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Hi all, I brewed a Scotch Ale in late July, OG 1.084, to be ready for Christmas. I fermented with a slurry of Bell's house yeast that I had kept from a prior batch. It had been in the fridge for a couple of months so I was a little worried about how it would perform, but it hadn't ever let...

Hi all, When ramping fermentation temps, do you start raising temperatures as soon as fermentation starts, at high krausen, or some other time? For example, yesterday I brewed a Tripel recipe that recommends pitching at 64 and slowly ramping the temperature to 70 over the course of a week, to...

Hi all, Last night I made a 2L starter with a pack of Wyeast 3787. The pack has a production date of 3/18/2010. I took it out of the fridge and smacked it, then let it sit at room temperature for 4 hours. The pack only swelled a little bit in that time, but I decided to go ahead and pitch it...

Hi all, Last weekend I poured the yeast cake (harvested Bell's Oberon yeast) from my latest batch (American Wheat) into a couple of mason jars and threw them into the fridge. This weekend I pulled one jar out of the fridge to warm up a little before pitching. After two hours or so I noticed...

Hi all, Yesterday I decided to soak all of my equipment in sanitizer, so I made up 10 gallons of Star-San using tap water. In the past I've used distilled water for the mix, so I wasn't expecting what happened next - the solution turned cloudy almost immediately. I guess my water is harder...

I've got some safale S-04 with the "L11 2010 PRBE" stamped on the packets. I assume this is an expiration date. Knowing this, is there any way to determine the production date? Thanks, TD

Hi All, I'm a fly sparger. I was thinking of taking a portion of the first runnings and boiling it very vigorously on my stovetop while the sparge continues. This seems like it would be a simple and efficient way to simulate a decoction mash. Would this create the same flavors that...

Hi all, Brewed a 5 gal AG Doppelbock back on 12/31, mashed at 157*, OG was 1.082, and re-pitched about 16 oz of Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager that I had used a few weeks earlier to make a 1/2 batch of a Vienna Lager. Fermented at 50*. The yeast took off quickly, and after 6 days the gravity...

Hi all, I live in NW Ohio, I'm getting ready to keg a Doppelbock, and I've got a couple of months of winter temps to take advantage of in my garage. How much will the day-to-day temperature fluctuations affect the lagering phase of my beer? How much would the finished product differ from...

I've run across conflicting advice as to when to perform a diacetyl rest: 1. Right after the Krausen falls. 2. When you're 75% of the way to FG. 3. When you're a couple of points above FG. 4. After fermentation is complete. So when's the "right" time to do a d-rest? Or does the timing...

Hi all, I understand that different grains will contribute a different ratio of fermentable to non-fermentable sugars, from the very fermentable (base malts) to the mostly unfermentable (darker specialty malts.) Is there any way to estimate the fermentable/unfermentable contributions of...

Hi all, I like to put together my water profile mineral additions before my brew day. Can I add a crushed campden tablet to the mix, or will the campden react with the other minerals and screw things up? I'm adding CaCl, MgSO4, NaHCO3 and NaCl. Thanks, TD

Hey all, In this month's BYO, Jon Stika says in his article "Water Profiles - Create your own chemistry" on p. 55 that you should put campden in your water and leave uncovered overnight to clear chloramines. I was under the impression that campden works pretty quickly; I usually just throw a...

Hi all, I'm brewing an American Pale Ale, and I'm planning on using yeast that was originally harvested from a bottle of Oberon (I have previously brewed an American Wheat with it.) I was planning on fermenting at 65*, but I ran across a post in this thread with what seems to be the actual...

Hi all, Are there formulas for predicting the apparent attenuation of a beer, give the estimated attenuation characteristics of the yeast being used, mash temperature and grain bill? I know that there are other factors that come into play - pitching rates, fermentation temps, etc. - but I'm...

Hi all, I've read quite a bit online about the virtues of repitching wort on top of a used yeast cake, and one concern that always comes up is the risk of overpitching the yeast. I've read quite a few accounts of people who just pitch on top of the old cake time after time with fantastic...

Hi folks, Can anyone with experience repitching on top of a yeast cake comment on how long you can safely go between racking off the last patch and pouring in the next? I'd like to rack the last batch on Saturday and brew the next batch on Sunday. Is that too long to leave the cake alone in...

Hi all, Yesterday I brewed an amber/brown ale, and I overestimated my OG when putting together my hop schedule, ending up with 34 IBUs @ 1.053 OG. I had estimated an OG around 1.059, so the beer's going to come out a little more bitter than I planned. Will adding a little brown sugar - say...

Hi all, I've got a Saison that's been sitting in a keg at room temperature w/ no carbonation for a week, after being in primary for 4 weeks. I'd like to cold crash it for a couple of days for clearing, then prime and bottle it. The charts, equations, and online calculators all take into...

Hi all, I started brewing a Dortmunder Export on Sunday (6/28) with an SG of 1.050. I rehydrated 2 packs of Saflager S-23 at 40* F. I thought I would be able to get the wort down to my target pitching temperature of 44* using a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice, but I wasn't able to get close...