Recent content by thegreatmaibockaddict

Water does matter! Don't add any water to an extract brew that you wouldn't want to mash with. I used tap water when I did my first extract batches....and the beer was good. After a couple of years, the water source for the town changed and the beer became undrinkable. Figured this out after...

1 vs 2 may depend on hop oil content and the actual saturation level of the beer. In other words I believe there is only so much a beer can absorb but what that is is likely dependent on gravity and maybe other factors I would suspect it would work with any priming sugar. I find the best...

If a pro brewer asks if you have dry hopped the beer I think your question is answered. I do this for more than IPAs but my most recent mind blowing dipa u can find by going to my blog..... Scroll down a bit till you find the last iPad I made. All high hop oil Aussie hops with about 2 oz used at...

Been brewing for 21 years and have always used a secondary, sometimes even have racked a second time. granted i almost always re-use yeast, but i have never gotten an infection in a fermenter. not once not ever. talking about hundreds of batches. i dont know where you are getting this myth but...

As my pro brewer friend always says, never leave your beer on spent yeast for longer than it needs to be. There is always a chance of generating off flavors from dead yeast if you let a beer sit in primary to long. i have always found that transferring to secondary always helps to settle...

are you doing AG? Add all those late addition hops to the mash. mash hopping bonds the hop oils to the beer itself and you don't lose the flavor or aroma to fermentation. You do lose sharpness of the hops, but make up for it with dry hopping or if you bottle, bottle hop by adding an ounce or two...

i am making an ESB this weekend, and my basic recipe is 11 lbs MO (in the latest case, gleneagle. No crystal at all. i believe this is the way Brits do it. Now this weekend, i may add 3 or 4 oz of crystal 40, but no more than that, more for a tad bit of color than anything. Good maris otter...

Someone who is an expert taster should taste the beer and provide you with feedback. 4 months lagering a 5% beer is rather excessive where 4 weeks probably would suffice. But i digress. A properly lagered beer, that has been conditioned a very long time, can develop a fruity character that is...

It depends on how you have treated your yeast and how healthy it was at bottling time. ABV is also a consideration as a ABV on the higher end of a yeasts tolerance will also take longer to carbonate. You have to get a feel for your techniques. Maybe you are treating your yeasties right and the...

Have used both, and even did a side by side with a batch of each. Not with a Scottish ale though. The rauch malt was preferred over the peated by a large margin. If you want to use the peated, use a very small quantity, like a pound to start and then you would have to make the recipe again and...

If the yeast was healthy and active it can happen, depending on the yeast. Or if the temperature was higher than you thought...

If you have a fresh and healthy yeast strain then maybe. It is not like the beer needs to be clear or anything.

A step mash, with a target temperature of 122F for a dough in, does several things. Firstly, you really need this step for wheat mashes to break down proteins (Belgian Witt or German Weissbier, etc). This step also activates enzymes so you are not losing time as they are ready to convert...

Not sure this will even come out drinkable, but if you do do it, add rice hulls or you will be sparging all afternoon.

For an addition with 60 minutes left in the boil? or after boiling 60 minutes? Late addition hops are mainly for extracting hop oils and bitterness is negligible. I am assuming if it is a kit that there are bittering hops already included as such a low alpha will give you too little bitternes...