2008 SUMMER COMMUNITY BREW
Just got done brewing a red irish ale. It's sitting in a closet next to the rye beer and dandelion wine. Only have one carboy left so I'll need it for bottling. The kolsch I bottled 10 days ago is still flat. Even cold it is flat. There were some who had trouble getting their kolsch carbonated so maybe it's the yeast just takes a lot longer to get it done. Lake trip coming up in 2 weeks so I hope to have 3 batches of beer to keep my busy while I drown some worms.
DC
Yeah, my Spring BKB Kolsch took over a month to carbonate. I still have one 22oz. bottle left. Bottled on 3/10, stored at 68F, going to open it around 4th of July.
You might try letting that kolsch sit somewhere warmer, say 75 - 80F. Someone said they get good carbonation in a week or so that way.
My Rye beer is slowing and I will be transfering to 2ndry for a day ortwo depending on gravity reading. I'll be bottling the red irish ale in day or two and follow by kegging most of the rye except for 8 or ten bottles of it. Will be using carb tabs for those. Lake t rip next weekend for a week, lots of family so beer will be drank up. Gotta leave some home though for me when I come back. 
So I'll have the rye for swapping ready. How many others have brewed the summer brew yet or will be soon?
DC
Bottled the red irish ale today. Also was going to just transfer the rye beer to 2ndry but the gravity reading was 1.010 so it was pretty much done. I ended up bottling 12 bottles and will keg the rest in the next day or two. I was suprised by the flavor. When I tasted it after boiling it it had a strong hop flavor to it and I thought it was going to be too hoppy. But after fermenting the hops is just noticable but not any where near where it was before.
Also the corriander and orange peel really come through and it tastes very good. Don't know what to expect from the rye or even if it is evident in the brew as I never had a rye beer before. But if anyone has not brewed their summer brew yet I really reccommend this it is very good. The belgian yeast I never used before either but I will use it again. Excellent brew. I used carbtabs for carbonating the 12 bottles so it will be ready in a week.
DC
I've been reading along and just brewed my version of this today. Its my first community brew and I have high hopes.
Extract with grains
Boil Volume: 3 gal
Batch Volume: 5ish gal
0.5# Belgium Pilsner Malt (I think, It was left over from another buyer at the LHBS)
1# Flaked Rye
3# Golden Light DME
2# Wheat DME
1 oz Vanguard 4.4% AA - 60 min
0.5 oz Vanguard 4.4% AA - 15 min
0.5 oz Vanguard 4.4% AA - 5 min
~.75 oz lemon zest at flame out
WLP001 California Ale Yeast
OG: 1.048
I made a 3/4 quart starter for 18hrs (first foray into liquid yeast, and thanks for all the threads related to it). As for the lemon zest, I have a crappy scale so I can't definitively say the weight I used. I used the zest from 4 lemons, which seems like plenty but not sure and too late now.
Took apart my cornelius keg and cleaned it up real good using PBW. Then sanitized it and put it together and hit it with co2 to see if it held pressure. Used soapy water to test all possible leak areas and it's fine. Will be kegging 4 gallons of the summer community brew rye ale tomorrow night.
On another note the kolsch I bottles 3 weeks ago still has bad carbonation level. It forms a head and it quickly goes away and flat beer is left. some had minimal bubble action in beer but it still tastes pretty flat. So a couple questions. I have about twenty 22 ounce bottles of it left so should I:
a) Give it another week or two to see howi t goes? It's at about 72 degrees so I thought it would be fully carbonated by now. I used 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of corn sugar to carbonate 4.25 gallons. Scale was broke so had to resort to cup measure. Instinct tells me it's undercarbonated.
b) Can I uncap all the bottles and add a couple carbtabs and recap? How many should I add? Will all carbonation in bottles be lost when opening the bottles, meaning should I add more than 2?
c) Drink it like it is and possibly just add it to next batch of beer in the boil?
DC
I know I have said it before and I don't mean to be a pain I am just trying to help out.
If there beer forms a nice head but its flat when you drink it, I would reclean your glassware. Rinse a fresh glass under hot water for a few minutes, wipe it our really good with a paper towel, then rerinse and let it drip dry. If you town water is to minerally then you'd be surprised how much soap residue is left in the glass post a dishwasher cycle.
I would also crack open a bottle and taste it right from the bottle. How carbed is it. If it seems flatish from the bottle then you know its not the glassware.
My only other thing to add is that Kolsch yeast is a slow yeast to carbonate. But this does seem a little long.
Just went to secondary with my Spiced Ale, smells great. Didn't get a taste. Will bottle next week.
I brewed up the Summer beer today. The OG was way off and was short by 10 points. Not too worried though, I think its just because the wort and top off water wasn't thoroughly mixed. At the last second I opted for the zest of 1 orange rather than the bitter orange peel. I have no idea how this beer is going to taste but I can't wait to try it.
Sampled the kegged Belgian ale today. WOW. Very thick, creamy, head on it. Real nice orange and corriander flavor to it, not overpowering at all. A real cloudy, good tasting beer.
First time I used a belgian yeast and I'll be making this one again real soon. The redi irish ale taste great but not ready yet. Kolsch is taking it sweet time but slowly getting there.
Had trouble getting the fittings from CO2 and spigot to fit properly on keg fittings. Turns out I had them switched.Lots easier once I fixed that.
DC