Recent content by aberry

It will have some carbonation by Halloween, but don't expect it to be fully ready. I had a Scottish ale back in June take 4 weeks before it was carbed and it was for a wedding. I was sweating bullets. I contemplated opening and dropping carb drops in and chose not to cause of the hassle. I let...

I hope this pic isn't too big. I'll delete it if it is. This was exactly two weeks after bottling. Garnished with a little pumpkin spice. It's still very young, but already drinkable. The garnish of spice really helped the aroma. I highly recommend. Thank you Reno for the recipe!

Thanks guys! I will definitely be trying some bourbon and cream. That's an awesome idea! Will report back in a few weeks.

I bottled this last night after 4 weeks in primary. Sample was good, a lot of complex flavors, but maybe not as much spice as I had anticipated. I'm curious does anyone garnish these when serving with a dash of pumpkin pie spice? I think it would give it a good look and help aroma/flavor. I'm...

I brewed this last weekend and forgot to bake the pumpkin. It absorbed more water then I thought it would, but still turned out great. I used rice hulls and didnt get a stuck sparge.

I single batch sparged this last weekend for the first time. I hit the exact same efficiency I have been hitting double sparging. My challenge was adjusting all my temps for 112 deg ambient temp. Find what works for you consistently then look at making tweaks. Cheers!

Make sure you hit the head and not the closet. That's a challenge for some I know who overload on water before bed after a long night.

I would even consider .5 oz cascade dry hopped. I just did a 2 row and centennial SMASH and a 2 row and centennial, Chinook and cascade ipa. I called it a SMACCC. Single malt and 3 C's. The ipa is by far the best beer I have ever made. I really enjoyed the smash as well. Let us know how yours...

You've got the right idea. Its really amazing how much falls out even after just 24 hours. There's threads on here explaining how long you can leave it for also. Its your beer, have fun. Cheers!

I've cold crashed my last two smash's and have had no problem with bottle carbing. Albeit it was only for 24 hr's at 40 degrees.

Do you use sugar?

I just brewed a smash blond on a turkey fryer today. It is a 30 quart also and we filled it to the brim. Used fermcap at the beginning of the rolling boil and had 6 gallons of wort at the end of a 60 minute boil. Which is exactly what we were going for. It only held 6.5 gallons total also. Your...

Don't be intimidated to much by gravity readings. I was too my first few beers. I always said to myself, "what does it really matter, its going to be beer." Then I started reading on here about fermentation and how your gravity readings tell you everything you need to know on how your ferment...

Cream of 3 crops

Ill take a shot at a couple of your questions. Are you using a hydrometer to keep track of your fermentation? By measuring starting gravity and then hitting a stable final gravity for 2 or 3 days you know the yeast have done their job. Air lock activity is not a good sign of fermentation. Check...