Recent content by hijukal

Thanks guys. The OG/FG was 1.050/1.007 (the FG was measured the 15th March 2014, so may be different, but it was stable for over a week before being moved), so I'm certain the fermentation is done. But as it's a sour I was most concerned about the flavour profile. If being bottled is likely to...

I brewed a Flanders Red in February last year (February 15th!), and a month later moved it under the house. The entire time it's been on the yeast and is in a plastic fermenter. I only pitched Roeselare directly (i.e. no starter), and a week or two later some dregs from a Tilquin. Two or...

I recently added orange blossom extract directly to my vessel before immediately before bottling. In order to figure out the volume, a couple of days earlier I pulled a small sample (100mL or less), and using a syringe (can be bought at local chemists cheaply) added 1mL to a 30mL sample at a...

Mine seems to have a bit too much clove and orange peel flavours (possibly a result of having sat on it for eight months? Pretty sure I didn't deviate with the amount of cloves). It's not bad, just a bit strong in those areas. Any suggestions on how to reduce that before bottling? I'll probably...

I've had one of these going since March this year, the fruit dropped around three months after the initial brew. Here's pictures from March (a few days after brewing), April, and June. I haven't looked at it since June. Planning on bottling it in the next few weeks so I can let it...

I really like Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II). It can be fruity, nutty, highlight hops or not. I've used it in IPAs, pale ales, stouts, golden ales. Anything that doesn't have a specific and special yeast character, really. I've used it up to 5 generations from one packet without any particular...

Brew saisons and other beers that don't care so much about low temperatures!

Regular brewers yeast, sure. But who knows what's going on with whatever strain happens to be in your back yard? You could always blend it with a more traditionally fermented and highly-hopped beer if you wanted a hoppy lambic. The times I've tried it (only twice, admittedly), I've only had to...

Excellent, thanks a lot for your help. Also checked out Bru'n Water, which seems quite useful (though I think I'll refrain from additions for at least this first Berliner).

So you don't bother with CO2 in the mash tun or anything? About the only way the method I'm planning on using differs from yours is you add lactic acid. The LHBS sells "lactic acid 88%", which I presume is about the same. How much do you add to a batch?

I believe too much hops can prevent wild yeast from inoculating wort, so make sure the wort is lowly-hopped. It can also depend on the weather; it seems cool, not too windy autumn nights are the best time to do it. I've had a couple of successes, the most recent one was the second runnings...

Great timing for this discussion. I'm planning on sour mashing a Berliner weisse next week using a similar method (the one described by Sean Coates on his blog that doesn't seem to work right now*) and I'm a bit concerned about potential botulism or something equally awful. I don't have a...