Recent content by rilshoc

Use one or the other, but won't need both. Make a starter with the liquid yeast per instructions a couple days prior to brewing, decant then pitch that when your wort has cooled. Save the dry yeast for back up should fermentation fail, or another batch later on.

My question regarding your hop addition would be when the hops were added and taken out? Ten minutes at the start of the boil will give you more of the bitter side of the hops, while ten minutes at the end of the boil will add the flavor and aroma.

Have not tried one myself but search Hop Spider in this forum

1. If it is a six gallon carboy i would use that to ferment and the bucket to bottle but if is only a five gal I would ferment in the bucket unless you rig a blow off tube. Depending on activity of the yeast you may not leave enough room. 2-5 pretty much answered above

Let the priming solution cool while you transfer the contents of the secondary back into a sanitized container, stir in priming sugar, and bottle from there. I wouldn't want to do the math and measure out eye droppers of solution into each bottle.

Altho I can not make the connection between Starsan in your beer and banana bread, I would not think that a little bit of sanitizer in the keg should not give any off flavors or health issues, provided the ratio it was mixed at was per directions and that is was not a large volume. Either way it...

+1 on the spray bottle, I also use it to shoot the hop debris that clings around the side of the keggle back into the mix once the boils settles in.

There is also Designing Great Beers, and Clone Brews. I would agree the web is great resource, but there is something about having a 'page turner' in hand. I have all these and Radical Brewing, How to Brew, Brewmasters Bible, Brew Like a Monk, Complete joy of Homebrewing, and even Homebrewing...

Had a bottle of their Dead Reckoning Porter that I received in a mixed six pack for Xmas and was impressed with that offering. Will keep Troegs in mind when I am out doing a little R & D as my daughter calls it.

Although I have not had the fortune of dunking my arm to the elbow, while you are RDWHAHB, I can say that I brewed that 'Black Widow' recipe as he calls it back on Black Friday and it is mighty tasty right now.

I think I took a similar 8 year break, as at the time my first kid, new house then a new job all in the same year took the attention. Then a second child, and all. Kids got older and didn't need the same attention, routines settled in and started getting that 'itch' again. Found the corner of...

Clean it or replace it with a blow off tube. if too much pressure builds up behind a clogged airlock you could have woke to a big mess.

Most of the ones that have broken on me usually break close to the bottom, but I would assume breaks happen where there is the most imperfections are.

I think you'd do fine with a 60 minute boil, Mash temp would be your preference on how sweet or dry you want it, and I would run short of boiling water to preheat your mash tun as if it is too hot it may warp the inside of the cooler. Just my 2 cents

you need to put a sample into a test cylinder with a thief or baster, sanitized, and take the reading from there. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/economy-test-jar.html http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/3-piece-thief-plastic.html