Recent content by tenbricks

I'm having trouble finding it. Simpsons is English, and they have Dark Crystal and Extra Dark Crystal but at 75 or 160L. Think a blend of the two would work?

One bottle was tried at the halfway point, on the summer solstice to make sure it was aging ok and didn't have any off flavors. All was good, so I'm expecting it to be pretty good. Your recipe is eerily similar to what I have cobbled together - 87% MO, 8% C40, 4% C120, 0.5% roast barley for...

The idea is to brew on the solstice, and age it until the next solstice while starting the previous years. Last year I brewed a Belgian quad style solstice beer on December 21, and pitched the yeast at 3pm. It will go on tap this December 21st. Since it's now December, have to start...

If it tastes like wort, then you must be right, it hasn't done much of anything yet. Hmm. I assume you boiled the solution before adding the yeast, right? It's normal to get a bunch of little chunks of hot break material in there afterwards, but not usually that much. It's not unusual to...

That does look like a healthy yeast starter, not just a bunch of trub. I'd bet your FG measurement is off. Taste the liquid, you'll know right away if it has fermented or not. WLP has always fermented very quickly for me, and I also put a drop of fermcap in each starter.

I had almost the same exact situation last year - 15 gallon rye bourbon barrel and the beer wasn't quite ready to go in. This is what I ended up doing too, except only for about a month. I figured the few weeks of contact with cheap (er) bourbon wouldn't dilute the flavor from a few years...

All 300 series stainless steels are 18/8. I recall reading somewhere that because of the low pH of beer, especially sours, the extra corrosion resistance of 316 was recommended. In any event, I have some nails. If you still need one, pm me.

Was adding up my totals for the year and thought I'd add them in: 11 gal Amber ale 11 gal Belgian Wit 12 gal Solstice Ale 11 gal Russian Imperial Stout 15 gal Barrel Stout 10 gal London Brown 2 gal Local Wild Brown 11 gal Chocolate Porter 11 gal Pomegranite Saison 11 gal Pumpkin Ale...

Hmm. I have made uncounted (dozens maybe?) numbers of starters by boiling wort in both 2l and 5l flasks on an electric coil. I hope you haven't just jinxed me . . . . :D

No comments? Nobody else feel like celebrating the coming of winter by brewing something you, uh, won't actually be celebrating with (this year)? Just got starter going, yeasties are spinning merrily. Looking forward to a relaxing brewtime as a brief respite from this miserable shopping season.

Based loosely on Averys The Reverend Quad, but with a bit higher abv and more crystal for a bigger, more complex taste; here's the current iteration of the recipe: 12Gal batch, 72%, 32 lbs Belgian Pilsner 9%, 4 lbs Dark Candi Sugar 7%, 3 lbs Aromatic Malt 3%, 1.5 lbs Crystal 80 3%, 1.5...

So I waited too long to start a winter warmer for this season, and was debating what to do to keep this from happening again. Clearly, need to brew early, and what better time to start than now? So, starting next years winter beer now. A Solstice Ale. The idea is brew a big beer this...

I've just started something like this, using a 15G bourbon barrel someone gave me. I'm guessing a month or so of aging then the first keg will have to be pulled off to keep it from getting too oaky. Obviously each subsequent keg can stay in longer. Eventually it will become neutral oak, but...

Uhm. Well. Yes, it does in fact. My point was that is is not just flocculent, but highly, extremely, even excessively flocculent. To the point where you just have to put up with the clumps. The followon point was that despite the yeast being in clumps rather than spread throughout the...

White Labs calls WLP002 flocculation "very high". They lie. Or at least are grossly understating the case. If I have to step up a starter, the yeast cake from the first step will stay in clumps no mater how high I turn the stirplate or how much I shake it. Fermentation has always taken off...