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Stupid newbie question Brewed my first batch and everything has been going well. I racked to secondary and there has been no activity in the airlock. I'm afraid all my yeast might be dead. Should I repitch a couple days before bottling to ensure there is enough yeast to carbonate the beer?
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Jan 10, 2012 19:04
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indigi posted:No, there's plenty of yeast in there. Racking might have just caused it to finish too early. Don't rack to secondary in the future unless you're going to actually be doing a secondary fermentation. Sorry for being an idiot but what exactly is secondary fermentation if it isn't what I've done?
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Jan 10, 2012 19:24
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Awesome, thanks for clearing all that up. Now for a second newbie question: My porter has a bit of a banana smell to it, apparently this is yeast esters and it means I fermented too warm. Is there anything I can do at this point or am I going to be drinking a banana-y porter for a while?
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Jan 10, 2012 19:50
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I came up a little short of my goal OG on my extra IPA, is there anything wrong with just boiling up a little bit of dextrose or malt extract, cooling it, and dumping it in the carboy to boost the gravity a little bit? How much should I use if I came up .004 short in a 5 gallon batch?
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Jan 22, 2012 20:34
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Getting ready to dry hop my extra IPA and I have a quick question. Do I need to rack to another container and get it off the lees before I throw the hops in or can I leave it in my primary fermenting vessel?
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Jan 29, 2012 01:17
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Angry Grimace posted:Finished 1 extract batch, and getting ready to do a second and I'm already thinking about going all-grain. Nothing really. That is, if you're willing to brew in a bag. http://vimeo.com/35571624 I did my first all-grain batch this way last weekend and it only cost me a few dollars for a big grain bag. Extra bonus: small batch size means you get to brew more often!
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Feb 6, 2012 23:45
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What kind of outlay am I looking at to upgrade too All-Grain? Seems like there's a lot of stuff beyond just the mash-tun etc. that you have to get.
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Sirotan posted:Dang, a bag is all I need to go all-grain? And the downside is only that I gotta keep it to 3gal batches? Sign me up! Yeah, that video (and the subsequent ~20 Brewing TV videos I watched after) gave me the confidence to make the jump after 2 extract kits. It's a really great primer for anyone who is on the fence about moving to all grain brewing since they walk you through the process from start to finish. The only other downside is you're probably going to get low efficiency but you can pad it out by beefing up the grain bill a bit or using a bit of extract to bump it up.
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Feb 7, 2012 02:41
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Sirotan posted:I guess this is the part I didn't understand completely. How would I know how much more to use, is it a fixed percentage and/or would recipes tell me that? It's something you'll have to play with a bit and experiment with. For instance, in my brew I came up about 15 points short and I think it's because I had a coarse grind, didn't stir the mash enough (had some ~1" dough balls when I pulled the grain out), and didn't mash long enough. Next time I'll get a fine grind, stir really well, and mash for 75-80 minutes. I might boil a little longer as well because I had about 3.2 gallons instead of 3 when I transferred to the fermenter. But hey, it's all a learning process.
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Feb 7, 2012 03:01
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I've got some leftover grains from my breakfast stout clone, looking for a suggestion on what to brew with them. I have 7oz chocolate malt, 8.5oz roast barley, 10.5oz debittered black malt, 11.5oz crystal 120. I can pick up some more 2 row. I'm looking for a 3 gallon batch. Any ideas?
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Feb 8, 2012 15:10
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Cointelprofessional posted:You've got all the same grains as this. You might as well brew it. I have a carboy of it that I'm going to rack into a keg this weekend. It smells and tastes wonderful. I have all those grains because I made it last weekend  Is there some way I could get a roasty black IPA with these grains? I noticed most of the recipes have Carafa III and crystal 60, can I sub in something I have here?
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Feb 8, 2012 16:29
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Man. I threw an extra oz of citra dry hops in my extra IPA on a whim and good god this beer smells like super sweet mango juice after 10 days. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
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Feb 11, 2012 02:08
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You can get a pretty good mead in a month or two if you pitch a lot of healthy yeast and use yeast nutrient. Most of the reason people have to age their meads so long is because unhappy yeast make a lot of off-flavors that need to be aged to get rid of.
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Feb 11, 2012 20:59
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:God drat. Just racked my first-time-brewing cider. I assume that gets easier with practice, but even with an autosyphon I was fighting the whole time. All that for bottling? Just use a bottling bucket and a bottling wand. I bottled my first mead with a siphon. That was an absolute nightmare.
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Feb 15, 2012 16:36
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I've got a porter I'm about to rack to secondary and I want to throw in some cherries. Is there any specific type of cherry I should use? Should I use canned or fresh cherries?
