Recent content by danceswithbeer

I purloined a once used keg from a liquore store yesterday for $20. I was sent there by a Budweiser route man delivering I ran into in a nearby convenience store. I tried to explain to him that I didn't think $20 was near enough money to cover the cost of the keg, but he insisted it was OK...

This last Sunday I brewed a mini-mash Honey Porter, as the boil got going I noticed bees starting to enter the garage and fly around the brewpot, at any time there were 10-15 bees around. When I emptied the brewpot through the counterflow wort chiller I found a dead bee at the bottom of the...

My 7th brew now has been in secondary for 1.5 weeks. It has developed a film on top that I've not seen before in previous brews. It is a thin film, grayish-white, looks like latex rubber glove color with several bubbles here and there connected by spider-web looking "strings". This film has...

For reasons I can't explain, I primed my latest batch on Sunday, Sept. 18, it will be Thursday, Sept. 22 before I can bottle. Should I expect problems?

Is there a proper lbs. of grain to gal. of steeping water ratio? I've just been steeping in 6 gal regardless of how much grain is in the steeping bag then boiling down to 5 gal..

First batch under my belt as of Monday, learned alot. Need better wort chiller (see wort chiller thread), need better transfer from kettle to fermenter, I used the Autosiphon (3/8 inch) and found it much too slow, took nearly 15 minutes to empty 5 gal.. Gonna get a weldless SS bulkhead fitting...

I too just brewed my first, also the Octane IPA. No boilover but close and I was boiling 6 gal. in a 10 gal. kettle. Came within 1.5 inches of the top of the kettle, thankfully I was watching it like a hawk and cut the heat. I cannot imagine trying a full 6 gal. boil in anything less than 10...

Brewed first batch yesterday. All extract IPA, did a full 5 gallon boil, cooled to 78 and pitched yeast. Yeast was White Labs liquid which I propogated 3 times over 2 days, the last time approx. 5 hours before pitching. Shook up the yeast/starter and pitched, boy they were active! Oxygenated...

Brewed my first batch today, all extract IPA with steeping grain and 3 hop additions. Things went well, read no boilover, until time to chill. Ambiant air temp was 83, water from faucet was 72, wort was boiling. Initial cooling was quick to about 100 degrees, the last 22 degrees down to 78 was...