Recent content by sammytag

Thanks for the link. Yeah, interesting. I'm definitely not convinced, considering the price. What I'm really looking for is someone who is like "Wow! My barrel is awesome and consistently contributes excellent character to my beers!". Not that I'm expecting small barrels to be miraculous, but...

Sounds like a cool experiment. If it was me, the only thing I'd change would be the temperature that I'd steep the Smoked malt at. Why not steep it at mashing temperatures (~148-155F)?

Thanks, lots of good info there, mikeysab. Anyone else have any experiences they'd like to share? Any retrospectives?

Hey, I'm looking into investing in a small 10 gallon barrel from a nearby cooperage. Does anybody have any personal experience with small barrels that they'd like to share? There doesn't seem to be any articles about long term results from small barrels anywhere. There is a BYO article that...

Using any vinyl tubing on the hot side? Sometimes that can give off some bandage-like flavours and aromas. Sadly, I know this because I stupidly used PVC tubing to run wort from my mash tun to the boil kettle. The off flavours didn't really become apparent until the very end of fermentation /...

dannypo: Was it the Cidre Bouché from Domaine Dupont? If so, I've had that stuff too - really strong brett character. And I have to agree that it is one of the most distinctive & memorable beverages I've ever had. Pretty amazing to see that that partucular cider finishes at 1.024.

Any updates on how this turned out?

Tasted a fermenter sample yesterday. Tastes wondeful, with a firm but not overbearing bitterness. It's a little bit oily, but overall very pleasant and well-rounded. Instead of using lager yeast, I used Safale S-04, which in hindsight was a lucky good choice. The fruitiness of the yeast gives a...

Cool. Thanks for the advice. I'm brewing this later today. I'll post updates.

I'm planning on doing a 5 gallon extract, single hop Sorachi Ace IPA. Here's the schedule I'm thinking about: 1oz @ 60 min 1oz @ 15 min 1oz @ 0 min 1oz dry hop in secondary Shooting for an OG of 1.05, thinking about using a lager yeast @ ale temps for fermentation. Any thoughts?

Thanks for going through with this! The idea struck me the other day of doing a creative interpretation of budweiser - a (real) bohemian lager aged with (flavour-intact) beechwood. Hope all goes well with your brew. I'm anxiously awaiting your results!

I brewed a 6-pack of an English Dark Mild, and I used just a smidge (very scientific measurement, I know) of black patent. Really gave it a nice roasty je ne sais quoi. Good call on the carapils. I know what you mean about the chocolatey tea - I really love the bare malt flavour of low abv beer.

That's good to know. I might fool around with that in future brews. Thanks!

Nearly. Had a bit of a cold snap in Edmonton AB. It brought the Aurora Borealis out at night though, so, can't complain. You know, I was bracing myself for my tank to run dry, but I actually used no more propane than any of my other boils in significantly warmer weather. I started with 50...

I did an outdoor brew today in -30° Celsius, and want to encourage anybody who can stand the cold to get out and brew in the winter. It was the most relaxing brew day I've had yet (9th batch, but, still). Stuck a bomber of beer in snow along with some glasses to cool them off. After pouring...