Beer Feeds

Posted: by geckocavemen (14 hours ago)

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Posted: by advill88 (15 hours ago)

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Posted: by mikeyv35 (17 hours ago)

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Posted: by RayMcCusker (17 hours ago)

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Posted: by blackdog1101 (17 hours ago)

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Posted: by dondeez21 (17 hours ago)

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So brewed my first batch in a few years today. all was going well and i had everything i needed at hand and was on the right track….. or so i thought. so the brew was all done and i was ready to move it off the stove and cool it before pitching. so i lifted my brew off the stove and oh F*&k it was hot and i couldnt hold on

So as my hand was burning i had thoughts of droping my first batch all over my kitchen floor and the possible burns i could get….. and then it got worse

i dropped my pot onto of my Primary caraboy and it broke the bottem out

and to make it worse my LHBS doesnt open till tuesday so im SOL till then

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Posted: by ImLokiHearMeRoar (23 hours ago)

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I’m making my first batch of all grain next weekend and I need a new brew pot. I can’t afford to shell out the cash for a big stainless steel one, so I’m looking for an enamelware one. Does Home Depot, Lowes, WalMart have this sort of thing?

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The regulator i have hooked up to my 20# tank stays at 62-65 degrees and has been set to 25psi. It has been fine for months, but this last month it seems to release pressure out of the relief hole in the regulator. Is the regulator shot? Any trouble shooting tips?

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Posted: by cjbeatty130 (16 hours ago)

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Just thought I toss this out there, brewing a Big IPA

16.5 lbs Pilsener
1.5 lbs Crystal 40
1.0 lbs Cara-Pils

1.5 oz Nugget 13% 60 mins
1.5 oz Nugget 13% 50 mins

2.0 oz N. Brewer 9.8% 40 mins
2.0 oz N. Brewer 9.8% 30 mins

1.0 oz Amarillo Gold 7.5% 20 mins
1.0 oz Amarillo Gold 7.5% 10 mins

Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Slurry from last IPA

Thoughts or Comments?

Anyone else brewing?

~Phillip

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I brewed a mad elf clone for festivus about 6+ months ago, and now is the time to carbonate.
I don’t really have the room in my converted freezer chest, so I was wondering if priming
would work with a brew that has been sitting for 6 months. Has anyone out there used priming
sugar on an aged beer?

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I’m scratching my head over this one. Me and my buddy brewed a batch of winter warmer. We split the batch and he took half and I took the other half, we fermented separately. We both primaried a couple weeks then racked to secondary and let it sit for a couple months. Then his half went to bottles and my half stayed kegged, and we both added some spices to the brew…cinnamon, cardamom, clove and nutmeg.

Well, my buddy gave me a bottle of his brew to try…he was concerned that he overdid the spices at the end. I tried the beer and it was good, but there was an overcarb issue. When I opened the bottle, it didn’t gush, but there was plenty of carb when I poured, and most of the pour was foam. But the beer was really good.

Now, on to my issue. My beer had been sitting in a keg secondary for months. I went to add the spices and the thing was under some CRAZY pressure. I went to open the relief valve and got a beer shower…I was like, ########, this has been sitting for months I expect it to be flat? The lid was under so much pressure I couldn’t get it off. The only way to get to the beer was to unscrew the relief valve and get the lid off as quick as possible…foam oozed out the keg opening. So I threw the spices in the beer, got a quick sample, then closed it up.

I had two initial thoughts…one was that the primary was not over when I racked and I got fermentation going on in the secondary (I later discredited this theory). The next thought was contamination, but when I tried the beer, it tasted great…awesome in fact.

Fast forward to last evening…it had been spiced for a week, so I went to rack off the spices to another keg. Same problem. The thing was jacked with pressure and I could hardly get the lid off. So, I opened the thing, racked to a new keg as fast as I could…lost about 2-3 pints on the floor from the foaming out the top. Strangely, no yeast cake in the bottom of the keg to suggest any kind of fermentation going on in the secondary. Beer still tastes great, no sourness or off flavors at all.

Back to my buddies beer…he now has bulging bottle caps. I told him to chill it ASAP, move it to a cooler of ice water outside in case there are any bombs. I think he is going to try to uncap, let the bottles sit a little then recap to relieve the pressure. My thoughts are that he just used to much priming sugar…I think he used molasses to prime, but I don’t know how much.

So, any ideas as to what’s going on here, at least with my kegged beer. Help, thoughts, theories?

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Posted: by CampusCrew (12 hours ago)

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My first brew in a long time has stuck at 1.020. It is an ale (OG 1.055). I used a no-name dry yeast that came with some malt extract, it started quickly (within 5 hours). It was 1.020 when I racked to secondary after 1 week, and is still 1.020 another week later. Apart from 2.5 lbs of hopped malt extract from cans, the rest of the extract was Briess bulk plain LME with 10 ozs crystal in 5.5 gallons (+ hops, + IM). I was expecting to see an FG around 1.012.

