Questions related to splitting recipes -- I have a couple of 5 gal recipes I'd like to make, but have only 3 gal carboys (and only want to make 2.5 gal at a time anyway). If anyone has any insight on these, I would greatly appreciate hearing it.
1) I know that the hops are subject to oxidation once I open the sealed foil-plastic packs. If I only want to use a portion of the hops, would I be able to put the unused hops back into an airtight bag and store for a time? Could I freeze the leftovers? Or should I just buy a new bag?
2) If I wanted to make 5 gal, but separate into two 3 gal fermenters, would I have to worry about vertical compositional variation of the wort in the brewpot (i.e., so that if I filled one carboy and then the other, I would have to worry that the compositions of the worts in each would be different?)? My instinct is that, after the boiling, the wort is fairly homogenous -- anyone have any experience with this?
And a beer finishing question: just bottled my first batch (a kolsch), and tasted it pre-bottling. It was kind of gross -- had kind of a sharp, almost soapy taste up front (though the aftertaste was good). Will this clean up with conditioning? And if not, any idea what I might have done wrong?
Thanks much for any help ---
Splitting recipes --hop stability, wort homogeneity
B-Brite and PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash) are both great products made specifically for the brewery. Oxyclean is the identical chemical to B-Brite, and it's usually a little cheaper. Get the Oxyclean Free, it lacks any additional detergents or perrfumes.
You can make a cleaner equivalent to PBW by using 1/3 Tbs Oxyclean & 2/3 Tbs TSP-Substitute (sold in the paint section of the hardware store, sometimes called TSP-PF or TSP-90, but not TSP. I get Red Devil brand.) per gallon of water.
You can make a cleaner equivalent to PBW by using 1/3 Tbs Oxyclean & 2/3 Tbs TSP-Substitute (sold in the paint section of the hardware store, sometimes called TSP-PF or TSP-90, but not TSP. I get Red Devil brand.) per gallon of water.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP