Recent content by mbreen01

Never wound up trying an aromatic substitute for honey malt...I think that the aromatic would be more biscuit flavored vs. honey. But I've modified my Honey Wheat recipe and make it annually since it's always a crowd pleaser. steep for 30 minutes: 4 oz carapils 8 oz honey malt Bring to...

Crush and steep in 1 gallon of 150F water for 20 minutes: 5 oz US Munich malt (I didn't have German Munich available) 5 oz Belgian Special B malt 3 oz Belgian Aromatic malt Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Sparge the grains with ½ gallon water at 170oF. Add water to...

One way to "add" sweetness is to "subtract" bitterness. So you can lower the amount of hops to alter the balance between the bitter and sweet. You could try decreasing your bittering hops addition (although this would require you to brew another batch). Another option is to kill your yeast...

Since most of the comments were geared towards all-grain brewing... For extracts, it's pretty easy to calculate and predict OG (and hence ABV). Since you don't mash your own grains, you don't have to worry about efficiency (efficiency = 1). So I first calculate Gravity Units (GU) in the...

In general, 1 - 1/4 cups DME or 3/4 cups corn sugar is the correct amount to prime 5 gallons of brew. So you'd need to adjust that amount based on your own preferences for carb level and the total amount of beer you are priming. I always top off for a full 5 gallons in primary at start. From...

Check out Wyeast's page on yeast washing. Marc.

Check out Wyeast's Guide to Yeast Washing. Marc.

In the meantime... What I have done, is get a column of water in the siphon hose (either from your sanitizing solution if no rinse, or from water faucet) and then connect hose to racking cane while holding thumb over end of hose. Then you "purge" the primed tube into another bowl, which...

For most homebrewers use, yeast from secondary works fine. As the yeast grows and multiplies, you can find mutation; but I've used yeast cakes from secondary with good results and no problems. I doubt that you'd see commercial brewers doing this, because they demand strict control and...

Once fermentation has stopped or you are satisfied that your beer is finished you can bottle. The goal is to allow the brew to finish fermenting. Usually this can be ensured by taking serial SG measurements. If the SG hasn't changed over 3-4 days, that's a pretty good indication that...

One caution with dry hopping in primary...there is a possibility that they'll plug up your blow off tube or your airlock and then spew everywhere. Marc.

Anyone have a tasty schwarzbier recipe? I'm looking for something to do with a Bavarian lager yeast. Thanks. Marc.

As mentioned before, honey is almost completely fermentable and so it tends to give you a very dry alcohol addition and really doesn't contribute to a honey flavor in the end product. Gambrinus honey malt will give you more of the honey flavor you might be looking for. I recently made a honey...

I've pitched onto an ale yeast cake with good results...but it seems like the bock I have brewing doesn't quite have as large amount of trub on the bottom of the carboy. Has anyone ever tried pitching another lager recipe over a lager cake? Any advice? As an aside, it's a Wyeast 2206...

Most standard extracts use a 2-row malt that is roasted to varying degrees, lending to a darker color with longer roasts. As far as Munich based extract, there's no substitute for munich malt with pale malt. So if, for example, you're making a bock, the final product will taste different with...