In the meantime I have been cultivatiing some yeast from bottles of SNPA (for the fun of it) with the same LME. I checked the SG of that and it was 1.010. Started around 1.045. Since the bulk of the LME was the same between the 2, I suspect the problem is with the yeast. There are no obvious off flavors with either the beer or the starter wort.

Not sure I did the right thing. I swirled up my starter, and took about 1.5 pints out of it (roughly 20% of it is yeast) and poured it into the fermenter with the stuck beer. I didn’t want to use it all as I was preparing it for use this weekend. It is now 36 hours on. Activity in the airlock has increased slightly, going from 1 bubble every 2 minutes to 1 every 1.5 minutes.

Questions: What are the most probable causes of the stuck fermentation? Is this going to help bring the FG of the beer down? Should I have tried aerating the wort when I poured in the additional yeast (I tried to disturb it as little as possible)?

NOTE: When I initially made the beer I vigourously swirled the wort to aerate it. I don’t think that is the problem, but I suppose it could be.

A second item: When I use the starter this weekend, should I just pour it all into the wort, or should I pour off most of the liquid and just add the sediment. It is under airlock and will have been settling for 2 days after I swirled it up to take some out. The LME I used was old and would prefer to keep the amount in the beer to a minimum. I have fresh LME for the new brew.

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I’ve seen on several different boards people talking about the advantages of pitching their yeast right out of the fridge. Now I have a couple questions:
1. Do you make a starter, let it finish, put it in the fridge waiting for brew day?
2. Do you just take your smack pack, smack it, shake it and pitch?

I’ve heard good things about this but would like some details.

Cheers,

John

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i recently brewed a scottish ale. i left it in the primary for about 5 weeks then racked it to a secordary glass carboy for clarification. a couple of days after racking, i started noticing these little white floating discs on the surface of the beer, some of which actually seem to have a hexagonal shape. the FG was in my target range and the beer did not smell off when i racked it. should i be worried about these discs? could it be mold, and if so, will it harm the beer?

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Posted: by LostHighway (18 hours ago)

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Some of you may remember the Beer Exchange that had been going on for a few years here on the Board. This time of year has always been a positive sharing of beers reminiscent of the season-those strongly tweaked brews that fit no other time of year than the winter-whether they be Bocks, Stouts, Porters, Imperials or otherwise. The question is…are you willing to share? I have a year old Barleywine, Robust Belgian Porter (aka Vertical Ale 9/9/9), and a BelgAm Strong Dark Ale I willing to offer up. Anyone else?

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Hey, fellas. First time homebrewer as of this weekend. My Irish Stout is now fermenting, but I was having trouble cleaning my steeping bag as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Was wondering what method you used for cleaning the steeping bag to get all the junk out?

Thanks in advance,

San Diego Mike

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i got a 12.5oz bottle of elderberry juice concentrate from wyldewood cellars. I was thinking about dumping it into a mead, but i would need another bottle i think. so i decided to incorporate it into a beer. I was thinking somthing lighter so the elderberry might shine through, or is my 12.5oz bottle enough? or maybe even an elderberry stout may be good if i have enough concentrate. what do you guys think?

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I am planning to weld up a new 2 tier brew sculpture. I am trying to figure out what is the best type and gauge of metal to use for fabrication. I typical brew 11 gallon batches. Looking for advice and suggestions…
Thanks

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Posted: by HausBrewer (17 hours ago)

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I would really like to know the difference in all these terms, does any one happen to know? I emailed the CDC but something tells me that swine flu may impede their response time.

thanks!

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Posted: by mdwalsh (17 hours ago)

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I brewed a pumpkin ale 2 weeks ago which is in secondary now. I plan on bottling this batch.

I added knox to help clarify the beer but have only done this before when I kegged. I am a little concerned about the beer carbonating. Is the addition of gelatin going to leave enough yeast to carbonate in the bottles or did I screw up?

This is also my first batch in about 18 months. So I kinda feel like I’m starting all over.

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Posted: by Heferwiezer (3 hours ago)

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I’ve got a line on a cheap 7.5 gallon pony keg.

I’m thinking I can remove the valve and stem and get the proper sized cork and use it for a lifetime stainless steel primary fermenter.
Any reasons why not?

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I have only bottled my brew but I am now considering a keg system. My biggest concern is the aging process and have searched this forum for an answer. My preference is a heavier beer like an Imperial Stout which may take up to 3 months to mature. If I go to a keg system can I age in a keg like I do in bottles? If so, what is the proper procedure for storing? i.e., proper temperature, with or without CO2, etc.

Or, do most people just use kegs for session beers that do not require a lengthy aging process?

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