Recent content by mcberry

I found out why i was missing a St. Paul scoresheet. The director said they missed all of the Belgian Tripels. He didn't go into to detail and AHA is deciding what to do.

I am still [somewhat] patiently awaiting my St. Paul results. Hopefully I'll get them soon, considering others already have had their results for several days now!

Just tried my third batch of this and it is amazing. I kept the recipe simple (6# 2-row, 2# corn, 1# rice), but mashed low (149-150) and fermented in the upper 50s (S-05). It came out incredibly dry and crisp (went from 1.050 to 1.006). I really rushed this one through the process too - 12 day...

Anything you do at this point is fine. Longer time in the fermenter never hurts, but I do see diminishing returns starting after 2-3 weeks. Alternatively, since you have 2.5 weeks away, you could bottle them now and they'll be carbed and ready to drink when you get back.

You'll be fine. Some people don't chill their wort at all - just let it sit overnight before pitching and it comes out ok. Homebrew is actually pretty hardy and not as easy to ruin as one may think. At this point, focus on keeping your fermentation temperature under control as best you can, and...

Runs pretty good on my Nexus 7 w/ Jellybean. Some of the text is too light to read, but gets the job done! I was actually going to write something similar to this, but no need to reinvent the wheel! Nice app, thanks!

I am assuming you are all-grain, which is good as aromatic malt requires mashing and there is no real substitute for it. A little roast barley will go a long way, so be careful with using too much. As for using 13# 2-row, at 1.062OG, this is not unheard of, depending on your efficiency...

Good luck with your clone. The coldest I've brewed in is 11F and that was pushing it... At least cooling happened quickly as my ground water gets to about 40 in winter. 148 will make yours a bit dryer than Brooklyn Brown. They get relatively low attenuation with their house yeast (derivative of...

Cream ales are great for this and pretty hard to screw up. Cream of three crops cream ale is an excellent beer for summer. Search for it on here. Easy and cheap to make and very drinkable.

I don't always have time to make a starter... More specifically I don't plan brewing far enough in advance. In these situations I will either use dry yeast or spend another 7 bucks for a second vial. While you can make good tasting beer without a starter and even white labs questions the...

As I reflect on it a bit I realize that stout failures were early in my all grain days. I fermented too warm, didn't make liquid yeast starters, rehydrate dry yeast, etc. It is quite possible that my improved technique and experience will help a bit. Flavor wise I recall a slight almost metallic...

Why S04 and not S05? I find S05 to be more forgiving at warmer temps and is quite neutral. There is no set timetable, just make sure it is done fermenting before bottling. You should be safe leaving it in primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottling. If you can ferment cooler then I recommend it...

Just curious as to why I always hear 5.2 as the gold standard for pH? Is this just a minimum value that shouldn't be crossed? Despite it apparently not working quite often why does 5 Star attempt to lock in pH at 5.2? Do different styles require different pH? Secondly, when using a meter how...

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American brown is such a broad category, so its hard to make a reccomendation. Are you thinking you want it more malt forward or more hop forward? I have one fermenting now with 9 lbs 2 row, .75 lb aromatic, .75 lb crystal 60, .5 lb chocolate and .25 pound roasted barley. Hopped with fuggles...