Recent content by albion85

Strange. Im getting 32.9IBU, after a few adjustments mind you. EDIT: actually when adjusted to pellets im getting 36.21 now http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/365993/first-gold-test

Oh dear! And i've just done a bit order from northern brewer for UK crystals as i cant get them over in the US and every recipe seems to use them. You are right about British beers in the US though. I'm a Brit and every single imported bottle of beer I've had tastes nothing like it did back...

That is interesting you are getting a lower IBU than me. Beersmith is giving me 35IBUs. I wonder if that is why I have had a bit of trouble with beers being a bit too sweet in the past, something a bit iffy with my calculations. I have beersmith set to a late extract addition, and a 4.5 gallon...

Wondering what you think to this recipe I have knocked up. Going to brew this tomorrow but wanted to run it by here first. It's going to be my first partial mash. BIAB 65% efficiency. These are the numbers Beersmith has pumped out. 4 gallon batch. Estimated OG 1.052 Estimated FG 1.014...

Hey, I was just wondering at what temperature is too cold for the yeast to carbonate properly? I'm carbonating a polypin to try and emulate a cask, and i've read that I should condition at 55f. Would the yeast still be able to ferment the priming sugar at this temperature? I was wondering if...

I've tried anywhere from 1 week in the primary to 3 weeks. I've tried tap water but with the extract I mostly use distilled bottled water from wallmart

I usually bottle condition. I found some of my first extract brews which have been in the bottle for a year now and the sweet syrup taste is as prominent as it was after 3 weeks. My current batch is in a polypin and has the smell and taste also.

I only put the sugar in 1 of the brews. The others didn't have it and still had the sweet flavor. The extract goes in at the last 20 mins of the boil. Didn't realize you could add it at flame out.

low 60's

Sorry, I know you guys are probably rolling your eyes over yet another Extract twang related post. This is driving me nuts though, because whenever I research this I see many stating that it doesn't exist. Brulosopher even did an extract vs all grain test which showed many could not distinguish...

Thanks clickondan, thats a great overview. I appreciate that. I will try to stick to that as much as I can. The main limitation I have right now is the lack of a fermentation chiller, i'm just chucking ice bottles into a swamp cooler, which does get the temp down but there is no way to control...

So the PH would be unlikely to be the culprit of the slight sourness i'm experiencing? Could it be an infection?

isnt that pretty much what i did by using distilled water and building the salts up using the EZ water spreadsheet? Why would this current batch not be fermenting and the PH strip not registering if i built up the water with distilled?

I am using dry yeast which i just put directly in, seems like most people have success this way even if its not rehydrating it. As for temperature, I have been dunking the kettle in an ice bath and then pitch. I probably do pitch a bit on the high side but i then put my fermenter into a swamp...

Bit of a rant here, but I'm at rock bottom with brewing. I've been brewing for only 8 months but in that time I have had only 1 successful batch that I would consider to be tasty. I'm just going to lay it all out in the hope that a more experienced brewing can offer me some advice so I can get...