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I agree this doesn't seem possible--any of it. But based on what I tasted, it seems spot on. From now on, I'm taking OG/FG photos for later reference. I'm just bulk aging the beer on oak cubes. Once the oaking is right, it's getting carbed and bottled up for next year. That brings up a good...

That's a very important point! You did ask for a sanitary/food grade weld, right? A lot of fabricators don't deal with this often and won't do it unless you ask. And it's probably not fair for an average shop to assume you wanted a purged weld. Remember, a lot of these folks aren't the most...

I think I read that American Ale yeast craps out around 10%. Evidently, it will go a bit higher! I've just been fermenting at room temp, which in my house is around 75 degrees or so, though my wife left a window open last night and it got down to a balmy 55 degrees. I was surprised with the...

Sorry, one more thing. Can it bulk age in secondary in my garage or will the temp swings be too varied? I can age it in my house if needed but would prefer not to see a corny keg all the time. --Thanks, Chris

OK, this is threw a me a curveball. I took a gravity reading today and it was down to 1.012 for an ABV of 14.7%. This seems incredibly high for a 9 day fermentation with American Ale yeast--which should have died out a while back. Taste-wise, it's amazing. The alcohol is definitely there and...

Yeah, if you read back a bit, I figured out this will be a 2013 beer. Fermentation was crazy for the first couple days, but has slowed dramatically--I almost thought it stalled. I'll take a gravity reading in a week so see where it's at. Will the American ale yeast continue to work slowly...

Yes!!! You're correct; I misread! Obviously I'm a bit new at this. The OG was 1.122, which is much more in line with my expectations. What a huge relief. So maybe I should try a smack pack pack of (Belgian Abby?) if fermentation stalls in a week? Yeah, I'm now realizing this won't be ideal when...

Hi There: I brewed a recipe (trailing this post) collated from a number of sources. I was really keen to get this one right and was shooting for a 1.11 OG; reality was a 1.22OG!! Since the wort was already cooled, I went ahead and pitched a medium size starter on it, and within hours, it was...

Hi: That sounds amazing. I'd love to hear how it turned out. I have a few questions: What distiller did you get the barrel from? What was in it before? What did you do to rehydrate the barrel? I have a 10 gallon barrel from Garisson Brothers in central Texas, but I don't know how to get...

Hi: When the water was at a rolling boil, the thermometer was at 212*, so I'm thinking it's on point. I just gave the carboy a good swirl and that seemed to do some good. Quick question, though: when the fermentation stalled, was it in the clean-up phase? Or does clean-up occur after the...

Hi there: I followed the mash temps below exactly and it was measured on a digital thermometer. <Mash Temps > 143.6 ºF >>20min 154.4 ºF >>70min There was no starter; I just dumped the vial right in. Henceforth, a starter will be made. How do I rouse the yeast up? Do I give it a good stir...

Hi there: I pulled a reading last night and I was at 1.020--much higher than the 1.006 goal. So it has a LONG way to go. Should I be concerned that it has been fermenting for a week and looks to have a least a week to go and what could be some of the ramifications for this? Could this have...

Hi Everyone: So I had a slow day at work and developed the recipe below based on a few that I found, and my own thoughts. The biggest deviation is 1.) the hop schedule and 2.) the smoked grain. The plan is to smoke 4lbs of 2-row for 20 minutes at 120* over pecan wood. I want the smoke to come...

Hi All: I brewed the recipe below that I swiped off this forum. It's basically my wife's favorite beer. After three days of fermentation, it died down really quickly. I noticed only a bubble every couple minutes. I left it on the yeast cake for a while to clean up and planned to finish up as...

Hi: Thanks for the feedback. You raised some concerns, and I would like to find a balance of hops and character from the yeast. I'm wondering what sor of affect it would have if I dialed back the dry hops by 50% and cut out a hop addition. But if I cut out a hop addition, where would I...

Hi Everyone! So I have 6 batches under my belt; three of while I've done by myself. I have to say, this is a bit addicting. So far, I've done a hopped up Belgian ale, a hopped up saison and Chouffe clone. The hoppy Belgian ale is currently undergoing the cold crash and the rest are fermenting...

Thanks for the reply. If I used one of these http://morebeer.com/view_product/9684/103792/Kettle_Tube_Screen in my BK, do you think it would still clog? Or combined, is it overkill? --Cheers

Hi Everyone: I'm curious if anyone has tried an automotive paint strainer--like those used to strain paint before going into the spray gun--to remove hops/trub. My thought was to santitize a funnel and place the strainer into the funnel. Then, run star san through it a few times to sanitize...

Thanks for the response gents. I should have mentioned that I plan to blend the aged beer with fresh beer. So 10 gallons in the barrel; I'll pull half out and blend it with 5 gallon of fresh beer. The remaining 5 gallons will go into the barrel that still has 5 gallons of the original stuff in...

Hi there gents: I just picked up a bourbon barrel from an amazing distillery near me (Garrison Brothers). I'm thinking I'd like to brew this: http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=6563&fvu=gallons&u=us&fv=10&scaleBttn=Scale+Recipe What do you think? My question is, what is a...