Recent content by Rugrad02

About two or three years ago I decided that I wanted to start brewing Belgians and only Belgians. I brewed them all. Dubbels, Tripels, quads, blonds, saisons etc. A few were great but most fell short. I became discouraged trying to figure out why certain beers tasted off to me to the point that...

Thanks!

I bottled a blended sour a few weeks ago and I popped one tonight to check out the carbonation. I blended my batch and added Red Star Champagne yeast. It carbed nicely but the sulphur smell the Champagne yeast is throwing completely muddles the complexity. I've used this yeast to make Apfelwein...

Hey everyone, I bottled a sour a week and a half ago. It was fermented with ECY-20 and Id like to hold on to the cake. At this point, the cake remains in my 5 gallon Carboy, airlocked and with about an inch of beer on top. Is it too late for me to transfer to a mason jar? How long is too long...

Thank you all for the replies. I believe I will keep it as is. If the Carboy breaks or shatters when I move it then so be it. I will buy another and put all of those bullets back in it. I grew up in the Fredericksburg, VA area, a stones throw away from Salem Church. These bullets came from...

My father passed away in 2006 and my mom has been slowly packing away his belongings. His hobby was relic hunting for Civil War relics with a metal detector. Years ago, he purchased this Carboy for the purpose of displaying some of his found bullets. It is way too heavy for my mom to move and...

Hey everyone, I posted this question to the Milk The Funk Facebook page and wanted to get a few more opinions. For the past months, I've been dabbling in all Brett beers using Brett B and Brett B Trois. I recently decided to try an all Brett beer using Brett L (White Labs strain). I built...

I should have mentioned that I am batch sparging. I use a double batch sparge method. I'm just tired of lifting a keg full of hot water. I guess I could get away without a ball valve as my goal is to get as much hot water into my mash tun in as short a time as possible. Sent from my iPhone...

Hey everyone , I'm in the process of getting my hands on a chugger pump for use only to transfer my hot sparge water into my mash tun. I use a keggle as a sparge water tank which has a 1/2 ball valve. Could I simply put 2 coupling and 2 barbs as opposed to a ball valve on one of the pump ends...

Also, try to cool that thing down if you can. It looks to be around 78? Not sure what yeast you're using but 78 will cause some off flavors if it's an ale yeast. The process of fermentation will also ramp the temps higher. If you don't have a method to cool down, fill your bathtub with cold...

It's normal for yeast and hops to settle to the bottom before fermentation. I bet by tomorrow morning all that stuff will be churning. I would definitely be concerned with your lack of headspace. You will definitely need a blow off on that thing or be prepared for a huge mess, ceilings and all...

Have you looked at mash pH? I know many brewers aim for a room temperature mash of 5.2 but I find that a bit low for my taste. If it gets too low, in the 4s, pH can cause that twang, a sort of thin tartness that I don't enjoy. 5.2 would probably be an okay pH for an APA or an IPA, but I like a...

I believe many if not most yeast nutrients contain food grad urea. I'm not sure from what source but this also could account for the urine/ammonia smell. Nothing to worry about as it quickly precipitates.? Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Cool! Thanks for the info! I found where you had a similar lull in activity, though mine appears to have been a bit longer at roughly 14 days from no activity to restarting of fermentation. I read that someone also suggested a change in barometric pressure. This piqued my interest, as a...

I pitched a rehydrated packet of Windsor Ale yeast into a 1.059 British Bitter wort on 3/28. Fermentation started rather quickly. The ferm temp had risen higher than expected overnight and I dropped it down the next morning to about 68. Fermentation slowed considerably and the Krausen didn't...