Fresh, quality beer feeds from selected sources for easy, centralized reading saving you from having to chase around the web finding it all for yourself...
I currently use dairy thermometers floating in my HLT and BK to keep track of the temperature. I’d like to add thermometers to the kettles. What length probes do you use? Anyone know the best place to buy them?
I have been struggling with my brewing going on 16 months (all grain). Last year my beers started tasting a bit more muted and not as good (especially low on aroma)…slowly but surely the batches started becoming slightly more phenolic. I PBW’d everything and got rid of any plastic with any slight discoloration. A few more bad batches mixed in with a few ok batches and I finally thought I narrowed it down to my secondary (glass) as I had been tasting it at every step and it was either after the secondary or after carbonation. I was tired of dinking around with figuring out where it was coming from so I got rid of everything post boil with the exception of my bottling bucket (I keg half the time and those were having problems also) and a thief (which I rarely use).
I decided at this point to change my methodology. I kept using dish soap and water to clean everything, but also starting using PBW every single time on everything (before I was doing about every 3rd batch). My next few batches were all okay again (but none were as good as my beers had been in the past) and lo and behold my beers seem muted again (note the few batches that were fine were pretty low on the flavor chart). I tried an IPA in the secondary that a mere two days before tasted and smelled fantastic, absolutely no signs of anything. I kegged it and tried it and the aroma and flavor are muted down and there is a phenolic flavor too.
At this point I am at a loss. PBW isn’t working. Another solution from my LHBS isn’t working (which looks and smells like pbw). I use Starsan for a sterilizer. I guess I am looking for some advice because I don’t want to get rid of everything yet again knowing that may not actually solve the problem. my main questions are:
1. Can anything preboil be causing this? Wouldn’t the boil take care of it?
2. How come in several of the batches I can detect absolutely no problems between the primary and secondary, the secondary and the bottling/kegging, but then boom, there it is? Is this common with this contamination that it is tough to detect it without the carbonation? Out of all of these batches only once was something visibly wrong. and that was when I got rid of everything.
I know that too much sparging (I fly sparge) and overcrushing can cause phenolic characters. My crush looks good, some flour, some shells, some grain chunks…and I checked it with a feeler gauge and it is still at the factory setting. I guess it could be my sparge but there has been quite a bit of variation in the amounts of water I have used and pulled off without a change in that nastiness. If it was the sparge or crush wouldn’t I detect it somewhere before bottling? I am praying that someone out there can give me a small glimmer of hope…
I brewed last Tuesday using White Labs East Coast Ale and had a SG 1.052. After a week of what looked like intense fermentation it is hovering steadily at 1.02. I did decide to try a Brewvint alcohol boost this time, could that be a factor? I’m also wondering if temperature could have paused the fermentation as it has gotten colder lately. I was shooting for closer to the 1.012 range. Should I maybe re pitch?
One last thing that I’ve never seen before… after I took a SG last night and popped the lid back on my bucket, I started getting tons of bubbles through the air lock. It had been pretty still before but it kicked back up to one every 10 seconds or so. It is still bubbling once every 30 seconds as of this morning. This baffled me.
Thanks for any help!
Posted: by dholway (15 hours ago)
Posted: by blackdog1101 (15 hours ago)
My Girlfriend wanted me to make a Coffee Stout for the Thanksgiving Holiday, and I tried a couple of bottles tonight to get a feel for how it would taste… Now it is almost 1 in the morning and My brain has no intention of going to sleep. It was a five gallon batch and I put a whole pot of coffee into the wort. I didn’t even think to take the caffine content into account, but now realize this may be a factor. Does anyone know how much of the caffine would have remained in the final product? It tastes amazing and there is only a hint of coffee flavor. Has anyone else ever tried this? Perhaps I should use some decaf next time! Thanks!
Any harm in brewing using 2 different yeasts?
Can I purge and open an already chilled and carbonated keg to add polyclar or gelatin to help clarify? Or will the keg foam over upon opening?
I’ve heard that you’re not supposed to place an Erlenmeyer flask directly on the coil of an electric stove - so how do people get around that? Do you put a piece of metal inbetween? A wire hangar buffer? Any ideas?
At the GABF we interviewed Dr. Patrick Mc Govern. He is the professor who worked with Dogfish Head to make beers like Midas Touch, Chateau Jaihu, Theobrama, and Chicha. Dr. McGovern’s book is Uncorking the Past. and you can get it on Amazon.
