Recent content by JimEb

Southern WI - Harvested my Saaz this week. They seemed ready earlier than usual, but other things influence when I can pick. I cut down one 15 ft vine each evening. Pluck as many cones as possible, run them in the dehydrator overnight, then get up at 4:30am to vacuum package them in one ounce...

I work in the plastics industry, more specifically a blow molder that makes these bottles and those similar looking ice bucket things. Those fairly clear, blue tinted ones are indeed polycarbonate.

I think for some people the term "homebrewing" conjures up images of some toothless rural guys out in some Tennessee backwoods cooking up moonshine under the cover of darkness. Either that or 'homebrew' is sometimes a term used to describe something that looks cobbled/sloppily done. I don't...

When I did extract's in the kitchen I would take some boiled RO water a day or two prior and freeze it. When cooling the kettle in the kitchen sink I'd than put that chunk of ice in my wort (since I needed top off water anyway). It worked well, but I was always paranoid about causing some...

I'm dragging up an old thread here, but came across it on a search. I've been keeping a separate charging station for a while now. My goal was when a spot opened up in the kegerator I could just throw in a precarbed keg, let chill and enjoy. The theory sounds good, but after a few years doing...

Why would that be? Both style cappers crimp the caps the same way. The only difference is where they anchor the bottle. Winged style squeezes the cap from a feature on the neck while bench cappers squeeze the whole bottle.

In my experience 1 week at minimum. I've already been too impatient and cracked one open after 3 days. Usually that approach gave me a mediocre flat beer with the instant regret that I just wasted that one. Buy some commercial beer for the moment...call it market research to figure out what...

Can't say I've had a 'bad brew day', but had some incidents that caused some panic. A lot had to do with my homemade PLC controlled brew stand. I try to do plenty of 'dry' runs before to debug the program before brewing but sometimes a bug sneaks up on you. My HLT is covered so I can't...

This is an awesome idea. I'm in the same boat as I prefer the glass for all the reasons you listed but they do make me nervous. Had a buckle on a strap break on me as well. Also almost lost a few carboys due to the buckle not being tight enough. Wonder I've you'd be able to find a large...

Just did this today. For a while now I was choking down an Irish Red that turned out much more like a robust Brown Ale. Seems the 'meh' beers have a never ending keg. Despite recruiting some help to kick it, it just wouldn't die. I needed the kegerator space and figured, why waste time...

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy. -- Anonymous Attributing that quote to Benjamin Franklin must be one of the most enduring myths of all time.

Just checked and sure enough, my local Home Depot sells oxygen...that changes everything and sounds like a much easier delivery/source method. I never thought to look there. Thanks

I use a 10 gallon and it works fine. I have an ebrew pot with element and a thermocoupler. I've brewed enough to know that I don't need to worry about boilover until 200F. I boil right around 206F. From 200 to 206 I need to stir constantly. Once I hit 206F I turn the element down to 0%...

What do most people do to aerate their wort? Previously I never even considered it…splashed the wort in when filling the carboy and still made beer. Now I’m starting to at least shake the carboy to aerate it. I would like to get a little more serious with minimal investment, don’t want to...

I check my local CL all the time for home brew stuff, but there's never anything good. Pretty much all dilapidated, old, dirty starter kits and such. Sometimes you come across a keg or two.