Recent content by jsphlynch

Anecdotally, I seem to get lower FGs when using Briess base malts. The body and flavor are still fine, so I don't worry about it. As for what I would change on the recipe: I'd have to taste the beer before I answered that question.

Speidel makes a 12 L plastic fermenter. Seems like that ought to be about perfect for 2ish gallon ferment. I don't have any experience with their products, but I've only heard good things about them.

I suspect that carb drops will cause less foaming than sugar crystals due to less nucleation sites. I always dissolve the priming sugar for an entire batch in a little water, boil it for a few minutes to sanitize the solution, let it cool a bit, and it to the entire batch of beer, then bottle...

And what nutrient schedule was used, if any? I'm assuming that maple syrup is pretty devoid of the nutrients that help keep yeasties happy enough to ferment high gravity solutions. Hopefully OP has been consulting with the mead folks about yeast strains and strategies to keep them cleanly chugging.

Here's what my approach would be: since the gravity has been stable for an extended period of time and it tastes fine, I'd declare it to be done, bottle it up this weekend, and anxiously wait for it to carbonate so I can start putting it in my belly. Although it likely wouldn't hurt to give it...

My wife seems to think it's dull as well. Something about them taking an entire hour to talk about moving a piece of equipment so that for next episode it will be in place to dig a hole near the rock they found, interspersed with them waving a metal detector around and saying "Holy shamoly"...

That show by the brothers cracks me up. Narrator: "A rock? Near the triangle shaped swamp? Could this be a marker? Or maybe it's an important clue that will finally prove the link between the Knights Templar and Oak Island."

In addition to what @VikeMan said, CO2 is less soluble at higher temperatures, so raising the temp will lead to a bit of airlock activity even without yeast activity. I personally would have no concerns about raising the temp to constant 75 deg this late in fermentation. Don't get too carried...

If you measure the fully fermented beer with both a refractometer and a hydrometer, you can in theory back-calculate the OG. https://www.brewheads.com/refract-getog.php Or get a rough estimate from the recipe and RDWHAHB.

Since this was a moderate gravity extract batch, I'm going to respectfully disagree with the suggestion to use alpha amylase. The amylase will break longer unfermentable sugars into simple fermentable ones, but the extract manufacturers know their stuff and have already done a fine job of...

Simplest way will be to use an extract kit, which are available from any of the online homebrew suppliers. It will come with malt extract (either liquid or dry) and hops. Yeast is often an add-on, with strain recommendations provided on the page for the kit; for simplicity, use one of the dry...

I've not used 1450 before to have a good comparison, but if you're looking for a clean, well-attenuating yeast that provides a malt-forwardness and you've got access to White Labs' offerings, I'd go with WLP090.

I've successfully harvested yeast from Ommegang Hennepin, so I'd guess Abbey would work just fine as well.

Some googling led me to @suregork's several year old post about 099 on the Milk The Funk facebook, and in the comments Lance Shaner posted a picture of a streak plate that very obviously has multiple strains. I'm now firmly in the "intentional blend" camp.

While that would indeed suggest a blend, it's not the only explanation. I recall seeing somewhere (I can't find the a source now, so I'm more than willing to be corrected if somebody has different information) that the STA1 +/- designation from White Labs is just a test for presence/absence of...