Recent content by mithion

The big BMC brewers have implemented a lot of cost cutting measures over time to reach the products they now have today. It's not that people were craving light lagers back then, but the American lager evolved (de-evolved might be more appropriate) towards substituting barley for rice and corn...

There seems to be as many Chimay white recipes as there are brewers. This makes finding the definitive version of the this beer a bit difficult. However, there are a couple of things that could get you closer. First of all, the chimay yeast strain is WLP500 or Wyeast 1214. That yeast should...

I'd let it sit longer. 5 days in keg is not a long time. Spiced ales take a little bit of time to develop. Try it again in a month or two before making a final assessment. You'll know something went wrong if it's still watery by then.

Yeah, I would whirlpool your beer in the pot for 20 mins or so once your near pitching temperatures. And then siphon the beer from the sides to leave as much trub as you can behind. And since you have an autosiphon, that should be cake. I brew 5.5 gallon batches and dump large volumes of boiling...

As I understand it, brown malt is the traditional malt for porters. If anything, your porter recipe would more true to style than most recipes currently out there. Maybe it's time to bring back the original porter? Try it and let us know how your beer turns out. :ban:

If it's any comfort, I've used dozens of smack packs without sanitizing them and never had contamination issues. That doesn't mean it's impossible that something will go wrong, but caution is advised.

One thing that also can affect flavor profile is age. A beer that is too young may come out a little simple. Sometimes letting it sit for a few weeks will help it develop a bit more (not a good idea with styles where hop character is key like an IPA. Those need to hit the tap as quickly as it is...

I think this will be my next brew for February. I'm a little scared of the Kolsch yeast for this style so I've decided to go with Wyeast 1099 of which I will have a few mason jars. According to Wyeast, it's suppose to do well for a sweet stout. Due to the lower attenuation of this particular...

Old Milwaukee was the goto beer in my teenage years. Use to split half a case of those with my buddy while watching cheap ass horror movies on Saturday evenings. It's funny since neither I nor my buddy drink that stuff anymore except when he comes to visit. We buy a case of it just for nostalgia.

For me it was kilkenny irish red. It's been a long time since I've had it, and I would probably not care for it much anymore. But it got me into craft brew so it's hard for me to bash that beer.

Brewing a lager can be quite a challenge. But to quote another poster, brewing a 1.090 lager takes some balls. If you're out of luck with lager yeast, you can always decant your beer to another carboy, pitch a couple of packs of S-05 and call it an imperial porter. But definitely try more lager...

S-05 is solid strain. It can withstand alcohols levels well above the advertised 10%. I don't know what your grain bill is like or what your procedure is, but don't count the yeast out yet. You may not reach your target final gravity, but it's not impossible either. Just wait a while. This beer...

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're right. I've seen other sources say that S-04 is similar to Wyeast 1099. I've never used S-04 but I've used 1099 on several occasions (have a special bitter sitting on 1099 in primary as we speak). It's one of my favorite strains so far. I don't know how it...

Count me in. This is good stuff. PS: lol @ "SPROCKET - Frogger Lager"

Beer that's done fermenting is loaded with dissolved CO2. When you dumped your hops in the fermentor, you created nucleation sites for the CO2 to stick to. Once enough CO2 has stuck to form a bubble, buoyancy will release it and will trigger your airlock as pressure builds up. If your confident...