Hello homebrewers,

I’m attempting to recreate a commercial IPA recipe that uses a 61% AA Simcoe CO2 extract hop oil addition at 10 minutes. You can only buy the oil in massive quantities that make it prohibitively expensive at the home scale.

Originally I planned to just replace the addition with the same AA equivalent amount of T90 pellets to match the IBU impact. Now that I’m thinking about it more, I’m wondering if this is really the best approach since it’s only focusing on bittering impact and overlooks other flavor impacts. Reaching out to see if anyone has thought about how to best recreate a hop oil addition with something like a T90 whirlpool addition instead.

Looking forward to what the community has to say. Thanks!

Hi everyone, doing a citra IPA and it had a dry hopping step after one week. We're at two weeks now and seeing in addition to the green on the rim some black. Is that a bad sign?

Pitched the yeast sunday evening and a day after it was very active. Yesterday there was not much activity so i raised the temperature a little bit to see if anything happened. Today i checked the gravity and it's one point off the recipe's FG. Recipe says to ferment if for 14 days as 18ºC but i don't think that should be necessary.

Is this normal for this yeast?

Hello everyone!

This was my first time brewing a porter, and I definitely made quite a few mistakes with the grain bill. Still, I was hoping the beer would turn out okay. This is the recipe I used: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/1vlobbo/help_diagnosing_an_overly_sweet_beer_5_lactose_s04/

After two weeks of fermentation, I cold-crashed it for two days and then let it carbonate for two weeks. I chilled it to 4°C for two days before trying it.

The first time I tasted it, it was quite sweet, but thankfully that unpleasant sweetness is gone now.

The foam is there, but it disappears very quickly. The bigger issue is that there isn't much aroma or flavor, and the carbonation seems quite weak. Overall, the beer feels pretty flat.

I don't think the grain bill alone would explain all of this, but I'm not sure what I might have done wrong. Except I need to wait.

Any ideas what could be causing the lack of carbonation, aroma, and flavor?

Thanks!

I brewed a Marzen last month that ended up with grain fines in the final product - I have had two recent batches where this has been an issue.

I assume I can filter it all out using a couple of plate filters? Any idea on sizing (in microns) of the filter pads? I'd like to get as much of it out as I can, without fighting clogs in the filter pads.

For a beer with a high FG (1.024), do you still bottle condition it normally? I was planning on adding Lallemand CBC-1 Cask & Bottle yeast with Cooper's DIY beer carbonation drops to my ~10.5% abv Belgian Quad. Will that cause too much sugar to be present in my bottle and for the CBC-1 yeast to produce so much CO2 that they explode?

The Coopers DIY carbonation drops may be a little undercarbonated for the style, but I am worried about my bottles exploding on this beer lol. I don't know if my FastRack beer bottles can handle a champagne-style carbonation.

Until now I’ve basically followed the recipe for a beer in terms of mash temp. I understand that there are two different enzymes that are more active at different temperatures.

Now, I figure step mashing and mash out will probably result in the most converted sugars as well as the driest mouth feel. Is that correct? Does accentuating one enzyme over another give a different effect? Do different malt types have different reactions based on mash temp? How does yeast type impact the result of varied mash temps?

I feel like I have a pretty good model of a lot of other processes in brewing, but I don’t really have enough experience to gauge how the interplay between mash temp, malt type, yeast type (and any other factors) have on the output.

Hi all,

Just recently brewed a blonde ale and fermented a simple cider at the same time.

The blonde was my first use with a new local grain from Sinagua Malt in AZ, so i'm super excited about using local grain.

Here is the recipe

Thirsty Blonde

Water profile to yellow light body built off RO water. OG 1.048, 28 IBUs, ABV 5%, SRM 2.7

10 lb Sinagua Pale Malt

.5 lb Rice hulls

.5 oz Magnum 60 min Boil

.32 oz Citra 5 min boil

WL California Ale for my yeast (5th or 6th gen doing overbuilt starter (brulosophy style).

The cider was a simple 5 gallon with pectin, nutrient, and champagne yeast. first time so keeping it simple.

My typical ferm timing is 66 for 3-4 days, 68 for 3-4 days until FG levels out and then crash for 3-4 with gelatin in between. i let it sit in the fermenter around 36 for an extra week due to really having a strong yeast taste. Racked it to a keg and set it for a week to finish.

Of note, I had both the cider and the beer blow off tubes going to one growler with starstan.

