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Responses from a bunch of uneducated sots. I'm outa here.

"Sounds like he doesn't have great scientific knowledge" Of course the carbon dioxide and oxygen are miscible...if stirred! If not stirred, it requires time for them to misc according to the laws of dynamic pressure, kinetic theory, Bernoulli's Principle and scores of other laws and theories...

After carefully pondering the Blichmann brew instructions I have to say it makes sense on paper. However, it has been my experience the Blichmann instruct is overly simplified. It just doesn't work that easy. I can see where early-on and frequent dumping would help but still there remains...

The dump valve design: Too small an aperture to completely flush all the thick gooey trub. Flushes some of it but leaves much of it. That is my experience w/ the Blichmann. That valve should be re-designed w/ a minimally 2" inner diameter aperture. Introducing oxygen into the beer: Nope...

Ya don't have to soak the equipment with it. A one-time very fine mist of the booze mixture on the surface of anything is sufficient to instantaneously kill all living organisms it touches so I am assured there won't be any mishaps like I had w/ one batch of beer using Starsan sanitization...

For years I've enjoyed my Blichmann Fermenator and have always transferred to a secondary fermenter just like the brew instructions say to do. Several months ago I had a Duh-h-h! moment: The purpose of transferring into a secondary fermenter is to remove the beer off the sediment (trub)...

I wash all crud off everything until visibly clean then air-dry or dry w/ paper towel. I sanitize w/ spray mist of 50/50 mix of tap water/generic Everclear (Mohawk brand 95% alcohol, 11 bucks a liter). Nothing can live in it and there is not enough residual alcohol on the surface of the...

It's not the little bombs I'm worried about; it's the atomic bombs. Picture this: Coupla years ago Mother'n-Law opened a wire-bail bottle I sent her for Christmas resulting in Old Faithful spewing beer all over the ceiling. The next one did the same. "Extract does not store well". That's...

To clarify: 8oz dextrose water was the volume of water. It contained 4.5 oz by weight of Dextrose which is optimal for 5 gallons of American lager. However, by sloppy method I lost ~ 25% of the secondary juice before I added the dextrose. That, of course, means there is too much dextrose...

I looked up RIS. Is that similar to the Belgian Trappist Tripple Ales? Those are VERY difficult home brews. I failed at all 3 attempts. Just now rummaging thru my brewing inventory I found an Austin Homebrew Supply Alaskan Amber ale kit of same vintage as the Brooklyn Lager. The extract...

CORRECTION: Wife brought to my attention the 3-1-14 brew date ain't 3 and a half years ago, in reality it is 4 years 9 months ago!! I did indeed use the 4 year 9 month old smack pack. After activating it I noted it to swell so I put a few drops of it into some dextrose water and after a...

The recipe posted in The Professor's response is different than what I used 3.5 years ago. (I purposefully added less bittering because I don't care for hoppy beer) But, yes the 1/2 oz Hallertau was added to the secondary fermenter.

See my last response. There is no hint of hop in this beer so you IPA guys would not like this.

Airlock was removed 3.5 years ago when the bubbles ceased. Great ideas: What I'll do is rack a coupla-3 or 4 plastic soda bottles so to monitor carbonation by simply squeezing the the bottles. Also will monitor change in sp. gr. in 4th bottle. To make this more scientific I will fill an...

I normally use crown cap bottles. However, not knowing the live yeast population (in billions) and viability of the German Lager Wyeast in 1 tsp. of of the goo (which, before activation, is also 3.5 years old [but according to my microscopic sample is multiplying and producing CO2]) I am...

On 3/1/2014 I began brewing 5 gallons of Brooklyn Lager and after 10 days transfered to the secondary fermenter and placed into the lagering 'fridge set at 40 degrees for the 3-4 week duration in the secondary. The recommended approximate final sp. gr. of 1.012 was attained so I set the...

Johnson Control thermostat on my 'fridge not working well. Set it for 34 degrees to cold crash but 'fridge temp. went down to 29 degrees overnight; did not freeze, however. Recon that floculated all the yeasties in my Boston Lager? Recommend adding some yeast when adding the priming sugar...

More thoughts: The liquid in the squirt bottle is very slimy and turbid. It's now my bet the ETOH may well have reacted with the plastic in the cheap 99 cent bottle thus lowering the ETOH concentration below the minimum amount needed to kill wild yeasts hence the phenolic taste. I won't dump...

REVELATION! Back-tracked my process. I mist all surfaces of the Blichemann with Everclear to sterilize. Bro'n-Law gave me a Mason jar of Kentucky moonshine for Xmas so I used that because I wouldn't put that nasty stuff in my mouth. Strong odor of alcohol but tasted terrible. It's been...

Brewed an Anchor Steam ale clone (extract) by the book. Very compulsive regarding sterilization. Used Y-yeast. Beer VERY turbid after fermentation despite use of clarifying agent in last 15 minutes of boil. Cold crashed at 30 degrees for 3 days. No change in turbidity. Harsh phenolic taste...