Search results

You'll be very pleased with this beer. It was also my first AG batch and I got lots of compliments on it. I prefer to ferment US-05 on the cool side (60-62), but I like my beers squeaky clean. I'm curious why you didn't re-hook the hose up to the wort chiller. The reason AG brewers use wort...

Just tapped a batch of this I made with WLP940. I somehow got unexpectedly high efficiency and an O.G. of 1.050. I didn't want to dilute cause I already had more than a full keg wort of wort and didn't want to dump any. Of course this makes the beer a little more on the malty side, but I like my...

1.018 seems too be high for that style, but I remember having a number of extract batches stop right around there. The problem went away when I went all-grain. What do your beers normally finish at? You don't need to pitch more yeast. The yeast you have in there should be just fine. You may...

I brewed a batch that was inspired by Thai food. I called it a Thai chili-coconut amber ale. I started with a lightly hopped amber with mostly 2-row and a little crystal. I threw in a pound of flaked coconut and 7 susan chili pepers in the secondary. The coconut didn't really come through, but...

I think you'll find that all-grain is a lot easier than you expect. I know it was for me. Watch your water volumes and temperatures closely as they have a much bigger impact on all-grain than extract beers. I had a hard time hitting my O.G. when I first started. Mostly because I was using too...

Nice post. I actually started doing this a little while back too. I bough a few expired tubes of White Labs yeast dirt cheap. I started with a very small starter and began stepping up. During the process, I realized that I had nursed the yeast back to health and I could harvest directly from the...

Nice post. I actually started doing this a little while back too. I bough a few expired tubes of White Labs yeast dirt cheap. I started with a very small starter and began stepping up. During the process, I realized that I had nursed the yeast back to health and I could harvest directly from the...

In general, I not to keen on American varieties. Although this is likely because I'm currently into malty and balanced beers and don't enjoy anything over .5 on the BU:GU scale. The only hop I ever used that the flavor just really ruined the beer for me was some NZ Hallertau I had a while back...

First off, I have never tried this. Having said that, it sounds like an interesting idea... Except the no chill part. Barley is covered in wild yeast and bacteria. The boil sterilizes the wort. If you don't boil, these guys will start eating your wort and leaving nasty flavors behind that a...

This is one of those few cases where you can't do the something in extract that you can all grain. I would say you basically have two options: 1 use a smoke flavoring in the fermenter. 2 steep a smaller amount of rauch malt. It has a much more intense smoked flavor to it although it is also...

I'll answer my own question since the keg has been kicked now. The beer turned out wonderfully. It got lots of compliments from friends. It had no diacetyl and a great smooth round lager flavor. The next thing to find out is if I made a mistake by banking my yeast under water instead of wort.

Chilling down 5.5 gallons of this right now. I used 7 lbs of 2-row to compensate for the low efficiency of my system and 2.25 oz of lemon zest because that's what I got from 5 lemons. Also gonna ferment with a 1L starter of 1056 around 60 F to highlight the hops and lemon. It's looks and smells...

I recently picked up some out-of-date WLP800 dirt cheap and decided to make my first lager. Since the yeast was really old and mrmalty said the viability was 10% (or less) I nursed the yeast back to health by first making a 500mL starter. It took about 4 days to finally get going, but it worked...

I like your style. I have to believe this beer is good because I'm brewing a smoked porter that has an almost identical grain bill this week (sans bacon.) A brewery in town does a smoked lager once a year that is known as the "bacon beer" but you have truly taken this to the pinnacle.

Thanks to everyone who contributed photos, diagrams and details to this thread. I finished my temperature controller box last night and I now have my first keg carbing in my keezer. Next project: make my first lager.

The things we do for beer! I have never done either of these before, so take my opinion as you will. I think you're correct that not heating the sparge water will reduce your efficiency because the sugars are less soluble in colder water. Not a big deal. As for the hops, Your going to get a lot...

Must be a bad day to ask hop questions. I asked about NZ Hallertau today and got zilch. I don't know anything about Sorachi Ace hops, but I like your idea of single hop ambers. I just might start doing this too. Cheers.

Indeed. It's going to be a great beer regardless. RDWHAHB :mug:

I recently brewed Jamil's Amber Waves and substituted NZ Hallertau and Magnum for the bittering hops. I took my first sample yesterday and the malt flavor is spot on, but there is a subtle earthy/herbal/dark fruit taste in there I object to. I also noticed this flavor in a bock I did earlier...

He didn't say his target was 1.066. This is what the OP said: I take that to mean that his SG was 1.052 AFTER adding 1 gallon of top-up water. Therefore, a volume of 5 gallons. Working backward from there: (1.0)52 * 5 gallons = 260 points 260 points / 4 gallons = (1.0)65 So he would...