Recent content by Dienekles

YESSS After 6 days in the primary and two weeks in the secondary, a taste test confirms that the yeast have conditioned the beer to a pleasantly drinkable state! The color, taste, and smell, arent even remotely that of a blackberry. HOWEVER the smell that comes off of this beer is so strong...

If your using cara-pils you may need more IBU's to balance out the sweetness.. unless your going for a really sweet beer. Honeydew and cara-pils. The only thing that immediately enters my mind when I hear melon is how much water they contain. This may or may not water down your beer. You may...

Im brewing a Blackberry English Ale of my own design!! For my sister of course cause I'm such a good brother. Details: 5 # Light Dry Malt Extract 2 # Munich 1/4 # Biscuit 1/4 # Cara-pils 1/4 # Barley flakes 1/4 # Belgian Aromatic 1.65 oz Quaker Oats Fruit and Hops 1 oz Mt hood...

Well the differences between yeasts from different areas are well documented, but I might set asside a gallon from both batches - bottle em up all at the same time and let you know how it turns out. I'll keep you fellas (and ladies) informed.

Nono, no problem with that, but unless your using oxygen absorbing caps you may have long term storage problems associated with staling agents.. But if you plan on drinking it all within the next two months or so, I wouldnt worry about it. Coming from very reliable sources (namely the...

Nono, this is a fantastic way to do things. Though at this point (with 4-10% alchohol) there isnt a whole lot to worry about - very few things can spoil your beer at this point. But putting the caps in place will save you time - no doubt a good idea.

Hmm, 1056 huh? Thats a fairly run of the mill yeast. Well I'm stumped. Undoubtedly though, straining is worth the risk, if to do nothing more than save you a half gallon or so of beer that might have been trapped when it came time to transfer to a secondary.

Having said all that...its been a while since I've bottled. Kegging is the only true solution :D Amen brother! Cant wiat until I can afford that. Until then - I float CO2 on my secondary by siphoning it off the primary and I use a carboy cap to keep oxygen out of my brew while I bottle...

Well that number 338 degrees for 60 minutes came from the book 'How to Brew' The bottling tip came from the owner of The San Fransisco Homebrew Outlet. Hes been brewing and bottling and judging competitions for several decades.

Mix the priming solution into the beer, stir with racking cane 10 times in the same direction. After 30 min - 2h (depending on the gravity of your beer) the trub will settle back to the bottom of the carboy. Bottle! This is the way I was taught by my father, who was taught by his...

Tu Che! I take sanitation very seriously. The longer I brew the more seriously I take it. I was just attempting to stir the waters a bit. Well I can see how a Cream Ale or an IPA might mask the off flavors associated with leaving a beer on the trub too long. If they are being ranked...

You can get one on http://www.undergrounddigital.com/zymicoconicalkit.htm For the price of your next paycheck... you'll save a good bit of money

I use a carboy cap with a racking cane. There is one hole to place the racking cane through, and you can blow in the other hole to begin a siphon. Then you never touch your lips to the siphoning tube. :cool:

Also, forget the bottling bucket - you introduce more oxygen into your beer this way. Siphon diretly out of the secondary it saves a step and produces a crisper, fresher product.

Heat is the only True method of complete sterilization for the homebrewer. The bottles can be completely *sterilized (not nessissarly clean, but all living organisms will die) by baking them in the oven on 338 degrees for 60 minutes. Now when actually bottling - from all the experiencd...