Otto Von Blotto Posted July 28, 2019 Author Share Posted July 28, 2019 I don't use a refractometer, my hydrometer is designed to be read at the bottom of the meniscus, but even if it's at the top you can get level with that and still read it. I've worked out with mine that the difference between the top and bottom of the meniscus is two points on the hydrometer, so if I have a cloudy sample I read from the top and add 4 points (hydro reads 2 points low). But I read it as close to eye level as I can, as it distorts more when the angle is higher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 17 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said: Cheers HH - got it in one - yeah I did a long boil... so will hafa see how it turns out. A quick taste on the SG sample suggests it is quite bitter... but we will hafta see how it turns out with the secondary ferment and a few schpritzigs thrown in ; ) Well, I think it depends on the beer. I did an IPA once, hopped with Motueka and Galaxy, bittered with a long boil of Galaxy and fermented with an English yeast strain. I loved the soft mouthfeel and smooth hoppy flavour without much bite. Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 48 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: I don't use a refractometer, my hydrometer is designed to be read at the bottom of the meniscus, but even if it's at the top you can get level with that and still read it. I've worked out with mine that the difference between the top and bottom of the meniscus is two points on the hydrometer, so if I have a cloudy sample I read from the top and add 4 points (hydro reads 2 points low). But I read it as close to eye level as I can, as it distorts more when the angle is higher. Cool. This new glassy boy seems a nice bit of (fragile) gear and seems to read spot on in rainwater... As for brew, I get the cyclinder as level as I can on bench and take a phone-photo as close as I can. Then put my glasses on, and zoom the picture right in. I am not trying to win any HB competitions and it seems to work ok for me. Will have a crack at a 'level read' too. Cheers. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 28 minutes ago, porschemad911 said: Well, I think it depends on the beer. I did an IPA once, hopped with Motueka and Galaxy, bittered with a long boil of Galaxy and fermented with an English yeast strain. I loved the soft mouthfeel and smooth hoppy flavour without much bite. Cheers, John Thanks for that John! Yeah I will need to wait and see what comes out of the bottle in the end before declaring "brewing-bankruptcy" ; ) Am hoping it might work out ok. It is great to see what other brewers are finding - and I will try some other combinations in the future with Galaxy. Cheers John. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Saison at 1.008 after 10 days, so about 5.3% which is disappointing. Judging by the wort it looks like it's finished. Had a taste but not sure what a Saison is supposed to taste like! It tastes ok just "different"? Anyway will let it sit until tomorrow then probably bottle or should I let it go for a bit to settle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 1 hour ago, ozlizard said: Saison at 1.008 after 10 days, so about 5.3% which is disappointing. Judging by the wort it looks like it's finished. Had a taste but not sure what a Saison is supposed to taste like! It tastes ok just "different"? Anyway will let it sit until tomorrow then probably bottle or should I let it go for a bit to settle? Canna help you OzLiz… no idea of Saisons - but there was a suggestion about ferments parking up and then doing a yeast re-pitch to get things going again... think that might have been with heavier SG brews... but might be worth considering.... the little I know of brewing I would definitely recommend not rushing into bottling... What temps have you been running at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 1 hour ago, ozlizard said: Saison at 1.008 after 10 days, so about 5.3% which is disappointing. Judging by the wort it looks like it's finished. Had a taste but not sure what a Saison is supposed to taste like! It tastes ok just "different"? Anyway will let it sit until tomorrow then probably bottle or should I let it go for a bit to settle? What temp did you have it at mate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 (edited) Temps were 18-20 did drop a bit below so I moved it into a warmer spot wrapped in a doona so been 20 for the last two days. No rush to bottle, so I will check again tomorrow and probably leave it until Wednesday to bottle. I think part of the ABV "issue" could be that the OG was too low (1.048 instead of 1.064 according to the Brewers Friend recipe). Edited July 28, 2019 by ozlizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbert Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Doing a bit of a cheese this one. A fwk from the local home brew store. Octoberfest by ESB with California ale yeast. Looking forward to that one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 5 hours ago, ozlizard said: Saison at 1.008 after 10 days, so about 5.3% which is disappointing. Judging by the wort it looks like it's finished. Had a taste but not sure what a Saison is supposed to taste like! It tastes ok just "different"? Anyway will let it sit until tomorrow then probably bottle or should I let it go for a bit to settle? I'd let it go a bit longer. It might be done but I am always pretty cautious. I'll have to check the FG of the last one