Recent content by jsbiral

DOH! Too late. Shoot. It wasn't much of a slick feeling and I probaly wouldn't have noticed it except the beer was pretty warm (it was sitting in a graduated cylinder, in the sun for about an hour and a half before I sampled it). Can you tell me how long it takes before I will know if it...

Perhaps things are starting to turn around. I had a buddy show up with a wine thief and after taking a hydrometer reading, the beer is at 1.018 which, as far as I'm concerned (especially with this particular beer), is close enough. Racked it to the secondary, took a sip of the sample, pretty...

+1 on this. Sounds like it'll be good!

Tell me about it! Plus, Wal-Mart only had short, 10" basters so I'll have to wait until next week when the wine thief gets here to pull the next sample unless I decide to take the lid off of the primary which I really prefer not to do. I guess if theres anything to take away from this it's...

So I went to take a sample and do a hydro reading yesterday after work and as I was heading down to the basement, the dogs came charging down the steps and I dropped the wine thief which subsequently shattered. Went to the LHBS today and they don't carry any so I'm stuck ordering one or, maybe...

I wholeheartedly agree with TheDom. I have three ranging from 5 to 9 months and they definitely have reduced the number of times I'm able to brew annually by at least half. The first few weeks to month are going to be very difficult to adjust to for both you and your wife (lack of sleep...

initially, I used the one that came with the kit but threw that away after I pitched it. Attempts to figure out what strain came with it have been unsuccessful. I then pitched two packets of Saflager S-23. It's been about three weeks since then, Ill pull a sample tonight when I get home and...

Well, it's been 14 days since I started seeing activity in the airlock. I took a hydrometer reading today and we're down from 1.065 to 1.034 so we're making progress but still not quite at the finished stage. The airlock was still fairly steadily bubbling before I took the reading tonight (a...

Okay, will do. Thanks for all of the assistance. If I do happen to get fermentation after taking it out of the fridge, would you suggest putting it back in or just leaving it out? Feels like putting it back in the fridge will just stop the fermentation but then again, maybe it will jump start...

Okay, just checked the gravity again and it's still at 1.064. The temp was still at 50*. I'm wondering if the temp is simply too low for the yeast to do their job. Although the yeast packet says that it is good between 48-59* so maybe not. I hardly believe that I got three packets of "bad"...

When I checked the liquid temp today it was at 50* even. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading yet but I can do that shortly (need to put the kids to bed first). Will re-post as soon as I take the reading.

Well, 48 hours since I re-pitched and still no visable signs of fermentation (i.e. - no bubbling) in the airlock. Is it too early to take another hydrometer reading or should I still be patient? Any other ideas to try? My Johnson Cintrols thermostat still isn't here but I expect it any day...

Sorry Rycov, just did a quick search on the HBT forum and found a thread that explains it and also has a calculator. I pitched at 55* and the current temp is 50* so it doesn't affect the reading just yet but good info to know for future brews. Thanks!

Rycov, thanks for the input. How do I go about doing that or is there a thread already established that goes over this? Thanks again!

Thaks for all of the advice everyone. I did verify my hydrometer reading was correct soI decided to repitch the yeast. All that the LHBS had was S-23 so that's what I went with. It said to sprinkle the dry yeast right into the wort so I pitched the two packets after giving it a good shaking...