I have been making a ton of threads on here lately so I thought I would just make one big one with a bunch of my questions in it. I appreciate anyones input.
#1. I use water from a natural spring in the mountain and I want to get that water tested. I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no one locally that does this. I have also searched Google and can't seem to find anything of use. Does anyone know of a place I could send some samples of my brewing water to for analysis?
#2. I made Midwests Octane IPA last week. Using White Labs British Ale yeast, 7 days worth of primary fermentation only brought the gravity down from 1.058 to 1.042. The strip thermometer on the side of my carboy says 64 degrees F. I thought this seemed to be pretty slow fermentation rate. After those 7 days I transferred to my secondary, boiled the oak chips provided in the kit and threw them in. The airlock was bubbling that night...now today I have noticed all the pressure in my airlock has disappeared and there is no bubbling at all. I plan to take gravity readings tomorrow and the next day, but it sure looks like a stuck fermentation to me. What could have caused this and what should I do?
#3. Speaking of the oak chips, the recipe said to drain all the boiled water off the chips and just add the chips to the secondary fermenter. I wondered what would be wrong with adding that boiled water to the fermenter as well. It had a great amber/brownish color and smelled intensely like oak. Would dumping that water in the fermenter impart TOO MUCH of an oak flavor in the beer, so they said drain the chips and just add them?
#4. Is it true that pouring hot wort through a strainer can instantly oxidize it or did I invent this somewhere amongst my various readings?
#5. I have made 11 batches, no boil overs for batches 1-9. My last 2 batches in a row I have had small boil overs. Do you guys brew with the lid on your brew pot, lid off, or lid partially on and sort of cracked to let the steam escape? Am I getting boil overs because I put my electric oven on high to reach a boil as quickly as possible? Would it be better to gradually raise the temperature in a much slower fashion by slowing turning the heat setting up rather than just throwing the stove as high as it gets?
#1. I use water from a natural spring in the mountain and I want to get that water tested. I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no one locally that does this. I have also searched Google and can't seem to find anything of use. Does anyone know of a place I could send some samples of my brewing water to for analysis?
#2. I made Midwests Octane IPA last week. Using White Labs British Ale yeast, 7 days worth of primary fermentation only brought the gravity down from 1.058 to 1.042. The strip thermometer on the side of my carboy says 64 degrees F. I thought this seemed to be pretty slow fermentation rate. After those 7 days I transferred to my secondary, boiled the oak chips provided in the kit and threw them in. The airlock was bubbling that night...now today I have noticed all the pressure in my airlock has disappeared and there is no bubbling at all. I plan to take gravity readings tomorrow and the next day, but it sure looks like a stuck fermentation to me. What could have caused this and what should I do?
#3. Speaking of the oak chips, the recipe said to drain all the boiled water off the chips and just add the chips to the secondary fermenter. I wondered what would be wrong with adding that boiled water to the fermenter as well. It had a great amber/brownish color and smelled intensely like oak. Would dumping that water in the fermenter impart TOO MUCH of an oak flavor in the beer, so they said drain the chips and just add them?
#4. Is it true that pouring hot wort through a strainer can instantly oxidize it or did I invent this somewhere amongst my various readings?
#5. I have made 11 batches, no boil overs for batches 1-9. My last 2 batches in a row I have had small boil overs. Do you guys brew with the lid on your brew pot, lid off, or lid partially on and sort of cracked to let the steam escape? Am I getting boil overs because I put my electric oven on high to reach a boil as quickly as possible? Would it be better to gradually raise the temperature in a much slower fashion by slowing turning the heat setting up rather than just throwing the stove as high as it gets?
