Recent content by MikeDelta1

Update: I just took a hydrometer sample after 8 days. I started the fermentation at 65 and let it ramp up to 74 over 8 days. I overshot my OG by 5 and started it at 1.054 it finished up at 1.012. My initial impressions from the sample is that this may be an amazing beer, the belgian yeast...

I brewed this Saturday and everything went ok except for the two flies in one of the starters. I pulled them out and used it anyway. I did not get the color that I expected from the grain bill, I didn't get the red color that I was looking for it was more of a darker pale ale color. I expected...

I think you would have to do a partial mash to get the flavor out of the rye, but I'm not sure.

I think I'm going to brew this Saturday, not sure how it will taste but shouldn't be to bad and may be amazing. You know how we have SMaSH beers that are on the simple side, we should have some Mash Up recipes where you take different styles and mash them up. I was looking for something along...

If you have a septic tank you can stop buying treatment if you dump it down your drains, this is according to the guy who cleaned out my septic tank awhile back.

I think part of my problem is that I'm not sure what diacetyl tastes like. The sample I took seemed a little sweet if anything. I used the Wyeast Budvar yeast on the Pils and I hope it dries out a bunch because the hops are very much in the background. The Oktoberfest used White Labs Southern...

Thanks for the input, somtimes validation that I'm on the right track helps with the relax don't worry part. I'm stepping down 3 degrees twice a day and when i get to the low 50's I'll take another gravity reading before taking it all the way down.

Just an update on this beer. Wow they came out very good, the IPA is very smooth and easy drinking, with a great malt profile. The APA is very good also but would be fairly easy to reproduce without the Parti Gyle set up. I'm not sure I could have gotten the taste that I got in the big beer...

I have been fermenting a pils and a Oktoberfest at around 52 degrees (may have gotten up to 58 for a day, that souther german lager yeast fermented like a beast in the Oktoberfest, the Budvar in the pils seemed a little less explosive). I checked the gravity late Thursday night and was at 1.020...

Raging Bitch is great. Gonzo Imperial Porter is very good also.

That's what I thought just trying to be a cheap bastard

I may try to insulate the sides and the divider, the insulation comes in 4x8 sheets so i should be able to do it even if i have to make it smaller for just 2 brew buckets. I did find one link that looks like they did the same type of thing. http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/freezer/freezer.html

I have a big 23 cubic foot chest freezer that I use to maintain fermentation temps and to lager in I can fit 6 brew buckets in it. The problem is when I'm lagering for a long period I can't use it for anything else. What I would like to do is build an insulated divider have the ranco that...

I have some old grains (about 4 years) just taking up space they were vacuum packed and still have crunch. They are a mix of specialty grains. Can I use this mess to make a batch of starter wort. 1 lb Crystal 75 .5 lb biscuit 2lb carapils 1.5 lb munich 1 lb caramunich 1 lb black patent...

Yesterday I took my first shot at a Parti-Gyle surprisingly I got lucky and it worked out in the end. I nailed my volume on the first runnings and went over on my second runnings (still not sure why but it worked out in the end). I used Tom O's Parti Gyle ciphern sheet but I'm glad I didn't...