Recent content by CaptYesterday

You didn't specify a yeast, but I'm assuming you're looking at using a higher attenuating strain like American Ale yeast. With a target ABV of 11% it looks like you're shooting for an FG of 1.026ish for an apprent attentuation of 76.4%. With all that malt, I wouldn't be afraid of mashing even...

http://www.cargill.com/food/ap/en/news/2011/NA3041196.jsp Saw this online today. Could be worth checking out...when its available next year. Timing is nice because I'd been considering trying a chocolate stout using cocoa powder of cacao nibs, guess this will eventually give us a third option.

8 oz in a 1.070 gravity batch will leave plenty of sweetness. I used a half lb in an IPA that fermented from 1.075 down to 1.012 and it balanced out the bitterness pretty nicely in my opinion. Of course that's subjective. I submitted that IPA to a competition and a judge commented that I...

Cool! thanks for all the suggestions. Should be enough to keep me busy when I'm up there. Hopefully I'm on a tour at Surly in 6 days.

JW Dover (Westlake) on Detroit between Clague and Columbia is a great store. Lots of grains, extracts, and equipment. The owner is friendly and will take time to bullsh*t with you. Rozi's (Lakewood) has some stuff, from talking to one of their sales guys it sounds like they're trying to...

1388 will give you all the apple and pear that you want. Keep it cool (around 68 F) for the first few days then let it ramp up.

So I'm going to Minneapolis for a month for work. Where do I have to go while I'm in town? I've heard of Surly, but that's about it.

For a lager with a starting gravity in the mid 50s I would make a half gal starter with 2 packs MINIMUM. If you have to brew tomorrow, get another 2 smack packs. If you can't get them in time, you should seriously consider putting off brewing until you can grow an appropriate amount of yeast...

Look up the CYBI Firestone Walker Union Jack recipe. As British IPAs go, it can't be beat.

Only way to tell for sure is to take a reading. Some German and Belgian ale strains are pretty powdery and will maintain an inch or so of krausen after fermentation is complete. You could try swirling your carboy to knock the remaining krausen down into the beer. If it builds back up...

I rinse my chiller off in the sink to get rid of dust then dunk it in a bucket of iodophor until I'm done boiling. Never had a problem with the beers or the chiller. The main reason I started doing it was to keep my hoses away from the burner.

I have that I bought on Amazon awhile back (think it's the one Alton Brown uses occassionally on Good Eats). I had mixed results with it and stuck with my dial thermometer. I played around with it during a brew, but when I tried to shoot a temp from my mash tun it read 130-something. I tried...

Compared to some strains this yeast can be kinda slow, but it sounds like you should be close to finishing up. I had to check my notes, but I brew a Triple in October and pitch this yeast with an OG of 1.080. 16 days later I was down to 1.007. When I racked into secondary 5 days later it had...

For most beers, you'll be fine with one packet of dry yeast. Anything over 1.060-1.065 might require more. Be sure to check out the aforemention yeast calculator. From personal experience, pitching 2 packets of Notty into a batch resulted in a tremendous amount of blowoff that I did not...

For the challenge. I've been doing ales for 3 years. They have become almost easy. Lagers are that final frontier I haven't conquered yet. BCS Bohemian Pilsner fermenting as we speak with Wyeast 2124. I feel pretty good about it so far.