Recent content by logan_the_huge

I agree with maylar. As a rule of thumb - if you plan to age in the carboy/fermenter you would want to rack to a secondary for aging after primary fermentation is complete. This should help to prevent any off flavors from autolysis of the yeast or any other gunk in the primary fermenter

If trying to stick to the German hops, I love magnum for bittering. You could reserve some of the hallertau for flavor/aroma. The magnum is high alpha so it won't take as much to achieve the bitterness.

It's funny you said you would like more smokiness because I looked at the 1 lb of smoked malt and said..wow that's a lot. But I've never used it before. Increase the bittering hops and/or add a small amount with 15-20 minutes left in the boil for a little bitterness and flavor. And one more...

Looks fine to me. Give it some time for the yeast to finish and clean up and I'm sure it will turn out great. It's common for activity to be really high at the beginning of fermentation and then die down a little. This does not mean it is done fermenting however.

Ok I thought so. Realized I never answered the second question either but I can't be of much help. I've used the California ale and it produced good beers, but I've only used it on pales and IPAs. Can't say how it will hold up in an imperial stout. It wouldn't be my choice for this, personally.

1.125 is a pretty high OG but I think the us-05 should be fine. I would check the numbers on a brew calculator site, mrmalty or another one just to make sure you're counts are ok. With a 2.5 gallon batch, 2 packs of rehydrated yeast sounds like it could be overkill, but I've never done anything...

Going to try this today. I went to an Asian supermarket and an employee directed me to a glass jar with little twin packs of what I assume were yeast balls. It was labeled as "dried rice ball." The balls looked exactly like the pictures posted on here of what everyone is using. Is it safe to say...

Just got my results from the Ward water analysis. Hoping someone with a little more experience in brew water science can give me some insight. Here is what I got: pH 7.9 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 134 Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.22 Cations / Anions, me/L 2.0 / 2.0...

I know you said you don't want to part out but I'm interested in a few things if you eventually decide to break it up. Let me know.

I heat up some water before the strike water just to heat up my mash tun. I use the same set up as you it sounds like. Heat up some water and add I mash tun, shake it up, seal it, then dump that water right before I start mashing.

Slowly upgrading your equipment was how I started out. I also started creating my own extract/partial grain recipes which sounds like it would be a good next step for you.