[BikeGeek]

Not that I can find, it's brand new and if I push down on it then air comes through the lock.

Most of the buckets are anything but airtight. If you're seeing foam inside on top of the wort, then it's fermenting. If it's just evidence of foam then you probably missed all the action. Check the gravity. If it's been in there a week, it may be done.

 

[pnj]

So I now have my secondary in the bedroom. The heater is cranked up, I have a heat pad wrapped around the bucket and a towel around that. The temp on the bucket in now 63, still no activity in the blowoff tube....

 

[I Are Baboon]

I'm going to make the Celebration Ale clone this weekend. I smacked the yeast packet last night. I'm going to call this my "2629 Harmony Ale."

Can't we all get along?

 

[BadDNA]

I'm brewing a pilsener this weekend, going to make the starter tonight after a spin on the trainer.

 

[Heidi]

So I now have my secondary in the bedroom. The heater is cranked up, I have a heat pad wrapped around the bucket and a towel around that. The temp on the bucket in now 63, still no activity in the blowoff tube....

I'm in the same situation only the bucket is somewhere between 64 and 65 and it has been 8 days since brew.

 

[-BB-]

OK... I've read through most of this and I've been re-inspired.
I did a LOT of home brewing when I lived in SF. After moving to SoCal, I haven't brewed a single batch (over 5 years ago).

Some of the stand-outs from my prior brewing include:
Pumpkin Proter (fresh pumpkin, not canned)
Imperial Stout
Authentic Frambios

I still have a few bottles of the frambios. They are probably 6 years old now, so they should be in prime shape.

When I say that they are "authentic", I really mean it. We cultured yeats from the bottoms of a bunch of Cantillion bottles and did an open fermentation (got some of those nice wild SF sourdough yeasts in there). We even had a nice bit of mold on top during fermentation. Everything was bottle conditioned.

The first few bottles we drank were very tart. After about 2 years they had mellowed out quite a bit. Now at 6 years, they should either be real smooth, or (hope not) past their prime.


I know where most of my equipment is.. I'll probably have to get new stoppers and stuff though. I'm sure that they dry-rotted over the past few years in my garage. Summer temps in there can get up to 115.

Any of you know how long you can go on a CO2 tank before it has to be re-tested? 5 years I believe.

 

[-BB-]

I'm in the same situation only the bucket is somewhere between 64 and 65 and it has been 8 days since brew.

LOL... I see you still have the avatar where I added in the christmas hat. SWEET!! Very old school.

 

[I Are Baboon]

God dammit....I am making my Celebration Ale clone and I got shorted an ounce of hops. There are supposed to be two ounces of Cascade hops: 1.5 for the boil, and .5 for dry hopping. There's only one ounce in the kit. Meh, I figure I'll boil the one ounce and dry hop a full ounce.

Eff.

 

[BadDNA]

Call a local shop.

 

[I Are Baboon]

I was already steeping the grains when I realized it.

 

[BadDNA]

Send Randee.

 

[I Are Baboon]

RR is working today.

They seemed to have shorted me 3/4oz Centennial hops, too. That's for dry hopping which I won't do for two weeks. Lesson learned: Check your order contents from Austin Homebrew Supply.

 

[BadDNA]

Bastards...I hope you called them on it.

 

[I Are Baboon]

I am still brewing the batch, but I'll fire off an e-mail this afternoon. How the hell do they forget to include about half the hops?

 

[BadDNA]

I don't know, but I would try and get something out of this, 20% off of the next kit you order from them would be nice.

 

[I Are Baboon]

I agree.

Shouldn't you be brewing my birthday beer?

 

[BadDNA]

I'm at work today.

I'm brewing tomorrow but it's not your birthday beer.

I've decided on your beer, I just need to build a recipe.

 

[I Are Baboon]

HOORAY birthday beer!!

The Celebration Ale clone is complete. I've very excited about this, besides the missing 1/2 oz of hops.

 

[pnj]

Looks good. what was your OG?

 

[I Are Baboon]

OG was 1.066. It should be about 7% when ready. While going through my beer supplies, I found a Mr. Beer "Booster", so I threw that into this batch. All it is is extra fermentables. What the hell. For a five gallon batch, it should add about .5 abv.

 

[I Are Baboon]

So my first batch, the DIPA, won't *technically* be ready for another month. I got punchy this weekend though and chilled and drank a bottle. AWESOME. I'm really happy with it. More balanced between hops and malt for a DIPA, as I usually like them more hoppy. For a first attempt though, I really couldn't expect much more.

 

[BadDNA]

So my first batch, the DIPA, won't *technically* be ready for another month. I got punchy this weekend though and chilled and drank a bottle. AWESOME. I'm really happy with it. More balanced between hops and malt for a DIPA, as I usually like them more hoppy. For a first attempt though, I really couldn't expect much more.

Right on. I can't wait to try it.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Bourbon porter is bottled! This is going to kick ass. The sample was awesome.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Updates on all my beers (not that you care ):

Double IPA: Ready to drink. Had a couple Friday night and am ready to start sharing them with people. Not that real hop bomb that I like in an IPA, but still very tasty.

Bourbon Porter: Needs more time to age. We tried one last weekend after being bottled for one week and there was very little carbonation.

Barelywine: Drank one this past Saturday night. It won't be ready for a few months but wanted to try it. Not bad...very strong. Needs more time to age.

Celebration Ale clone: Bottled it this past weekend. Should be ready in three weeks.

I ordered a vanilla porter kit last night. I'm going to brew it this weekend and make it a vanilla coffee porter.

 

[I Are Baboon]

So I completed my first ever homebrew exchange with another brewer! I e-know the guy from a baseball forum I'm a member at. He sent me nine 12oz bottles of different beers, and I sent him four of my bombers (one each of the ones above, minus the barelywine) and two local microbrews (Smuttynose maibock and Berkshire Brewing Company coffeehouse porter). My bourbon porter really seems to be a hit. Good thing too, because that friggin kit cost upwards of $80 after the bourbon. I think it's quite good myself, if I don't mind saying so. It's really nice to get compliments from people on your homebrew.

I'm going to sock away a case each of the bourbon porter and vanilla porter for a year to let them age.

 

[TN]

Sweetness. Sounds like you have been busy.

 

[BikeGeek]

I brewed my latest interpretation of my saison on the back porch this Sunday. 75% pilsner malt and 25% unmalted spelt, hopped a little heavy with EK Goldings, Willamette, and Saaz, pitched Dupont yeast at 80F, currently fermenting at 90F

It smells yummy.

 

[I Are Baboon]

I love me some farmhouse ale. Smuttynose needs to get off their asses and release their 2009 batch.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Tomorrow I am brewing a Rogue DIPA clone. I was surprised when the kit came and there were no grains...all DME and LME. I attempted a two stage yeast starter which I started yesterday. I am not sure I did it correctly. I don't know what the yeast should look like after the flask has been chilled. I was very careful to pour out the wort but I probably didn't pour enough, as I was afraid I'd pour yeast. Well I added a .5l batch of wort to the flask so we'll see how it goes. I wanted to brew tomorrow but I may wait until Sunday to allow the starter to fully ferment. I dunno. RDWHAHB?

 

[pnj]

I did my second all grain yesterday. It was my first time using my new mash tun, it worked well. I made an APA. I bought a five gallon brew pot and used both large burners on the stove. It's bubbling away nicely....