Recent content by burnunit

I’ve lately become obsessed with this ingredient in my cooking - I’m wild about its scent and zingy flavor. Has anyone tried using dried wild Sicilian oregano as a brewing spice or hops substitute? I might try it but I’m interested in hearing from anyone else’s experience

Ooh I'd like one of these for sure!

I'm loving BrewSmarts. They have an online interface and an iPhone app (dunno about android). Its Extremely useful. Oh and free!

Thing I don't grasp in this thread is the value placed on speed--few if any of the substances we work with in homebrewing have critical time windows affected by the temperature changes possible with the density and amounts of mass in play. The enzyme reactions don't happen so fast across the...

This recipe is spot freaking on. I'm bottling today, and the flavor and smell coming out of the fermenter and hydrometer cylinder is ...practically perfect in every way. It is extremely hard to screw up this recipe, guys and gals. All that's left is conditioning; and if my sanitation is good and...

I'm really enjoying BrewSmarts which was free and also has a web interface at brewsmarts.com

Adding pasteur champagne yeast using the above suggestions (acclimating the yeast to the high alcohol environment) is working: the fermentation is unstuck and gravity has moved down to 1.004 already. It's significantly freshened up the flavor, too: some minor flavors I was concerned about being...

That's Just what I was thinking! My first AG's were over 6 hours. Now it's about 4 and a half plus or minus—depending on how long I'm letting the boil go and how much mess there is in the kitchen. I had a bit of craziness from an...incident...in which the drainage tube from the lauter tun came...

Grain 10 lbs Maris Otter 3 lbs Vienna Malt 0.5 lbs Crystal Malt (60L) 0.25 lbs Carapils Mash Details Infusion: 4.3 gallons strike water @ 171° F for 60 minutes @153° F Batch sparge by vorlauf, drain, add 3.1 gallons sparge Water @ 168° F and drain again. Volume to Kettle: 6.2...

I love my glass carboys. I use them for primarys and secondarys and if it was convenient to bottle out of them, I would. They're worth paying up to about $30 for, I'd say. I recommend investing in a good way to carry them (like a handle). Price Payed: $26.00 Recommended? Yes Pros: Glass! Easy...

I love my glass carboys. I use them for primarys and secondarys and if it was convenient to bottle out of them, I would. They're worth paying up to about $30 for, I'd say. I recommend investing in a good way to carry them (like a handle). Price Payed: $26.00 Recommended? Yes Pros: Glass! Easy...

FYI, for those of you scoring at home, a copy of hightest's recommendation is here. I have some pasteur champagne dry yeast so I'm using that. I've got a starter going and I'm following the tip of acclimating my yeast. I don't have any superfood around, but I do have energizer--I've added...

Well i thought they WERE at 80-85, because the room temp was 79-85. Like I say, I hadn't counted on the interior of the fermenter going 15-16 degrees above that.

Okay because my brewhouse area (the landing of the basement stairs) has been pretty cool lately, it's getting wintery up here in MN, and I'd had a lot of diacetyl in a recent pale ale, I put a space heater on the landing. After the diacetyl went down in my pale, and I had moved the saison into...

Ha ha! Thanks. But seriously, I also must admit I'm pushing the boundaries of "taking the question on its merits." Straight up, I'd probably just drink pale ale as described, but I haven't nailed my recipe yet, so it's a risk. Tangentially relevant is this item that I would ALSO take the...