Recent content by BlackVelvetBand

From what I recall, there were a few screws holding the shelf in position - a couple on either side. Once those were gone, I slowly - and with the right amount of trepidation - bent the tray downwards until it was parallel with the back wall and out of the way. One obvious thing was that this...

A bit late to reply, but in the hopes that someone else stumbles across this thread someday, I'll just say that I got the Kenmore 461.98475 on CL today for $50, with the blind hope that it'd work. I'd checked a few other projects that made due with a 4.4 (or less!) cu. ft. mini fridge (the...

Shouldn't harm anything. There are times when brewing a beer that you may wish to monitor the gravity before fermentation is over. So you crack open the lit/airlock and get a sample. As long as you don't drop something in it, it's usually not going to become contaminated. If the yeast aren't...

Dunno. Going out on a limb here, but starting with cold(er) water would give you a chance to at least get some maltase/dextrinase/glucanase/etc. activity going, wouldn't it? Not significant, since I think the temp. ranges for those enzymes are somewhat small. Plus, if you're not planning on...

Yup, I had their Brown not too long ago and although I've grown to really like their IPA and I don't think the Brown topped it, it was pretty good stuff. I'd also recommend the taproom. It's "cozy", and by "cozy" I mean there's room for about 5 people before it gets crowded. But they've got...

It's been a bit warmer than usual here in Colorado and after finally getting around to cutting back my dead bines (they'd been yellow/browning for only a couple of weeks) down to the soil in the 7.5 gallon containers, I noticed some new budding a few inches in length on one of the plants. When...

Yeah, that makes sense. I might've been overthinking the SMaSH concept a bit too much. It'd be interesting to try - if only for the novelty - if I were one to roast my own malts, but given that I've never done that, your suggestion seems a more logical (and easier) one...

Fair enough point. I guess the point of it all would be trying to see the line between what distinguishes a stout from just an ordinary SMaSH recipe made with any-other darkened grain; that is, if a single-grain "stout" would even taste like a stout at all, or if would come out as a...

Going on the point lowlife made, a partially non-roasted + partially roasted bill - even if the same grain - would not be a SMaSH, that pretty much rules it out, I guess. Typically, the roasted grains don't have much in the way of fermentable sugars, right? So you'd either have to use way more...

I wasn't sure which forum to stick this question under, and it might be a silly question in general, but has anyone done/heard of/drank a SMaSH stout? I searched the site but didn't find any stout recipes done this way. I was wondering about it, and I guess it's possible, but it sounds a bit...

Any news on how yours turned out?

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll keep 'em covered outside until it gets really cold - whatever I think might be too cold - and then maybe bring them inside overnight. But like you pointed out, 60*F might be warm enough to spur on some growth. If that happens, would I just trim back any green...

Alright, so I've perused through quite a few other threads and I think I've got an idea of what to do, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to seek some further opinions. I've got two first-year hops: one Centennial, one Goldings. Everything considered, both grew well this year and exceeded my...

I just figured I'd put forward my $.02: last week, I got a 6-pack of Upslope; they were giving away a 7th can with a purchase of every 6-pack, so I got the pack of Pale Ale and the 7th was their IPA. I'm not sure, maybe I had been drinking too much blonde ale recently, because my first judgment...