Recent content by mdatum

I recently bought a kegerator conversion kit, and install with smoothly. The kit came with a new CO2 tank, so I got that filled. I cleaned and sanitized the kegs, fill the keg with CO2 to check if there were any leaks, but did not seem to be any. So I transfer my beer over to the kegs (I had...

I just finished my second batch. My first batch was in the fermentor for 1 month and then in bottles for 2 months. This time I left it in the fermentor for 4 months and after two weeks in the bottle, the flavor is completely different. Both were dry and tasty, but this second batch has more of...

I did. Was a bit under my final gravity actually. Only about half the bottles were gushers so it makes me wonder why some were exploding. Maybe there was more watermelon juice in some and it restarted fermentation based off the sugar in the juice. Next time I do a fruit I'll make a longer...

I got them in the fridge/freezer but then more started exploding so I put on protection and opened them all. Oh well. I guess I'll just put them all in the fridge and drink them tonight before they go flat.

I brewed a watermelon wheat for my brother's wedding, and I seem to have over carbed it. It was barely carbed at 3 weeks so I gave it an extra week and was moving one to the fridge to drink tomorrow when one of the bottles in the box blew up. I imagine it was from me bumping/moving it around...

It should be fine. Make sure you shake the starter often and it should be good to go in a day.

After making a steam beer, I saved the San Francisco lager yeast and want to try making an American pilsner with it. I don't have the ability to lager (and never tried the style at all), but I recently tried to cold crash with a large tub and ice water. Although I couldnt get the temp much lower...

I have the 3rd edition and he only really makes it clear in the chapter on lager. It could be much much clearer and I understand the confusion.

Yes. Thank you all for the response. I'll give it a shot, nothing to lose but an entry fee.

Is the seal problem (I haven't experienced it with my three buckets) and issue beyond seeing activity in the airlock? If one pitches active yeast why would airlock activity matter much? If you take SG readings and can see krausen, I would think that is enough. As far as contamination goes, just...

Do you dry hop in your primary?

I've been brewing for awhile now, and although well meaning friends tell me how great my beer is, I understand some of its shortcomings and want to improve. It seems to me that competitions are a great way to get good feedback. An IPA I recently made is by far my best brew and I want...

+1 I can't imagine priming each bottle individually. I use one of the many priming calculators to find out how much I need, boil water with that sugar amount (let it drop to room temp), put half in the bottom of the bottle bucket, start siphoning and when it is halfway done, add the rest of the...

I did not know about the 24 hours in the fridge thing. Looking back, that explains a lot. Is there anything wrong with storing for long periods in the fridge? I have a lot of brews that just finished carbing and wasn't planning on storing them in the fridge (would drink them too quickly) but I...

You probably had a sample that had top off water that wasn't mixed in well enough. I wouldn't worry about it. Extracts are generally spot on. In the future it is good to aerate the wort as much as possible before pitching the yeast. This has the dual purpose of mixing in any top off water...