Recent content by Scarthingmoor

Stupid mistake. Brewing 15 gallons yesterday from three kits. But I totally forgot to add the sugar (LME) to the boil! Brewed the rest as expected. This was yesterday. Today, I found the unused LME and checked the primaries. I seem to have some fermentation taking place using the sugar that...

My beer is leaving huge "soap-like" bubbles in the bottle during pouring of my final conditioned beer. I switched to starsan from iodophor, and I'm wondering if this might be what's causing it. Taste seems pretty good, not off but not great. Anyone else had this before? These are giant...

Yes to the starters. Would go lower if I could. Not sure it's the temp, simply because I've had many good batches at this temp before the one (very) infected batch. Since then it's gone from good to "drinkable".

Around 68-70 degrees.

Iodophor solution or starsan

Equipment is 5 gal plastic primary glass carboy secondary plastic syphoning tubes/racking cane/stirring spoon. Sanitize with starsan with no-rinse. That's it basically. I only do partial. Off flavour is mildly soapy tasting. Have never replaced the tubing after about a year and a half...

I had a bad batch maybe 6 months ago, and it seems like almost every batch I've made since then has been a bit off. Not undrinkable, but not good. Is it possible for my brewing gear to be infected, and is there anything I can do to fix it?

Yeah, I shouldn't have said no room for an airlock. It's just a pail with no airlock. I've had a few homebrews today. :)

I have a basic setup for my primary - pail with no room for an airlock. My instructions with the kit said to just leave the lid on but not closed. I'm worried this is opening up my batch to infection. Any suggestions to fix this? Can I just cut a hole in the lid for a bung/airlock? Anything...

Yikes. Thanks for the heads up. Will putting the cases in plastic garbage bags work to keep the mess down if I do have one blow?

vinegary is probably about right. Very sour vinegar would be about the right description. Almost no beer flavour at all. I might keep a few bottles as testers to see where it goes over the next 6 months or so, but I'll likely toss as soon as I need the bottles for a new batch.

The work is done, so I'll just give it time. But does anyone know if the sour taste is typical of infected beer?

Just bottled a batch of oatmeal stout. The stuff is crazy sour. I'm thinking it's infected, as it is extremely off tasting (undrinkable as it is now). It's already bottled so I'll probably keep it around for a few months before dumping, just in case it comes around. Question is...

Lovin the stittsvegas love. And appreciate the advice. :mug:

But what if the yeast are dead? I waited for a batch in bottle for a month, and there was zero carbonation. I finally cracked every bottle and added a bit more yeast. It started to carbonate within a week.