Grr its pouring rain

[Tweek]

I havent had any brew time on my vacation due to moving and holiday gatherings. Now on my brew day it is pouring rain. What a drag. Think Ill brew anyways. Should make for an interesting day, first brew at the new place in pouring rain.

[Shaun Goeckner]

Look at it like this Tweek:

All that humidity in the air will keep a bit more dust and contaminents down a bit more. And who wants ta sit around brewing beer in the hot Sun anyway......just remember it could ALWAYS be worse......


Hey, do you extract or al grain brew? I made my first all grain batch and had a horribly in-efficient mash ( or lauter ) at pre-boil 5.15 gallons ( thought it was 6 at the time ) and a final 4.2 gallons at 1.041 post boil. Tasted good, but went dead after 3 VERY active days ( a big 6" krausen and big burbles every second) but my hydrometer broke. How long would you expect 1.041 to get to say 1.014 using an IrishAle wyeas at 68 degrees, warming up to perhaps 70 during the day?

[Tweek]

Im all grain. Dont worry too much about your efficiency. Over time youll pick it up and it will get better. Just remember that any homebrewer that says they are close to 100% is full o shite :)


As far as whether or not your beer could be done, I would say yeah it is possible. Go ahead and transfer to your secondary and let it clear for a few weeks, by the time it is clear it will be done for sure.

[Shaun Goeckner]

Sorry, took a nap!

Right on, part of what has me puzzeled is that it's prety darn clear now, meaning if I fill a 5 oz rock glass I can easily read a label thru it. It's actually clearer than most of my Brown Ales. I'm gonna rack and throw some gelatin on it Sunday, and bottle Tuesday. Gotta go to Las Vegas for 3-4 weeks Tuesday night. Thats where all my gear is, I just got my mash tun for xmas, so I picked up a couple buckets and fired up my Turkey fryer.

Good luck with your brew!

PS..In retrospect, I see what I can do better next time. I should be able to hit my target 30 p/p/g, but I had 1 catastrophe after another, the hydrometer, the thermometer and the sterilizing spray bottle all breaking. I'm lucky my boil pot did'nt spill!

Shaun

[Shaun Goeckner]

by the way, is grocery store bought un-flavored gelatin ok to use, or do I have to drive 30 miles to the brew shack?

[Tweek]

Im not sure on the gelatin. Personally I just let time do its thing and I dont really deal with fining agents other than some irish moss in the boil. Its hard to imagine that there would be a big diference.

O and I decided to drain a few and watch some movies with the wife instead of trying to figure out my new brew environment in the pouring rain.

[tubetek]

Howdy All-
Grocery store gelatin UNFLAVORED!!! is fine to use, however you said it was clear enough to read thru...Does it really need any additional fining? Are you planning on entering a competition? Oherwise, I'd probably not worry...Enjoy!
TT

[Herb Ninja]

Its been raining here for days tweek, don't feel bad. I went camping for a few days, new years thing, it was miserable. Lots of rain, air matress had several leaks, and I drank too much beer. Now i'm back home, got bug bites, a sore back, but luckily my morale is high. Good luck on your brew, if you get around to brewing it that is. Peace, HN- :)

[S.F.B.]

So, what did you brew? How'd it come out?

Man, if I had to wait until it stopped raining to brew I would have maybe 3 weeks between Nov. and April. :D

[Shaun Goeckner]

Wow. Thats amazing. Sometimes you just finish with something unexpected. I went ahead and drove to the Shop to borrow a hydrometer and took a sample with me. Once I racked into my secondary I could see it was not clear yet, so I dropped 1 tsp. gelatin and next morning Whoa! That was faster than Isinglas ever was. But my FG was a perfect 1.010 for a nice 4.0% with deep red color and tastes like it'll be a decent brew once it sits in the bottle a few weeks.

I'm off to Vegas next week, I'm gonna get proficient with my all grain brewing, you watch.
S-