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My Alpha King clone will be ready to keg tomorrow (work is getting in my way!) this post is part excitement and part worry. I'm sure the stuff on the sides and top are the hops from my dry additions but I still don't like seeing stuff in my beer!! Looking forward to a custom recipe for my next...

Unless I use a turkey fryer, this is the most rapid boil I can get. The thermometer reads right around 212 and it never gets hot enough to hit hot break.

I just went a grabbed my bock that I fermented way too warm by accident (76 for 3 days then 70 for the remaining 14 days). I realize its a bock which was supposed to be lagered but I made it with an ale yeast. The problem is when I looked at it before there were isolated white patches on the...

Apparently I was overly insensitive to the hop heads by saying that I don't like highly citrusy/pine flavored beers and it led to a completely out of control thread filled with people trolling, mud-slinging and such. For those of you that helped, thank you. I am not writing this to continue a...

I took a gravity reading and a taste test today on my bock kit with ale yeast. The warm definitely affected it for the worse. Fellow brewer says it tasted bland to him. It smelled sour and tasted off to me. I'm planning on letting it sit for at least another week at 65-70 degrees and retaste but...

What do you guys use to control your vines? I've read they can grow quite rapidly and I'm looking at planing my first hops vines. I'm in central indiana so I think I can plant most varieties without issues as far as climate goes. Any design ideas and pictures would be greatly appreciated.

http://youtu.be/rM7nfC7ksB8 My bock beer made from a kit from my LHBS. 76 seems rediculously high but it seems to be doing well!

A friend and I were talking yesterday and an idea dawned on me. It may be a horrible idea but I still thought I'd run it by all of you and see what you thought. They have those soda stream units for force carbonating water and soda. Could someone, if they were so inclined, use a soda stream unit...

I know you are all biting your nails waiting for an update on my first batch :cross: so here it is. I'm getting ready to Keg or bottle my first batch. It's an autumn amber ale from midwest supplies. The OG was 1.042 and the FG is 1.014. The aim is 1.010-1.012. I assume that the .002 isn't...

My beer that is due to rack out to my keg tomorrow has developed an odd ring of something around the top of the liquid. Please tell me this is normal...

How critical is the hotbreak in the brewing process? Here's the situation. I have a batch of the same beer as a friend. We brewed the same beer, the same day, a few hours apart. His has no odor, mine smells like dough (normal). Mine has been violently fermenting for over 24 hours and his...

Well, I overfilled my carboy or I have the worlds most violent fermentation. Thank GOD I got home when i did. Instead if mt Vesuvius, I have a Hawaiian volcano. I was worried sick all night then I Come home to a bedroom that smells like bread dough (the smell the smack pack had) and I knew I was...

Repeating the same task exactly as before and expecting different results is insanity, I know. But this time I can measure temp better and can tell you that the best I could do is 205 F on my stove. I was supposed to have a turkey fryer by now but that fell through and since I was already ready...

I scrubbed my fermenting bucket and cleaned it with Easy Clean twice. Even with the scrubbing, soaking, rinsing and repeating the bucket still reeks of hops. How can I get rid of that smell so I can use this thing again? I'm brewing again tomorrow so I kinda need it! :confused:

I just racked out to secondary and here's a couple pictures of my Autumn Amber Ale. I used the Autumn Amber Ale kit from Midwest Supplies. SG at the time of racking was dead nuts 1.012. Three more weeks or so and I'll be tasting. It smells delicious! Just hope my thorough washing of the gear was...

I couldn't resist and after 9 days I racked my first beer into a secondary. First of all, I want to say that beer smells phenomenal. I can't wait to try it mid-January! Secondly, I now have a layer about an inch thick on the bottom of the primary that I hate to waste if it can be used for...

Just found this deal. I've never heard of the site so buy at your own risk, just thought I'd share the find. It seems like a good deal to me based on other sites price on single kegs. http://www.homebrewing.org/Set-of-Four-5-Gallon-Pin-Lock-Kegs-Used_p_3179.html

As my first batch draws closer to bottling date (only one more week) I'm really surprised about how relaxed I have been throughout since pitching the yeast. I had my concerns about the rate of bubbling throughr the airlock but I really only check it once a day to be sure it hasn't made a mess...

After much discussion about sanitizers I brewed my first batch Wednesday afternoon. I learned a lot in the brew process, found some pieces that I was missing and worried too much. After four hours of work and worry (yeah, I know, four hours) my yeast was pitched and my beer was on its way...

It took 4 hours, a misunderstanding on a forum post and a six pack of worry but my first batch of beer is stored in a cool closet (shares a wall with my freezing cold attic) so the beer is fermenting at a balmy 72 degrees and falling. It's about 65 in the closet so I don't look for it to get a...