Recent content by MLBinID

I like "probably turn out ok". I don't know how many beers I've thought I contaminated or over sparged or yada yada yada and I swear I taste off flavors. It takes my husband to assure me it tastes like normal, good beer before I stop tasting bad stuff in it. I'm glad I'm not the only one that...

Spent the day brewing what I think will be a really good IPA but at the end I screwed up. I've been using Wyeast for the past several months. I used Safale-05 for this. No biggie. Usually I just mix it in some warm water and it's fine. Today for some reason I felt compelled to add it to some...

I read a lot on here that people recommend milling their grains twice to improve efficiency. After a chat with some friends they suggested you shouldn't get a too fine of milling if you do this as long as the mill is set at the right grind. I decided to give it a try. Jumped from 73%...

My mom (another home brewing junkie) makes this pizza crust. She says it's delicious. She also makes crackers and pasta from spent grain. I just make banana muffins, dog treats and bread. I'm going to have to give the pizza crust a try. After a lot of experimentation with baking with spent...

That feeling of making your very first delicious beer is so awesomely empowering, isn't it? That is a pretty beer!

Hahahahahhahaha! Sounds like something I'd do. I think you've got a decent plan but I'd be worried about your yeast either producing some off flavors or petering out too soon. At this point I'd be mostly concerned about yeast. Adding some hoppy water with a decent conditioning time might work...

A friend of mine wants me to brew her something similar to the Widmer Lemongrass Wheat Reserve. I think it sounds awful but many people swear it's good. Here's what I've figured out: They take a wheat beer, add muscat grape juice...ferment with wheat ale yeast and champagne yeast in tandem...

That is awesome! I thought about doing this exact thing but worried how legal it would be. I wanted to do it this coming summer and include food and live music. My state is pretty friendly to the home brewer so I'm not concerned at all about giving it away. I was more concerned that money...

That's what I was thinking! I just wanted to be sure. I had a friend imply that I should have more respect for the ATF. If they want to come after a mother of 5 who is simply trying to raise money for orphans while enjoying her love for home brewing, they're more than welcome to. :)

I love to brew. It's one of my favorite pastimes, especially in the winter. I am trying to give people beer so I can brew more. I've told friends that they can come over to my house and take beer whenever they like. BUT...people don't want to impose or take "too much". I get that. So what...

A couple weeks ago we brewed a Porter (which is tasty). We used WYEAST 1338, which I now see is a slow, slow yeast. Tonight we went ahead and moved it to a secondary without checking the gravity first. (I know, I know. Lesson learned.) After we got half way through putting it in secondary I...

Okay, I'll go with the double crush and the rice. I'm just ticked that I've been able to get 77% without it but can't repeat it. Regardless, I brew some tasty beer! Isn't that what it's all about? I'll leave the subtleties of the process to my husband. :D

Efficiency has become the bane of my existence. I am at least trying to be consistent but I can't even do that. :mad: I haven't changed my process since I started brewing a few months ago. I mash in a cylindrical cooler at 152 for 60 minutes. Then I heat up the mash to about 160ish. Then I...

Yes, I know this is a summer brew but my winter warmer is currently fermenting and I have an empty carboy. A friend of mine recently tried the Widmer Lemongrass Wheat and asked me to brew her a batch. Not my kind of beer, but I'm excited about brewing for someone else. I figure I'd use the...

Ahhhhh, it IS apricot! I'm pretty sensitive to that flavor as well so I find it overpowering, but I'm sure it's not for others. This will be a good beer to give away to friends as it's not a bad beer. On to exploring the next hop. Something more bitter next time. :)