Recent content by hercher

Thanks Holden! (BTW, I once inherited a cat named after Holden Caulfield. He was a great cat.)

I figured I'd boil it in the least amount of water necessary to incorporate it into the beer. I'll be fermenting fairly slowly, so by the time I get it in (probably Tuesday night or Wednesday morning), there will still be enough time to get it incorporated.

I brewed a English Barley Wine on Friday but over sparged. So instead of a 5 gallon batch at about 1.090, I wound up with 6.5 gallons at 1.070. Obviously my keg only holds 5 gallons. In order to preserve the batch I went ahead and transferred it to my fermenter and pitched my yeast. Obviously I...

Balderdash!

Give it time. You didn't hurt your beer by adding more yeast, though I agree it was probably unnecessary. You didn't mention your fermentation temperature. Saisons like warmer temperatures -- I've pushed mine as high as 80 F, though I prefer the low to mid-70s. If you are below that, letting the...

The picture isn't recent, but I thought I'd add it in honor of the upcoming Learn to Homebrew Day. That's me next to the mash tun.

https://www.facebook.com/CrystalLederhosen/

Explain again exactly how you screwed up? I think you just made two pretty cool beers! Seriously, though, I know we think of Oktoberfests as being German-style lagers, but brewers in other regions did similar things within their own brewing traditions. So you may find yourself with a biere de...

You have both flaked barley and flaked oats. They are largely duplicative. I would only use one (and probably neither). I would also get rid of the Midnight Wheat and Carafa II. I also am not a huge fan of the lactose in a porter. If you are particularly fond of S-05, simply mash at a higher...

SafeAle 04 or 05 are very versatile. I've always been fond of Wyeast's London ESB strain. Whichever you choose, be sure to pitch an ample amount. If you go with dry yeast, pitch two packs. If liquid, make a nice big healthy starter.

Frankly, I don't think you need the oats at all. They will add body and head retention, but a beer this big doesn't really need that. They won't hurt anything, but they add to the cost. You'll likely get this lower than 1.030. Probably more likely around 1.018-1.020. If you leave it too high...

I think you could cut either the roasted barley or the black patent by half. You could even cut them both back. I would suggest cutting back on the Crystal 120, as well. I've found that being too aggressive with that can create anise or licorice flavors that can be a bit overwhelming. You are...

I'm making a tripel to which I want to add some dried dates & figs (I can't find fresh). I figured I'd add them in secondary. My questions are: 1. How do I add them? Just through them in, or should I chop them up and soak them in a little vodka to sanitize? 2. How do I calculate for the...

Very cool! Can I come over and play?

I saw that. Her server said that the beer had berries and red fruit in it. I'm also curious as to what yeast I should use. I can approximate the color, and put some strawberries and cranberries in it (I don't even know where to get carrot extract!), but I feel like I'm operating blindly.