Recent content by CrazyHomelessGuy

I saw the commercial during the tOUS and Michigan State game. I was a bit irritated at first but then I thought about what BW3's might be if it were a beer. That put things in perspective. When I first went to BW3's I was in college and it was 1993/4. Back then they were probably a Sam...

The yeast roared back to life. Nice. Unfortunately I didn't have a grain bag or cheese cloth once I went to brew so once again I am postponing a week. Hopefully it roars back to life again.

Cool. Thanks for the advice.

I was going to brew the weekend before last. I had a 35ml vile of Irish Ale yeast that I made a starter with. I wound up becoming busy and never managed to brew with that starter. It has been sitting in my small starter carboy since then. ..so should I throw it out or can I reactivate it...

I will do the gravity test tonight. It is still a bit harsh on taste but tastes similar to my last California Common at this point, which took about 2 months to really become drinkable. Currently it is slightly numbing to the taste and a bit medicinal/antiseptic. Not sure about the gravity...

Not exactly sure, I used the amount the of sugar that the local brew store had measured out. They are usually between 2/3rd and 3/4ths a cup. Then i threw in an extra 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for fun. This was my first time reading gravity even though this is about my 10th brew. I didn't...

Hmm.... Any tips on recovering the latest batch of beer? It is a slight bit over carbonated. ;) http://www.dreamthinklab.com/_ts/Share/VolcanoBeer.mov (8.8mgb) I tried placing one in the freezer to see if I would have better luck when it was near freezing but I promptly forgot about it...

Thanks for the help guys. I will definitely adjust my method next time. Until then I am going to move this to the basement and forget it for awhile.

I didn't make a starter. And the fermentation still is not showing signs of life. It is roughly now 29 hours into the primary. The yeast package called for a warmer pitch so that is what I was following. It is my understanding that the California Lager yeasts are a bit different than other...

I brewed a California Common last night. I pitched at 74 degrees. Currently it is at 70 degrees. I am only 12 hours in so I am still waiting for fermentation to show signs of activity. My question.... should I leave it at 70-75 until it shows signs, and then drop to roughly 60-62? I...

After sampling a bottle 2 days in a row I am becoming increasingly convinced that the beer is setting up ok but there is still an underlying flavor. This underlying flavor tastes like it came from my santization method, which I failed to mention earlier. When I was brewing this batch I...

I will try one again later tonight to see if I can determine the flavors. The ability to do decipher flavors effectively is not one of my strong points. Yes I used SF Lager Yeast, and the fermentation was roughly 69-73 F.

About 9-10 weeks ago I brewed a California Common Beer. It is only my 4th brew so I am still learning quite a bit. This time I decided to only use a primary. I left it in the primary for 5-6 weeks before moving it to a bottling bucket. It was in the bottling bucket for about 30-40 before...

Thanks for the tips. I just pulled the hydrometer to look closer at the paper and noticed a little bit of beer had made its way into the inside of the hydrometer. Upon closer inspection there is a 3 way crack in the bubble glass at the bottom. I hadn't noticed this since this is the...

First time home brewer here, and I have a concern about my specific gravity. First, everything went somewhat ok during the first portion of pitching the wort, no actual concerns came about until I transfered the wort to the primary fermenter. At this point I wound up with 5.7+ or so gallons...