Tell Smelly that I've got a good portion of the basics, but I MUST understand all the limits, or else I'll drive everyone else crazy in the process trying to understand those limits.After conferring with Tasty about this thread. His EXACT words are
Here is "post 28"
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If you cant take advice from us, please take advice from a professional in the business. No one is saying not to push the limits of brewing but try to take into consideration the mistakes others have made before you. You are still new to brewing. Get a handle on the basics and get a few brews under your belt. No one want to see good beer go to waste and a newbie get deterred when his beer dose not turn out as planned.
Intelligence is learning from your own mistakes
Wisdom is learning from the mistakes of others
There's too many.can you rephrase the question?
At this point, it would be... how is it possible for a Black Maxx 5-gal stir plate to stir beer, yet not oxidize it? It doesn't allow the CO2 to escape??
I really don't think it's oxidation, as we haven't stirred after racking to secondary.I know the OP said he's "out" so that's fine. but something was bugging me about the color change described. During brewing this afternoon, it hit me!
The wort color will be the finished beer color. It can't get darker or lighter - except for while there are hundreds of billions of yeast in suspension and then it will get back to its original color after much of the yeast falls out and the beer clears.
If the beer darkens, and it's not attributable to the yeast falling out of suspension, it is probably due to oxidation. One of the classic signs of oxidation is a darkening of the beer.
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The OP stated that the beer went from light yellow to dark rusty. If it turns rusty or dark colored, it almost is certainly oxidation.
I'm only 99.999% sure that it comes from the extract not caramelizing. I should have boiled it for at least a minute, but I had misunderstood your comment of adding it "near the end" of the boil, instead of "after". But its color is now very close to the "boiled hops" before I added the Light LME.
We'll be bottling it in the next 2 or 3 days, and then drinking it 4 weeks after that. Really can't wait to see how it turns out.
Have stopped brewing until we see the results of that batch.
Wow. That's pretty cool. I was just joking when mentioning that, but it's definitely neat.I actually have a 5-gallon stirplate, which I've tried on whole batches (doesn't cause oxidation because of positive pressure). I got it as a test unit but I believe it's sold under the name "Black Maxx".
It speeds up the fermentation of beer a bit, but that's about it. I find it mostly useful for mead.
Are there more like that? Or is that a one of a kind?