Recent content by Foolmonkey

Now was this the 8% etre, or the big bad 18% EXTRA? What was your recipe/technquie?

I just have to say, d'EXTRA is amazing. I will attempt a clone recipe soon, but a beer like this should age for years before you start to get really great flavor. Once I get started with this monsterbrew I can post my ingredients and some pictures of how it's coming along!

Any word on how this baby turned out? What sort of fruit flavor, and yeast flavors showed up? I've got a pumpkin ale fermenting and I'm curious about doing other fruit/vegetable ales. Maybe even an oyster stout if my brewing buddy agrees to it. A lot of people talked about pasturizing your...

With the ratio of malt extract to hop, I think it will end up pretty bitter. I hadn't heard of SMaSH or SMESH until today. I think I might try this for my next beer. Everyone says pale ales are the easiest to do, but I was wondering if it would be possible to brew a Kolsh style? The hops...

By adding less hops to begin with would make the brew less bitter, but letting the krausen blow off during fermentation could take out the harshest of these compounds. This might just be an unnecessary process but according to a section in the Hop Lover's Guide, "The Germans call it braun-hefe...

After adding the potassium metabisulfite to the thawed fruit it should remove any bacteria or wild yeast left on the fruit, but you'll have to do this 24 hours before you plan to put the fruit with the beer or to add more yeast to your brew. If you don't wait, the potassium metabisulfite could...

I've been fine before in my 6 gallon primary carboy with beer around 5% ABV but this time I'm doing an Imperial Stout which will end up around 8% ABV. It looks like I'm going to have to switch to a blow off before it comes busting through the airlock but I'm not sure I have the tubing to set it...

I'm on my third batch of beer (Imperial Stout) and I've got a good grasp of how things should be going. Waiting for that bubbling airlock is a very stressful step in the process, especially when you are new to brewing! My first and third batches started soon after 12 hours but my second was...

When using fruit for wine I use some potassium metabisulfate on the fruit before adding the yeast. This cleans it up, killing wild yeast and bacterias. You could thaw, mix a little water with them and add the correct amount of the potassium metabisulfate. But you'd have to wait 24 hours for the...

That's what we all love about the micros. The spirit and character that the macros don't have the balls to put out there. Plain labels, plain beers, BIG BIG marketing is all that the huge breweries offer us. For me, a Maryland brew packaging that jumps out is Flying Dog. And the Hunter S...

It seems that nobody wants to take in account the style of beer you are brewing or the overall taste you want to get out of your beer. For my Imperial Stout I wanted a less intense hop profile for a smoother experience overall. I think removing some of the krausen would have achieved this...