Recent content by pj_rage

Mine arrived today as well. Definitely nice glasses. Thick walls, nice shape, good packaging. A steal for $7 shipped!

FWIW I haven't really liked the taste of any of the beers I've bottled yet after the priming sugar is added and it's going into the bottle. Before priming and especially after they are carbonated, they taste a lot better. I usually taste the last bit that didn't fit into a bottle, and it's...

I have had mixed results with IR guns. They seem to be pretty accurate in general, probably +/- 1F, and you have to remember that it's surface temp, so as mentioned, it's not great for measure mash temp. The thing that makes me not trust them the most is that they seem to get saturated and...

Ok, that makes sense. I think what I was thinking of is the hops losing their hoppiness as the beer ages.

I know it's not the point of this thread, but I thought IPAs were best consumed "fresh". How do most of you define "fresh", like, within what time frame? The OP had seems to have fermented one for 8+ months and claims it's one of, if not the best IPA he's ever had. Is there two sides to the...

I just got the plastic test cylinder from austin homebrew. Only $5 and works great. I like that the bottom comes off for easy cleaning and sanitization. If you're looking explicitly locally, I'm not sure where might have them?

Expecting mine on tuesday as well!

How many lbs of grain did you use? I plan on drastically reducing the amount the OP used as my efficiency is signficantly better. I'm targeting his OG, but with a lot closer to 15# of grain or so instead. This actually brings about another point -- if I'm scaling this recipe for efficiency...

Man this is near the top of my short list of next-to-brew. Got a chance to try the original, and it is just amazing. I think I'm gonna roast my own coffee for it, too.

You do this on the way to the bottling bucket or keg? Or from kettle to fermentor? Does it strain out pretty much any leftover trub?

It's been 3.5 weeks or so since I bottled mine and it's really pretty damn delicious at this point! One of my favorite Christmas ales I've ever had for sure. After only 1.5 weeks, I thought the vanilla was too forward, they hadn't really carbed up fully yet, and had a hot alcohol taste. But...

Where did you find the 6 inchers? The biggest I can find is 5.5" x 3.5" ?

Yeah I almost need to get a non-instant read thermometer so it just sits relatively stable and I can use whatever number it says. The problem with the thermapen is being able to identify even the smallest non-uniformity in temperature and then it gets me to wondering. I think even a copper...

Yeah, they are for my boozing pleasure as well which is why I'm worried about it! If they were Christmas gifts, I wouldn't be worried yet because they promised they would get here in time, and they still have over a week left.

Funny you should mention it. I put my swamp cooler for my first couple brews in the master bath as it is the coolest room in the house and held low temps pretty well all day. I take that back, my wife's closet was the most temp stable, coolest place, but that was a nonstarter :p My wife has...