Recent content by cackxt

When you get to Portland you'll need to check out the Japanese Gardens (near the zoo), the Chinese Water Gardens (in old town), the Horse Brass Tavern (downtown), and of course a few of the 37 breweries in the city. A good place to get all the local brews is the Horse Brass Tavern! Have fun...

Ive steeped specialties using both methods, and I can't notice any decernable difference. I like the method of bring the specialty grains up to 160F (at the same time bringing 2.75 gals to 160F in a seperate pot). Then I place the bag of specialties in a collander and rinse them with the 2.75...

I recently brewed a Kolsch, 2nd attempt, and I added extract late (30min) into the boil and it appears much lighter than the first time I boiled the same recipe when I added extract at the beginning. As long as you allow time for sanitizing it should work fine.

Congrats on your first batch :mug: I wouldnt worry about your small and I mean small error (really not even classified as an error), NIF (nothing is f'd)! One of the best things I did when I first started was to keep a journal for every brew, which allowed me to keep pretty detailed notes about...

^^^^^^^ Yeah That. What type of yeast is it? White Labs pitchable, Wyeast Activator (smack Pack)?

Check out Basic Brewing.com. They have a recent IPA 6 pack experiment that only yielded 1 gal. They bottled straight from the 1gal growler to bottles. James Spencer siphons really well, and actually picked up a few tips from watching it...

Taste is subjective..."do what tastes right!"

Yeah I usually try to start the smack pack 2 days minimum before pitching it. Also the first few times I used a smack pack I didnt shake very hard, now I shake the s*@t out of it and it seems to make a difference as far as propogation.

I brewed an IPA on wednesday morning. Used a Wyeast American Ale smack pack that had been started on Monday evening. The pack was definitely raring to go, as it looked like it would burst. So I pitched the yeast at 11:30am at approx 73F. I fermented in a plastic fermenting bucket in my...

Have yet to have that happen, but I smack mine pretty hard then feel to make sure the "bulge" is no longer there. White Labs is quality as well.

Wow...that's hot! :eek:

Bill Maher Rocks! Can't wait for Real Time to return this month!

I have two LHBS near me and I have mixed feelings about one of them. One of the shops just bought a defunct local microbrewery and has been in the process of moving in and setteling in for 2 months?! They will have a 10bbl system when all is said and done. Anywho, the thing is they are hit or...

I also have the TAD (3 years) and also have had good and bad experiences with it. I haven't tried force carbing with the TAD yet but am interested in experimenting. As far as the bad experiences just a few weeks ago I tapped my Clubhouse Cream Ale and I had a major airleak somewhere in the...