Recent content by hodge

Brewed a German Pilsner recently and used sour malt instead of lactic acid for my water. Turned out that the batch had a subtle sourness to it that I didn't like. Decided that I was going to throw some pickling lime in the keg to neutralize and I ended up throwing in way too much (1 tbsp)...

I've been thinking about this too. Something I'm interested in trying is WLP 009 (Australian Ale- Cooper's strain). I've read that this will give a very clean beer. Interesting thought above about warm lager fermentation temps, may give that a try...

London Ale III - WY 1318 is tops in my book

I could've said the exact same thing... after "taste this", I follow with "what do you think?". She always says nice things, probably just to make me feel good.

Honestly, if I want to really get to know a beer or a particular type of yeast, I take samples daily to test gravity and flavors during active fermentation and beyond. I realize that this runs counter to a lot of what is discussed here, but as long as you are clean you really aren't going to...

Really difficult to know what's going on, but the last thing you want is for your bucket to explode. My thought is to just have the lid loosely on the top at this point. As long as things can't fall into your wort you should be fine.

Make sure your airlock doesn't dry out!

Looks good to me! Did you taste the sample?

I'd leave them in there, because what are you going to do with them when you pull them out? Can you get more? You are still adding aroma to the beer!

You absolutely need to take a hydrometer reading to know for sure. Any idea on what it's reading now?

It doesn't matter as long as you aren't letting too much fall in (dust, saliva, tears of joy). Chris White from White Labs recommends not using an airlock at all and just placing a piece of sanitized foil loosely over the carboy opening. If active fermentation is occurring, any oxygen that...

Keep in mind that I had low mash temps for the first two (1469 and 1968) and both had a FG of 1.010. The last one (1318) had a higher OG of 1.045 and FG of 1.014. Ferm. temps: 1469: 68 F 1968: pitched 64, ramped to 68 until half FG then back down to 64 until finished, cold crash 1318...

Well, I've brewed this thing three different ways. I thought that I needed to increase the mash temperature because the beer was a little dry. Then I found out that my thermometer was -4 to -8 degrees off at mash temps for the first two variations (and who knows how long I've had this error...

I'm interested in how you developed this recipe. Where did you start? How many iterations did you go through before it ended up to your liking? Thanks again!

This is a damn good beer. I usually don't repeat brews, but this is one that I'll be doing again very shortly. For tweaks (because I can't ever brew something the same!), I might try increasing the mash temp a bit, or try WY 1968. However, this recipe doesn't need anything. It's great!