - Stone Russian Imperial Stout - Scottish/80 Yeast options: - Wyeast British 1098 - Wyeast Irish 1084 - Nottingham - SafAle-04 Any strong...