I made. I'm confident it was under 1.008 though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 3 hours ago, drewbert said: Doing a bit of a cheese this one. Mmmmm, cheese beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbert Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 20 minutes ago, Popo said: Mmmmm, cheese beer When typos make it seem more interesting than it really is ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 So didn’t think I’d get it done but got the latest version of my pale ale in the FV today. Back to work tomorrow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 21 hours ago, Popo said: I'd let it go a bit longer. It might be done but I am always pretty cautious. I'll have to check the FG of the last one I made. I'm confident it was under 1.008 though. Spot on Popo, down to 1.005 today so will keep it going. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 26 minutes ago, ozlizard said: Spot on Popo, down to 1.005 today so will keep it going. Belle is a beast 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 I did the isinglass and polyclar additions to my brown ale yesterday, isinglass around lunch and polyclar later in the arvo because I didn't wanna faff around with it today. It will be kegged on Friday, now to see if the pilsner lasts that long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) On 6/23/2019 at 9:35 AM, Lab Rat said: I've put down the Yorkshire Square . Only change form the Coopers recipe is I used Nottingham instead of US04. Had solid results from this when I used without temp control so happy my HBS has it back in stock. What is the ideal temp for this? Coopers say 21C for US, but Notts works at pretty low temps. It's currently on 21 and going off... This one looks like a fail. Any ideas? Bottled for 3 weeks now, and so far only 1 or 2 a bottles carbed up. My PETS had a mishap when the box broke, so I initially put it down to some damaged ones. But the swingtops I've opened are barely carbed as well. Did everything right here. All bottles carefully sugared. After a cool week in the garage, I moved them into the fridge and inkbird with a heat pad at 24C for 2 weeks. Still nuthin. While that's been going on, my Scotch ale has barely 10 days bottling in similar conditions and is good to drink already. Edited July 30, 2019 by Lab Rat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Saison has been at 1.005 for 3 days, now at day 13. Must be getting close eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, ozlizard said: Saison has been at 1.005 for 3 days, now at day 13. Must be getting close eh? Possibly done. Most of the ones I did with belle finished around there. Some a little lower. I really hope you enjoy the style Edited July 31, 2019 by The Captain!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozlizard Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 36 minutes ago, The Captain!! said: I really hope you enjoy the style Yeah me too, it smells ok, bit cloudy but that's the style I believe. Well time to get bottling and we will know in about 2 weeks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 33 minutes ago, ozlizard said: Yeah me too, it smells ok, bit cloudy but that's the style I believe. Well time to get bottling and we will know in about 2 weeks! Hopefully. It’ll be like nothing you have ever tasted before................probably Good luck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RepSpec Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Got my Tower 10ipa (style) in the FV at the moment...just about to cold crash...drop the temp down on the inkbird to 4c and closed the fridge. Took 2 steps away from the fridge back into the cold Melbourne air...and thought why not be a good boy and save some money and just leave it in the cold air. Should be good in a few minutes hahahaha 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 (edited) It actually is smart. You'll likely need to finish it off in the fridge, but for the first overnight after primary is finished, good move Repspec. I like Karl Strauss beers, so let us know how it turns out. Cheers & good luck with the brew, Lusty. Edited July 31, 2019 by Beerlust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 On 7/30/2019 at 7:27 PM, Lab Rat said: This one looks like a fail. Any ideas? Hey LR - Warm them up and give them some more time. I recently had a similar situation with an English Bitter. After two weeks conditioning inside in a gas ducted heated house, the PET bottles had very little pressure in them. Another brew, a week younger, conditioning in the same room had rock hard PET's. Go figure? However, nearly four weeks in the bottle and the English Bitter bottles have hardened up nicely. I will give a couple a try over the coming weekend. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 On 7/31/2019 at 5:55 PM, RepSpec said: Got my Tower 10ipa (style) in the FV at the moment...just about to cold crash...drop the temp down on the inkbird to 4c and closed the fridge. Took 2 steps away from the fridge back into the cold Melbourne air...and thought why not be a good boy and save some money and just leave it in the cold air. Should be good in a few minutes hahahaha If you're p!$$@d (like I am right now) & scrolled back up to this photograph, the FV looks like it's hovering above the ground, & the oil mark on the concrete looks like its shadow. I'll let myself out... 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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