Recent content by sleepydad

Yes, I've been using plastic buckets for years myself. My main concern with a plastic carboy is that it couldn't withstand the heat of the wort and/or would impart a plastic flavor in the beer if used as a primary simply because the material is obviously flimsier than a bucket. I normally strain...

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and sorry about the redundant post. Admittedly I took the easy way and didn't search the topic first because I was on a ten minute break at work and didn't have time. I was hoping to get feedback before I leave work today so that I could stop by the store and...

I've been brewing since the early nineties. Initially I used a plastic bucket for my primary then racked to a glass carboy for clearing. One time I decided to do a single stage fermentation all in my glass carboy. I thought I did the cold break okay, adding chilled water first then my cooled...

Cool. Thanks for the replies. I have a second batch that I just racked to the secondary last night. Are there 'general rules' for submission or are the rules contest specific ... ie: do I bring it in a Cornelius keg, a bottle, 5 bottles, 100 bottles? Sorry for the dim-witted question(s). As I...

I found a recipe in a book for a coffee flavored porter. I 'tweaked' the recipe somewhat by using a different yeast, coffee variety and method of fermentation. I have given it out to friends to try, and am getting tremendous feedback including two people who suggested that I enter it in a...

Unfortunately I'm not well versed enough in the actual science of brew to run with what you gave me. I'm your casual homebrewer who's top notch at following a recipe, though! BTW - Davis is a super cool town. I almost moved there years ago.

I'm looking for an extract recipe to clone Sacramento's Rubicon Brewing Co. IPA. Can anyone help me out?

Super cool. Thanks all for the replies!

I'll be bottling a beer tomorrow, and seem to have misplaced the gelatin fining pack that I purchased. The homebrew store is clear across town, and I'm wondering if store bought non-flavored gelatin is the same as homebrew gelatin. Sorry if that's a dumb question, but I'd rather go to the corner...

Duh, I should have known that! I have three of his books. (Thanks for the clarification, though)

Just curious - what's RDWHAHB?

Thanks everyone. I'll just ride 'er out then. I tasted it prior to racking to the secondary, and it tasted fine - good actually. My main concern is that I splashed it around while it was technically still fermenting so I thought I might have thrown the flavors off. I haven't tasted it since, but...

A couple of weeks back, I brewed an ESB. I pitched the powdered yeast, rehydrated in warm water as usual, gave the fermenter a few shakes over the first hour or so and left it alone. I never got a bubble in the airlock, but noticed after two days that there was a ring in the fermenter. I left...