Search results

Thanks, guys. I had already decided to pitch two packs, whichever way I decide to go here.

We ended up doing a wee heavy and aging it in a Merlot barrel. Brewed the beer in January 2010. Everybody fermented their beer. Beer was racked into the wine barrel in March 2010. Racked the beer out in September 2010. I bottled mine - some guys served it from kegs. It was a great...

I will be brewing an imperial stout (OG 1.100) in the next couple of weeks. I am considering using Cooper's dry yeast for fermentation. My LHBS sells this yeast in 15 gram packs. I've used it for some pale ales and I'm satisfied with its flavor and performance. Have you used this yeast...

Black Butte Porter for me. After that the search was on for better beer.

A guy in my homebrew club has a source for used oak wine barrels. We discussed doing a group brew and then aging the beer in said barrel. Looking for some input on this from some brewers who have done this. Looks like we will be brewing an imperial stout. Would you use a barrel that had...

Works for me as well. I use the spreadsheet and adjust the water as needed. pH is consistently 5.1 - 5.3.

Yes - I had the same results. Dark beers good - amber beers ok - pale beers bad. It took me several months of reading and rereading everything I could find about brewing water before it all made sense to me. Read the linked section from How to Brew again. I would not attempt a pale beer...

They are reducing the carbonate in the water. Only problem - it also drives off the calcium. I would just buy distilled water to dilute and work from there. I have water with very high bicarbonate levels - 289 ppm - that is what I do. The brewery may also be adding salts to reduce the...

From How to Brew http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html There's a very good spreadsheet at the end of that chapter that will help you to determine the best beers for your water and how to adjust the water to suit your needs. I entered your data in the spreadsheet - your water...

I don't think it is important that the keg hold a vacuum seal while the wort is cooling. As long as bacteria can't get in, the beer should be ok. For that matter, you could pressurize the keg with CO2 while it cools. Then the seal would hold even though the wort is shrinking slightly.

Just exploring some options in the homebrewing world. Lets see. Saves time chilling - 20-30 minutes for me. Saves water - around 50 gallons for me. Others report no difference in their finished beers. That's three reasons right there. And it's not really any extra work. I was...

Thanks, guys. That answers that question. The seal will be fine - you're going to break it anyway to pitch the yeast. Once the ferment gets going, you are back to positive pressure. How much break/trub ends up in the bottom of the keg? Do you use a shorter dip tube for the first...

I have been fermenting in corny kegs for over a year now. I like it and it seems to work well for me. I'm wondering if any one has tried no-chill brewing in a corny. Every thread I read lists plastic as the fermenter material. I can't see why this technique would not work in a corny as well.

Actually I used a long cold rolled steel bar - about 1 1/2" diameter and 6' long. That could work - thanks for the idea!

Yes - you can mix them. I have brewed beers that used pellets, plugs and whole cones. Use whatever works best in your brew kettlle.

The frost will kill them - they will turn brown and wither up. Cut them down then.

I do have a removable end on the press. I'm thinking I will need a hydraulic jack or something similar to force the plug out - they will not come out using the same steel rod that I used to compress the hops.

I built a little hop plug press from some plastic pipe. Used a steel rod as a ram to compress the hops. Only one problem - the plugs are very difficult to remove from the pipe once they are compressed. Just wondering if anyone else has built a plug press? Any difficulty removing the plugs?

Talked to some other brewers today. Seems that these are mites of some sort. They will leave the hops as they dry. Packing the first round in the freezer tonight.

I harvested Cascade, Centennial, Magnum and Mt. Hood hops over the last three weeks. Yields were a little less than expected, but that's ok. Had the usual ants, earwigs and ladybugs along with the cones. Started harvesting Chinook last Saturday and finished Sunday (yesterday). Noticed a few...