BeerTools Discussion Forum

Okay, need some more advice. Here is a brief timeline so far. Brewed on 1.25.07, racked too early to secondary 1.30.07 then I started this thread. I have taken all of your advice and waited it out. I got temp under control by placing in a water bath with an aquarium heater. Maintained at about 65 F....

Thanks everyone. That makes sense. However, is this advice assuming there is little/no trub or sediment other than the yeast cake?

If it is, how do you get your beer off of the trub and still have the yeast cake?

Thanks again, I am slow, but I think I am starting to understand.

I may be wrong but I believe it has to do with not darkening the extracts by boiling them for the full time at such concentrated levels as are usually brewed in extract recipes. My understanding is that the extracts supposedly darken with long concentrated boils. Also, I think it has to do with hop ...

I assumed it to be trub. Yes I do extract brews with specialty grains and lately I have tried a few teeny tiny mashes (1-1.5 lb.) of base malts. I do not believe it is hops I am seeing as I use a hop bag. I used to have a lot of hops sludge (pellets) when I did not use a bag. There is generally a go...

Help me out here. I have read many descriptions, opinions, and thoughts on when the "correct" time to rack from primary to secondary is. I still do not feel I know when is the right time. Most of the descriptions/explanations I have read say rather vaguely something to the effect of "...

Make sure the siphon tube is right up against the edge of the pot so the suction is being disturbed a bit. Ah. This might explain part of the problem. My racking cane is way taller than my pot so I had it laying on a diagonal to the oppostie side in the bottom. I guess I will try making a shorter r...

Alright, my last batch is going very well (a california common) despite taking a hydrometer sample after pitching. :oops: I tried many new things I learned here and other sites I learned of through this forum. They all seemed to help. Especially the yeast starter. Lag time was considerably reduced! ...

I have done it before and I did it again. Forgot to take a sample for gravity before pitching. :roll: I remembered about 5 minutes after pitching so I took a sample. Bad idea? Usually I just let it go but since it was so soon after I went ahead. I am not too worried but it would be nice to have some...

I don't have any homebrew left!


None that is ready to drink anyways...

Thanks guys. I guess I kinda freaked out there. It is hard not to keep checking on it. I will let it be now. I have it at as stable a temperature as I can manage, low of 60 high of 65. It has developed some effervescense on the surface (and some larger bubbles) So I guess it is still working. It had...

Man, I made much better beer when I did not know much! I checked out the website. It would seem that making a starter is risky in terms of contamination. I am not sure about that. The yeast brand I am using is somewhat regional/local I guess. It is supposed to be ready to pitch and comes in small pl...

Hmmm. Anyone hear about the new beer for dogs? Beef and malt. It is called Kwispel. http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42481000/jpg/_42481391_kwispel_story_ap.jpgg story here... http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/22/dogbeer.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest Not sure what to make of it. :roll:

Oh, I guess there are some more details that might help to diagnose the situtation? Looking at my notes I see that beacuse of the cold (i am guessing) the airlock was actually sucked down and perhaps a bit of water with it, i.e. the carboy became a vacuum due to the cooling before fermentation start...

I have heard the term but I am not sure what the procedure is. As to oxygen, I agitated the wort about 10 minutes before pitching by rocking it back and forth with the stopper on. This is much more than I usually agitate but I just read about agitating and realized I had not done enough in the past....

Oh, and to desrcibe the taste of this and the marzen I would say it is reminiscent of the smell of dry cleaing fluid. Yuck. What is it?
Thanks.