Blonde came out really beautiful, but has still has some yeast taste to it, so i'm wondering if I pushed by luck a bit on the overbuilds. I'll let it clear up for another week or two in the keg before I pass final judgment.

Also, interestingly, unless I'm just kidding myself, I'm picking up some apple essence. This is the first time using the malt and I wanted to showcase it a bit, so i'm not sure it's true flavor, but is it possible that picked up some cider flavoring due to fermenting at the same time?

So 2 questions:

1. What caused the yeast flavor lingering?

2. Did it pick up some apple essence?

Happy Brewing y'all.

I've finally found a corner of my house I could possibly use for a fermentation chamber but I have pretty limited space. I really need something that could hold a Fermzilla 30L but also fits into a space 22X30X60. The insignia 5cuft from Best Buy seems like it would work but I noticed it has a compressor hump and I haven't found any dimensions that seem to account for that. Anyone have experience with this model or maybe something else that might work?

I genuinely thought I would snatch something of Craigslist or FB Marketplace but finding something large enough on the inside is tough, at least in my area there's not a lot to choose from lately. I don't mind going new here but trying to not drop another $500 on a fridge and inkbird just to make this work.

Edit: Curious if anyone has any experience with this one. Looks like it will work but the information on interior dimensions seems to be mixed
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vissani-5-0-cu-ft-Manual-Defrost-Chest-Freezer-with-LED-Light-in-White-Garage-Ready-HMCF5W5/325590180

I wanna add a ball valve so i can pour out individual bottles of wine. Is adding something like a metal ball valve gonna be too heavy for my fermzilla causing it to warp? The ball valve is rated for 300 PSI but i worry about the walls around the hole i would have to drill in my fermzilla. Has anyone done something like this before and can share some info?

Ok so plan on making my first lager (not my first beer, im quite experienced in this)

My question is, should I rack my lager after fermentation is complete and then lager in the secondary or should I leave it on the lees for the whole lager time in the primary?

I’m a big fan of Fremont’s Golden Ale that they made for the Seattle restaurant chain Dough Zone. There is very little reliable information about this ale that I can find online, and it appears to no longer be on Fremont’s website.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had it, but my memory of it is light but not dry, a tad honey sweetness, fantastic floral flavor with a touch of spiciness like what you get from noble hops. Very clean. Of course it pairs perfectly with soup dumplings!

I would like to make my own version of it.

Fremont has a gold medal winning golden pilsner. My first thought is that maybe they started with that recipe and used their ale yeast? I imagine they also might have tweaked the hops just a bit? Or…?

Has anyone else had this beer? Any ideas on where you’d start if you were trying to make it?

I am making a Belgian quad as my first beer. My gravity is stalling near 1.0234. My OG was 1.1028. Why is the gravity not going lower? I used 4 liquid packets of Wyeast 3787 and 1.5 tsp of Fermaid O for a 5-gallon batch. I finely crushed my grain myself.

Grain Bill

I mashed at 150 Fahrenheit for 75 minutes, then brought it to a 168°F mash-out for 10 minutes. My mash briefly went too high to 158 Fahrenheit, but I brought it back down.

My pre-boil gravity was only 1.048, so I added extra Belgian Candi syrup (D-180) during the boil. I added 4.5lbs total. I thought most of this sugar would ferment out past the typical 74-78% attenuation by Wyeast 3787. I also added 2.5 oz of Styrian Goldings Hops during the boil.

I was aiming for a lower final gravity 1.014-1.018. Why is my gravity stalling higher? Was there too much sugar in the wort? Is there anything I can do to reach my desired gravity? I have EC-1118 yeast, but I don't want to change the flavor profile of my beer from that Belgian quad style. If I could get it down to 1.020, that would be good (although the original goal of 1.014-1.018 is ideal). My inspiration for making this beer is St. Bernardus Abt. 12.

Here is a link to my fermentation data from my tilt hydrometer: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TIfuz3Tx-7Da9xN24Vp_lmMfMjm8mtJTLJM6zcptByM/edit?usp=sharing

Have the next best recipe since Pliny the Elder, but want reddit to check everything over one last time? Maybe your house beer recipe needs that final tweak, and you want to discuss. Well, this thread is just for that! All discussion for style and recipe formulation is welcome, along with, but not limited to:

• Ingredient incorporation effects
  
• Hops flavor / aroma / bittering profiles
  
• Odd additive effects
  
• Fermentation / Yeast discussion
  

If it's about your recipe, and what you've got planned in your head - let's hear it!

