Recent content by bartbert

Yes, that's what I would do.

I don't keep it connected because I don't have extra CO2 bottles, regulators, etc. to do it. About once per week I hook them up and recharge them back up to 20 lbs. The first week they will typically drop 5 to 10 lbs due to the CO2 going into solution. The second week it drops 2 or 3 lbs. and...

No rinse? Everything I have read warns the chlorine might introduce off flavors. I guess if it's working for you, then that's all that matters.

I don't think you will get much conditioning effect once you drop the temperature down (assuming you serve it in the 40's). The yeast will be too inactive to do you much good. I pressurize my kegs to about 20 lbs and let them condition for a couple of weeks before dropping the temperature. I...

For the most part, I think you can consider a keg to be a really big bottle. But the ability to purge the oxygen and fill the headspace with CO2 is an advantage that bottles don't have. So while I wouldn't recommend bottling without priming sugar, I think it is perfectly fine to let a beer...

I couldn't tell from your description whether you are maintaining CO2 pressure from the tank on all your kegs, or if you are pressurizing each keg to the desired pressure, and then disconnecting from the CO2 tank and letting them sit. If it is the latter, then that might also be contributing to...

They will both work. I think the general consensus is that adding the priming sugar to the bottling bucket prior to racking in the beer will result in the sugar being more evenly distributed as compared to putting tablets in each bottle.

I have a five gallon round Igloo cooler and a stainless steel colander that sits on top of the cooler. I place the bag in the colander and let gravity do its thing for a few minutes. Then I use a cast iron pot lid placed on top of the bag to assist with squeezing. With the cooler sitting on the...

Typically, you don't want to dry hop for more than about a week. Much longer than that, and you may start to imbue the beer with a grassy taste (or so I'm told, because I have never tried going longer than a week). If you are force carbonating, you really need to give it at least 2 weeks in...

I'm in.

Maybe I am not understanding the problem, but all of those styles would have a bitter taste to some degree. Certainly the IPA, Black IPA, and IBA would all have a pronounced bitter taste by design. Are you saying that they are more bitter than you expected, or perhaps you mean astringent rather...

I just add the hops in with grains and let them do their thing.

I think you just need to give it more time. A medium gravity beer typically takes at least three weeks at room temperature to carb up. Bigger beers will take even longer.

Yup. You don't have to search very hard to find people who are positively sure that squeezing the bag will introduce tannins into the wort. I think most of the time, they are just repeating something they heard, without actually experiencing it themselves. But I think if you search this forum on...

You wouldn't get tannins from squeezing the bag. Lots of us use the BIAB all grain method of brewing, and squeeze the crap out of the bag with no ill effects. I really think your beer just needs more time to condition. Give it another 2-4 weeks and you will probably be amazed at how much...