Recent content by Pilotpip

When after a 5 year hiatus because of getting married/career change/having kids you decide after visiting a brewery on vacation that you miss it, and you spend 3 days staring at your garage trying to decide how to set it up with all the equipment you saved, knowing one day you'll be back...

Brewing for the first time in nearly a year tomorrow. Making a stout for winter.

Usually a fan of New Belgium but I can't stand Shift. I dumped 2 of the 4 cans I had. I've never brewed a lager but this stuff had a horrible sulfur smell and aftertaste. This time of year I drink a lot of lagers and wheats. BMC is usually in the cooler when I go fishing and I was hoping to...

They will mellow out with time. If it's an extract kit, most are made for partial boils. If you're doing a full boil you'll get much better hop utilization than planned and it will take some time for it to mellow out. I found this out the hard way with my first couple brews and it took nearly...

With an ale, I wouldn't mess with it too much. Worst case fermentation sticks a little. When the temperature rises your yeast will wake back up. I have a lot of trouble with this in the winter. My fermentation chamber is on the cold side of the basement. On a couple brews I've had to move...

I saw a boxer in a couple pics. Great dogs! Good looking build too!

I leave my beers untouched in the primary for a minimum of 3 weeks before taking any samples. I have hit my numbers without problems. My first couple brews I was transferring to secondary after a week per the directions that came with the kit and was more disappointed with the results.

Dog treats. My boxer devours them.

I have pitched US-05 straight in, and I've rehydrated. I prefer to rehydrate. The lag time of direct pitch is much higher for me and with my limited time at home I'd rather be around to make sure I'm home to attach a blowoff if needed.

Cordless drills aren't a great option for mills. I bet a corded drill from harbor freight would do the trick quite cheaply. I have seen a few set up on various mills and they do quite well. When/if they die, go spend $20 on another one.

"Joy of Homebrewing" by Papazian is a good starter book too. Maybe a little better for a total newbie because Palmer gets pretty scientific. Both are great books though and I reference both regularly. This site is a great resource too. Read some of the stickies at the top.

I was. However I wasn't accounting for the 1/2 gallon of LME that was no longer being added to the boil. Third batch was spot-on. :) Thanks for the ideas.

After reading all the advice from the sages here I quit following the kit directions for fermentation times. Since I started leaving them in the primary for a minimum of 3 weeks my beers have been significantly better.

Heading east on 70 make a stop in Dillon and have a meal at The Dillion Dam Brewery. One of only a few places I've found that does food and beer well. Great burgers.

Schlafly in STL is a favorite of mine, but I have a strong bias since a couple friends/family who were "let go" during inbev's purchase of A-B are there now. Their oatmeal stout, heffe and dry hopped APA are pretty tasty. If you can get a six of their "special release" IPA that they make a...