Recent content by Woodland

Sounds like a good idea, I'll give 'er a shake and place it in a warmer spot. The fermentation didn't seam particularly vigorous or bubbly, and was quite short lived. But that was with a skim of recycled yeast with no starter from two pint jars. Any harm in harding my last recycled sample at...

Two weeks ago I brewed up a 5 gal batch of NB's Extract Peace Coffee 2nd Crack Stout. I brewed according to their recipe and pitched some recycled WLP004 (straight, no starter) and fermentation took off in about 36 hrs and subsided in 2-3 days. The original gravity read about 1.060. Two weeks...

Two weeks ago I brewed up a 5 gal batch of NB's Extract Peace Coffee 2nd Crack Stout. I brewed according to their recipe and pitched some recycled WLP004 (straight, no starter) and fermentation took off in about 36 hrs and subsided in 2-3 days. The original gravity read about 1.060. Two weeks...

1.010, I'm guessing it's done, as that's about as low as a reading as I've gotten. I may check it for another three consecutive days, maybe not. I'm willing to bet since I removed the airlock I've let the remaining gas out and it should be stable. The beer probably benefitted from the extra week...

Four weeks ago i brewed up an Amarillo APA with an OG of about 1.060. I pitched a 1L starter of WL WLP001 and away it went. It was the most agressize fermentation I'd seen to date, with gobs of yeast and krausen pumping through the blow-off tube, and that's with a 6 gal. glass carboy, mind you...

I'm just weighing out my crushed grains for an Irish Draught Ale extract brew with oats for this afternoons brewing. I got crushed Simpsons golden oats from Northern brewer, and quite frankly they smell kind of stale, or that's my interpretation of it anyways, or maybe that's just how they...

I'm just weighing out my crushed grains for an Irish Draught Ale extract brew with oats for this afternoons brewing. I got crushed Simpsons golden oats from Northern brewer, and quite frankly they smell kind of stale, or that's my interpretation of it anyways, or maybe that's just how they...

I got a copy of Designing Great Beers book for Christmas. Looks like a good book. With an Amarillo IPA in the closet, I'm trying to decide what to brew next. I'm intrigued by the Maris Otter LME in the NB catalog. I've also got some home-made maple syrup from a close friend of mine, I wonder...

Done. I keep a bottle of grain alcohol in the shop for making violin varnish, so I soaked the nibs in it overnight and dumped them into the carboy yesterday. They'll be in there for two weeks, hopefully that should be enough for them to do their job.

I brewed a chocolate milk stout according to the NB recipe today, should be good. I generally don't do secondary, even when dry hopping. The cacao (chocolate) nibs are supposed to be added following the primary. Apparently the wort is so well colonized with the yeast at that point that the...

It's now about 10 days later and the same batch of brew appears to have lost the astringency. I had a six-pack in the fridge and over the course of 4-5 days the aftertaste is no longer perceivable. I just threw a room-termperature six-pack in the fridge last night, we'll see how this one tastes...

I finally got my ale pipeline flowing again after a 2 month hiatus. My last two batches of ale have a slightly astringent aftertaste. Not enough to ruin my beer, just enough to piss me off and give a complex. They were both brewed in the summer or late summer, but I don't think the temps got...

These are my first-year Cascades. I planted two rhizomes from Windy Hill Hop Farm in southern Illinois this spring, and they seem to be doing pretty well. There appears to be a bit of aphid damage on the lower leaves, so I gave them a light spray insecticidal soap. Burrs actually started forming...

I planted two Cascade rhizomes this spring. They've done very well thus so far (8 ft and climbing), as they've had plenty of water, drainage, compost and fish emulsion. Just today I noticed what appear to be spiny buds forming on one of the bines. They look different from the other buds that...

I planted two Cascade rhizomes this spring. They've done very well thus so far (8 ft and climbing), as they've had plenty of water, compost and fish emulsion. Just today I noticed what appear to be spiny buds forming on one of the bines. They look different from the other buds that just turn...