Recent content by Virant518

1) As soon as you can 2) As time passes, the bright hop character that defines an IPA fades. I would try to drink it all well before 3 months, although it would probably still at least resemble an IPA at that point. 3) Whatever you store it in, keep it dark and cool.

The thing is that his OG, Recipe, and Batch size aren't lining up. 2 lbs of crystal malt in 5 gallons is excessive, but 6 oz of hops in a 12 gallon batch isn't enough.

My guess is that the balance of the beer is off. Decrease your crystal quantity a touch to make the beer less sweet and drier, and you'll end up with a much more hop-forward beer. If you wanted to keep your crystal malt, Up the hop quantities substantially. I'd love to give more direct advice...

I make a damned good blonde with 25% raw agave nectar- it doesn't much change the color, but it certainly adds a unique flavor. I add it at flameout and stir it in before i begin cooling the wort. Use the darkest agave nectar you can find. The light stuff is no different than honey

Sorry to keep cluttering up this thread, but I kegged my first beer off of the barrel, and I wanted to share my experiences. I figure more people are looking here than anywhere else. I brewed a very cliche imperial stout to put into the barrel, after having tried a lot of wonderful, very...

my brew that I did with these hops is finally out and drinking great! Used nothing but this hop in a american red ale (that of course I made 8%). 148 IBU calculated with the Tinseth method, all distributed fairly evenly across the boil. No dry hop. Aroma is of Pineapple and indistinguishable...

One thing to consider is the surface area to volume ratio as opposed to a 32 gallon barrel. The local distillery by my house uses their 10 gallon barrels for a single malt whiskey and ages for 7 months, which they claim gives them a similar taste to a 10 year old single malt. You're going to...

The barrel that I recieved actually contains some raw spirits from the distillery still. If yours doesn't, then yes, I would add some.

I asked the same question of a professional brewer buddy of mine who works exclusively in barrels. Here's the response I got: "OK, so your starting off with a "clean" barrel as it still has spirit in it. Make sure the barrel is hard bunged with wood or has a solid bung, wedged in tight in the...

40L and 80L Crystal with some 30L Munich makes a beautiful red color.

I entered an American Wheat, and Export Stout, an IPA, a Tripel, a Kolsch, and a Schwarzbier

I entered 6 beers, and I plan on attending that evening (And visiting the breweries in Longmont that day) but unfortunately, I'm coming from the other direction... Second competition for me- mostly for feedback, but I sure would like a pro-am sponsor

Chinook+Perle is very interesting and rather smooth when used in flavor/aroma additions. Perle needs more quantity to outweight the chinook, so I usually mix it 2:1 vs. Chinook in those additions. I never bitter with Perle. Chinook+Simcoe is great as well. I bet adding Amarillo to this combo...

WLP011 European Ale yeast is AWESOME in pseudo-lagers. It's a slow mover, but I let it rip at about 57-59 degrees and it makes super clean beers. I used it for a kolsch and after being pleasantly surprised, tried it in a fake schwartzbier. Turned out awesome!

Upstream has some good stuff. I bring a growler back every time I'm in Omaha. Their corked bottle stuff is superb as well. I never had luck finding decent beer at more liquor/grocery stores. Beertopia was a RAD store though- 36th and Farnham. Simply a superb beer store. Right next door was a...