theakston

After 4 hours??? What did you buy, the 2 gallon jug? This one?

Same here. I do it mostly to allow it to clear. After the major krausen dies down there is a lot of gunk on the bottom that it doesn't hurt to get rid of. It's mostly dead yeast cells but also other forms of trub that settled out of the wort. It also makes sense to transfer it from an open fermentation vessel to an air-locked carboy to protect against oxidization once the head has died down and the CO2 production is less active. My fermenter lid doesn't seem to be air-tight as I can never get an air lock to bubble even when it's obviously fermenting like crazy, so I like to finish it off in a carboy just to be sure. And as Iain points out you can afford to be a bit more flexible with the bottling schedule that way. A couple of days "rest" at the end of fermentation will also allow the remaining yeast to consume the diacetyl it may have produced during the fermentation. Of course after that it starts to consume itself (autolysis) and it helps that there are less dead yeast cells available at this point so it won't end up quite so funky. CDH - great pictures. I used a similar wort chiller myself - I put it outside on the deck when it was about 9 degrees with wind chills around zero! In fact when I topped it up with water from the fridge it got too cold and I had to boil some water to bring it up to pitching temp.

Keep 'em coming Leah! I love Greece, we have been going there on and off for nearly 20 years now. I can't wait to get back...until then I'll make do with traveling vicariously along with you. Efharisto poli!

And here are some pictures of last night's activity: Here's the beer ready to rack to the carboy Here's the syphoning in progress: and here it is in the carboy: And here is the gunk left in the bucket: It is still fairly actively bubbling away. Probably racked earlier than I needed to - it certainly needs to settle out a lot.

I usually steep grains in a bag but put hops in the pot directly. I think you get more hop resins that way. I then strain the boiled wort through a cotton sieve thingie. The whole hops help filter out the junk. If I want to dry hop I would add a bag o' hops at that stage (this time I didn't dry hop). I have used grains directly in the pot before. I think you tend to get a more cloudy brew if you boil them as it would release more starch, but if you're only using a handful that wouldn't be such a bad deal.

Well my beer looks like the krausen is dying down so I plan to move it to a carboy this evening. Fortunately no drunken babies were injured. Iain have you racked yours yet? CDH has your yeast arrived ? Jim how's yours coming along? I'd be interested to hear how the sugar tablets work out. I think I'm going to use good old fashioned corn sugar when I get to that stage. I still need to go to the store because I forgot to get any crown caps. Doh!

BEANO BEER! How to make your own low carb beer: With Beano! And no... I'm not suggesting this for the next home brew exercise!

Here at last are some pictures: Last night First the foamy head appeared Then this morning the yeasty slime was doing its thing Unfortunately my brew bucket doesn't have the warning that babies might fall in and get drunk.

I don't have the equipment yet either. Perhaps once we've got this lot together we could start a discussion of the stuff we would need to do an upgrade. Or just do another extract batch. (i've seen all kinds of setups for all grain from a $30 converted coolerto a Beer Sculpture for $3,000!

My beer is coming along well. Nice and foamy head appearing last night and this morning it had the slimy yeast cells climbing all over it as it krausened away. I took some photos that I'll try and post later (haven't done that yet). I expect that the primary fermentation will be finished in a couple of days. Then I will rack it into a carboy to let it finish fermenting and for the sediment to settle and clear for about a week prior to bottling. After bottling it will take a couple of weeks to "bottle condition" - which gives the beer it's carbonation. So the first tastes will be about 3 weeks from now. Not to say that I wont steal a sip when I syphon it into the carboy. As far as a regular habit - I haven't done this for a few years. It's fun and fairly easy. The only "problem" is you can develop quite a stash (especially if you like to collect other beers too!). I'd be up for another round next month. Next time we may even attempt an "all grain" version - I've yet to try that myself - but all grain recipes are easy enough to convert to the extract versions that we are doing this go around.

And now I've seen the pictures it looks to be much further along than mine. Looks perfect.

Iain I agree with Jim that you shouldn't have any problems with it getting too warm. Also even though the air temp may fluctuate during the day, it takes quite a while to affect a 5 gallon bucket of wort so it will keep more constant than you think. I think mine is a little too cool right now at a constant 65, but then it probably will just take a little longer. Another thing - I think that a bucket is better than a carboy for English styles and English yeasts. Almost all english brewers use an open fermenter and the yeast will work best in a similar environment. This is especially true of the Ringwood strain that is similar to that used by Sam Smiths in their famous "Yorkshire square" slate fermenters. Having said that I will rack to a carboy with an airlock one the fermentation has almost stopped. this will give the beer some time to clear before I bottle it.

