Recent content by johnnytaco

I would also check your pH. If you’re around 7 then it would take much longer to convert. Try throwing in 6 oz of acidulated malt and see if that helps.

Did you pitch the right amount of yeast? If you pitched too much,You may get a thin finishing beer. The other thing is that you may have gotten really poor efficiency. What was your mash pH? If it was too high, you might not have gotten good enzyme activity. Did you test the gravity of the wort...

I would guess you're getting the sweet flavor from the honey you added. Every honey beer I've made ends up with a slight honey flavor that makes it finish sweet, even if the gravity is where it's supposed to be. Next time, try bumping up the bittering hop addition by ten percent and you should...

If what you added was an f-pack that was supposed to be added right before bottling, it may not ferment correctly. They usually have potassium sorbate in them to inhibit the fermentation of the extra sugars used to back sweeten the wine. If it's just to add sugar after most of the fermentation...

To me, it looks like hot break. Coagulated proteins from the steeping grains. Does it look like flakes of egg, kind of like egg drop soup? If it is, it will all fall out of suspension during fermentation. I wouldn't worry.

You could try and burn some sulphur inside the barrel. Nothing can live through that stuff. I know they sell them at grow shops here in CO. Make sure to do it outside!

They tasted like they had soaked up some of the IBU's. They were super bitter and gross looking too. The cherries I used were frozen from the Safeway up the street. They weren't bing, but not pie cherries either. I remember there were two kinds, maybe a sweet and a sour blend. They were what I...

That number is correct, but you'd never know it. I ate a used cherry after I racked the beer off of them and it was the most bitter thing I may have ever tasted. I'm not sure if they soaked up hop oils or if they just taste like crap after being used. The hop flavor isn't the predominant one in...

The chocolate taste comes in big after 6 months in the bottle, and boy does it! I agree that even though the recipe calculates to 92 IBU, it's just not that hoppy. I think it's due to the high starting gravity. When I racked the beer off of the cherry skins, I tasted one and it tasted hoppier...

I don't mean to sound like a dick, but saving/washing a yeast that costs $5 a pop seems to be a waste of time and money. But most people I know buy the stuff and directly pitch it into their wort without re-hydrating it. I know, it says you don't have to on the package, but if you look at their...

I did the same type thing as David. I split a ten gallon batch and did separate boils for each. While the first half was boiling, I steeped 1.5 lbs beechwood smoked malt in a grain bag in the other half. They both turned out delicious. A little lagering of an ale never hurt the final product. If...

Yuengling also has a brewery in Florida, just outside Tampa. If you have had bad experiences with their beer out of a tap, it's probably an issue with the beer lines, not the beer. I was a line tech for Bud (I know) for a while ten years ago. The worst tasting beers came from a restaurant in...

Thanks y'all. I appreciate your input. After reading him what you said, he trusted me and says that his beer is delicious.

Howdy all. I've been brewing for almost two years now. After listening to me talk about brewing for almost as long, I got my buddy who lives near Tampa/St. Pete to start brewing. He's about to bottle his first batch and is worried about the temperature being too high (upper 70's) to bottle...

Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett