Recent content by dylan8405

Just an update - I pitched the yeast on 10/26. I just today took off the airlock for a quick smell and it smelled much better than it did 3 weeks ago. It smells more appleish and doesn't have nearly as much of a harsh sulphur smell. I'm going to let it sit for a couple more weeks before...

I'll add it when I add the corn sugar for bottling. My wife bought me a 4 oz bottle of real extract at WinCo for about $3. I'll pour it in and see what happens!

I am bottling. I don't have any equipment at all for kegging.

Is the flavor better with the beans than with extract?

Yep, 5 gallon batch. I am looking more for the "Nillawafer on Crack" flavor, but I don't want to go too overboard, so I'll use 5 ounces. I'll rack to a secondary because my brew shop always suggest racking for a week at a minimum to help the flavors out for any beer. I'm not woried about...

Hey gang, I've got a porter going in a primary right now and it's going to be ready for racking to a secondary in about a week or so. I want to make it a vanilla porter and I need to know how much vanilla extract to add. I'm going to use real extract. I want a pretty strong vanilla...

I always use a TB of the Idaphor. Maybe I'll add a smidge more just to be sure. The beer itself has been palatable, but it's first whiff isn't so nice. It's drinkable (especially after having one), but that first smell always hits me. I'm almost certain that I burned the malt in the...

After taking about 10 whiffs of the glass, I'm not really getting a vinegar or briny smell. I think that it's more more bitter, but not hoppy bitter. The best analogy I can get it that it tastes like burnt raisin bread, which is what I guess burnt malt would taste like. My pot, which has an...

I'm thinking that I burned the malt both times. I just took some more big whiffs of the beer and it's smelling like what I think that burnt malt would smell like, kind of like burnt toast a little bit. Would that smell/tast mellow out with age?

Wow..fast reply. First ferment - plastic Better Bottle Secondary - glass carboy Santitation - Idaphor - 1 tablespoon in the 6 gal capacity carboys. The racking cane, beer thief, funnel, etc. go in a 15 gallon bucket with 3 tablespoons of Idaphor. The bottles go through the wash once...

Please help! I'm not a beginner, but I'm having the same problem I had w/my first batch of beer. I have brewed about 12 batches over 5 years or so. My last two batches I have tried something different - Hoping to get a higher alcohol level, I have brewed an Oktoberfest Ale and a Winter...

Thanks Pogo! Will do. I did not warm the juice and dissolve the honey. I just poured the honey straight into the carboy (and watched it glide to the bottom of the carboy). I was being pretty lazy that Sunday. Can I use my Servomyces as the yeast nutrient? I don't have any other...

Hello all - this is my first post. I brewed some cider a year ago and it turned out fine, but pretty dry - I used 5 gallons of pasteruzied apple juice I bought at a Winco grocery store and 2 pounds of honey and champagne dry yeast. I've brewed probably 12 extract batches of beer over my...