Search results

I planted some centennial hops a few years back and forgot about them. A few weeks ago I pulled about 3oz of wet hops off the vine and added them to about 2G of a blonde ale (dry hopped). Unfortunately I am not pleased with the flavor change as a get what I can only describe as a strong...

After 5 days of primary in a bucket I transferred my kit wine to a 6G carboy and it leveled off slightly above the shoulder but there is still space in there. If I top up now to get it closer to the bung that will remove most of the air but will leave me with not much headspace for degassing...

I just racked wine from a bucket to carboy after 5 days as it was down to about 1.004. I lost about at least a half gallon from the bottom gunk and was wondering if that is common for a grape pack wine or if I should have waited longer for it to settle more? My previous transfers in kits without...

I am a long time brewer with just a couple of 1G wine kits under my belt and would like to try a WineExpert trinity red 6G batch next. My question has to do with equipment as I have two ~7G car boys that are great for beer but apparently not so much for wine. If I go buy a 6G carboy for wine...

I am a long time brewer giving a 1 gal wine kit a try for the first time. I have read that you want the wine to "breathe" for yeast growth early in fermentation so an airlock is a bad idea. Can I just aerate with pure o2 for 60s and then add an airlock just like I do with beer before pitching or...

So in have seen a few threads say that extract beers tends to come out darker but nothing on AG. I think my beers usually come out a bit darker (but still good) but its very noticeable in lighter beers like a blonde or BGS. For example my BGS is nothing but pilsner malt and sugar. I added the...

I bottled an Belgian Dark Strong (10.5% ABV) back in march and it is still not very carbed. I know that there are issues with yeast and these high gravity beers carbing up so I made sure to repitch fresh belgian yeast when I bottled. Now here I am 4 months later and although I can see yeast in...

I have a Belgian Golden Strong at about 4 volumes that was force carbed in a keg that I want to bottle with my beer gun. I tried last night but it was very foamy. Here were the conditions: Beer at 27F keg purged and set at 3psi for filling 10' beer line (tried to pre-chill the line a bit...

I have a Belgian Golden Strong at about 4 volumes that was force carbed in a keg that I want to bottle with my beer gun. I tried last night but it was very foamy. Here were the conditions: Beer at 27F keg purged and set at 3psi for filling 10' beer line (tried to pre-chill the line a bit...

I have an all centennial IPA but the alpha on my recent purchase of centennial is much lower so I was thinking adding a bit of Galena at 60 minutes to bring up the bitterness to match a previous batch. Do you think that the flavor will be altered by using some Galena at 60 minutes? Thanks

My dear wife was organizing the basement on Sunday and knocked the airlock off of my belgian dark strong (Carboy) and apparently didn't notice. So it was sitting for 2 days with the surface (about 3.5" diameter) open to the air. I plan to bottle condition so not sure if that will help absorb...

So I made Jamils Belgian Golden Strong and just had the first one after carbing. Great Beer! Love the flavor of this beer after just 30 days but was somewhat surprise at the color. I'd say its about 8 SRM, so still a nice golden color however given that the only malt in the recipe was 1.2L...

I have not bottled beer since I got my kegging system about 2 years ago. My first Belgian (Golden Strong, 8.5%ABV) is sitting in the secondary at 1.006 and about to lager for a month but I am thinking that I would like to bottle this big beer since I see it lasting longer than most (unless its...

So I know the usual suspects for excessive fermentation/plugged airlock are lack of headspace, lack of a blowoff tube, lack of fermcap, high fermentation temp, lack of fermcap... Well I had a 5 GAL 1.056 OG IPA, 1L starter, used a 7.5gal carboy with about 6 gallons of beer, used 12 drops of...

I am taking a shot at Jamil's recipe from BCS, just scaling back to 3 gal. I will have a 1L WLP570 starter w/stirplate as recommended and a starting gravity of 1.072 (~75% Belgian pils and 25% beet sugar) mash at 148F and all seems well. However Beersmith predicts a FG of 1.001??? I am...

I made a lager using a healthy amount of German Lager Yeast into well-oxygenated wort (pure o2). I racked to kegs for lagering after about 2 weeks and now I taste a bit of green apple. Think I should have let the beer sit on the yeast cake for another few days but that ship has sailed. So my...

So I am making 10 gallon lager on Saturday, Beersmith suggests I make a 6L starter. I use a stir plate and the max I can get is about 1.5L. So my question is can I do three or four 1.5L starters, decanting each time, over the next 6 days as an equivalent or does it need to be 6L at once? Thanks

Bought a $45 refractometer that measures in both SG and Brix. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006GG0TDK/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_SC_dp_1 Calibrated it with distilled water and did some tests. My accurate hydrometer read 1.047 (temp adjusted) and the refractometer read 1.042-1.045 over 4...

Tried to reuse a yeast strain from about 5 months ago, made a starter and it took a full day and a half to get going but then had a sort of sour aroma. Pitched against my better judgement and had about 4 days of the most vigorous fermentation that I have ever seen, a krausen of about 7" in...

I made an Oktoberfest in August and put it in my keezer on CO2 about 3 weeks ago. After about two weeks it was tasting grreat and fully carbed. Open up my keezer last night and notice that the CO2 is out, figure no big deal because i have a spare bottle so just swap out. Was wondering if the...