Recent content by dpaulbarrett

My local homebrew supply shop scoffed at me when I mentioned wanting to try mixing yeast strains. Is this really so crazy? I tried Victory's Moving Parts #3 IPA, which was brewed with "Belgian yeast" and tasted pretty good. I'd also like to try my go-to single-hop pale recipe with a little...

I can't be the first one to think of this, but thought I'd share anyway. A few days before brewing I put a gallon jug of Arrowhead in the freezer. When it came time to cool my wort, I sat the jug in a pot of warm IO Star solution to unstick the ice from the jug, then cut the jug away from the...

Why can't I figure out how to delete a post?

("The Morning-after Pitch" would have been a better title for this post, I'm realizing.)

As a (beginning) extract brewer, the least enjoyable part of brewing a batch is getting the wort cooled down enough to pitch the yeast. I've traditionally just floated my pot in a bathtub full of packaged ice and water, and checked and checked and checked with a thermometer until it's down...

Thanks, all. This is mostly just a hypothetical question for all future brewings, tastings, and discussions.

This may sound like (and may be) a stupid question, but what actually makes a beer more or less malty, when malted grain makes up the vast majority of beer? If I wanted to brew a beer that was "less malty," how would I do so? "Adding hops" doesn't really answer it, because you're not decreasing...

36 hours and we are up and running! FYI, my recipe: 6lbs Light LME 1lbs Light DME 0.5lbs malted rye specialty 0.5lbs vienna malt specialty 1oz Northern Brewer (60min) 1oz Saaz (10min) 3711 French Saison Figuring this will be a long ferment. Thanks for the helpful responses.

Oh wow, was not expecting 36hrs. Good to know I can wait that long before worrying. Pack was brand new (January '13) so we'll see. So not pre-activating is akin to underpitching?

I pitched a 3711 activator pack about 13 hours ago and am not seeing any activity yet. I did NOT pre-activate the pack because I failed to read the directions beforehand and by the time I took the yeast out of the fridge it was already pitch time. Dumb first-time error, live and learn...

Is there a reason so many (saison) recipes call for candi sugar?

I'm about to try my hand at a saison using the following recipe. I'm wondering if the pound of candi sugar is too much—I don't want a syruppy, overly sweet beer—is the function of the sugar simply to give the yeast something to ferment? Some recipes I've seen omit the sugar—can I go without...