Recent content by milwaukee

I dry hop in the primary pretty frequently. Two weeks for dry hopping sounds little long though. If you dry hop for too long, you can pick up some vegetative flavors. You also want to wait until your beer is really finished throwing off a lot of CO2. If you dry hop while it's still bubbling...

count me in.

I like to dry hop with about 1.5 - 2.25 for a 5 gallon recipe. On the lower end, you get a decent hop aroma, but, in my opinion, nothing overwhelming. I bet as an amber, your brew could take 1.5, maybe even a little more, and not get anything near a west coast amber. I find I need at least...

Took a gravity reading. The brown ale is at 1.014. The IPA is at 1.012. So fermentation is complete on both. The IPA seems to have more dissolved CO2, which might account for the airlock activity... but it still seems like a lot of bubbling for something that's done fermenting.

I brewed two beers with Wyeast 1056/WLP001. One was an IPA, mashed at 149, original gravity 1.072. The second is Mike McDole's Janet's Brown Ale in Zainasheff/Palmer's Brewing Classic Styles -- mashed at 154, and came in a little heavier than the recipe, 1.070. Here's the thing. The IPA is...

It's probably just the last traces of krausen. And it's probably nothing to worry about. What I would be concerned about, however, is that it seems like you took it off the yeast after just 7 days. That's not always enough time for fermentation to wrap up. Did you take gravity readings...

Seems like being sure the Starsan was getting inside the bottles would be a problem. If you run bottles in the dishwasher, at least my last two, some of the bottles get sprayed inside... but some just get steamy and the jets don't seem to hit the bottle opening. Also. What's the dilution on...

Personally, I've given up on secondary fermentation. There's some good threads on here if you search it. The argument is: is it worth it for extra clarity and in order to get it off the yeast cake... or... not worth it because unless you've got beer in the fermentor for more than 3 or 4 weeks...

In my experience, carboys vary a lot by manufacturer. And the best way to do this is to buy something dependable, measure water, and mark it yourself. Sorry if that's not helpful and you have beer on hand going in. Good luck.

Carbonation is just another fermentation by the same strand of yeast that made your beer. If they're used to working in one spot in your house that's a steady temp, I wouldn't see any reason not to put your bottles in that exact same spot.

The best strategy I've found is to do exactly what you're saying. Sanitized hop bag over the syphon in the bottling bucket. One added caution. Because you won't get as much force coming out of the tube, be sure to stir your priming sugar. The first time I did this, I put the priming solution...

I actually use even less than that. I add a round 1/4 teaspoon with 15 minutes left, and I get a lot of particulate that separates out. Maybe I'd get better results with more--but I get good results with 1/4 tsp.

@BuzzCraft. On the experiment. I ran it to be sure the problem was what I thought it was. It was. The internal seal in the autosiphon... this would be the rubber disc separating the liquid from the column of air that surrounds the cane inside the siphon... that seal could be overpowered and...

+1 on the books. Assuming you've read How to Brew. Designing great beers by Ray Daniels. Classic. Helps understand what you're looking at. Brewing Classic Styles. Gives a jumping off point for any style. Farmhouse Ales. Brew Like a Monk. Clone Brews. Happy Brewing!

I try to stay away from complicated recipes. I think a lot of homebrewers have the luxury of/ability to indulge in wildly complicated recipes. The best steak I've had was seasoned with salt and pepper. While I've had fantastic IPA's made with several hops (Racer 5 is a favorite)... the one's...