Thanks for that tip vortex, I might try it. By the way, by 'roused' do you mean a slow stir? bob- I started it a week ago and the original gravity was 1052, and no I wasn't given an expected final gravity. I'm assuming that use of a specialty malt instead of simple sugars would place it higher though? It's sat on 1020 for two days but the last measurement was 1-2 days ago. Am I freaking out for no reason?
Swirl the fermenter to resuspend the yeast but don't make it splash is the general rule of thumb. If you're using brewmate or beersmith or beertools they should give an expected final/finishing gravity estimate. 1052 - 1020 does sound a little high depending on the ABV you were shooting for (it's about 4.3%). Being that it's been a week it's possible it's fermented out though.
My goodness. Bry97 is quite aggressive isn't it. Looked in the fermenter this afternoon and it looks like a cloud of yeast swarming around like crazy. Put it down Sunday, was hoping it had settled so I could add the remaining Chinook.
Also check that your hydrometer is correct, if you are using a Belgian yeast I'd be surprised if it stops at 1020. Some Belgian yeast strains throw a hissie fit and stop fermenting if you reign in the temporature (ie cool it) partway through.
And beyond that, being belgian, you WANT some funky yeast derived esters in there, that's half the belgian character. I ferment anything belgian at 21C personally. Well, rather, I start it at 18C for the first two days then ramp it up to 21C
My Chubby Cherub is sitting at 1012. Had a quick taste after I took a reading and geez I'm really looking forward to this one. Really need to reel in my spendings though, quality vs price has been proportionate, but I need to wind it back to a realistic price and try and improve some of the standard kits for a good result. Maybe just revisit standard kits with hop additions, DME instead of Sugar, Longer fermentation, Maybe some Maltodex to give it a little body etc.
Look at Mini BIAB. A few bucks extra outlay, but you can get started with a 19L BigW pot and a cheap bag. Ingredients for AG are much cheaper per L than extract, especially if you buy in bulk.
I have some part-sacks of uncrushed malt (pilsner and wheat) that's over 18 months old. Strictly it's at the end of it's life but if it's stored cool, dark and dry in airtight containers and uncrushed it can last that long easily. So long as the malt is still crunchy, it's good to use. As soon as it's crushed it should be used within a couple of days. Most LHBS worth a cent will sell you a crushed recipe pack ready to go to start with so you don't have to jump in and buy a mill and sacks of malt to start with. For the record a 25kg sack of base malt goes for around $65 - $70 which is about $2.60/kg
I think all of em sell crushed (and you can specify BIAB crush too which I always find better efficiency at a slightly smaller/finer crush). Worst case have had pre-milled grain work for a few weeks after crushing but it does lose some of it's flavor.
25kg bags of Joe White Ale and Pilsner malt at Keg King are <$50. I'd hazard a guess that a 2yo bag of uncrushed grain is still going to be fresher than any off the shelf extract.
Unless the LHBS is brewcraft. They don't know the meaning of all-grain - at least the ones here. Not a bad price for that. Never used Joe White myself, usually stick to barrett burston, thomas fawcett and weyermann.
Not sure who my LHBS actually is. But I haven't been in for a while as I don't remember them being massively helpful. I've tried getting certain things from them and they wanted me to order the minimum order because they didn't want stock sitting. Would have cost me 60 dollars for liquid malt extracts that I should have had for 15 or so. I used http://nationalhomebrew.com.au/ last fortnight, he's reasonably close to my location and freighted really quickly. So I'll probably invest in some grain off him early next year.
Bottled the Chubby Cherub today, Started at 9ish just cleaning bottles and cleaning up after bottling. I really think I'll switch to kegs next year.
If you're into your beer you might want one of these perhaps : ) "Beer Tube 3L Double Pack $99.95 Free Freight to AUS" https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/129933
Having a couple of pints of my latest effort a brew Adelaide golden ale all grain recipe pack brewed with a Trappist yeast. Awesome.
Anyone want four kegs? moving house soon, I've got too many of them at present, happy to sell off four of them. All my kegs are clean, hold pressure fine, but of course they have cosmetic dings and scratches and whatnot on the outside. I'll do four with brand new seals for $200 if anyone wants some . All are ball lock. I'm happy to try and find four matching ones if that's important to you, pretty sure I have four that all have the same posts etc EDIT - I mean 18L corny kegs of course
