Home of the BrewNosers

Hi everyone,

I'm from the north end of Halifax. I started out brewing festa brews... that lasted for one batch. I have since been been brewing the extract grain kits from the Noble Grape for about a year now. Today was a big day for me.... my first time not using one of their recipes (Going for a chocolate coffee stout).

I am very interested in making the jump to all grain brewing and cant wait to start picking your brains to try to learn more about it.

Thanks in advance for your help... I am sure I will be asking lots of questions soon . Thanks to the Noble Grape for sending me to this group.

Rick

Welcome!

What Noble Grape location pointed you this way?

What do you currently have for a pot? Is it big enough to do all grain batches? ontariobeerkegs.com has a sweet deal on 15g brewpots

Welcome aboard!

Another brewer in the neighbourhood.

Welcome!

Welcome.

Something wrong with the Festabrews?

You dont get to play with your beer before drinking it
no excuse to spend $$$$ on toys to brew with.
Ever held a festa brew day party?? Maybe for the tapping of the keg, but not the brewing.

Hi Jimmy,

It was the noble grape in buyers lake which suggested your site.

I aM currently brewing with a 15qt pot, so by the sounds of things I'm going to need a bigger one. Thanks for the tip on the on where to get a good deal on one.

Rick

Tony,

I have no issues with the festa brews, I know lots of people who use them. I just liked the idea of having a bit more freedom so I quickly switched to grain/extract kits. I find the results our much better and have had a few friends switch over from festa brews after trying some of my beers. ( not saying they are anything special... Still have lots to learn)

Rick

The more you move up the fresher beer becomes. It's a beautiful thing!

Welcome. Let us know how the chocolate coffee stout turns out.

Welcome to the forum, Rick!

Stusbrews wrote:You dont get to play with your beer before drinking it
no excuse to spend $$$$ on toys to brew with.
Ever held a festa brew day party?? Maybe for the tapping of the keg, but not the brewing.

All true,

rickc wrote:Tony,

I have no issues with the festa brews, I know lots of people who use them. I just liked the idea of having a bit more freedom so I quickly switched to grain/extract kits. I find the results our much better and have had a few friends switch over from festa brews after trying some of my beers. ( not saying they are anything special... Still have lots to learn)

Rick

I hear you. Just yanking your chain a little.
Every brew we do is special, don't put your efforts down.

Cheers

homebrewcrew wrote:Welcome. Let us know how the chocolate coffee stout turns out.

Hi,

The I tried the stout yesterday. (its about 3 weeks aged now) Its really good, but its got a really sweet taste to it so not everyone likes it, but I do!

Also I had an issue with some yeast clumps floating on top of the beer? I'm not sure what caused this to happen, but they are floating on top in all of the bottles? There are no strange smells or flavors so I do not believe that the beer is contaminated. Suggestions to make sure it doesn't happen again/ what may have caused this would be appreciated.

If I make this beer again, I will tone down the coffee next time, as I find it is a bit much.

Thanks,

Rick

Hi Rick,

How is the carbonation level? That will give us an idea if the yeast or priming sugar amounts may have been off (can you give us those details?). What if you took a bottle, shook it a bit to suspend all of the yeast, grab the clumps, and put it back in the fridge for a few days. Does that help?

OG and FG would help.

So 3 weeks in the bottles its is carbonating, but carbonation is a bit on the low side right now. I'm hoping in another week or so it will be a bit better. I will give the shaking a try and let you know. Thanks

OG=1.062
SG=1.02