Recent content by rsmith179

Selling my 5 keg system that has everything needed to get kegging right away. Here's a list of the items included: Chest Freezer: Large enough to fit 5 kegs and the CO2 bottle. Freezer is used, but runs like a champ. Perfect for the garage. Ranco Temperature Controller: Just set the...

Wow.. I cannot believe that noone has mentioned Yuengling yet. If you're going through PA, definitely pick some up. It's America's oldest brewery! I can't really say that it's my FAVORITE beer, but I do look forward to drinking it when I make my way out to PA or NY. Unfortunately, it's not sold...

The big thing to remember when working with yeast is that you want the most STERILE environment possible. Although StarSan works great as a sanitizer, you won't get the best results by simply using StarSan. Boiling the jars, especially using a pressure cooker, will pretty much guarantee that you...

It's really hard to get a true red color in your beer. The beet juice is a very interesting idea. Not sure what it tastes like, but it would probably do the trick in making your beer red. I have also read that most brewers get a redish hue to their beers by using very dark malts in very...

Check the batch's gravity for the next 2-3 days. As long as your beer's gravity is stable, you're safe to bottle. Just make sure that it is not still fermenting as you'll be looking at creating bottle bombs if you bottle too early. Now comes the fun of waiting another 2-3 weeks before the...

Do you like sushi? Drinking cheap beer to get drunk so you can use the chopsticks to enjoy Slug Sashimi. Doesn't sound appetizing, but hey, if it works I might as well give it a try! :ban:

Definitely weird. Then again, I'm in Cleveland where we get frosts through June 1st. I suspect that the worm castings and compost tea have something to do with this. Those are both nature's ultimate fertilizers and in combination with the sunlight and heat down in South Carolina, I don't see why...

No need to worry at all about only 1-2 bines coming out so far. If this is your first year with the hops, you may only get a few actually coming out of the ground. They will not branch off of each other, they only come from the rhizome in the ground. You'll probably see more bines coming out as...

As long as the hydro readings aren't moving and the beer has reached the target FG, you're good to go. You can bottle at anytime as long as you know for sure that the beer is finished fermenting. You just want to make sure that it is 100% done before bottling or you're setting yourself up for...

There's absolutely no reason to wait. You'll have much more control over the finished product by moving into all grain brewing. The only thing you would need besides what you currently have is a mash tun which can be easily built for less than $30. Best of luck to you!

Wow, what a chart! I have honestly never seen anything like that before. Too bad it is such as large .png file. Just tried printing it out for my records and it's just too big too do it justice printing. Maybe a poster sized version should be printed off! Good looking on the chart!

Will an Egg Beaters box do the same thing as the egg shells? ;-)

Funny you should mention Sluggo, just picked some up from the LHWS. Sprinkled some of that on this afternoon, so hopefully we'll see a steady decline on the slug population. I'm also going to be sinking in a few cans with beer in them just as a fail-safe. The beer traps worked great last night...

I didn't know we had slugs this big up here either. I'm right by the lake, so everything seems to be bigger here. Good link there Chshre, I really appreciate the information. I'm trying to stay as "green" as possible, so chemicals are out of the question for me. I heard that nematodes (sp?) also...

Say hello to my little friend... This is just one of many. I have radioactive slugs in my garden and they are enjoying dinner thanks to my hops. Last night, I discovered some of these bad boys on the leaves of my hops plants and a few others in the garden. My goal at work today was to...