Recent content by liamw

I've been making all grain brews for a couple years now, but by no means am I an expert. I've made a dozen batches, and have been mostly successful. The one thing that has come up in a few of my beers has been a plastic type taste. I've posted in this forum a few times trying to sort out my...

Thanks for the great input! Here's the modified recipe, taking in some of the suggestions. I don't have any UK Pale malt on hand, but that is a great idea. I forgot to mention initially that this is a 5.5gal batch. Estimated OG 1.053. I really want to keep the grain bill relatively simple...

Same here, if you have an unfinished room next to a finished one, it's a great idea.

Take this for what you will, but I recently had a "stone" ale, made in the (really) old fashioned way. The boil was done by adding heated stones to the wort. The stones are removed and reheated, I believe, during the boil to keep the boil going. It had an incredible caramel flavour that I...

Hi All, I just came up with this recipe for a hoppy american pale ale that I'd like some input on: Malt Bill: 9lb 2-Row 8oz Crystal 40L 8oz CaraFoam Hops: .75oz Mosaic @60 min 1oz Amarillo @5min 1oz each Mosaic, Summit @0min 1oz Galaxy - Dryhop 7 days I'll probably mash at 150...

Definitely will. I thought about doing the same to my auto siphon prior to kegging, then decided against it. Mistake for sure

Good thought on the plunger from the qd. I would have been frustrated trying to figure that one out. Thanks!

I kegged a raspberry wheat the other day, and now having issues. Particles of raspberry keep clogging my poppet. I don't have another keg available to transfer to and the beer is for a party tonight! Is it possible to take the spring out of the poppet and serve that way? That way I have a...

Thanks so much for your help, I'll follow your advice. One question though, just for my own curiosity, why do the calculators not take into account the o.g. Of the starter? I get the same growth whether or not I use a starter of 1.010 or 1.040, as per the calculators.

When I type in the manufactured date, may 23/14 (4 months prior to use by date as per instructions), I get quite a range of viability. Brewers friend gives me 0%, mrmalty gives 10% and yeastcalc gives 20%. In your experience, what do you find to be most accurate?

Hi all, I've got a vial of wl Irish ale liquid yeast. It's use by date was September 23rd or so. I was planning on using it in an Irish red that I'm making (1.050 or so og). If I make a 2 litre starter with this would I be ok? Or am I better off tossing it and using some s-04? Thanks

That may be the problem. Entry is due January 16th. I was planning on having the oak soaked in the rum for the secondary. I planned on secondary for 3-4 weeks. Perhaps of I used chips it may work a little faster? The Cruzan dark rum I'm planning on using had a somewhat vanilla like flavour (I...

I'm creating a holiday ale for a local competition. I've never done one before, but I wanted to try something that may set myself apart from the pack. Has anyone used oak (cubes, chips, etc) in a holiday ale. I was thinking about soaking some in dark rum (Cruzan) and using them in secondary...

I've got another batch to go in the keg today. I used the exact same grain bill, same water, same yeast only different hops (citra). I used a different fermenter, so if its an infection it will be unlikely to occur again (I'm usually pretty good with sanitation). I'll report back if the taste...

I only pitched 1 package of US-05 (rehydrated) for 5.5gal batch, so I don't think my issue is overpitching.