Recent content by tomakana

Well, there's visible mold on the lid and exterior of the fermenter. When I took a sample via the spigot, there's a noticeable sour smell, and the little taste I took of the sample confirmed (to me at least) that it's got a significant off taste (not just 'not what it's supposed to taste like'...

As the title suggests, I've officially got my first infected batch - a Belgian Tripel that I was really looking forward to, unfortunately. While I don't know the exact vector, let's just say that the post-boil steps and early days of fermentation were not without their mistakes. It's...

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! As always, I appreciate the quick and thoughtful responses. With any luck, everything goes smoothly next month and I'm back up and running by the end of the year. I'll have to entertain myself for a while by browsing the forum to add to my ever-growing...

For a variety of reasons, at least a couple of taps in my keezer are going to be empty for a while - had a whole slate of brewing planned at the beginning of the year that would keep the pipeline full, but I've been dealing with a medical issue that kept me from doing all the brewing I wanted...

FWIW, I ended up going down this path, in a way. The "paused" batch is a 3-gallon Cab Sauv, so I got 1-gallon Cab kit and got it going with a higher-tolerance yeast (one that should get to 16-17%). Once the new kit was vigorously fermenting, I racked the two of them together and added a dose...

Thanks, all - I have calibrated the refractometer to 0 and I recalibrated it when I was worried about the readings - it's pretty consistent so far. In this specific case, I think it was a mixing issue, which is unfortunately because if I'd realize what the actual reading was, I would have...

Thanks - I was mostly thinking that dilution would lower the alcohol % to allow the remaining yeast to keep going for longer. Appreciate the heads up that it's not necessarily as easy as just adding more yeast. Skimming the instructions, that makes sense now, but I hadn't thought that far...

Thanks, that's what I've been figuring based on everything else I'm looking at. Regarding the D47, I'm 90% sure that's what it was because I remember noting to myself that I had just used D47 on a cider I made earlier this season. I didn't really think about whether it was good for a cab until...

Hello all! I've been brewing beer for a number of years now and have only recently begun playing with wine making through kits. I'm anticipating a small problem with my current batch and would love some thoughts. The kit is a 3-gallon Cabernet Sauvignon. In a nutshell, I suspect that my OG...

Excellent point - I thought I mixed it well, but maybe not. I've only made a couple of wine kits at this point, and that's not a problem I've run into in any of my beers so far, so I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanks!

OK, I've read through a lot of information on the caveats around using refractometers once fermentation has started (material here as well as in a bunch of other places). I fairly recently began using one, and I'm experiencing something odd that I can't find an explanation for. I think I've...

Hah - it was actually the first thread in the "Similar Threads" suggestions when my message posted, so the gnomes in the machine managed to find it for me. At the risk of jinxing it, I think the 'dunk the whole manifold in a bucket' technique has born fruit, although it was still nearly...

Hah - for what it's worth, have now found this thread, so at least I know I'm not crazy: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/beer-gas-leak-driving-me-craxy.733915/ And I'll be following all of the advice on that thread, so no need to respond to this one!

This has been driving me crazy for a couple of weeks now. I had a couple of gas cylinders go empty quicker than I expected recently in my keezer - I knew the first one was partially filled to begin with so it didn't strike me as odd, but when the second went dead, I realized I had a leak...

Would love to test this - I've been using a competing product that's similar, and it's been disappointing. I love my Inkbird products, and think you have probably done it better!