Recent content by mozart4898

I fully admit to being very much into IPA/IIPA and APA - pretty much anything with distinct hop character. I generally alternate when I brew - every other beer I brew is a hoppy style. The other half of my beers are all over the place though - stouts, porters, wheats, saison (I *love* a good...

Honestly, I'll admit to having done it, and if your sanitation is good, it's not a big deal IMO. I would be a bit leery of "racking" by draining through the bottling spigot although I think I've even done that too. Hold a cup of sanitizer of some kind up to the spigot for a few seconds, then...

You used US-05, so I wouldn't think that "earthy" would be a result of fermentation temps, although I don't know, maybe (US-05 just seems to get really crazy fruity/peachy when it's warmer, IME and from what I've heard). My bet would be oxidation. I personally haven't had a batch go "sour" or...

I'm not local to you at all, but Great Lakes Hops sells crowns basically year round. I didn't check just now but I would imagine they've got 20+ varieties available this moment. They suggest fall for those of us in colder climates as being a great time to plant (which I'm not 100% sold on...

If anyone's following this...an update - I've been trying to be more patient with my beers lately as I definitely can tell an improvement when I leave them go over a month, rather than kegging them within 2 weeks. This just went to "secondary" tonight. I decided to up my original dry hop...

Before messing around with anything else, I would suggest this: Go to Wally World and buy a case (6 gallons) of reverse osmosis or spring water (I wouldn't get distilled unless you want to do a LOT of "water building"). Use that 6 gallons plus a gallon of your water (assuming you're doing all...

FYI, botulism is only an issue in cases where there is very little oxygen and a not very acidic pH. Beer wort won't support the growth of botulism. Improperly home-canned foods are one of the most likely sources of it, among other mishandled foods generally in a commercial kitchen.

16 days in and you've only dropped 3 points? Whether you underpitched or not, after 16 days you should be much lower than that. (I would have expected that underpitching might have led to a day or two longer lag, but a packet of lager yeast in 5.5 gallons at 1.045 should still have taken off...

They're probably fine. Mine have branched out ~4-8" from the trunk after being planted this spring but I doubt that yours are in trouble. Yes, bare root trees will definitely need to put on some root growth. Didn't catch where you're from but if you're not getting a decent amount of rain...

Or go all out and make a plum Imperial Stout...

As far as mustard, a saison with rye (perhaps munich as well) and a VERY careful hand of coriander, mustard seed, and fennel might work. Or may be disgusting. On plums, my go-to for just about anything different is porter. Chiles, chocolate, coffee, most fruits and vegetables...one way or...

I'll PM it to you here in a bit so as to not clutter the thread with something somewhat off topic...but just as a caveat I'll let you know ahead of time that it was a saison with wheat, rye...and fresh basil. However I've used more or less the same basic recipe with a liquid yeast + brett and...

Pardon my PUI in this case (I'm about 5 pints in, so if this doesn't make sense I'm sorry) but when did you actually plant them - this spring, or further back than that? You mentioned a tough winter so I'm figuring they've been through a winter at least already. If they're looking ok at this...

If I'm imagining what you're saying correctly (basically you just hang the bag in the pot through the boil, and dump your hops in it when it's time, and then at the end pull it out so you don't have to strain them out or something), it should work just fine, although as you boil the bag is going...

Two options that don't match your styles but are KILLER dry yeasts from my experience as well are Danstar Belle Saison and Mangrove Jack's M27 Saison. You may not be interested in Belgian/Saison beers but they will both thrive in high temps - in fact I just recently fermented a beer with the...