Posted: by tjd112 (22 hours ago)
Just Doughed in on this guy and was having second thoughts on the hops and spices… I want a very sessionable beer with subtle but forward spice flavor
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 11/24/2009
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
Brewer: Mr Kyle
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Volume: 6.41 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.9 %
0.75 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.6 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.6 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 32.1 IBU
0.25 tsp Clove (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.75 tsp Ground Ginger (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
2.00 items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 lb Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5.1 %
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG (1.030-1.110 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.012 SG (1.005-1.025 SG)
Estimated Color: 20.3 SRM
Bitterness: 32.1 IBU (0.0-70.0 IBU)
Alpha Acid Units: 1.7 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.0 % (2.5-12.0 %)
any suggestions?
Edit* .25 tsp clove
Posted: by MrDanno96 (1 hour ago)
I recently decided to remodel my brewroom. It took longer than expected but I finally got to brew some beer today.
There are a few minor details to be completed but I finally got to brew some beer today.
Here are a few before pictures.
And here it is now.
It took me a bit over a month to get it completed but now I have a nice clean room to brew my beer in.
Just thought to ask to see where I fit in the fanatic homebrewing scale.
Last 365 days I did 28 5gal batches, average of 1 batch every 13days. 
That was 140gals or 3 pints/day! 
I guess this latest hobby I started last year will stick!
I am thinking about using cali lager yeast for a strong ale / winter warmer. What temps do you like? How long can I expect to wait for it to fully attenuate? This will be my first non-ale yeast so I want to be sure not to make bottle bombs because I didn’t wait long enough.
thanks!
So say somebody had a proven Pale Ale recipe and used us-05 yeast and had brewed it many many times with good results. Then say that dumbass accidentally pitched wb-06 (which he has been pleased with on a hefe recipe in the past) on accident. The beer turned out, is a little on the cloudy side and kinda has a bavarian twist that competes with the english hop profile on the palate.
What kind of beer did the dumbass make?
Not that I would do that, just wondering…….
Are there any detrimental effects of adding Polyclar or gelatin to primary fermentation to accelerate clarity. Will this reduce yeasts ability to consume the sugars?
Posted: by Jason (11 hours ago)
Posted: by noslenwerd (13 hours ago)
Posted: by brees6221 (19 hours ago)
Hi, I’m in the process of building a 25Gal brewing system that would use electricity as heating source. Is there anyone out ther who use spa heater like this: click here
8Kw sould be plenty (I’m thinking two by tun) but my only concern would be caramelization of the wort. Normaly, people use extra-low or low watt density for this purpose and since I don’t know the watt density of those…
Anyone?
Thank you!
So I left a some beer behind, swirled up all the stuff on the bottom, and saved it in a sanitary bottle in the fridge. Is there a way to separate the yeast and trub? or do I just dump it into my next batch?
What if I wanted to wash my yeast? I need a step by step because this is my first time re-using yeast. Thanks!
Posted: by blackenmn (14 hours ago)
Posted: by sjstraub (18 hours ago)
Brewed a Helles Bock recipe on Saturday and split the wort into 3 gallon batches.
First half, I pitched a smack pack of Wyeast Kolsch, threw the carboy in a tub with 50 degree water and 24 hours later started to see krausen.
Second half, I pitched Wyeast 2487 (seasonal Hella Bock) and did the same temp, but 48 hours later - no airlock activity.
Not panicking yet, but curious if anyone else has used that Hella Bock yeast - have you seen anything like this slow fermentation start?
Posted: by m1ked (1 hour ago)
I’m wanting to add 2# of flaked oats to an Irish Sweet Stout - and am interested in mashing the oats, but that’s something I’ve never done before.
I got some amylase to use - not sure when it would be best to add it.
any help would be appreciated!
So I have a thought of a banana bread beer for january. I haven’t put it into beer tools or anything yet I jsut wanted some basic advice.I
m looking for a bready, malty, biscuit like profile with a banana finish. I’m thinking something like this
5lbs extra light dry extract
1lb Belgian Biscuit malt
1lb Belgian aromatic malt
.5 oz chinook 60min
.5 oz chinook 1 min
WLP 300 Hefeweisen yeast
Any thoughts on how to develop these flavors further. I’m also not sure on the hop profile, but I want to keep the IBUS somewhere below 15 or so.
Hey,
someone might remember the post I did about my dopplebock’s FG being high (1.022, instead of 1.017)
primary for 1 week
secondary for 2 weeks - dry hopped
bottling bucket, with priming sugar for 1 week (to let sugars be consumed) + I bottled 2 to see what would happen / taste
Well, after 7 days the bottles tasted too hoppy (I usually) only dry hop for 7 days & the gravity (bottling bucket) was down a bit, to 1.02
racked it back to the secondary on Wed. - after 10 days in bucket.
Had great positive pressure in the air lock!
Well, I need to secondary back for another batch.
So, should I rack to to the bottling bucket (all I have) - and put it outside for 2 weeks to “lager” *making sure if temp.s drop below 45 F. to pull it inside at night?
Gees - is it a plant or beer!
thanks for any advice
