Well, This beer wasn't fun.
- Thread starter Fisher kel Tath
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Well, i'm a bit paranoid when I sleep, sounds I'm not used to will wake me up, such as people being near or opening the door to the house...
except then i usually wake up with my hand on a pistol...
except then i usually wake up with my hand on a pistol...
Wow, Kalamazoo must be a rougher place than I realised! I keep a gun in the house, but by the time I got the key to the safe from its hiding spot and unloaked the safe, then got the ammo from its separate safe, loaded the gun and tried to point it at something, the guys would already have got away with my TV (and it's a damned big TV ;D ) or had their way with my wife. Besides the baseball bat is easier to get to, less lethal and safer for the kids to discover.
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My wife used to sleep with a chef's knife under her pillow when I was out of town. She's downgraded to kitchen shears.
I have learned to never come home early from a trip (at night) unannounced.
I have learned to never come home early from a trip (at night) unannounced.
I also sleep with my fermenting beer/mead in the room... takes some getting used to but the gentle bubbling of the airlock can be sort of soothing.
I'd recommend trying some dry malt extract. It tends to store better than liquid and lacks much of the "extract twang" flavor that sounds similar to what you are describing.
Cheers!
I'd recommend trying some dry malt extract. It tends to store better than liquid and lacks much of the "extract twang" flavor that sounds similar to what you are describing.
Cheers!
yea if it was constant i wouldn't mind but it's once every 3 mins it's more like a loud gurgle than a little bubble.
so this beer, is chilling out at ambient air temprature 63-65f till I get a corker and bottles...
so this beer, is chilling out at ambient air temprature 63-65f till I get a corker and bottles...
got bored, hooked my electric thermometer to the carboy it's at 61-62deg F, yeast range is 65-75, but it's still bubbling away...
Checked it, didn't drop any further, but tastes alright, a little acetaldehyde character but it's not unpleasant, imagine with carbonation and serving temprature should be quite tasty.
Bottled today.
Goes quite quickly when using 750ml Belgian bottles.
Which reminds me, whats the max pressure one of those can take?
Goes quite quickly when using 750ml Belgian bottles.
Which reminds me, whats the max pressure one of those can take?
Unless they have a punt (the dent in the bottom), I would treat the Belgian-style bottles like any other beer bottle in terms of pressures. If they do have a punt, how do your bottles compare in thickness to a nice Champagne-style bottle?
No punt (what's the point of a punt anyway?)
Ah, I'm still worried this isn't gonna carb properly, it wasn't clear when I bottled it, but I worry there wasn't enough yeast in it to carb.
Ah, I'm still worried this isn't gonna carb properly, it wasn't clear when I bottled it, but I worry there wasn't enough yeast in it to carb.
Nobody's really sure. It is known however that a punted bottle is more structurally sound than a flat bottomed bottle.
It also separates out the sediment into a thick cake that's less likely to enter the glass.
there are a myriad of other arguments as to why it was added here but the fact remains, whether intended or not, the bottle is stronger, which is what akueck is getting at here.
I'm not sure (though I may be wrong) that the punt itself makes the bottle stronger, I believe it's just convention that bottles made to beer specs are flat bottomed, and that the thicker walled champagne spec bottles have punts. Wine bottles also have punts for example, but are the weakest of all alcohol bottles (that I know of).
The explanation for them that I find most likely is that back in the day when the bottles were all hand blown it helped them sit on a flat surface in a stable manner, something about having less "bottom" to rest on made it more stable. Seems to make sense anyways...
The explanation for them that I find most likely is that back in the day when the bottles were all hand blown it helped them sit on a flat surface in a stable manner, something about having less "bottom" to rest on made it more stable. Seems to make sense anyways...
The punt is all about curvature. The sharp point where a flat bottom meets the sides is structurally weak. Turning into a bottom without flat spots (the punt) makes it stronger. Viola!
That's funny since I used a floor corker, purchased last week, to bottle up a BarleyWine in 750ml Belgian bottles using the proper corks and cages. Sure, it took a little figuring out, but it was 100% do-able... Corked the first one, after setting the stop to what I thought was low enough, then adjusted to get closer to the desired depth. After that, it was almost production line, although a little slower going than using the Grolsch bottles I normally do... I will be getting one of the wire cage tools before doing it again though. I used a phillips head screwdriver to wind up the cage wire... After a couple I looked at my right hand and noticed I was bleeding from my index finger... I must have been nipped by one of the cage caps. Never even felt it.
I'm looking to get some more Belgian style bottles from the LHBS next week. That way I can use some for an old ale sitting on some oak chips as well as a few more brews in process. I'll need to get some more Grolsch bottles too, and maybe I'll finally break down and get some 375ml/12oz bottles and caps (will need to get a capper too
) so that I can give some away to friends/family and not care if they don't return the bottles. I do think that I'll end up with a champagne corker eventually though... I see it as being an easier way to bottle in the Belgian's. Mostly due to the champagne corker being made to take the exposed cork into account. I just wish I could find some dark/black champagne bottles already...
I've read of brewers carbonating up to ~4 CO2 volumes in the Belgian bottles... Not that I would (at least not with what I'm brewing)... I've been carbonating under ~2.5 CO2 volumes so far... Just make sure you have the proper amount of head space under the cork and you should be fine...
That's funny since I used a floor corker, purchased last week, to bottle up a BarleyWine in 750ml Belgian bottles using the proper corks and cages. Sure, it took a little figuring out, but it was 100% do-able... Corked the first one, after setting the stop to what I thought was low enough, then adjusted to get closer to the desired depth. After that, it was almost production line, although a little slower going than using the Grolsch bottles I normally do... I will be getting one of the wire cage tools before doing it again though. I used a phillips head screwdriver to wind up the cage wire... After a couple I looked at my right hand and noticed I was bleeding from my index finger... I must have been nipped by one of the cage caps. Never even felt it.
I'm looking to get some more Belgian style bottles from the LHBS next week. That way I can use some for an old ale sitting on some oak chips as well as a few more brews in process. I'll need to get some more Grolsch bottles too, and maybe I'll finally break down and get some 375ml/12oz bottles and caps (will need to get a capper too
I do think that I'll end up with a champagne corker eventually though... I see it as being an easier way to bottle in the Belgian's. Mostly due to the champagne corker being made to take the exposed cork into account. I just wish I could find some dark/black champagne bottles already...
How much cork did you leave sticking out? I just did 10 bottles with cages recently, but it's an experiment - I left as much cork sticking out as I could (1/4" max, any more and it gets stuck in the corker) and just put the cage on ontop. I'm hoping that the carbonation will push the corks out, where they will be caught by the cages.
I've tried 5 or 6 different regular floor corkers. None will allow the cork to stick out more than a 1/4" or so, any more than that and when the squeezing mechanism opens it slides to the side a little, blocking part of the hole the cork has just been shoved through. If the cork is tall enough to be sticking through that hole at all then it will be caught and cannot be removed without being ruined.
I managed to leave about half the cork sticking out, and it's about 1/8th an inch or so below the cage top.
I'm still horribly worried that there wasn't enough yeast in solution to carbonate the beer, that or it was all dead yeast...
Carbonated with 138-140g of table sugar. (calculator said 135g was needed, but figure i drove off some of the Co2 when moving it)
I'm still horribly worried that there wasn't enough yeast in solution to carbonate the beer, that or it was all dead yeast...
Carbonated with 138-140g of table sugar. (calculator said 135g was needed, but figure i drove off some of the Co2 when moving it)
Sounds like your corker is a different design than what we have around here then, that much sticking out the top would be impossible with ours.
