Recent content by Maddoghoek

Just before you pitch. If you stir well (which I assume you do to aerate anyway) you should get a fairly accurate reading. If you're doing extract kits and it seems a few points off then don't worry.

I'd let it do it's thing for longer. I'm a lazy brewer and leave mine for a month. My last one ate 70 points of gravity in a week and landed another 5 points lower 4 weeks later.

The basic difference? Dry usually have a higher cell count, so all you need to do is re-hydrate and pitch. The varieties of dry yeast for beer are rather limited as far as styles. Liquid yeast has a lower cell count, requiring a starter or multiple vials/smack packs for optimum pitch rates on...

How long has it been in primary? That's alot of sugars for it to chew on. If its only been a week or less, I'd leave it alone for a few more weeks. It takes big beers longer to finish because the yeast either get tired or hit their alcohol tolerance level.

The 200 is on sale for the same price as the 95. No brainier there. More flow=faster cooling. As for efficiency, there's tons of debate but it's all about what you want. Lower flow will use less water while chilling, higher flow will chill faster. That's a generalization because every setup is...

For future reference, if you're doing the ice bath method it is best to use just cold water to start and add the ice when you get down to say 100 or so. Yeast should be ok if it's under 100. I'd grab another packet for insurance just in case, but check it an a few days to make sure it's fermenting.

Yeah, Starsan is safe... Diluted. If I have to use an eye dropper to dilute it for a gallon jug I certainly don't want to touch it... I used to work in a photo lab a long time ago, and we had to lock down our drain at the end of the night so the cleaning crew couldn't use it...

When you go to move it to the bottling bucket you don't want to strain/filter on the bottling side. You risk oxidizing the heck out of it. Best thing to do is wait long enough for most of it to settle out (I like to do 1 month primary's) and if possible cold crash it a few days before bottling...

Not much need to use finnings in a stout. They're not really supposed to be clear. For the oak chips, the best thing to do is taste it. With that much surface area hitting beer, it can get overpowering pretty quick.

What is your bottling process? Do you transfer to a bottling bucket first, or do you bottle directly from your fermentation container?

Boiling fruit will release pectin and make your beer harder to clear. It will also drive off some of the aroma. You'll get a sort of haze. Of corse if it's a wheat beer (which are normally hazy anyway) then no biggie. You can do a few things. The vodka as suggested will kill nasties. I've heard...

Kraussen=fermentation. Bask in the glory of the beasties, and drink beer to pass the time while you wait. :)

^ This. Belgian candi syrup is different from the crystallized "candi" sugar. The clear candi sugar most LHBS carry is just table sugar in bigger chunks. The dark crystals are slightly caramelized, so they will add some flavor. Save yourself some money on the clear and use table sugar if you do. :)

At 1.084 OG the 2 vials would have likely been enough without a starter. So I wouldn't be concerned about loss from krausen.

Yup, that's the one. :) I handed my brother in law the tube from a gravity sample and he wouldn't give it back lol... I didn't consider just doing a double transfer either. Hrm. Probably my best bet. Thanks everyone for the advice!