Recent content by DarinB

I entered two brews..... an Amber ale, and a Russian Imperial Stout. Don't have the sheets with me, but the overall for the Amber was a 28, and the RIS scored 36.3, and was checked as having made it to a 'mini BOS round'... <edit> the RIS was 36.3, not 36.8... my rememberer was a little off...

So long as they don't tax me home-brewskies, I'm ok... ;) Gave the old college try, but I think I'm actually too tired and sore to drink...lol

Yup... I love it here, but it's an ugly tax kinda state to be in ;) I'm actually in Mukwonago... Eldorado is somewhere around FDL isn't it?

Well, the last corny is nearly drained (porter), literally nothing else chilled (but, Amber, Kolsch, and ESB fermenting...), sore as heck from working out in the yard all day, and have about a 1/2 bottle of smirnoff left. Yeah, I'm in... ;)

No doubt..whatcha kegging? As luck would have it, I finished converting a little chest freezer this morning, and filled my first keg this evening (SNPA clone). Have it sitting at about 13 lbs of pressure at 40 degrees...I'm going to use the wait a week and see how it goes method. I can't...

If I missed an answer somewhere in searching, my apologies... I have a very small chest freezer (big enough for 2 cornies) that I am converting. I decided to use a 2x8 to build a collar to add enough space that I can sneak a 5 gal. carboy on the shelf. Have it sized/cut - I was planning to...

Well.... if I watch the weather patterns for temps, I may be able to find a 1-2 week window where we're above freezing - out in the garage would be a few degrees warmer than that (maybe 38 - 40F). It would not be stable at all - temps could fluctuate quite a bit... Kolsh yeast - I know...

Thanks all for the suggestions!!! Revised...hops would all be pellet. changed to dark LME for color reasons only (want this very dark, but smooth) - if there's a better way, I'm all ears... ;o) .75 lbs. English 2-row Pale .25 lbs. American Black Patent .75 lbs. Weyermann Carafa II® 6...

After a lot of pondering bear-themed names, I decided to stick with the Potowatami indian name for the town I live in...so, Mequanego Brewing Co. Mequanego = generally, place of the bear, or place of killing the bear.

Will have to check with the LHBS...never have used carafa before, so that would be interesting for sure. What I'm hoping for is a relatively smooth black beer with a slight bite to it (which I figured would come from the black patent - 3/4 lb might be a bit much for what I'm thinking). I'm...

Ok - specifically thinking about Sprecher Black Bavarian. Here's the main problem I have - no suitable lager fermenting temps...about the best I can do is a steady 62 degrees. So, since I did a steam beer recently that turned out quite nice, I started thinking maybe I could use California...

Nothing wrong with steeping in a muslin bag - I've been doing it that way since I started, and have had fabulous results (grains in bag, bag in cold water, turn on heat and remove grains just before boil). Based on the extract-only beers I've tasted from my Pop's brews, I would +++++1 on...

Both JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were members of a group known as the Inklings. According to Wiki - this was a literary discussion group, and amongst their first readings was The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet (by the way, if any of ya'll haven't read Lewis' space...

But, hoping to add a little anyways... quote from Gimli: Soon Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, red meat off the bone. I'm also thinking there was a drinking song that mentioned 'beer so brown'... If these were mentioned...

Don't know how useful/helpful this will be, but this is my LHBS's extract/steeped recipe I use a LOT for a SNPA clone - it's very good at roughly 4 to 4.1% abv. depending on attenuation... 6# Light Extract 1/2# 30L crystal 1/2# carapils 1 oz. Perle 50 min. 1 oz. Cascade 10 min. 1...