Search results

What I do for big beers - not sure it's optimal - is pitch the smack pack into 1.5L of 1.040 malt extract wort. Stirplate until krausen falls, then chill overnight. Make another wort, same size and gravity and cool to pitching temp. Decant spent wort, add fresh wort, stir again until krausen...

I look at O2 as extra insurance that I'll get a healthy and complete fermentation. Homebrewers chronically underpitch (c.f. Ray Daniels, Designing Great Beers). For big beers, I typically do two-liter starters which I've propagated twice - smack pack into the flask with 1.040 OG malt extract...

Yes, Leffe is still a good beer, though there are better examples of the style pre- and post-acquisition. My concern is more specific to Anheuser-Busch. I lived in Oregon in the late '90s and early 00's. Widmer Hefeweizen was an excellent beer that was only available in the Northwest...

Hey, don't worry, Bourbon County Stout will still be around in 5 years. It'll just be brewed with corn leavings, watered down to 3.2% ABV, and sold by belching frogs. Overall, it could have been worse. Better that GI drink the koolaid - er, cyanide-flavored ricewater - than 3 Floyds...

Pacman is my "house yeast", at least for American ales. I've had trouble pushing it beyond 11% ABV. Big, healthy starters, proper wort oxygenation (meaning oxygen, not aquarium pumps or shaking), and minimal temperature fluctuation are imperative. Also consider adding fermentables in stages...

Chest freezers get skanky after a while. Especially when your blow-off vessel overflows and you don't notice for a week. :eek: Ale temperatures, high humidity, and bits of spilled wort are ripe breeding grounds for bacteria and other bugs. I clean my chamber once a month with Starsan...

Have you observed stable gravity readings over several days? The rule of thumb is same gravity three days in a row - ready to package. That's a low FG for such a big beer, but 3711 is highly attenuative. You're pushing the limit on its alcohol tolerance. Still, you could try rousing the...

I have a 3-tap jockey box for sale. It's been used twice - once at my wedding and once at a Halloween party. I built it last summer. The lines are fitted for ball-lock corny kegs. It does not come with a C02 tank or gas manifold. It's clean inside and out and does not leak. I flushed and...

Yes, even at these temps that's a reasonable time to hit final gravity. This is a super-malty style so I let it sit on the yeast cake for another month to condition.

It's fine to store uncarbed beer in the keg as long as you purge and pressurize it. I do so when I need fermenter space - then I wait until I have an open slot in the ghettorator. I kept an imperial stout uncarbed for over a year, and it was quite good when I finally carbed and served it.

I pitch @ 58F and keep the primary in the fermentation chamber @ that temperature for 6 weeks. After that, a rouse and a couple days @ room temp to dry it out and chew up the minimal diacetyl. If you care about conforming to style (it's fine if you don't), esters should be minimized...

I drink this fairly fresh, though I find that a couple of weeks of cold-conditioning in the keg brings out the roast character well. Drink earlier if you prefer hop aggression. 3 weeks in primary. Shove the dry hops into the primary, rack to keg after 5 days. 3 weeks force carb in the...

Did you use whirlfloc or irish moss in the boil? I've found that essential to getting really clear Belgians. I always cold-crash these beers for a few days before packaging as well. For future reference, Wyeast 3522 (Belgian Ardennes) is unusually flocculant for Belgian yeasts. I've used...

You could also top crop by drilling a blow-off tube into a flask with an airlock. Kinda like this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h_aUeFV9U2k/S62JZYz26hI/AAAAAAAAAVw/9kJUoQYonjw/s1600/photo(2).jpg Just set it up and collect when the krausen falls. Less chance for contamination and less work, no?

Brettanomyces can take a VERY long time to attenuate fully. It took 6 months to grind my last bretted quad from 1.014 to 1.006 (!). If I recall correctly, Orval doses with brett and ale yeast at bottling to speed up the carb. You've clearly got some active yeast left, since you're seeing...

What's this about white trash? I'm offended. Seriously, though, plastic will screen much but not all UV and visible light. Given time it will still skunk your beer, especially the UV spectrum which of course you can't see. Is there a reason you can't put your carboys in a closet, or at least...

I would not even think about doing this unless the flask is Pyrex. Even then, I wouldn't do it. Erlenmeyers are not optimal for heating. If you want to go this route, get a round-bottom flask with a heating mantle. Or just boil in a pot and funnel it into the flask.

I do this a lot. I use small canning jars that I sanitize in a pressure cooker, lids and all. Typically I make a 1500mL stirred starter, and put it in the fridge when it hits high krausen. I let this settle for 24 hours. I decant half of it, then swirl vigorously and fill the jars. Each...

I'm not going to brag about my qualifications, other than to state that I understand a bit of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and nucleation theory. Of course temperature plays a role. As long as you have a temperature gradient (difference) across a fluid volume you will get convection. In...

For my imperial IPAs, I shoot for 151-152 for 60 min, but I like them to have a little bit of body and residual sweetness to balance out the hop riot. Depends on your taste. For uber-fermentable Belgians and American pale ale worts, I aim for 147 and mash for 75 minutes. I've gone as low as...