Search results

My club filled a 60 gallon wine barrel 26 months ago with a lambic inspired base beer, and the time has finally come to empty it. We conducted primary fermentation outside of the barrel, but when we racked we purposely transferred most of the yeast cake into the barrel in an attempt to simulate...

If you're brewing a cheap-ish session beer, I would just roll with your starter as is. But if you're doing a big, expensive, cellarable beer that you intend to enjoy over the course of several months or years, I'd dump it and start over.

This is totally normal. The beer is probably close to final gravity, but it could still take several days for the yeast to chew through the last few gravity points. You really never know for sure without taking a gravity reading, but it would be a good idea to wait a few days at the minimum...

Was the barrel originally used for wine or bourbon? If it's bourbon, it might be very tricky to use for a sour project. My club acquired a 60 gallon white wine barrel that we did aged a lambic-esqe concoction in. After 6 months it was terrible, but around a year it started to get really good...

What yeast did you use? WL Beliner blend contains lacto, and WYeast's blend contains lacto and a brett strain. It might not hurt to run the wine thief through a high-heat dishwasher cycle. It may not have been the source of the infection, but if it's plastic it could infect subsequent brews.

Unless I'm mistaken, lactose can not be fermented - even by souring bacteria. The conventional wisdom is to use maltodextrin, which can be fermented by the souring critters but not by regular beer yeast.

This is a great point. I'd add the dregs without adding any additional fermentables. Also, sugar would more than likely just be consumed by the saison yeast. If you were to add fermetables, maltodextrin might be a better option since it can only be metabolized by brett.

I do a modified version of BIAB. I use a 5 gallon jug style cooler lined with a bag as a mash ton and just use a "normal" mash thickness of 1.25-1.5 qt/lb. After the mash is over, I lift the bag up, slip a colander on the cooler and plop the bag of grain into the colander and let it drain for 10...

Oregon Fruit produces 3 different cherry products. The information they sent you was for their Royal Anne Cherries... you don't want to use that blend. You want to use their Montmorency pie cherries: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I6625I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 I've never heard of black...

http://www.ahaconference.org/events/club-night/ There's an email address in the middle of the page. I'd email them ASAP and cross your fingers that they still have room.

Tofu PA??? You've got me intrigued. What role does the Tofu play, if you don't mind me asking?

NHC is only 3 weeks away! I thought it'd be fun to hear about what others are bringing so I know what to seek out at Club Night and the hospitality suites. I'll go first... I'm bringing 4 beers of my own, along with a handful of club projects: - A big imperial stout that I aged in a...

I do a "sour worting" technique on a regular basis. I mash as normal, then cool to 120ish degrees and transfer the wort to my 5 gallon cooler along with 4 ounces of uncrushed grain, top-off with some seltzer water, then seal up the lid. 20-24 hours later, the temperature of the wort has fallen...

I'd start by doing this: http://***********/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/979-lambic-brewing

Generally, you'd want to harvest the yeast from primary since it should be a bit healthier the less time it spends in an alcoholic environment. Plus, there will be a lot more yeast to harvest from the primary. There's basically two ways to harvest: 1)on the day you rack from primary to...

Only 5 degrees for a high-gravity beer? I've had a batch or two easily climb more than that.

You don't need to boil, but from my understanding you do want to bring it up close to boiling to sanitize. Also, it's fairly common to perform a decoction mash. I'd also consider pitching lacto sooner rather than later. In fact, I'd give it a few days head start over the regular yeast.

You have pellicle(s), a normal part of the of the brettanomyces fermentation process. The rosellare blend, which contains two different strains of brett, probably infected the other batches either by being stored in close proximity or through your equipment. Fortunately the styles that are...

The recipe kit shows an OG of 1.054. You'll probably be fine just pitching the single vile without a starter as long as the yeast is fresh. If you're getting close to the expiration date then I'd make a starter, grab an additional vile of 007, or even just substitute a packet of dry yeast...

I'm assuming these kits are extract. They'll probably be fine since the most important components of a lambic are contained in the Wyeast pouch. Hopefully, a good portion of the extract is wheat, but you could always supplement with an extra pound or two of wheat extract just to be sure. But...