Recent content by waynethetrain

Thanks ACbrewer and NordeastBrewer77 for your help. I'm going to get another pound of DME.

I had some issues during the mash (had trouble getting the temp right) and my efficiency was pretty bad. Original gravity was supposed to be 1.063 and came out at around 1.053. Is it OK to use a 1/2 gallon or so of water boiled with Dextrose or DME to give it a sugar boost? I have 1lb of...

While storing my StarSan the container opened and spilled into the bottom of a bucket in my garage. It sat there and gathered some random things like dust and fuzz. I'm brewing today and this is the last of my sanitizer, I only need a 1/2 teaspoon or so to make a gallon but I'm wondering if...

username: waynethetrain

Most partial mash or extract recipes I find advise to do a boil with only 2 or 3 gallons of water and top it off at the end with cool water to make 5 gallons. However, they don't necessarily say to boil or take any steps to sterilize this water. From a contamination/infection standpoint, is it...

Thanks for all this info! I think maybe I need to make another batch of this brew and this time allow more time for fermentation, skip the secondary, skip the filtering and try to maintain a consistent temp. The more I read, the more I think I have an infection. The carboy and tubing aren't...

Interesting, thanks for the insight. I will definitely try that. From other reading I've done, I thought I should be getting the beer out of the fermenter and into the secondary as soon as fermentation is complete to prevent the dead yeast from giving bad flavors. Should I not worry about...

Thanks for your reply! I fermented between 68 and 72, but truth be told I don't have an extremely temp controlled environment. Doors open and close and the temp fluctuates a little bit. Primary was 6 days and secondary about a week. I've gotten pretty good and cooling the beer before...

I made a partial mash amber ale a few months back (intended to be like a Fat Tire) and it's taken on an off, fairly intense apple cider type flavor. I've gotten hints of this flavor in other beers I've brewed but this one in particular. What might cause this flavor? I've heard if the...