Recent content by michaellifts

I have cut my time to about 5 hours. That is from turning on the heat to begin my strike water, to putting the last item away at cleanup. I try to multi-task as much as possible. I also like to start early. 6-6:30 a.m. That way I am done by noon and have the rest of the day to do whatever.

I was outside boiling the other day. My Keggle was on my burner, outside temp in the low 40's, steam rolling out of the kettle. My neighbor across the street comes over and asks if I am burning my garbage. I explain to him I am brewing beer. I was enjoying a previous brew. An oak aged bourbon...

Couldn't agree more about the White Christmas. I think it's the nutmeg that isn't right. It taste to me like Nutmeg tea. Harpoon's winter warmer I feel is the same. I just don't like nutmeg in my beer. Chocolate stout was awesome though.

I have been using safale yeast for my last few brews. Both 04 and 05's. Yesterday after racking my beer to secondary I collected and washed the yeast and put it into my fridge to make starters with. I have heard that there is no point in reusing dry yeast just because it cost so little...

I just went to AG and boiled my first batch last weekend. I bought a Bayou Classic burner from Walmart online. I paid $49 for it. I did a lot of research and it was the best bang for the buck. I converted a 15.5 gallon sankey keg into a kettle and boiled a 5 gallon batch no problem. I have...

Thanks for the reply. I pulled the preboil sample off the top of the brew kettle. That would make sense it was final runnings. I was shocked when it was only .022 then rebounded to .048. Anyhow I am very pleased with the whole brew and can't wait to see how it ends up tasting.

I finally did my first AG today. Not much different than extract...the old cliche.."should have started sooner." Anyhow I have a question on my O.G. I brewed a simple English Bitter. Grain bill was 8 lbs. Pale Malt. .5 lb. 60L Crystal Malt. Lautered at 153 degrees for 1 hour. Mashed out...

I am looking to brew an old ale and age it over oak chips in my secondary fermenter. My question is how long can I leave it in there and still have enough active yeast to properly carbonate it in the bottle with 3/4 cup of corn sugar?