Recent content by MikeyB

Omar at Surly Brewing in the Twin Cities says that it's a myth that you can save money by brewing your own beer - but his reasoning is that it would have been a whole lot cheaper for him to buy some beer than to open a brewery :-D

I have a California Common in secondary right now - I drank the sample jar, and it was so good I drew off another half pint or so I could drink it while racking to secondary. I gave serious thought to bottling it (uncarbonated) that night. Then I racked it to secondary and backed away slowly....

I use water because I'm lazy, and I don't have any *cheap* vodka.

For anyone following along at home... This went into secondary about half an hour ago. Hit the expected FG on the money, and tasted...how can I put this....freaking brilliant (which is understating). It's now chilling (literally) in my cool back stairwell. Hoping to see it clear up in a week...

I brewed on Saturday the 17th and I'm not even going to bother taking a gravity reading until at least Sunday the 25th. In my (limited) experience, the bubbling is not a good indicator of finished fermentation.

Awesome, this is the exact info I've been looking for. I want to see if I can hurry up clarifying a bit when I rack to secondary next week (assuming fermentation completes) so i can give my beer 3 weeks in the bottle before Christmas - just wasn't sure if I'd still be able to bottle carb, or of...

I grew up in a tiny Iowa town - population 250 or so. I can assure you the fine patrons of the local establishments in my town and the surrounding towns put away hundreds of thousands of cans of Busch Light each year. It's even kept on tap in the "nicer" (?) bars. Even when I'm back home, I...

I did a California Common this weekend (SWMBO had to make an unplanned trip out of town Saturday, so I decided it was brew day) and am really hoping this is ready to drink by Christmas to share with the family. I pitched Saturday night (Wyeast 2112 California Lager), started seeing activity in...

I actually came here to ask a similar question.... I did a California Common last night, and used liquid yeast for the first time - anyone ever ruptured a smack pack while smacking it? I was getting a little nervous trying to break the inner pack that I was going to blow out the side or...

Funny you mention the cat - My dog is terrified of bubbling airlocks. I heard him barking in the kitchen the other day and found him staring down the airlock, with his "I'm really pi$$ed" neck hair standing at attention.

I have a question - activity in my fermenter seems to have stopped somewhere around 48 hours (which was last night). It's been hanging out around around 68-70 degrees since I pitched the yeast, so I expected a reasonably quick fermentation but could it be done after 48 hours? I haven't taken a...

Just wanted to say hello, been a long time lurker but finally went out and bought an equipment kit yesterday, got home and went straight to brewing - now I have a Newcastle clone (Midwest Supply, "Oldcastle Brown Ale") in the primary, and am already trying to decide what I'll brew when I move it...