November homebrewing

Packaged a couple of beers recently. I bottled a gluten-free pale ale that I will be mostly giving to a friend - man, I had forgotten what a pain bottling is! It was especially annoying because I used only 500mL bottles (he wouldn't want bombers) and it took longer than usual because I gave them all a proper soak in PBW this time. I've had a few batches get infected recently, because I thought that simply rinsing my bottles and then sanitizing them was good enough. Apparently it wasn't, since I had a lot of gushers in my last batch!

My other beer was the accidental imperial black IPA, which I kegged last week. I've had trouble getting a completely closed transfer to work, especially with hoppy beers, because it always seems to clog when I try to put it in through the liquid post on my corny. At this point, I think I'm going to give up on using the posts and just take the top off the keg like in the old days. Unfortunately, it wasn't just bothersome going in - I tried to take an early sample last night and it would barely pour. Think I'll have to take apart the post and maybe clear out the dip tube.

 

Thanks for the tips. I was thinking about blasting the jar with CO2 to try to keep as much oxygen out as possible, but filling it with wort is a good idea

 

I just bottled a batch of the AP NE IPA. This one is going to my office holiday party. This was my third batch of it, but actually the first where I followed the recipe to the letter. It really is a great recipe.

I'm getting kegs soon, finally, I might do another batch of it next week as my first kegged batch. If only I could find a reliable, consistent source for Galaxy hops in bulk...

 

Co2 would be good if you have it handy. I suppose I could run downstairs and fill it with co2 and run back upstairs and screw it on...but lazy.

 

Working on my Melted Faces & Boozy French Toast imperial milk stout. Just added my second addition of 12oz of b-grade maple syrup. First 12oz gave it a subtle maple flavor, hoping the next addition boosts that quite a bit. Sitting at 10.3%abv before the second maple addition.

Once maple flavor is dialed in I will add my rye whiskey/oak/vanilla/cinnamon tincture.

 

2 packets of Safale S-04 in a 2L starter

 

I've got some issues with my tap as of yesterday... tons of foam. I'm using a picnic tap on this one with 4' of line. Can't figure out what's causing the issue. The temp in the keezer is set at 37*F and a few measurements of pulled beer read within 1*F or so.

I have the pressure set at 9 psi right now. It was foaming even more when the pressure was dropped below that.

I've read through a few threads that suggest there may be an issue with the poppet or dip tube, but I'm damn near certain that it's not the dip tube. The last suggested issue from that thread was overcarbonation. When I taste what little beer comes out, it almost seems undercarbed, but I'm not sure if that's a result of how much foam I'm getting. I hate to pull the PRV and lose some of the aroma (if that is in fact a cause for concern).

May start a separate thread on this so this stays on topic, but hoping I can figure out what's going on this evening.