Recent content by rwabdu

so i'm looking at: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Converting_a_cooler_to_a_mash_tun is there an advantage to going with the box cooler or the tall round cooler? it looks like the strainer in the rubbermaid cylindrical cooler has a lot less ability to absorb the wort...

OK I'm making the leap to all grain. who knows how to make a cheep mashton that I can make about 5-7 gallons of beer in? .. i know there has to be some thread about this some where... In addition, where can I find a good summary for idiots like myself on how to brew all grain? cheers!

Yeah my plates have mold free colonies, but my starters have some mold growing in them. I tried to get it out with a spoon. Thinking ill try to make some new cultures tomorrow and see what I get as the weather has warmed up a little now. So if i understand it right, if i let my beer ferment...

Ok great thanks for the help! I got 15 agar plates (have some biochem experience) i have a few cultures that seem promising, ut my favorite grew some mold. im pretty worried about how to deal with mold. maybe if i get the alcohol high enough the mold will die? i guess ill make a batch this week...

I'm going to try to brew a Lambic next week. I captured some wild yeast a while ago and was going to try to use it. But how can i figure out what yeast strain I have and if it will be good for beer? I have two that seem like good cultures, but one started growing mold, how do i get rid of mold...

so the hydromiter has been about 1.010 (OG was 1.066) the foam on the top has seemed to go down a little, maybe starting to solidify. still no smell of anything bad, I did add .5 lbs of hershey chocolate powder to the boil, I wonder if the sugar could have broken down more or something? I have...

So I brewed a stout two weeks ago, all has been going well until today. The yeast had pretty much completely flocculated and then today I noticed some foam forming on the top again, completely covering the top of beer. Don't think there was any temp change. I don't think any O2 got in (altho i...

Ok ill leave it. just didn't want all the hops in there to make funny flavors but they're probably fine since they were boiled.

Thanks there are great ideas.

So I'm looking for a place that I can find info/recipes on rare types of beer, beer styles or interesting twists on classic styles. I want to make some stuff people have probably not had before. Like the other day, i had an oyster stout and i thought it was amazing, I wish i thought to make...

I brewed a porter two weeks ago. I did not get out any of the hop pellet gunk because i put in chocolate and i would have taken a lot of that out as well, so all that stuff has been in there for 2 weeks. Should I pull my beer off the yeast/hops into a secondary so that i don't develop any off...

I brewed a chocolate stout (OG: 1.066, yeast: WLP001) about 10 days ago and at this point aerobic fermentation has passed and most of the yeast has gone to the bottom but there is still some floating on the top and it hasn't changed for days. it seems like there if a lot of "surface tension" on...

oh thats a good call. I have noticed that ive done a few pale ales with pretty different recipes but similar results on the hop bitterness of the final product. I'll see if this changes anything as I only do a partial boil for my batches. thank you

so I have noticed some suggestions that malt extract should be added at different points in the boil. does this make any difference? What effect does adding malt at different times have on the beer?

here is a video of them making the harpoon oyster stout. she gives some pretty good hints as to how its made.