Recent content by ChaosStout

Really man your going overboard. Heating the bottles to 400F could weaken the glass when it cools back down. The only thing you need to do to clean old bottles is Oxyclean and hot water. Let them sit overnight submerged in it and the next day the labels will come right off and any mold in the...

If you can cold crash it for a week or two try that. It will help compact the Trub and you'll lose less beer

I had an ipa sitting on the counter covered once for 4 months. It was an awesome beer

This. You WILL notice a difference after your first Temp controlled batch assuming you did everything else right. Id say after sanitation Temp Control is the 2nd most important thing in producing a great brew. I ferment all my ales at 64-66F.

TYVM. Would I want to pitch another yeast like American Ale II 1272 first and then pitch the 3763 later?

So me and my GF where at a beer tasting last year and had a wonderful sour(Not sure what it was) that tasted like Balsamic vinegar. It was awesome stuff. Anyways Looking over the different bugs I cant seem to find which one would produce that wonderful flavor. If someone could point me to...

Looks like yeast to me. If it had fuzzy arms growing from it id be worried. Relax your ok

I think the hardest part would be getting the Moscato juice. Dont know of any Moscato kits. If you want to make a sweet dessert style wine Wine Expert makes some really nice icewines http://www.midwestsupplies.com/winemaking-ingredients/wine-recipe-kits.html?wine_color=191 The Cab Franc...

No Problem. Thats what its all about helping each other. One of the best parts of home brewing is learning about all the different malts, tasting them and learning how they are used. For along time I used Crystal/cara 60 in my stouts but lately ive been using the cara/crystal 75-80. Im not...

1. You get Color and Flavors from the Chocolate malt and the Roasted malt. Dark malt already has roasted barley in it but it gives you less control over the final product. Light extract in this case wont make it lighter more then enough dark malts in their. The Extra Dark Crystal adds...

Ive never used kits so I cant say but heres my take for in the future. -Ditch the Dark Malt Extract. Use 6lbs light Extract -use 8oz of roasted barley -use 12oz Regular English Chocolate not pale -use 12oz of Extra Dark crystal -Ditch the Cacao Nibs - use only 1/2 of lactose 1lb seems a bit...

I just give my corks a quick sprtiz of starsan. Never had any bad bottles. Might not even need to do it. You dont need to boil your corks

I like to brew my stouts at 6% and they will have some sight Alcohol to them even when im fermenting low. Time to age is what your Imp Stout needs. Dont rush it. Rack it off the lees and stick it away someplace cool and dark for another 2 months at least befor you bottle. Time is your friend...

Its Cider season. Go to the store and pick up some 1 gallon glass jugs of cider. Either drink em or make hard cider. Then you got plenty of 1 gallon jugs to ferment in

Both red star and Lalvin work great. As for the yeast to use Check out Lalvin and Red Star web site. They will list the strains and their uses. Oh and befor you say you really dont want to do Grape wines Welches White Grape with Cotes des blanc is awsome stuff, Or Concord Grape with Bourgovin...