Recent content by dichotomous

I have about 20lbs of raw grade B honey, it has partially crystallized, and it was from a guy on craigslist who was giving away beer brewing stuff. he says it contains some comb and particulates, and bee bread. is there a fairly easy way to clear this all out and be sure of a good mead? if...

well, I split it last night. I did stir it up a couple hours prior, definately still got some trub everywhere. it was quite a process. 1. clean/sanitize bottling bucket and transfer siphon. 2. transfer nut brown ale to bottling bucket (adding in priming sugar/water) 3. clean/sanitize...

well, thats why its experimental. might be great, might not. likely will still be drinkable in july.... didnt use any maltodextrin, I mentioned maltose, the sugar type in malted barley....

well this was initially designed as a 5gall recipe. so I had 1 gallon left to mix with the sugar and add in for secondary fermentation (theory that adding the simple sugars later would allow the more complex maltose to ferment out as best it could without being hampered by the sucrose). so...

ok, tonight I will add the sugar for secondary fermentation. though, I will add a twist. I wanted to try adding coffee, but didnt want to mess up the original recipe. so I will split the batch. there is roughly 4gal in there now, so 2 gal will go into the carboy with 1 gallon VERY strong...

so I had to make some alterations 6lbs dark lme 6lbs xtra light lme 12oz crystal 90L 8oz crystal 60L 4oz roasted barley 4oz black patent 4oz chocolate malt 2oz magnum 12%AAU 1oz syrian goldings 3% AAU 1oz celia 2.8%AAU will be adding 4lbs of table sugar into secondary to boost it later

perfect! I am forever indebted to you sir. I use most exclusively a blowoff tube. the airlock is for secondary

partly I would prefer the dark extract with less grains, if its going to taste similar. reason for this is cost. Though if its gonna taste much better controlling the grains and going with a lighter extract, thats fine. I am also not opposed to using some table sugar to boost abv without...

also, I have heard of pitching onto an existing yeast cake. my local homebrew store owner strongly suggests against this, as she did it and it fermented too aggressively, leaving stains on her ceiling from the (her words) "mentos in coke style fountain". could I leave part of the yeast cake...

at what FG does beer start to taste very sweet? backing grains to 12oz caramel 120 8oz caramel 80 3oz black patent 3oz roasted barley 3oz chocolet malt that showing with 12lbs LME is showing 12.3% abv for 4.0 gallons, with a FG of 1.029. is there a yeast that will go a bit drier than...

12# dark LME 1.0# caramel 120 0.5# caramel 80 0.25# roasted barley 0.25# black patent 0.5# chocolate malt better?

definately not scared off OR offended. precisely the answers I wanted. Havent bought anything yet, and this is the first recipe I have tweaked. I definately want something high proof and very thick, mostly sweet (maybe 1.025 FG) with maybe around 40-50ibu. I was thinking the kent goldings...

5 gallons 12-14# dark LME 1.25# caramel 120 0.5# caramel 80 0.5# roasted barley 0.25# black patent 0.75# chocolate malt 3 oz Kent-Goldings (1oz-60min, 1oz-30min, 0.5oz-15min, 0.5oz-2min) I am wanting it to be a caramelly imperial stout, am I way off?

so I transfered last night. temperature of 37f, significant sludge on the bottom, but much was still in suspension. Cider seemed like syrup during racking. gravity was 1.030 once warmed and gasses disapated. started off at 1.090, that seems to make it ~8%. the dark brown sugar lent too...

works well for me. the cider is clearing pretty well, I gave it a quick twist this morning, and more junk floated down from the top and from the the carboy grid lines. the junk on the bottom is getting thicker. looking at the weather tommorrow, I may decide to rack it tonight, will help...