Recent content by jennieD

I'm mostly worried about carbonation...does anyone else think I need to add more yeast to facilitate carbonation?

I brewed a porter back in the summer...like 7 months ago. It was in the fermentation bucket in my basement for a few months, and now it's been sitting in a cool, dark corner of my new apartment for the last few months. Bottling is a timely venture, and I want to save this batch if possible but...

Is there ANY pfft when you pop the top?? I had an IPA that was taking forever to carb. I moved it upstairs to a warmer area (like 78 degrees) and it finally started to carb. It's been almost 3 months in the bottle! Also, some of the bottles that were bottled later in the session carbed up...

True, but most people don't drink as much apple juice as wine! :cross:

Well, darker alcohols (ie dark rum, whiskey) contain congeners, which are actually toxic chemicals that are a natural by-product of fermentation. Drinking these alcohols will definitely cause worse hangovers than lighter-colored spirits (vodka, etc). Not sure how or if this translates into...

I ship beer often, I always ship it room temperature and never had a problem. I try to ship early in the week to avoid it sitting in a hot warehouse somewhere over the weekend.

+1 on Fuller's London Porter. Smuttynose Robust Porter is one of my favorite, most drinkable porters. Also, Rogue's Mocha porter is widely available.

Also, fermentation temps tend to be a bit higher than the ambient temp in the room. If the basement is around 58 or so, you might wind up fermenting in the low 60's which would be just fine. I have the same situation with my basement and my first few batches came out good.

I just brewed a porter and added molasses near the end of the boil. It's still in primary so it will be awhile before I get to drink it. Charlie Papazian recommends priming with it (I think he says 1 cup per 5 gal batch). I've read it will impart a harsh flavor at first, but after awhile (like 4...

Have you ever tried Victory's Wild Devil? They take their Hop Devil IPA & ferment it with brett. I think it's an awesome and interesting brew. I'd like to harvest the brett from a commercial brew and ferment my own IPA with it. Should have interesting results. I would add the brett in secondary...

I had a similar experience. I did lots of research & got really interested in trying some spontaneously fermented beers. I prepared myself for venturing over to the sour side. I thought my taste buds were ready for something radically different. My 1st sour beer was Hanssens Artisanaal Oude...

Haven't tried any H&L brews, but I love Souther Tier's stuff. Their imperial stouts are excellent...Jah-vah & Choklat! The only beer I didn't really care for was their Raspberry Porter. Great idea, but fell short on the execution. Reminded me of eating one of those chocolate covered jelly...

Dry yeast packets should have more than enough yeast cells for a 5 gallon batch. The liquid yeast benefits from a starter to pump up the cell count so they aren't stressed when introduced to the wort. I was just reading about this the other day, here's a thread...

My electric stove sucks and it takes waaay to long to bring more than 2 gallons of water to a boil, so I've been making 2.5 gallon batches. I've kept my last 2 batches in the primary for at least 3 weeks and didn't use a secondary. So far, so good! You can keep batches in primary for several...

Thanks, Revvy, I have read your Bottle Conditioning blog, lots of good info as always. I did a lot of research before posting this thread, and I know sometimes you just have to give it time. The beer has been in my closet for 3+ weeks now, consistently well over 70 degrees, probably close to...