Recent content by mattymc

I bottled my Cream Ale the other day and was surprised when I noticed how light the yeast cake was. I'm used to having a good layer of white across the entire bottom of the carboy. Is this normal? Does it mean there is little yeast? Maybe I will need to bottle condition longer. Just to...

Awesome thanks guys!

Hey Guys, In a few days I will be doing my first bottling in a long while. I have all the gear for sanitizing the bottles (vinator/bottle tree) but I will be using old 650ml beer bottles I have saved up over the year. Should I do a more heavy duty "clean" before I sanitize? Thanks, Matt

I initially wanted it in the secondary for two weeks (not sure why -- to age it? I usually found when I brewed a few years ago that longer was usually better). Is there a big difference in waiting the extra week (ie, if I didn't dry hop early?) and does that gain outwieght the loss of dry...

Hey Guys, I am doing a Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale Clone and I have a few questions. We brewed this up on Nov 22 and racked it to the secondary on Dec 05. When we racked to the secondary we added the dry hops (Cascade). I was planning on letting it sit for two weeks but I recently...

Thanks for the help guys! I didn't put any water in, just left it as is.

Ah damn OK :) The O.G. was 1.060.

Thanks for the help!! Ok I should add water? How much do you think I should add? What happens if I dont? just a stronger beer?

I am about to rack my beer from primary to secondary. It has been a week and we got everything sanitized and ready then we did the gravity test. 2 days ago the gravity was 101.5 and now it is 101.0. I read that you should wait until the gravity doesn't change for 3 days. I don't wanna rack...

Here is the recipe we used. Shaftebury Cream Ale - O.G. - 1.042 6lb 10 oz pale malt extract 4 oz carapils malt 5 oz British crystal malt 4 oz chocolate malt 1 oz willamette \1/2 oz cascade blend together and boil 75% for 1 hour / use 25% for finishing ale yeast

I started a cream ale a week and half ago. The Og was 1042 when I added to the primary. I just did a check before I racked to the secondary and it is at 1009. Does that make sense? Isn't that low? Thanks for the help! Matt

I dont have a big fridge or garage but I want to cold crash. Could I just put it outside for the last two days? My temp is around 37f outside. Maybe put a tarp over it to block the sun?

Thanks a lot for the help guys. What is the science behind the airlock?

This is my Primary. It just has a normal lid. When I got it years ago the instructions provided with the kit only had a process that required moving to the secondary at around 5-7 days (when OG settled). Am I stuck with this process until I get a Primary with a lid has a hole for an airlock?

Hey guys, I am just getting back into brewing and I have a question about my gear. In my old kit I have a primary and secondary. It seems like people here mostly only use a primary and the arguements are pretty compelling. My issue is that my primary does have have an airlock. Should I...