Recent content by lasseg

So.. the consensus seems to be that the cold secondary fermentation so often described in BLAM (as in for instance Chimay Red, 4 days at 20-28 C/ 68-82 F followed by 3 days at 0 C /32 F) is not so much a maturing or conditioning as it is a cold crash to get rid of yeasts. However... I...

Hey folks.. Been reading the "Brew Like A Monk" and have tried out some recipes. My question is with regards to the lagering at near-freezing temperatures most recipes include. I don't have a fridge big enough for my carboys so I'm looking to doing a secondary at room temp instead. Is this a...

Gotlandsdricka is the correct spelling (for what it's worth).. I've tried this stuff on two occasions (two different brewers, mind you.. they did NOT know how to brew beer.. only Gotlandsdricka). This stuff is like having a batch of homebrew where everything is done "against the rules"...

So, I'm back from Islay. The people at Ardbeg were kind enough to part with half a pound of their peated optic malt, it's at 40 ppm phenol content and smells great. The kind folks at Bruichladdich were happy to hook me up with two pounds of their Octomore malt.. it weighs in at a staggering...

So I'm going to Islay next week, visits to Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and Caol Ila are scheduled. I'm thinking about trying to score some of their smoked malt. Does anyone know if this is possible? Surely, the destilleries must be able to part with a few ounces of malt? Surely, I can't be the...

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! The aged hops are in no way contaminated or mildew-ey, just old and smell like dust.. That kind of nasty! ;-) Getting the Lacto from base grain, that sound like a good idea.. and I think I know just how to go about isolating them.. I recently made a batch...

Hello, It seems to me that this forum is the place to go to for questions related to brewing with Brett and aged hops. So here goes.. I just found a couple of 100 gram packs of nasty old hops (Brewer's gold 2001) at a homebrew supply (in Sweden). Nevermind the fact that the vendor was...

Resurrection it is! Thanx for your input guys!

Haha, not very much at all... one American Ale, one Wit and then BC1214.. So.. yes.. you're all gonna say "Dude, stop being so cheap, just buy new yeast".. But I live in Sweden and the nearest LHBS is a stiff hour and a half away, plus I need to take a day off coz they're only open on...

Yup.. my fridge went completely haywire over the holidays and when we returned to the apartment yesterday I found, to my horror and despair, that all of my yeasts had frozen.. And I mean frozen, rock solid -15 C. Since these weren't glycerol stocks I'm worried they might have died.. What'd...

Thank you for your answers!

So.. as I'm getting ready to make a starter of a month old Belgian Abbey yeast that I had stored in my fridge, I notice a furry little blob of mold sitting inside the lid of the tube. The yeast itself looked/smelled fine but I tossed it out.. but then got to thinking.. What if I had made that...

I started out using vodka (or rather.. 95% alcohol) after I had a suck-back into a plastic fermentor.. Nowadays I'm more careful with those darn plastic lids ;-) But I've actually gone back to water/sanitizing liquid.. Seems that most of the alcohol would evaporate anyway.. and also.. when the...

I trired Cooper's Sparkling Ale just last week actually.. sad to say that I found it to be somewhat boring. My first attempt at homebrewing was directed towards making a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale-clone... it came out way above expectations! So good luck in your attempts, just dump a truckload of...