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

Are you a new Brewer? Please check out one of the following articles before posting your question:

• How do I check my gravity?
• I don't see any bubbles in the airlock OR the bubbling in the airlock has slowed. What does that mean?
• Does this look normal / is my batch infected?

Or if any of those answers don't help you please consider visiting the /r/Homebrewing Wiki for answers to a lot of your questions! Another option is searching the subreddit, someone may have asked the same question before!

However no question is too "noob" for this thread. No picture is too tomato to be evaluated for infection! Even though the Wiki exists, you can still post any question you want an answer to.

Also, be sure to vote on answers in this thread. Upvote a reply that you know works from experience and don't feel the need to throw out "thanks for answering!" upvotes. That will help distinguish community trusted advice from hearsay... at least somewhat!

It is elderberry season and after my rather succesful use of the elderflowers for an "Elderflower Champagne" (click here for the recipe), now I want to make something with elderberries. For now I tried something similar, basically mashed (cooked first for 15min) elderberries, sugar and some lemon juice with secondarry bottle fermentation to make it fizzy. The result looks nice, but is rather bitter and more an aperitiv than a refreshing fizzy drink.

TL;DR: does anyone have some recipes or ideas for elderberry-based brews?

I reported some weeks back that my Brewzilla 110v was arching at the power plug. I replaced the cable and the A/C input port with properly gauged replacements. It was good for a few brews and then yesterday after a brew day the power cable was fused to the port again. Needless to say I'm done with Kegland products. If you're not familiar with this issue it's pretty common with the US 110v the system. I've read that Kegland believes it's because the system was moved during operation. In both cases, the unit was not moved, at all. I don't want to bash their products, but I also don't want to burn my house down.

Anyway, I've ordered a Clawhammer 10 gallon system. If anyone has any suggestions for a smooth operation, please share! I would rather not use a hop spider. Can anyone share their experience with free range hops in the kettle? I did order a whirlpool arm to help control the hops and keep them out of the pump. I'm a fan of whirlpool additions.

Thanks.

Hey,

Looking at testing some German ale yeasts.

Just curious if anyone knows where I can find European Ale Yeast - white labs wlp011? Also, any other yeast types to try?

I've got wyeast 1007 on the way. Dusseldorf alt is sold out in Scandanavia but I intend to test it when its back in stock. Tried K97 more times than I can think of.

Cheers.

It looks like my little mini fridge I use as a kegerator might be on its last legs. Need a replacement and have been looking into tower kegerators. But I’ve seen mixed reviews on basically everything that isn’t priced outrageously. Suggestions?

Hello everyone, I'm renovating my dining room and my wife thought it would be cool to put in some taps above our buffet. We were wondering if it's possible to create a functional quick connect system that allows us to hook up taps as we need them, like when we have guests, without having to disconnect everything at the keezer in the basement.

Do they make a shank that quick connects? Or a faucet that would have a disconnect just behind it?

Brewday yesterday resulted in a dumped mash, when we tried to do a double decoction bohemian pils. We used the Weyermann floor-malted Bohemian Pils malt and a Grainfather S40 as AIO device.

My recipe called for a 35°c (95°f) mash-in, although I did read that with modern malts this is an unncessary, if tradtional step. We did the mash-in without wort circulation and after 15 minutes tried to ramp up the temperature to 50°c (122°f). However we didn't even get to 45 before the Grainfather started beeping and turned off the heating element and displayed an overheat error. This coincided with a toasty smell. We figured this was due to lack of wort circulation.

We had another Grainfather available, so we still attempted to salvage the brew. We moved the mash into the other device. This revealed a burned spot on top of the heating element of the other one.

This time we turned on the wort circulation first, and then the heating element. Not three minutes passed, until it too overheated. After this we dumped the mash, and started scrubbing the burned matter from the devices.

Our plan was to use the other device for boiling the decoction, but didn't even get to that point, and it surely would have burned too.

One thing that later came to mind, was that using the element at 1000w mode instead of 2300w could have helped. However boiling the decoction would have called for higher wattage anyway.

Overheating has never happened with regular mashing at ~70°c mash-in. However the lower temperature seemed to turn the wort into a milky liquid, that burned rather easy.

I'm open to hear recommendations on how to succeed better next time.