re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

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I ended up with a good bit of acetic character after 10 months in my small barrel.

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that's from the amount of oxygen it allows in, right?

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So i wouldn't need to make a starter and step it up for the dregs? That sounds interesting.

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Not really. Start collecting today. Get a jar with some 1.030 wort and just start dumping in dregs as you finish beers. I keep an old 750 around that has a bung/airlock that I use to throw dregs in between batches.

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Whenever you are aging your sour, how long can you keep it in the primary before things go bad? Just wondering if yeast autolysis acts in the same manner as does normal brews.

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As long as you have brett in your blend, you can go for a good while. I've gone a year in the primary with no signs of autolysis.

I racked my little wheat beer yesterday onto the mashed plums. I'm not sure how I am going to get it in the keg without getting a lot of fruit pulp in too, but we shall see. It's going to be a pretty beer, that's for sure. Gonna let it sit on the plums for a couple weeks, then cold crash it for 3-4 days before kegging it to make sure everything that will drop out does so beforehand.

that will probably be my approach as well. I'm thinking of adding the gelatin to the fermenter for a day or two rather than the keg to see if that might help drop stuff out as well.

I guess if it doesn't clear up enough I can do a second gelatin treatment in the keg.

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I guess if it doesn't clear up enough I can do a second gelatin treatment in the keg.

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Do you need to have a trimmed dip tube for using gelatin in keg?

HungryFisherman and I are having some friends in town for 4th of July and they have requested some homebrew. We are about to finish off the Starsan IPA (update below) so we need to start thinking about getting something brewed in the next couple of weeks to have ready for the 4th.

We originally talked about doing a Saison or something pretty light for the summer that the wives can drink on as well before we revisit the IPA (sans Starsan).

I did a little reading on the old google machine and on the TD recipe thread, and it seems that wyeast 3711 French Saison might be a good choice because it's "extract friendly" and pretty low maintenance. Also, I understand the flavors aren't overpowering which might be a good thing since we are hoping to crowd please a little more with this beer.

Does anyone have any good experiences with 3711? Or any comments in particular about making a good extract brew that we will enjoy but will also be enjoyable to people that aren't super familiar with craft beer?



Bonus update on STARS - an IPA (since I know some of you were enjoying our Starsan IPA story). Unfortunately, STARS really fell off this week. We had some pours earlier in the week and it was fine, but had a couple last night and it was a little rough. I'll be honest, HungryFisherman's palate and nose are little more refined than mine and he may jump in with some particular flavors, but I can tell you I was not enjoying it. I was getting kind of a plastic taste out of it and the hop aroma and taste were almost gone it seemed. We may just be getting to the bottom of the keg (since we only kegged 2.5-3 gallons) and maybe we are getting more Starsan into our pours than originally. Sadly, I think its almost time to pour it out.

Saisons are so easy to brew in my opinion, mainly bc I can just throw whatever I have around the brewhouse into the beer.

If you are going to use Wyeast then 3711 is the one to go with, mainly due to how finicky the Belgian strain (forget the number) is on beers. Sometimes it is quick and easy then other times it takes forever to get the job done.

What kind of beer and what kind of bottles? If it is a big beer it may need longer. Once I had some issues when the o-rings in the grolsch bottles needed replacing. It also just may be that bottle, so putting them in a warm place and waiting a week sounds good.

I think getting bottles right is some sort of voodoo