Recent content by Papa

Hey, i'm finding this beer a little astringent with a long (10min!) lingering sensation on the tongue. Should it settle out after a few days or weeks during lagering?

hey, I just brewed this today. I went with "no chill" and had no idea how to adjust the "whirlpool" hop addition. I added the ~4 oz of whirlpool hops to the hot cube and am allowing to cool slowly. Any sense of how this might play out in bitterness? I'm thinking about perhaps saving the more...

Thanks RM. Excellent insights. Can you comment on the benefit of whirlpooling? Why is trub removal important? What does it add to or take away from the final beer?

Hey JonnyR - I appreciate the yeast cake comes from the fermenter!!! I think I'd quit brewing if I ever saw yeast cake in my kettle. I think some home brewers like to harvest a clean yeast cake free of trub/hops etc for their next batch. Hence trub removal before trasfering to the fermenter.

I'd expect a materially higher risk of infection if you're no-chilling to 110oF as that's in the prime zone for bacterial infection, or is it just above the 'zone'?? Do you give your chill cube a burst of boiling hot water, or just standard sanitizer (phos acid?)?

So why is such a big deal made about whirlpooling? Is it all about the yeast harvest?

Hey, I've gone with no-chill / hot-cubing in recent brews and aiming to further simplify my brew day. Rather than trading off whirlpool / trub removal vs peak sanitation, I keep the wort on a rolling boil whilst pumping it to the hot cube (and then turning off the heating element before pumping...

Hey Kaiser, the post is quite old but still relevant. I couldn't see any of the pics ... possibly my problem only? Or have they been removed from the forum on account of the age of the post??

Hey, just finished fermenting a hefe at around 17 deg C. All in primary. It's remarkably clear. Should I give it a bit of a wiggle to encourage the yeast to re-suspend before I bottle it? I haven't opened the fermenter since i pitched and so can't comment on taste or FG. The only potential...

Hey, this is really valuable info. Thank you. There's two broad types of responses re infection - the "it's ok, there's something obvious you've missed" and the "I believe in mystery bugs". I prefer the former - far more encouraging!

I like to bottle a few beers from each batch and keg the rest. Using carbonation drops is intuitively the easiest method ... but would like to know how to minimise the infection risk. Do you give each drop a starsan spray? Fingers too? How do you know the carbonation drops are sanitary? I...

Seems I had this totally wrong folks! The porter isn't at all sweet. The problem was that I was previously unaware that a refractometer doesn't provide a valid gravity reading in the presence of alcohol. Beer tastes great 7d after initial fermentation. I appreciate the advice / discussion...

I used a 10g pack of Mangrove Jack M03 (UK DARK ALE) in a 6 litre wort. Medium attention and flocculation. Recommend 18-22degC. Best before Jun2017.

Would a temperature rise help; eg from 18 degC to 21? I based this recipe on an amalgam of several other porter recipes, trying to emulate polygamy porter. Target was invariably below 1.02. Could poorly treated yeast (sprinkled then splashed) be the issue? And recommended approach to recovery...

Great question. I neglected to write it down ... but will go into the garbage bin later today and dig it out. Was a yeast "suitable for" dark ales, if that helps?