Recent content by Bobcatbrewing42

I've been asked to come up with a copy of Green Cheeks brewing, "Nelson in this economy". It's a Czech lager with a big hop load of Nelson Sauvin. I need more information. It's a SMASH beer, w pils and N.S. hops. That's about all I know.

Sounds ok. Your start temp sounds high to me. I shoot for a pitch a couple of degrees over optimum ferment temp from the manufacturer (usually 52-54) and let it cool. Banana flavored lager is bad to me. Colder, say in the 40's seems to shut it down. I just watch the ferment and when it slows...

Is it worth the risk? Any open package can pick up bacteria, mold spores or fungus. I might try it in a prison camp, trying to brew beer with leftover bread crusts and cereal.

No. I've won medals for lagers with 34/70. Two packets is perfect for a 5-6 gal batch or one packet with a starter. That seems to work with all dry lager yeasts. One package seems ok for ales (200 billion cells) but it seems like a bit more would start up faster.

I'm usually a yeast saver. I live far from a brew shop. I use mostly dry yeasts. I've been advised by Grandmasters that saved yeast is good for about a month in the fridge. In my experience, month old yeast can be very viable or mostly dead. I just split a batch of red beer into a Marzen and a...

Thanks. I did put a capful of lactic acid in both the mash and sparge water, something that I have been doing and getting better hop expression. If I use half spring water and half R.O. water, the bicarb gets closer to Beer Smith's recommended level.

I moved to a new place and had no idea what was in the water. I knew it was from springs and a well and tasted good. I brewed a hoppy IPA and added a small amount of Gypsum as a guess. After brewing, I got some info from the State as to what is in the water. It's pretty soft.... CaSO4-12 Ca- 45...

Twice, I have blended beers to try to save a bad batch. The latest effort was a Red IPA with kaffir leaf. The IPA was too bitter and the kaffir overpowering. I mixed it with some Czech lager that had a whiff of phenol. I had about 3 gal of lager to 2 of the IPA. Blended in a glass it was better...

I took a brief seminar from Randy Scorby, a grandmaster judge, and past national homebrew champ. Among other things he talked about blending beers. I've tried it a few times now, mostly playing with kegs of beers that I thought were failures (not contaminated though). Recently I did a red IPA...

I've been dry hopping in the keg with Idaho 7, with Cent, Amarillo types during the brew. Be prepared for a bit of a shocking, intense taste when you first run some from the keg. It settles down to delicious. I recall having to wait a couple of weeks for the flavor to integrate.

More hops would probably put it into American Pale Ale

Thanks for the replies. I just brewed a similar batch with water that sat overnight in the HLT and MT and added a campden tablet. Hoping for better results. For the previous batch, the ale (nottingham yeast- an old standby) is totally murky. Its not contaminated. Still a complete mystery. The...

I've been brewing for 8 years and used star san most of the time. I've had no problems. When I mixed it with tap water is was clear with bit of foam, and would foam when shaken. Their website says it is still good after it gets cloudy from usage. Before the last two brews, I noticed that the...

I think that the quick and dirty method is to fill an inch or two of beer and let the pressure off. The foaming should drive almost all oxygen out. Then finish filling.

I just tried this. His tap faucets are a better shape than mine. They give a better seal. I was successful but had some beer spraying. A little tinkering will do it. I have literally not entered brewing contests because I dread the time, the waste and the cleanup using my counter pressure...