Recent content by twbalding

I've always heard the same about tannins and never squeeze...

Brewing a dry Irish stout on Sunday... It's been a month since I've been able to brew. Was trying to have it for St Pattys here in Savannah but may just be to late:(

How long can a starter sit out before going in the fridge? I got one going on fri night expecting to brew on sun but now I'm delayed till this coming weekend. Is my starter okay just sitting out or should I refrigerate? And if so why...

Scarley88, I appreciate the positive message. I will continue on with extract as I am a noob and have a lot to learn. I think I was just having a moment of disparity. I love this s**t and can't get enough. I sometimes forget that excitement and experience are both good but very different.

I used a wyeast Irish ale smack pack to make a starter two days ago but never got a krausen to form. FYI this is my first attempt... The smack pack partially froze in my fridge but when I broke the yeast nutrient pack and shook it up it had expanded the next morning. I took this as a good sign...

I just finished my second brew and cracked the first bottle tonight. I did a chinook IPA and drank it alog side a commercial IPA... The flavor is way off, not as bad as my first beer but still that twang... I couldn't figure out how to explain it but now I think I know. Does anyone have...

I mean to say... How can I figure out how many yeast cells I have in a mason jar? Is there a ball park like 1/2in of yeast cake = 100,000 yeast cells... This way I can determine how big my starter should be... ie 1qt vs 2qt

Thanks for all the info... I believe that I let it settle out for to long and should have mixed it up again. In the third pic of the mason jars I think what happened is I decanted the beer/water mix into the first two jars and then got most of the yeast into the third... Hard to see but it was...

I had a bag of chinook pellets for dry hopping in there and you can see how they settled out... I might be using the word trub incorrectly, I'm still new to the game.

Tonight I tried to harvest some west coast ale yeast from my secondary. As far as I can tell everything went well... The one concern I have is that I let it settle out for to long before moving to the mason jars. It sat for about 30min in the beaker. Here are some pics of what came out. Does...

I am now just starting to enjoy my first brew and it tastes okay but it seems really dark for a brown ale. I used the NB caribou slobber extract kit and followed the instructions fairly well... I had a few newb moments, okay, maybe a lot. These are my notes... Steeped grains for 30 not 20 and...

There is a pecan barley wine floating out here somewhere... You might get some direction... I'd like to make this if you can get some good advice.

You probably want to check your gravity and then again a few days later... I've been told its the only way to know if its done.

I'm planning to brew a NB dry Irish stout extract next weekend but the yeast pack I bought has been in the fridge for a week and there are some ice crystals that formed in it. Is it ruined or should I still try to make a starter? I just got the equipment for a started but have not done one yet...

I'm planning to brew a NB dry Irish stout extract next weekend but the yeast pack I bought has been in the fridge for a week and there are some ice crystals that formed in it. Is it ruined or should I still try to make a starter? I just got the equipment for a started but have not done one yet...