Recent content by misanthrope

The difference between extract and AG is subtle. The difference between bottling and kegging is light years. Edit to add: If you wish to double or triple the amount of time you spend brewing for a product that is just barely perceptibly better, switch to AG. If you wish to reduce the amount...

I had to try. By the way, your beer is fine. Relax, don't worry, etc., etc.

Only one way to tell. Bottle it and send me the whole batch. I'll give you my assessment upon completion.

If it is a very thin white skin on top of the secondary fermenter, it is almost certainly an infection. The best way to salvage it? Bottle it. It'll be fine. I buy one vial of White Labs yeast per year. I brew one 5 gallon batch of beer a week. I transfer about a cup to a cup and a half of the...

Since when are orchids illegal?

Six here, but typically only four or five active at any one time.

Yeah, that is pretty cool, I guess. But Corona makes a lite beer? When did this happen? I mean, I like Corona, but they're just a little bit too rich and full bodied for my sophisticated palate. A Corona Lite would be perfect!

Kind of like dry hopping, but in your glass. I like it.

Bah! It's one plastic nut. Rinse, bottle brush, and into a bowl of no rinse sanitizer. As to the minuscule amount of trub that gets transferred, it's into a secondary carboy or (in the OP's case) a bottling bucket. If to a carboy, it becomes part of that thin film on the bottom that is far...

The spigot hole is like an inch or so from the bottom. I tilt my bucket by putting a wooden spoon under the opposite end and get virtually no sediments during xfer. I can't see siphoning getting less.

I put both hops and grains in freezer. My grains are in some Rubbermaid containers that hold about 5lb. each. My hops go into zip top bags and the bags go into a big Tupperware thing.

Yeah. I guess I could have done that.

I brew DME with specialty grains. Here's my technique: I use three pots: My 16 qt. brew kettle, and two standard 5 qt. pots. From the 2 1/2 gallons of water that will eventually go into the brew kettle, I measure out 1 1/2 qt. per pound of grains into each of the 5 qt. pots. I typically have...

I weigh mine out into large (2 gal.) zipper top bags - 4 to 7 lb. per bag - and write the weight on the bag. These are stored in a large plastic tub. For the life of me, I do not recall where I bought the tub and I don't have a picture. It's maybe 30" long, 18" wide and 18" deep. Cream...

Years ago, my buddy and I brewed a batch of "Salsa" beer. I don't recall the exact base recipe, but it was a lightly hopped light ale. During the last 5 or 10 minutes of the boil, we added 12 jalapenos, a "bunch" of cilantro, a diced onion, and a single cherry tomato. (Five gallon batch.)...