Recent content by Theis

How long you dry hop your beer is a matter of preference. I usually go 5-7 days mainly because my free time is on the weekends. I cold crash my dry hopped beers prior to racking to the keg, so to help the hops and yeast drop out. I don't bother trying to filter while transferring from carboy...

What is the interior height of the fridge? I have Sanyo dorm fridge with freezer in place and it is cramped but works with pin-locks. Also the plastic top comes off mine in order to switch the door to the other side. If you pop it off you could probably utilize the cornstarch alcohol method.

I assume you bottled the single beer first and added the carbonation drop rather than adding the drop to the entire carboy then bottling one beer. If the gravity was stable I would have just primed and bottled the whole batch bottling is a pain so better to get it over all at once imho.

Probably end up saving over the long run with the swing tops because you don't need to keep buying caps. Bummer about them being so expensive is if you want to share your beer with friends- my buddies get the 12 oz craft bottles until they earn my trust.

I always get an extra gasket to go between the Co2 bottle and regulator and replace it every time. I hate Co2 leaks. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/regulator-gasket.html Are you going to stick with the picnic faucets or jump in right away and install taps?

15 minutes from when the rolling boil starts.

I would steep the grains in the 155 degree water without extract, take out the grain bag, then ramp up the heat to boil and add extract. That way you won't lose extract sugar in the water absorbed by the grains.

Seems like everyone rags on cluster saying it tastes "catty". I don't know what a cat tastes like but all my beers with cluster have turned out very clean with a little hint if citrus.

I quit taking the labels off- There is just nothing quite like having an imperial oatmeal stout poured from a Heineken light bottle.

Make sure you flush the 2nd keg with co2 or use dry ice prior to transferring your beer to reduce oxidation. Racking shouldn't be too hard, just have to target the swet spot between the pellets which will have settled to the bottom and the dry hops which will be floating on the top

Swing tops sure are great if you can get your hands on some cheap ones. I've had good luck with craft 12 oz, tried some Heineken bottles and they didn't seal as well.

I remember once adding all the LME to the boil without stirring it in- had a ton of burnt flakes floating around the fermenter. They eventually settled out with the trub and the beer turned out ok but I definitely learned my lesson- now I turn the burner off and stir like crazy when adding...

Both stores are always well stocked when I visit but I'd shoot them a call to make sure that they have the hops if you are making a special trip. 612-843-4444- Minneapolis 651-223-6114- Saint Paul

Welcome to forum. Definitely warm in MN now. I bought one of those $5 plastic tubs at Menards which you can almost fully submerge the carboy in. I add ice/water to the tub and use the stick on thermometer on the carboy to target fermentation temp around 65 (assuming you are using American Ale...

Yes, adding the water at the end will dilute your gravity a well as your IBUs. There are ways to get around this, the easiest being a full wort boil. Another is to add the liquid malt extract at the end of the boil so that the high gravity of your wort isn't interfering with hop extraction...