Recent content by jonathanderick

Cool. Thanks Calder. That was everything I needed to sleep better at night.

Another update: So after seven days in the primary, fermenting appeared to be at a standstill, primed for secondary and a fruit addition. I ended up buying 2 lbs of fresh raspberries. They were frozen for one day prior to fermentor transfer night. I thawed the raspberries for about four hours...

Water down? Pass. As for adding raspberries, how did the fruit flavor come through in your brew? Tarty? Was it really hidden in the background of the beer flavors? I like your idea, and I think I'll give it a go. This will be my first time trying a fruit addition, hence the amateurish notion...

Just a little update: Brewing went pretty smoothly, especially using the new wort chiller. I ended up throwing in 4 oz of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa during the last five minutes of the boil. I have two new concerns with the beer-to-be, though: First, my yeast was thrown into the primary...

Hey y'all. Finally I got myself a job, which means I have money to blow on homebrewing! I'm not kidding; I just spent my first paycheck on some ingredients and a new wort chiller. For my second brew, I'm going with a chocolate raspberry porter. Seems appropriate for the holidays and this...

I've found the error! My final gravity was actually 1.020, contrary to what my inebriated assistant wrote in the beer journal. So, (1.060-1.020)131=5.24. I suppose the lack of carbonation is making the flavors of alcohol more apparent. I was reading my hydrometer incorrectly on top of that. I...

Hey y'all! I just cracked open a bottle of my first home-brewed beer! It's surprisingly hoppy and has a bit of a strong alcohol taste. It's a bit flat, considering it's been bottle conditioning for only a week, but it doesn't change the fact that I love the beer and have sparked an addiction for...

Surfing, fiction and poetry writing, basketball, driving my MX-5, general tomfoolery!

Hey y'all. It's been two weeks and two days since I transferred my beer into the fermenter. There hasn't been much activity in the airlock, so I figured that I ought to bottle this baby up already (I know this shouldn't be the sole indicator that the beer is done fermenting, but it's been two...

Hey y'all. Late reply, but thanks for all the helpful responses. I'm going to shop around some local stores (There's a Jetro over here in LB so I'll check it out) instead of purchasing anything online. The kettle I buy will have to serve me for the next couple of years so I feel like I want to...

Hey y'all. I'm shopping for my own kettle at the moment. A friend of mine let me borrow his turkey fryer for my first batch, and I don't feel like postponing the timing of any of his future batches (unless of course we stagger the weeks that we brew!). I'm looking to keep brewing all-grain 5...

Hey y'all! Name's Jon. I started my first brew last Friday. It's a Nugget/Williamette American Amber, and, judging by the look of the beer's color and the the smell of the CO2 burps, it's going to be a good one! I was planning on attempting a Belgian wit for my next brew, but I read a thread...

Thanks for the input everyone! I ended up rigging a blow-out tube to a jar full of sanitizing solution. Thankfully, it's still actively bubbling and is even spewing out some sediment from the fermenter. For my next batch, I'll probably get some of that Fermcap-S. With my current blow-out tube...

Hey y'all! My name is Jonathan, and I am a beeraholic. Can't get enough beerahol. First time here, hope you don't mind me staying for a bit. I just started my first home brew on Saturday: an American Amber ale using nugget and williamette. The pre-fermentation process carried on pretty smoothly...