Recent content by Dunkelweizenpants

Yeah I hear ya, definitely not ideal, I only found out about the contest (its for imperial stouts only) about a week before I brewed and that was the fastest I could get my hands on the ingredients. The rest of the batch I'll let sit for a while :-)

Thanks. I followed everything regarding volumes and temps that Beer Smith said to do, however, I think my 10G MLT was pushed to the limit. I'm sure if I had a 15G MLT my efficiency would have been much higher, I just couldn't get in there and stir up the mash as much as I wanted to because it...

Hey guys, Today I brewed my 2nd AG batch, an Imperial Stout I'm entering in a contest in about 8 weeks. Long story short, my efficiency sucks (~40%) and as a result I missed my target OG by a mile. According to Beer Smith, I was shooting for 1.100, and I hit 1.064 :( My best guess is...

Thanks for the input guys. Yes it's completely dry, never been used or soaked. I've heard if it's a virgin barrel that the oak flavors will be huge within only a few days, so I'll be testing it daily and only expect to have it in there a week max.

And I'm looking for some help on how to best prep and use it... I've heard the oak flavors will be crazy intense from a virgin barrel, thoughts on how long to age a 10% ABV Imperial Stout without over-oaking it? What should I do to prep the barrel before racking the stout to the...

I've been a member for over a year and the site is actually well worth the price. All the free stuff on YouTube is okay, but most of it is really bad quality and is kind of random, and hard to really see what's going on or you just see a few random steps. What's nice about homebrewvideos.com...

Awesome, thanks! This is exactly what I'm looking for! FWIW yes we do get some Brooklyn Brewery stuff in Chicago, and what I've had has been fantastic (most noteworthy a chocolate stout I found last week). Prost!

(Mods - sorry if this is the wrong board, please move if it belongs elsewhere) Hi guys, I'm off to visit a buddy in Manhattan next month and I'm looking for a good gastropub with a solid craft beer selection - especially local stuff I can't get here in Chicago. Any suggestions? We'll...

Hi guys, Been brewing extract for about 2 years and have a question about taking gravity readings. I recently brewed a very hoppy amber ale which included adding 1.5oz of hops at knockout. Transferred to primary and took a reading that was MUCH higher than I had calculated (I was shooting...