Recent content by cowboymcd82

With the bittering hops? Doesn't that pretty much destroy all the flavor/aroma, and just extract the stuff that makes it bitter? I was basing the additions on incutrav's comment that adding with bittering hops would make it really bitter

I was originally planning (and still am) to make a more complex brown ale involving the pine, a partial mash, and maybe some other special ingredients... but I realized today that it would be a very good idea to test the pine in a simple, relatively cheap half-batch, especially since I don't...

I'll definitely keep ya'll updated. And good information, incutrav. How much spruce did you use each time? I'm thinking I'm going to make a brown ale this weekend with 4oz in the boil, then add 1-2oz after fermentation for aroma, much like dry-hopping.

Yea. I figured it wouldn't be the "standard" or whatever, that's kind of why I posted the thread.... I think that's about all I kind find around here. But based on skyforger's post, what I have should be fine, right? Lol, and yea, I don't think the long ones are the right kind. I tried to pull...

Thanks again. Well, I got some needles from the trees around here, and from what I can tell, they're the new, fresh ones that are best. Glad I wasn't too late. I just want to make sure I ask the experienced people here if I'm doing it right before I start brewing this weekend, so I've attached...

Thanks! That's perfect. I was planning on doing something very similar to that recipe.... And that picture is very helpful. I think I can figure it out now. Thanks a lot!

Awesome answer, thanks! That was very helpful, exactly what I wanted to know. I guess I'll look into it this week then, and start thinking up a good recipe.

Last Christmas, I made a beer with spruce extract, and, well, it wasn't amazing. Probably a combination of reasons as well as the spruce, but either way, I looked into actually using real spruce the next time I did it. Apparently, the best time for harvesting those is around now. Anyways, I...

Well, I didn't take any pictures when I bottled, so I wanted to wait til it was ready. I cracked open the first bottle tonight while brewing my next batch, and when I poured, there was none of the sandy stuff in there, so.... I dunno. Problem solved? I guess it must have been trub? But every...

K. I wasn't really worried. It didn't seem like trub to me, but I could be wrong. It was in primary for ~3 weeks, never moved it from its spot in the closet, and the stuff was in suspension when I took gravity readings, so it doesn't look like it's going to settle. btw, I did a partial mash...

I know what you're thinking, and I kind of doubt it's yeast Also, I'm not sure it has to do with mashing, but it seems like the only thing I did different with this brew. Anyways... I brewed up an oatmeal coffee brown ale a few weeks ago, my first partial mash, which I bottled last night...

Ok, so I think I've come up with a recipe. I kinda based it on Sweetwater's Georgia Brown, and then adjusted it a little based on what I saw in recipes on here. Batch Size: 2.5 Gal Yeast: Nottingham Dry Grains: 3# Pale Extract 1# Pale 2-row 1# Flaked Oats 0.5# Brown Sugar 4 oz Crystal 80 4 oz...

Thanks! I figured you couldn't do it like that, which made me wonder when some of those threads seemed to almost *strongly* imply you could, without outright saying it, haha. I don't actually have a recipe yet, but I'm looking to brew a oatmeal+coffee brown ale of some sort, probably just a...

This is probably a really dumb question, but... I looked back on some threads here about using oat flakes in a beer, and I know I need to mash the oats. In many of the threads (about extract brewing), it says to simply throw in the pale malt with the oats and steep at a lower temp, and that's...

I read that it would take ~2 weeks to carb, and it's a fairly low-gravity brew (though I guess the yeast was pretty high-flocculation, I may have lost a lot bottling...). I just figured it'd be ready by now. But I'll just let em sit and condition some more. Thanks!