Recent content by derousse

No plans for dry hopping yet. The last (and only) time I dry hopped, I had a hard time keeping the pellet hops out of the bottling bucket. They didn't drop out like I expected. Maybe I should try putting them in a mesh bag or something, but with a carboy I'm not sure that would work, or if...

Thanks for the feedback on the hops. Also, I was thinking about increasing the alcohol content by a bit. I'm maxed out on the grain bill since I only have a 5g mash tun, but couldn't I just add some DME to the boil to increase the fermentables?

I've got some old hops in the freezer which I want to clear out, and a taste for IPA, so I threw together this recipe in BeerSmith. 11 lbs. Pale Malt (2 Row) 1 lb. Caramunich Malt .75 oz Cluster 60 min .25 oz Centennial 60 min .75 oz Kent 30 min .75 oz Spalt 10 min 1 oz Amarillo 5 min...

I've been using the Walmart RO machine (branded by Culligan here) along with the basic recommendations in this thread for my last several brews and they've turned out fine.

After considering the feedback received here, doing a little more research, and checking my leftover hop inventory, I've adjusted my recipe to the following: 5 lbs Pale Malt 5 lbs Pilsner Malt 1.5 lbs Caramunich .5 lbs Special B 1 lb Dark Candi Sugar (D-180 if I can find it) .75 oz...

Thanks for the vote of confidence. And since I don't have any experience using sugar, am I correct in assuming that it should go in at the start of the boil?

I'm looking to brew my first Belgian-style dubbel and would welcome any feedback on the following 5-gallon AG recipe: 5 lbs Pale Malt 5 lbs Pilsner Malt 1.5 lbs Caramunich .75 lbs Special B 1 lb Dark Candi Sugar .75 oz Styrian Goldings at 60 min .75 oz Styrian Goldings at 30 min .5 oz Styrian...

Received a new 36" Winco wood paddle for Christmas. It currently doesn't have any holes in it like I typically see in mash paddles so I'm wondering if I should drill some of my own. Does it make much of a difference for stirring the mash?

Thanks everybody. I ended sparging with 175F water which brought my mash temp up to about 170F. Overall, my efficiency didn't end up where I would have liked it to be, but for my first all-grain, the process when very smoothly and I ended up with a decent gravity in the fermenter. Can't wait...

I'm assuming BeerSmith is telling me to do 3 steps because I don't have enough room in my 5 gal tun to hold the 4.16 gallons of sparge water. (I've got 11 lbs of grain).

I'm an extract brewer planning to move into all-grain with my first batch this weekend. I've used information from this forum to learn all about the process and build my cheap and easy cooler mash tun. I also downloaded a copy of BeerSmith and have my first recipe all planned out. The question...