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Feb 27, 2012 15:25
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Anyone use Brew Balls? They are balls that float in your fermenter and when the wort hits a certain gravity they sink. Seems much easier than using a wine thief and hydrometer to see when fermentation is complete. http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12581/
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Mar 7, 2012 21:35
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Getting ready to brew this weekend and I'm shooting for an American amber somewhere near a Fat Tire, though not necessarily trying to clone it. I want more of the toasty bread flavor to come through. Here's what I've come up with: Batch: 3 gallons BIAB, shooting for 1.055 at 70% efficiency Grains: 5lb American 2 row, .5lb Biscuit, .5lb Victory, .5lb Crystal 60, mashed at 152 for 90 minutes Hops: .5oz Willamette at 60m, .5oz Willamette at 30m, .5oz Willamette at 5m. Yeast: Safale US-05 This is the first recipe that I'm formulating myself so I just want to make sure there's not some sort of glaringly obvious Bad Thing going on here. edit: Changed the hopping to tone back the IBUs a little internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Mar 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 21:03
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Scottw330 posted:What kind of pot do you use for your 3 gallon BIAB batches? Do you do everything on your stove-top? Yep, it's all done in a 5.5 gallon pot on my stove.
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Mar 9, 2012 22:37
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Cpt.Wacky posted:I like this MoreBeer guide to off-tastes. Soapy could be letting it sit in primary too long. Were you checking the gravity to see when it finished fermenting, or did you just wait "long enough" before bottling? I thought my beer was good until I read this. 
internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Mar 13, 2012 |
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Mar 13, 2012 01:42
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icehewk posted:Have any of you done no-sparge BIAB before? I'd like to try it to jump in to all grain but according to my calculations I'm going to need room for 7.8 gallons, and my kettle is only 8. Could I leave a gallon out and then add it back before the boil, since the grain will soak up about 3/4 of a gallon? I do 3 gallon BIAB batches (with sparge) in a 5.5 gallon kettle on my stove. I start with 3-4 gallons in the kettle. My grist usually removes around a gallon which brings me down to 2-3 after the mash. When I'm done with the mash I put it in a strainer over the kettle and sparge with the amount I need to bring me back up to 4 gallons before the boil. My boils usually remove a gallon of water in 60 minutes. I brewed this way last Friday and hit 3 gallons on the nose with exactly the efficiency I was planning for, 70%. I love BIAB, it's so freakin simple and easy. edit: fixed some numbers internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 17:58
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Sirotan posted:Sorry if this seems like a really basic question, since my mind always goes to the acting of mash(ing) potatoes when I think of mash in terms of beer. But in this case, that just means pouring water over the grain (slowly?) to get the volume of water you want, right? Without getting too technical, mashing is the process of mixing crushed grains and water and holding it at a specific temperature to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. efb; content: In case anyone was curious, the way I sparge with my BIAB setup is by heating my sparge water towards the end of the mash and using a Pyrex measuring cup to scoop water out of my sparge pot and slowly pour it over my bag o' grain (which is resting in a strainer over my kettle). internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 18:13
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lazerwolf posted:Internet Celeb - What do you use to ferment your 3 gallon batches? I would like to start trying small BIAB but I'm not sure if my 5 gallon carboy (smallest I have right now) is too big for the headspace I use a standard 6 gallon plastic bucket and a 5 (or are they 5.5?) gallon Better Bottle. The head space hasn't been an issue for me, unless I'm trying to pull a sample from my carboy. I know I've posted this before but it's such a great video for anyone who wants to move from extract to BIAB http://vimeo.com/35571624
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Mar 15, 2012 18:21
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Splizwarf posted:Okay, so it's the latter, where you're measuring total starch converted. I don't understand yet why that lab-created 100% efficient wort would be less tasty, can you explain? From what I understand you will also extract not-so-tasty things from the husk of the grain.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:27
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Sirotan posted:How do I know how much priming sugar I should be using when I bottle? My first two batches I used whatever amount my homebrew store gave me, and that seemed to work great. Then my third kit I got from Northern Brewer came with 5oz of priming sugar, and after a month in bottles its disappointingly flat (among other issues). I just bought two more NB kits that also came with 5oz of priming sugar, how can I calculate whether this is enough? 5oz is enough to get good carbonation on batches up to 5 gallons. I actually severely overcarbed my first batch because I used all 5oz even though I only had around 4 gallons at bottling. What temperature are you storing the bottles at?
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Mar 19, 2012 13:56
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Sirotan posted:Up until about a week ago I had my heat on, set for 65-70F. And they've been in bottles for 4, maybe 5 weeks at this point. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the priming sugar was not evenly mixed in the bottling bucket. Then again I'm still pretty new to brewing so take my advice with a grain of salt.