Here's my version. 2 can's muntons Amber extract (they had no pale unfortunately) 1/2 lb chocolate malt 1/2 lb crystal malt 1 lb belgian biscuit malt 2 oz goldings hop pellets 1 oz Target hop pellets (couldn't resist) 1 oz whole fuggles yeast is white labs bedford ale. boiled 3 gallon water let it cool to around 160F tossed in the grain bag - using only half of the crystal as the extract was darker than I wanted already. Turned it off and went to brunch. Came back about 3 hours later and removed the grain bag. sparging with another 1/2 gallon water brought it to the boil then added the extract, 1 goldings and half the target. Added the rest of the pellets after boiling for 1/2 hour. Boiled for a furhter 1/2 hours adding the fuggles for the last couple of minutes. cooled to 65F transferred to bucket, topped up with water and pitched the yeast around 5PM Saturday. Looks to be OK with a thin layer of bubbles forming on top, but slower than I would have expected had I used a yeast starter. Hope it hits the wild and frothy stage soon. As I expected it is pretty dark but without any patent malt I don't think it will veer into stoutland. Smells pretty good too! Happy fermentation!

Grill from Ipanema (on columbia) used to be pretty good, and after a couple of their caipirinhas you wouldn't feel the cold. Suprised nobody mentioned it, but then we haven't been for a year or two either. Anyone been recently? The only time we go to AM these days is for a brunch of crepes and belgian beer at Chez Antoine.

Well.....good luck everyone. It should be good wortchilling weather tomorrow. I'll post again Monday and let you know how mine's looking. I'll probably be too busy to log in before then. Hope all goes well. Cheers!

Dogfish head brewery did the same thing a few years ago in connection with the university of pennsylvania. That beer - "Midas Touch" is still made and widely available in the mid atlantic region. link to the dogfish head web page

Thanks dls excellent posts. Foxy's looks excellent - micro brewery too!!Is it possible to get over to Jost Van Dyck for an evening or do the taxis only run during the day?

Ask them to smack it for you as soon as it arrives then it should be ready for Saturday no problems. My old (sadly now closed) brew supply place always used to do that for customers to save them some time.

Got all the ingredients. Unfortunately the malt was only available in 1lb bags so I may overdo some of these - especially the chocolate malt - if I can't restrain myself on brew day. I got a Belgian Biscuit for my "mystery malt" . The yeast I'm using is a WhiteLabs "pitchable" yeast - Bedford British Ale yeast. It comes in a large vial and looks like it should be OK to use without a "starter" as it has a lot of yeast cells. Anyone have any experience with this type of yeast? For those of you using a Wyeast "smack pack" - now is the time to get smacking if you haven't already (I always let it blow up in the pack then add to a "starter" - a bit of malt extract and water in a sterilized growler or large bottle covered with a bit of plastic wrap or even an airlock). This process usually takes 2-3 days depending on room temps and how old the yeast is.

OK it's too f---ing cold. We're off to Tortola in a few weeks. We've never been before. Has anyone got any recommendations for good places to eat and drink? Looking for all kinds of recommendations for all kinds of price ranges. We have a week to explore the possibilities. Thanks.

This site is where I usually get my Belgian glasses: Global Beer Shop They don't appear to have Deus listed, but you may want to contact them directly as I am pretty sure they supply Vintage Cellars with their stuff. I'm still waiting for my shipment of Deus from Beverage Bistro (they are selling for $59 for a three pack). They don't have the glasses listed either but they may have some for their "beer glass collectors club" you could call them on 1-888-380-2337 - they are friendly guys and they often have stuff that isn't on their web-site. Here is their website

I'm still in. I've dusted off my brewpot and will be heading for supplies this weekend. Chris - if you're using ringwood yeast make sure you aerate it well -- it works best in an "open" fermenter - a bucket is fine but an airlocked carboy may be a problem. Some brewers really hate ringwood but I think it's fine providing it gets enough oxygen, and it needs a little "rest" to get rid of excess Diacetyl.

I don't drink port very often but I usually get a bottle at Christmas to go with the Stilton. What is the best match for Stilton? or is it one of those traditions that doesn't really make sense? I usually enjoy the paring but feel they tend to work against each other a bit, perhaps I'm not buying the right port?

Arlington, VA here (DC area) also not opposed to making a run to Brewers Art or Monks - I mean Baltimore or Phillie!

NYC availability. Apparently there were some initial problems with label approval in NY. Here is an email response from Anchor that was posted on another beer related board: (good news is that it is now available) "Thank you for your e-mail and interest in Our Special Ale 2003. While there were some initial delays with the label approval process this year, it is now available in New York. Please contact either Phoenix Beverage in Long Island City (718-609-7200) or Premier Beverage in Syracuse (315-445-0677). Also, please contact Lori Montfort, our New York rep at 347-242-6826 for assistance. Please let us know if you need any further help and thanks again for writing. Kind regards from San Francisco, ANCHOR BREWING COMPANY"