Recent content by Kephren

It's just done. 1.020 isn't that far out of range. However.... you should *never* aerate the beer once it has started fermenting. It will probably taste alright for the first couple of weeks, but after a couple of weeks, you are going to start tasting the oxygenation, which has been described...

I teach a self-defense/control class that borrows a lot of moves from hapkido. It's good stuff.

Want to try my amber ale? I call it "grandma."

Even if it is mold (which it probably isn't) you can just skim it off the top. The wort is too thick for it to get past the surface. It's just yeast and/or bubbles, though.

I was shooting for an ESB twice and a regular bitter once. All grain.

I'm not sure what goes wrong. I had one that was extremely bland... lacked any body or bitterness. Might as well had been drinking iced tea. I had one that was waaaay too malty. I'm guessing I used the wrong mash temp, although I kept it between 149-153. And the one I have in bottles now...

I love bitters. There is something so right about this simple style of beer. So why can't I manage to make one. I have tried three batches of bitter this year. All of them are simple recipes. All of the came out horrid. Everything I made this year other than bitters came out great...

Here's what concerns me... and correct me if I'm wrong. You said you got your kit "the other day" and it's already bottled? Did you skip the fermentation stage?

I've got a bottle of Sebor Absinthe in my liquor cabinet. A friend and I wanted to try it because of the Thujone. Didn't do anything but get us drunk. It wansn't bad, but at nearly $100/bottle shipped from the U.K., I expected more... or at least *something*... Mitch Hedburg did a bit once...

I use oxyclean to clean my carboys every time. Just soak overnight and rinse well. Never needed to scrub. Make sure it's in a sink or bathtub, though. The bubbles will overflow overnight.

I had a similar problem. Ruined 3 or 4 batches before I figured out it was from the rubber in the keg and not an infection. Replaced all the gaskets and never had a problem since.

If you just need a couple of gallons, you can put it in some jugs and it will be okay for a few hours as long as it's chilled. Otherwise, you can bottle some using a counter pressure bottle filler and it will stay carbonated.

That's one nice thing about Nevada... always a poker game going on :)

Sounds like fun!