Recent content by jcaggiano

What type of beer were you trying to make? It sounds like you salvaged your gravity points with the sugar add. For some beers this may dry it out more than expected. I'd say congrats on the save and enjoy your beer!

Spray the sock with starsan if you are concern with infection. It will carry no flavor.

Vanilla is the key to the milkshake. You want the vanilla to play with the lactose to give that ice cream feel that takes you back to your childhood! Cheers!

Guilty of checking the airlock every 30 minutes after pitch. And one of my most relaxing sounds to hear is the thump thump thump of the blow off into the stainless growler I use for a sanitizer jar!

I just used White wheat for the first time this week. I did a single infusion and included the wheat with the rest of my non-oat grains. Judging from the resulting wort I sampled, I think you are good to do single infusion. I got all of the feel and taste I was looking for from the White Wheat...

I did a Kolsch with only Jarrylo (3 oz total for 6 gallon batch) following traditional hopping schedule at 1 oz/per. It was amazing. I really like this hop for that beer. Otherwise, I haven't played with it too much. I do not think I would use it for a hoppier beer as the notes it brings are...

Same time frame for myself, however, I try to be sure I am only getting trub and leave as much yeast cake behind as I can. For brews requiring secondary, I'll do a second dump when others might move the beer. To avoid infection and suck back, I soak a paper towel in StarSan and either wrap the...

My 2 cents: If you feel confident in what you have done so far, take those recipes and tweak them to your liking. Doing a Pliny Clone? Change the hops up. Or the yeast. Have fun and at the end of the month (or 6 weeks), you'll be able to say "I started with this but changed that". You'll be on...

I have tried both bagging and loose. For batches with multiple dry hopping, I prefer to bag as I can remove the hop material to avoid vegetative qualities from the green portion. Really, it comes down to what I am doing (NEIPA, Pale Ale, West Coast IPA) that determines how I present the dry...

Be excited! Welcome to the community! My advice: If you are using tap water, boil it for 10 minutes and let it cool to recommended temp for recipe (covered). If using extract, remove from burner completely and stir like you are prepping eggs for an omelette. Sanitize your thermometer before...

temps are climbing where I am and I am watching the tips when I walk the dog. I am also getting ready to do my first Spruce Tip beer. My plan is to do a Pale Ale with spruce tip addition in the last 10 minutes of boil. NOt sure where you are but I am in the MidAtlantic so options are slim. make...

Same. Just freshen up with StarSan to keep PH around 2.5. You'll know as it will cloud up. Generally, I do dump after a month as what I keep on hand was used for post-boil sanitation and clean up. Sort of Short and Shoddy but so far so good. I have a smaller spray bottle that I fill from the...

This has been my answer for the past few batches. This last bottling session I realized that I was not aggressive enough with the auto-siphon. I was in a rush and pumped it a couple extra times with the bottling wand depresses in a bottle and it push every bit of air out of the line. normally I...

I did end up doing a Noble IPA but it was not a SMaSH. I used MarisOtter and 3 ounces each Hallertau, Northern Brewer and EKG (1/2 oz each @ 60, 1/2 each @ 10, 1 oz each FO, and dry hopped 1 ounce each. It was really good but no SMaSH.

With 1 full pound DME for a 1 gallon batch, you will be pushing your predicted OG up quite a bit for a red ale (1.075 With this in Beersmith). Using half pound DME will place you in the sweet spot of 1.053 (given end boil volume of 1.2 gallons to yield your 1 gallon packaged. What size kettle...