BeerTools Discussion Forum

anyone who brews with fruit ever use pectin to clear a bit? I am thinking of using it in my apple beer during the secondary clearing, but not sure. I can't find much on it for beer only with wine.

I want a pronounced (but not overdone) flavor and aroma of lemon grass in a pale ale (low bittering). Should I add lemon grass (dehydrated) to 15 minutes left in the boil or dry hopped? Either way, how much too? I was thinking 8 ounces of dehydrated, then rethought maybe 4-5 onces. Anyone have a sug...

I was reading some beers aged in oak and they were described as having a spontaneous fermentation. What is that?

I really have two questions: Anyone see a problem throwing in bamboo to secondary of a beer? I am thinking a pale or amber so I can taste if it has any effect. If there is a problem what would it be? Also, I am starting to use sugars (store bought) in Xmas beer recipe: stout. What are some good suga...

I agree with using Light DME. You have far better control over the end product. Also balancing biscuit and roasted is difficult, but not impossible. You may want to stay away from darker caramel malts as they may impart a more raisiny taste which will not help the bread to roasted flavor. I agree wi...

Read it, thanks. I think I will go ahead and dry hop with Centennial and Cascade. I'll let you know how this turns out.

I am doing a black IPA and have 5 hop additions starting from 75 minutes to flame out. Should I dry hop or would that be overkill? The final IBUs are about 52-53. I start with Chinook go to Centennial and then a couple of Cascades. I was thinking of dry hopping with Cascade but now I am concerned it...

I have a smack pack dated August 2009 I found in my fridge, can I still use it? If so how many days before I brew should I smack it?

I've read that a few breweries who make export stouts do this as it helps (how I don't know) during the required aging of the beer when in bottles.

I am doing a foreign export stout and will ferment with either 1056 or 1098, but I want to ad champaign yeast to the 2dry to further ferment the wort out. When I 2dary at what time (age) should I add this type of yeast?

This will depend on how much sweetness you really want to drink. Lower caramel/crystal malts in high quantity provide very good caramel flavor. The higher caramel "L" you go, say 120 and up the more it will resemble stoned fruit than actual simple sweetness. Extra Special is a great grain ...

I am fermenting at 71 right now, but depending on the style I can be between 68-72 (ales). I can lager in a controlled fridge and never had issues with those.

Yeasts I have used lately:
Amer Ale II
Whitbread
Northwest
American Wheat

I noticed that some of my fermentation is starting off really big lately and tend to fill the bubbler with wort/beer. I am using a 6.5 gallon bucket and also have had this happen with a 6 gallon better bottle. Any suggestions people have? I don't want to get into using a blow off as my kids are like...

All of my recipes are not allowing me to edit (only trying to edit one actually, but figured I wold go through all of them to see what was happening). Anytime I clik edit and change a wt to a grain, I get the red error message asking me to correct the STYLE. I find this really weird since the style ...

Can I use a distiller's yeast for a winter warmer or foreign export? I like that they can fully ferment in 1-2 days.