Recent content by mopowers

Well, you nailed it! Turns out my hydrometer is reading 5 points high. I tested it in 60* distilled water and it read 1.005. I double checked it with a lab grade hydrometer with the same results. That means this beer started at 1.074 and finished at 1.015. That's almost much exactly what...

I did add the lb of sugar with 5 mins to go in the boil. I have not calibrated the hydrometer but I did use the same one for all readings. This is a good point! I will check it for sure. I have tasted it. It still needs the dry hop additions, but it tastes decent. A little sweet for my...

So, I ended up tossing in a pack of US05 and bumping up the temp to 72*. Four days later, the gravity has stalled at 1.020, so it did drop four points. I wish we could get it a few points lower. Would it be worth making a new starter and tossing it in at high krausen, or maybe adding some...

Thanks! I just checked my digital instant read thermometer with another one and they both read the same. It also read right at 212 when I tested it with boiling water. I'm pretty confident that the mash temp was truly 149. Plus, I've never had this issue before either. I tossed a packet of...

My fiancé and I have been homebrewing for about 3-4 years now and have about 30-40 batches under our belt. Fermentation of our most recent batch (MoreBeer all-grain Pliny clone) seems to have stalled a tad. We had a OG of 1.079 (a bit higher than expected), but after two weeks, has stalled at...

Thanks guys. I'm thinking we'll give the WLP007 a try next time to see how it does.

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, we've kegged the beer. It's still good, just not our favorite. Just not a fan of the 004 for flavor or attenuation. This is all great info!

Thanks guys. I guess next time I'll stick to the 090. Not a big fan of the 004.

Thank you! Do you think a 148* mash would've gotten the FG down to around 1.014-1.015?

I'm still relatively new to homebrewing, so take it easy on me. We brewed a red ale recently and fermented with WLP004 Irish Ale yeast (our first time using this strain). We mashed at 152* and the OG was 1.060. It finished at 1.020 - a bit on the sweet side, for our taste. The beer is...

Did you ever figure this out? I have the same faucet that came with my Danby kegerator. Will a properly size o-ring work? What size did you go with??? Thanks!

Well, I think I had my first homebrew casualty (infection) after 3 years of brewing. We did another split brew day - mashed in the evening and did the boil the next morning and didn't bring it up to a boil until the morning after. Once the boil started the next morning, there was this faint...

Thanks for the input! A very slightly sour flavor is what I've experienced. It's very slight, but noticeable. Would a quick boil like you described reduce that souring (assuming that's the cause)? I don't get it doing normal full day brews.

Are there any downsides to splitting a brew day by mashing and lautering in the evening - say 7:00pm, then doing the boil the next morning - say, 10:00 am? Will leaving the un-boiled wort overnight cause it to spoil? Thanks.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Thanks for confirming. Time for a new one!