Recent content by ellisonsj

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Elijah Craig has been mentioned a couple times, but I'm going to specifically put in a vote for their 18yr bourbon. It's head and shoulders above their 12yr and hands down the best I've had. It's $55-60 a bottle, but if I'm drinking it straight there's nothing better.

Try out one of these: http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2012/05/price-drop-eva-dry-e-500-now-48-off.html?m=1 It's basically the same as damprid, but it's in a vented container that you can plug into a standard outlet overnight to dry it back out. I ordered one a couple months ago and it makes a...

Definitely check out Abita when you get to New Orleans. Also Yazoo is a cool little brewery in downtown Nashville. They charge $6 for the tour, but you get a branded pint glass to take home. Schafly is an easy stop in St. Louis. BBC in Louisville has a couple good brew pubs, though I don't...

Not all of the sugars created during the mash are fermentable. When you're mashing in mid to high 150s the enzymes that break down the larger, less fermentable sugars are not as active and to some extent denatured. In this case your wort is going to give you a sweeter beer with more body from...

I'm guessing the beers just don't have much depth of flavor since you only used light extract. If you added enough bittering hops it probably balanced it enough to keep it from tasting too sweet. The watery flavor you're tasting may really just be lack of flavor. Try doing some recipes that...

Grapes would make the most sense.

I am guessing this is to help reduce the chance of a boil-over. Before the hot break it's pretty easy to do and adding the hops can make it worse of you're not paying attention. Regardless, as others have said it won't hurt the beer to add them before the break.

I gave some to my mom to make bread with and she used some to make chocolate chip cookies too. They turned out awesome!

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I'm with everyone else - skip the Mr. Beer and go for the 5 gallon starter kit. I got started brewing when I got a Mr. Beer for Christmas a few years back. When I moved on to 5 gallon batches the Mr. Beer was handed down to my brother. I thought the Mr. Beer was making pretty good beer, but I...

It won't be that much darker. You probably won't even notice the difference.

The only place I've found is www.beefolks.com. You're looking at $4 per pound there for a 5 gallon bucket plus shipping. They do have a great selection though. I haven't ordered from them myself, but they are recommended by www.gotmead.com.

As far as cooling your wort goes, when brewing with extract I have a brew pot that's got plenty of room to add ice directly to the wort as soon as it's off the stove. I always get a bag of ice from the store for this, just be careful if the bag itself is dirty. I do an ice bath too, but I put...