Stone Levitation clone question

[Beer-lord]

If you drink a few pints on an empty stomach, yes, yelling at the keg DOES carb it faster. C'mon, you mean you don't do this every time you keg? What's wrong with you people?

[Kealia]

Clearly I have a lot of learning left to do!

Just a few more days...

[Kealia]

Tonight was the night I had scheduled to taste this batch but I feel like I either have a cold in the works, allergies (which I actually don't have), or am just tired and not feeling great. You know that feeling when you almost feel something coming on and you know your taste buds are going to be off? Yeah, that feeling.

But, curiosity got the better of me and I knew that I needed to pull a pint or something out of the keg to clear the gelatin anyway, so I pulled a pint. Not actually a full pint, even. The first 6 ounces were pure sludge. Not just trub - sludge from the gelatin. After that it was crystal clear. Wowsers. I pulled a bout 2 ounces to sample it and even with jacked up taste buds tonight it was good.

I've been very concerned with it being overly sweet due to the higher-than-anticipated finish (1.016) but I think you'd be hard pressed to tell. It's crisp, with a good flavor and lingering bitterness. At just about 4% (due to the slight under attenuation) I could drink a LOT of this. I cranked up the CO2 to carb it up just a bit more for the next 48 hours so I can bottle from the keg and get these shipped to those that I've promised bottles to in the next few days.

Now I just need to not get sick so I can really appreciate this SOON.

[Beer-lord]

As I prepared to keg mine this weekend and use gelatin as well, I wonder, is there any chance the gelatin sludge can clog my taps? I am likely finding things to pick on but it's made me wonder if some of it can get stuck and cause problems.
I do clean my lines after EVERY keg change which I'm told isn't needed.......see, my OCD rears it's head again.

[Kealia]

Based on my vast expertise with using gelatin in the keg once, no

This is the first time I've used it in the KEG, but I can tell you that within about 8oz or so it pouring clean so I don't think anything got stuck. It was sludge, but not solid so I don't see any issues. And, you can hop on over to HBT and read threads and threads about people who use it in the keg without issue.

[Beer-lord]

Thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to try this with my Levitation after it gets kegged and chilled. I can't say I'll do it all the time but it's good to know that it works well. And, it's cheap and easy.

[Kealia]

I'm feeling a bit stuffy this morning so I'm likely not drinking tonight. But, I will pour a taster and take a pic of this one just to show how clear it came out.
I just don't want to waste my muted taste buds on a full pint.

[Inkleg]

Must be nice to come here and chit chat while everyone else works. Trust me I would if I could.

I did to different beers with gelatin in the keg and after a few cloudy ounces the rest poured VERY clear.

[Kealia]

Must be nice to come here and chit chat while everyone else works. Trust me I would if I could.

This is why they invented conference calls.

[Kealia]

Tonight was the much anticipated first official pour (minus the trub pull and taster the other night). It was paired with chow mein (not pictured ). I'm having an issue lately with pics - the phone doesn't capture the color and clarity I want and my DSLR takes over 5MB pics so Imageshack doesn't like them. So...for now you get camera pics.

It's been hot out lately so the glass has been fogging up, even with a 40 degree or so pour. Oh well, you can still get a sense of the color.


Decent little head, which I'm not overly focused on these days, so it is what it is.



About 1/2 way through the beer the glass and beer equalized more and the clarity started to be more evident.



I though the beer would be a little malty and have a muted hop flavor because of the under-attenuation and I *think* it did mute some of the flavor but I wouldn't call this sweet at all. It's got a nice little flavor to it, but I still think it could be a bit crisper. I dunno, I always pick apart my beers so we'll see what a few folks see after they've tried it.

I do love the fact that this one is such a great session beer because I love drinking it.

[Beer-lord]

Ron, I'm kegging this tomorrow and I'm going to send you one of mine when my promised beers go out to you on Tuesday. I'm bottling just 2 before I keg and 'gelatinize' it but since I have beer going out to you, I'm sure you won't mind a bottle primed beer with some sediment in the bottom. At least you can somewhat compare the taste.

I've not even checked my gravity...it's 3 weeks, I need the fermenter and it's planned and that's that. I talked to myself and myself told myself to go ahead.

[Kealia]

Sounds great to me. At least you didn't end up arguing with yourself. Been there, done that, lost the argument!

[Beer-lord]

Got it kegged this morning. Ended up high as almost all my beers seem to be. 1.021 but my OG was supposed to be 1.052 and was 1.057 so my FG was supposed to be 1.016 and it ended up exactly.05 higher.
Can't figure out what it is with my new pot and settings that have me coming out high but it doesn't seem to have any bad effects on the taste.
This one came in at just over 4.5% ABV so its right there.

Didn't taste hoppy enough so in a week or so, I may add some dry hops to the keg. It's way too early to tell.

[Inkleg]

Ok, enough of this Levitation talk already. Y'all forced my hand and I had to go pour a glass. It's been on the gas one week today so still a little early. Mine started at 1.048, down to 1.011 so 5%, just a nice Amber to have on tap. Nice flowery/citrus smell on the nose and on the tongue. Man I love Amarillo burps.

Levitation 2.0.JPG (66.69 KiB) Viewed 2529 times

[Beer-lord]

Put the Levitation in the kegerator early yesterday and 30ish hours later, added some gelatin. I'm rushing this to be ready for the games on Sunday. I'll carb 1 day at 30 psi, 1 day at 20 and the rest at 10-12. That'll be 6 days and usually that works.
I noticed the recipe we're using has more IBU's than Stone shows (Jamil discusses this too) but my test jar wasn't all that bitter. If by Saturday it doesn't taste hoppy enough. I may just dry hop a bit in the keg. Or, just brew it again.