Recent content by bobbob911

A Eulogy for PicoBrew ... I have one of the very first original units (Maybe the very first one shipped to Canada), as well as having had a whole year of the BrewUnlimited option. I can’t count the number of paks I brewed but I hope I amortized the cost of the unit pretty well! All that being...

Couple of updates: 1)By far the beer I have had the most success with is Flying Monkey’s Netherworld. As it turns out this beer is local to me so I’ve been able to compare it to the actual beer. It tastes pretty different to the real beer, the real beer tastes more like a dark mild and the Pico...

Fermented at 65F in a chest freezer with the Inkbird thermal probe taped to the side of the keg and then insulated the probe with some bubble wrap. I fermented this way for 12 days, then shut off and opened the freezer and let it come up to ambient (~70) for a couple more days. Still using...

After one week, the Netherworld is tasting much better. One thing I’m noticing on both batches is a little bit of residual sweetness. Is this a characteristic of the 1450 yeast? It’s by no means offensive but I have a feeling both of these beers should be a bit dryer than they are.

The results are in from my next two batches using fermentation freezer @ 65F and 1450 yeast. Little RIPA - Denny your recipe is delicious! Very happy how this turned out. I’ll admit I did crank up the ABV to try to approximate your original recipe, it’s a bit hot :-) but still a great success...

Very strong sweet, sour, funky barnyard notes :-) it's not a total loss - if I mix it 1:2 ratio with my Saison I get a nice tart Saison!

So I just brewed my first infected batch :( The confusing thing is, it was infected in the brewing/fermenting keg. My assumption was that the brew cycle is self sanitizing, so I was a bit surprised. I suppose it must have been infected when I aerated the wort and pitched the yeast? This is...

What's the best way to do open ferment in the Pico keg? Remove the rubber lid entirely and cover with foil? Or just leave the hole open where the air lock would go?

Here's a really interesting Saison fermentation guide: https://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/guide-saisons-and-saison-yeasts In addition to some recommended yeast strains, they suggest a cool ferment (65F) for 3 days and then let it come up naturally to warm. There is a mention that the...

I wondering if keeping the brew cozy on for ferment would keep the internal temp decently higher?

Jrb, no - saison is the only style I am using the regular airlock for. I'm fermenting at straight room temp, although this time of year that's only around 70F. Do you let Belle age for a little while before tapping? I think Belle is probably a little better than the Barbarian but they are...

Jrb, looks like they should have had some kind of overflow sensor built in to the unit for these kinds of problems....

Looking for some suggestions on Pico Saisons. I've tried two now (belle of the ball and barbarian saison blanc). Both turned out very tasty, but they are coming out more like Weiss/Wit beers and less like saison. Very laid back, lots of banana. This could be true to the recipe but I'm wondering...

I want to give a shout out for the Black Betty Porter recipe - it's absolutely fantastic. Also I strongly recommend letting it age for a month or so. When it's fresh it's still good but it tastes a bit "extracty", like the flavors are a little artificial with some excess licorice notes. A month...

Doh! Sorry :-)