Recent content by MasterOfTheWellHung

I hate to leave a thread hanging. At 4 weeks this beer had a crusty white film on top, obviously infected, suspect it had lactobacillus but cannot be sure. Not to be deterred I racked from underneath into a carboy and let it go another 2 weeks. The carboy also quickly developed a white...

My LHBS carries Brewers Best, as well as Coopers and other simpler kits. I am transitioning to all grain BIAB now but still do the occasional Brewer's Best for a quicker easier brew day. The big pro's are: 1. good selection of styles 2. steeping grains in most kits 3. introduction to some...

bucket of 2 gallons water plus 1 cup ammonia will cause almost all labels to fall off in about 5 minutes. I make sure to rinse completely and then spray with star san, pack into empty case, and place large sheet of aluminum foil over tops before closing box. On bottling day I remove the foil...

One week fermenting at about 65-68 degrees (swamp cooler) and it still has a creamy 1 inch layer of krausen on top. Gravity down to 1.005. Extremely cloudy. Taste is good, slightly lemony to grapefruit flavor (probably from cascade hops), but not too hoppy. Here's to hoping it will clear in...

Going with the Safale 05.

Only 8 bottles? Put them in a rubbermaid container, a cooler, or even a kitchen trash can with a lid. You may be fine, opening this early the CO2 hasn't had much time to dissolve but best to avoid shrapnel just in case.

Thanks for the suggestion. I gave Beersmith a try this afternoon on an ill fated foray into all grain. Beersmith worked fine, the rest of the brew day not so much. I'll try it for the trial period and then pick one to buy.

Soooo, I decided to try my hand at all grain with a BIAB cream ale based off of BierMucher's Cream of Three Crops recipe using Death Brewer's excellent BIAB instructions. However the best laid plans of mice and men... Here's what I was aiming for. 5 gal final batch size Grains: 6# 2 row...

Does anyone here know a Beer Tools promo code that is currently accepted? I did a search but it seems all the older ones on the forum are expired.

I've only done one oaked recipe but I found that 2 oz oak chips in 5 gallons for three weeks was more than plenty for an oaked IPA. I placed chips in a mason jar and just covered with bourbon. I bottled it back in March and it is really hitting its peak right now, the oak mellowed a bit over...

I saw the same thing. I set up for a possible blowout with a tube off of my airlock and even called my wife from work to check that the lid wasn't a dome the next day, it bubbled fiercely for about 36 hours then stopped. Made a great beer though. The only tweak I did was to add 8 oz chocolate...

Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh. Labels are slightly plastic feeling. Fill them with hot water and the label just peels off with no residue. No soaking, no scrubbing. I just rinse them with hot water, peel off the label, spritz them with starsan, and box for later use.

...And the hat, but she is a witch! Not only do I use Starsan for my brewing, I keep a spray bottle in the kitchen for a multitude of other uses. SWMBO is a bit of a germaphobe so she likes to spray down the counter and clean baby toys/equipment with it. As an amateur aquarist I use it to...

They may be recommending the higher temp because it gets you beer faster. The higher temps will give you more phenols and esters which can be good in something like a wheat beer. I usually try to ferment close to the bottom of the temperature range and give it extra time. One of my best beers...

I mostly just number the cap with a sharpie but it is fun to make labels now and then. I print them out on regular paper from my home laser printer and stick them onto the bottles using milk. I've used both 2% and skim with no difference in outcome. It won't hold up in a cooler full of water...