Recent content by goovaerl92

I would think that in a low gravity beer like this, the FG would be a little bit lower, like somewhere in the 1.015-1.010 range. That being said, if the gravity has been stable for a few days, chances are very good that you have reached your FG. You can go ahead and bottle, and as long as the...

So I'm not sure why the recipe is saying start with 1056 and then pitch another strain of yeast altogether. If I were brewing a porter, I would just start with an english ale strain of some form, make a nice healthy starter to make sure the yeast stands a chance in the higher gravity...

It's not a good idea to carb in growlers because the glass is not designed to handle that much pressure. Sealing the container would not be possible either....they dont make bottle caps that big! If you are concerned about having too many bottles to handle on your first brew, I would recommend...

I need to amend my previous statement about the windsor yeast....I got it confused with Nottingham. Windsor will actually produce a beer that is malty and full bodied with a little residual sweetness. So it would be good to use if you wanted a little heavier of a brown. Soeru about that...

I actually would take the crystal out altogether and replace it with something closer to 20 or 40L. I find that 60 usually adds lots of caramel flavor to beer, and I think that the perception of sweetness doesn't play well with hops. I recently switched form crystal in my IPA entirely, so now...

The Windsor yeast is actually pretty alcohol tolerant and should be just fine fermenting your beer. As far as attenuation, this yeast typically attenuates fully and should get you to terminal gravity. I don't really see why it won't get below 1.020...if I had to make an educated guess, I would...

For most of my beers I usually mash at 152F. It should work well for this recipe as well. Cheers!

Youve probably already brewed this.....but yes, you could just get rid of the sugar and up the base malt in order to achieve the same abv and such. It'll change the color slightly, but you will get a beer with a little better body and mouthfeel than just using the sugar to bump the abv. This...

So I was in your position several months ago when I was in school learning to become a brewer. It was my experience that breaking into the industry is very difficult. I finally managed to score a pretty sweet job, but only after I had spent months sending resumes and cover letters to many...

Yeah thats about it! Just make sure to take a sample from far enough in the fermenter in order to get the most representative sample you can. Cheers!

Since you don't have the space to lager, I would just go ale yeast. Yes, the flaked grains all contribute heavily to the mouthfeel and body of the beer. As far as replacing the oat flakes, I don't think you'll notice much of a difference. The oats will give you a little more haze than the rye...

It could possibly have to do with the grind, but more probable is the bag your are using to steep the grains in. It might be letting more particulate out than you want which could be causing the cloudiness. When you remove the steeping grains, do you squeeze the bag to get all the liquid out...

Unless you have the capability to control the temperature of the fermentation, lagering is not really an option. However, if you use ale yeast such as US-05, you can ferment at room temp and the results will be pretty similar to what the recipe calls for. Granted you wont quite get that clean...

You have an American sankey (the one with the shorter probe) and a European sankey (longer probe). As far a tapping is concerned, the American one will (as you probably expect) be used to tap pretty much any keg that is produced and sold in the U.S.. As far the European is concerned, it will be...

Well the recipe looks pretty good minus the amount of corn sugar. As of right now, it makes up about 22% of the grain bill which I find a little strange. I know the point is to bump up the gravity of the beer, but even without the added corn sugar, the gravity should be around 1.065 ish which...