Recent content by JSBULL

Very well done! Super clean build. Nice job.

The watermelon and an ounce of dry hops for 5 gallons mostly covered it up. Good beer tasters seem to pick up something off, but can't put their finger on it. I only kept 5 gallons for a few friends aren't that great at beer tasting and really like fruity sours. If they pick up an issue also...

I hear that stated a lot, but some of my best creations were screwing around with a bad beer. This one was worth the effort because I had so much time invested in 15 gallons of it and my attempts to fix were inexpensive ($9 total in watermelons). Alas, I believe it'll be going down the drain...

I remember this now. Son of a gun, that's why it hasn't dissipated. Thank you for the reminder.

Might, but it's a berliner, that's now a watermelon berliner, so that would be one funky beer. I might keg it and dry hop and see what happens. At some point I'll have to give up and stop throwing money at it. But, watermelons are cheap and I can grab some good hops to try. Thanks for the...

I pulled a bonehead move 2+ weeks ago. I brewed 15 gallons of kettle soured berliner with untreated tap water. Now there is a chlorine flavor that I'm trying to mask. Factors that lead to this screw up: Chlorine will typically boil off, but because it was a berliner, I didn't reach a full...

My sister-in-law is an artist with a pretty dark style. I described the beer and this is what she created.

This is about the most simple, straightforward, accurate answer possible. Technically, you don't have to bring it to a boil after the mash. If you get it to 180 degrees, it should be pasteurized. I only drop the pH to 4.5 to let the lacto do most of the souring. That supposedly adds more...

Thanks. I'm actually not controlling the temp in the pipes. I had a couple of different plans, but in the end, it wasn't needed. I did use insulation which helps some, but that was more to keep condensation from forming on the pipes. What I've found is that the first 2-3 oz of the first pour...

Thanks. I learned a lot from different message board posts, so I thought I'd give back a little. No reason to have others repeat my mistakes. I originally planned to make this an Instructable How-To, but after facing a few early setbacks, I realized that it was going to take twice as long if I...

One of the tricky things was securing the top so that the heavy weight didn't break the lid off of the back or crush my head while I was working inside the keezer. I thought I would just need a chain, but I didn't realize that it was more forward weighted than I expected. Therefore, I needed...

The big work I hadn't bargained for was the top. I bought 1/2 in. x 4 in. x 4 ft. Weathered Hardwood Board from Home Depot and used a miter saw to cut small pieces from it. I then laid them all out on some birch to make it fit and trimmed the final side straight. I then glued all of those pieces...

Well, this was my first metalworking and first woodworking project. I'm surprised the wife approved it, but it turned out well. Here's how it all went down. First, the finished product: So, I started by making a rolling base. I later had to find a way to cut it off because the swivel wheels...

This is a pretty clever suggestion. You could just sanitize and lock up your keg in advance. You'd never need to re-open it if you're doing a closed pressure transfer. What fittings I'll need is already racing in my head.

I have a new Spike 15 gallon conical with a glycol chiller attached. It resides in my Arkansas garage, which is about 85-90 degrees at the moment. Therefore, there is a cycle occuring where the temp goes from 74 to 76 to 74 to 76 etc. I've done two SG tests on my recent brew (berliner) a...