Recent content by howiehandles

Ok, I'm been dying to try the Nelson Sauvin hops, and while I'm just using extract, I want to use them as first wort, and then again in the secondary. The place I now buy from said to use an American Ale. Question is, does this sound right? And, what can I expect from the Sauvin hops? I've...

Libertyville is fine by me. I go to Perfect Brewing to get my supplies.

I'm in Lake Villa, and looking to learn, drink, ask, and drink. Any clubs up North?

I'm digging adding Kahlua, that could be real nice.

the new brewery who is making this recipe, made a paste with ancho chilis and cinnamon, but I'm sure added nutmeg and other spices. From what I've read, people often make a paste using spices and some sort of liquor. Maybe it wasn't in the secondary, but they definitely used cocao nibs, and...

A new startup brewery in my area is making a Mexican Hot Chocolate style Porter. All I know is they're using cocao nibs (for a week in the secondary I believe), and vanilla beans..Any idea what I would need? they didn't give away how they were making it. I've only done all extract to date, 3...

I hear ya. I bottled my Mineola Hefe, and my Cru with Chamomile last Sat. My next brews are a Rum Porter, and a RyePA, both partial extract kits, but a step up for me. I've gotta up my equipment, as I want to start experimenting. I figure that if I have 2 carboys, I can go conservative on one...

Thats what I did too. I took the recipe for the Blood Orange Hefe, and substituted Mineolas. Couldn't find the blood oranges, and I like Mineolas, so I figured, why not? Mine too started fermenting within hours. I'm very anxious to try it. I'm also planning either an IPA, or a stout/porter...

Got ya. I don't remember which type of yeast, but it was a dry yeast from a True Brew wheat extract kit. Definitely not a Weiss.

Patience is something I struggle with. I'll give it more time, and not try to judge this batch till its conditioned longer. It still has a week to go.

They were different degrees of cold, some barely, some ice. Funny this is, before starting brewing, I always drank cold beer. Now that I make my own, I want just a hint of cold, or even room temp, so I can taste the flavors.

You know, I wanted to pour the yeast, but I keep reading not to pour the sediment on the bottom. When I've had wheat before, I always tried to get it in my beer. I'm gonna try that.

My first brew, an all extract wheat, will finish fermenting in the bottle next week. As its finished up, I've tasted a bottle per week. Just recently I tried one, and it was excellent. Nice aroma, really nice flavor as well. But two bottles after that one have not tasted as good. The second two...

Yeah, I just had left hand too, and it was nice. I like stouts, but the stouts I like better are ones which don't taste entirely like coffee. I had some Oatmeal Stout from Mickey Finn's, a microbrewer by me, and it was really good. Little of that stout coffee flavor at the start, but smooth, and...

Jsmith, I brewed a Wheat extract the first time, it has a couple of weeks to go in the bottle. Rather boring beer, but I wanted to get the whole process down, but also, with wheat, I'll be able to really branch out later, although I too want to do grain. Nothing wrong with being safe the first...