Recent content by brewhawk35

PM sent a few days ago.

Sorry about that. I should have said I also use it to cold crash in the upper 30's. When I lager I make sure I bottled off everything in the kegs, or have a beer that is better served a bit warmer, so I can use the temp controller to do a lager ferment in the upper 40's to 50's. It takes some...

When fermenting lagers I actually put them in the freezer side so they are in the high 30's or low 40's. I generally use the fridge side for storing bottles but have used it to ferment in the summer and with a vigorous ferment the fermentation temp stays between 65-68.

I use a side by side fridge. Use a temp. controller on the freezer side and set it at 38 or lower. You should be able to fit four kegs in there or 3 and co2. The fridge side will be about 57 degrees and be able to fit two carboys if you build a shelf. It is also nice good for storing bottles...

thanks for the reply. That might be a nice starting spot. Why did you use Irish ale yeast?

Has anyone tried to clone the Funky Buddah Maple Bacon Coffee Porter. I haven't been able to get this beer where I live but was hoping someone could point me in the right direction so that I could brew something similar.

How did your clone attempt come out?

How did your clone attempt come out?

One thing to keep in mind is most yeast tend to ferment slower with lower temperatures. So in general if you ferment the same wort one at the high side of the recommended temperature range and one at the bottom end usually the high end will finish fermenting first. This isn't necessarily a...

Before I had a wort chiller and even now that I do one of the most helpful thing that I have found to help cool down your wort is to either move your ice water around in a whirlpool motion around your pot or to swirl your pot around in the ice bath (also exposing a greater surface area of your...

Couldn't agree more. Once you can control the temperature you will have less off flavors and a much cleaner brew.

The short answer is yes you will have something drinkable. Just will not be as bitter as it was intended. Bittering hops are added with 90-45 minutes remaining in the boil. Flavoring hops are added mid boil usually 40-20 minutes left in the boil. Aroma hops are added with 15 minutes are less...

Everything looks great. As a new homebrewer myself here are some things that I have learned over the last year. ALWAYS use a blowoff hose for primary fermentation, airlocks should be used for secondary fermentation when you are dry hopping, adding additional flavorings or aging a beer in...

I can't say that I read this entire post but wouldn't it have been easiest to just boil up 2 more gallons of water and, after cooling it, add it to the carboy in half or quarter gallon increments till you brought your OG down to where you wanted it?

I am working on a kegerator/fermentation chamber build and while I was putting things back together I realized that the seal for the freezer side has accidentally been thrown away. Should I just buy a new gasket for a $100 or is there another alternative.?