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Mar 19, 2012 14:29
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Getting ready to do a summer hefeweizen this weekend and I have a few thoughts. I'm going to use WLP380 Hefeweizen IV as the yeast and I see it has notes of citrus and apricot. Would it be a bad idea to use cascade or some other citrusy hop variety to try to compliment the yeast? edit: I'm thinking just a single 1/2 oz addition (3 gallon batch) at 15 minutes to keep the IBUs low. internet celebrity fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Mar 20, 2012 |
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Mar 20, 2012 18:29
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Kelley Geuscaulk posted:How do people keep their fermentation temps between 64-68 in a glass carboy? At room temp., I'm seeing my fermentation temp. is getting to 74-78 because of the yeast activity. I was thinking of putting the carboy into a 18 or 20 gallon ice bucket filled with water. Do this. Then get a towel or two and cover the carboy with the bottom part of the towels submerged in the water. If the towels stay wet it'll help keep your temperature down.
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Mar 20, 2012 20:32
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I am a little confused about stepping up starters. Here's what I'm gathering so far, let me know if I'm way off. Boil up some starter wort in the 1.040 range, cool and pitch. Keep swirling the jug to keep the yeast in suspension. Then, to step it up I need to refrigerate the jug after 24 hours, let the yeast fall out of suspension, and pour off the liquid on top. Take the jug out of the fridge and make up some more 1.040 wort and add it to the jug. Is this right?
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Mar 23, 2012 16:49
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I guess what I'm confused about is the part about pouring off the liquid on top. This seems to contradict what I read about yeast washing, where you want to keep the liquid on top and throw out the cake. Yeast is confusing
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Mar 23, 2012 17:32
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I had a weird idea and I just can't shake it, please tell me how terrible this is going to be. I want to make an experimental beer with equal parts barley, wheat, rye and maybe some other adjuncts like corn, rice, and oats in smaller amounts. Super long boil, I'd shoot for ~1.100 OG and use a clean, well attenuating ale yeast. Hops would be all the leftovers I have in my freezer (Willamette, nugget, and cascade) and I'd call it Chimera Ale. I know it would probably be a total mess of flavors fighting with each other but the novelty of making a beer with just about every common fermentable grain is really appealing to me.
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Mar 26, 2012 18:40
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Brewed a hefe on Saturday and it was already at its anticipated final gravity when I tested last night. If it tests the same tonight is there any reason I should leave it in primary for the rest of the recommended fermentation period?
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Mar 28, 2012 16:09
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I'm going to pick up a carboy warmer for a saison I'll be brewing in a week or so. Any recommendations? Can I use one on a better bottle or do I need glass?
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Apr 2, 2012 15:59
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I'm bottling my hefeweizen tonight and I used this calculator to see how much corn sugar I'm going to need to get 4 volumes of CO2 in my 3 gallon batch. It's telling me to use 5oz. That seems awfully high. I used 5oz in a 4 gallon batch of porter I made last year and it was completely undrinkable. I couldn't even open the bottles without getting a fountain of foam spewing 10 inches out of the top of the bottle so I'm a little skeptical of this calculator. Does anyone have any experience bottle priming a hefe?
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Apr 5, 2012 02:01
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I'm considering using citra for bittering my saison I'm brewing tomorrow but now I'm reading conflicting opinions about it. Some say citra give a strange off-flavor when used for bittering, other people say it's fine. Has anyone here bittered with citra before? Or specifically, bittered a saison with citra?
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Apr 8, 2012 02:29
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Would there be anything wrong with making up a big batch of starter wort and canning it? It would be convenient to have good starter wort on hand so I wouldn't need to boil some up every time.
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Apr 9, 2012 16:55
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There's a great brewing TV episode on decoction mashes: Decoction Day I don't have anywhere near the level of experience or equipment to try a double or triple decoction mash but this episode seems to lay it all out in a pretty easy to understand way.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:03
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Is there any reason I shouldn't use a standard co2 bike pump cartridge to purge the head space in a carboy for secondary?
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Apr 12, 2012 21:06
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il serpente cosmico posted:Why are you bothering with a secondary carboy? It probably isn't necessary unless you're bulk aging a sour or something. I imagine it's a good idea to get the beer off the yeast before I dry hop. If I'm off base on this idea I'd much rather dry hop in the primary bucket though.
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Apr 12, 2012 22:14
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internet celebrity posted:Is there any reason I shouldn't use a standard co2 bike pump cartridge to purge head space? So anyone know the answer to this?
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Apr 13, 2012 12:23
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Jo3sh posted:If you're going to use CO2 to purge headspace, CO2 is CO2 is CO2, so once you've decided to do it, no, there's no reason not to use the cartridge. In fact, the company that makes the CO2 injector I use for road trips, Genuine Innovations, mainly sells their hardware for inflating bike tires. Good to know. I thought I read something on HBT about some cartridges having gun oil in them or something.
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Apr 13, 2012 18:25
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lazerwolf posted:I decided I would crack open a bottle of pale ale I just bottled a week ago. Still needs a bit of carbonation and the beer is clearer than my previous attempts at homebrewing. The beer is bit sweet and not so Hoppy as I would expect a sierra Nevada clone, would some more age help balance that? Yeah. If it's not carbonated all the way then there are still excess sugars in there altering the flavor. Once it's carbed up all the way the hops will come forward a bit more.
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Apr 14, 2012 01:09
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