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i've been using corn sugar for my last few batches and am getting nothing in terms of carbonation. like literally nothing. last time i used 1 cup of corn sugar, previously 1/2 cup. both batches were only like 3 gallons however. i may try 1 cup of regular sugar next time as last time I used...

Testing out the hybrid chiller. It is 25 ft of copper I rolled by hand with some steel rods for support. Basically you put it in a bucket of ice water and run the wort through it. I reuse my MLT and HLT for this process. As the wort is boiling, I'll clean the MLT out and put in the chiller...

The price is incredible considering the closest I've seen is $300. The reviews seem good and with it being $11 to ship to my house and payday tomorrow, I'm thinking a lot about this. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290209879612&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=019

Just a forewarning to anyone using the Home Depot style coolers, I have 2 10 gallon coolers I use for my HLT and MLT. The HLT is starting to warp from the 169 degree sparge water. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but I guess it gives me more of a reason to justify upgrading the...

I posted the other day about only coming up with about 1/2 the wort I had intended for. I took the advice, used a lot more water and remembered to take into account the dead space in my HLT (HD 10 gal cooler) then added the extra water just to be on the safe side.. And I still end up with...

I've noticed in my 1st 2 5 gallon AG brews that I've actually only gotten around 2-3 gallons of wort into the fermenter. In the extract brews, you fill the fermenter with water to the 5 gallon mark. Am I supposed to still do that with AG or am I just doing something really wrong? I really...

The back story: I'm 24 and purchased my first home last August in Baltimore City in an 'urban revitalization' neighborhood for $165,000. It is a 3br, 2 ba on 2 lots and if the area turns over like Federal Hill and Canton, I should be sitting on a nice little payday in a couple years...

I got out of work early yesterday so I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a 3/8" 20 ft coil of copper and 3 2 ft long metal rods. I wound it up pretty loosely with about 2 inches of space between coils then zip tied it to the rods for support. I use my HLT as the storage vessel and MLT...

All my equations and numbers come from "How to Brew" by John Palmer. This is the first time I've ever brewed a beer strictly by using numbers and I wanted to see how everything looks. I used to teach algebra to 9th graders so I skipped writing out a lot of the math so if there's confusion, let...

Well I went to bottle my chocolate porter today and I've come to realize I can't stand the bottling method that 99% of us use. I use the standard ale pale with the tube spigot. It takes forever, it's messy and there's no way to consistently get the same amount of brew per bottle. After the...

I did my first AG brew the other day which went exceedingly well. However, I still rely on an ice bath to cool the wort as I really can't justify the exhorbant cost of a 50 ft immersion chiller. My HLT and MLT setup looks like this: I used whole hops for the first time and realized I...

Well the sun is out and the temp isn't too bad so I figured I'd give this a shot. I went to Home Depot the other day to pick up rat poison and realized I should pick up a water cooler for the lacrosse team I coach. Lo and behold, there are 2 10 gallon coolers just sitting there on a rack for...

I made a 5 gallon batch of stout last night using a partial mash. I used 7 lbs dark LME 2 lbs dark DME 8 oz Patent 8 oz Chocolate Malt 1 oz Fuggles I just realized I didn't use barley. Any idea of what I'm in for as far as taste? The whole time I knew I was forgetting something :)

Would there be interest in exchanging local beers with one another (microbrews not home brews)? For instance I'm in Baltimore and there is a bunch of microbreweries in the area that some one on the West Coast wouldn't get to try. Perhaps send a 6 pack or 12 of assorted local brews so others...

1 lb 40L Grains 1 lb Munich Grains 1 lb Carapils Grains 3 lbs Muntons Amber DME 2 lbs Muntons Light DME 1 oz Yakima Magnum Hops 1 oz Amarillo Hops .33 oz Yakima Magnum Hops Wyeast American Ale Yeast Add 2 gallons of water to your pot. Steep 40L, Munich and Carapils grains for...

This is from a kit that turned out particularly well. I take no credit for the recipe but for those interested in a RIS, it is excellent. 6.6 lbs Plain Dark Malt Extract 2 lbs Plain Dark Dry Malt Extract 8 oz Crushed Roasted Barley 8 oz Crushed Black Patent 1 lb Crushed Crystal Malt 60L...

Is there something special about bottling sugar? I used regular sugar on my last batch and the first one I opened was way overcarbed. Hopefully it was isolated but I'm wondering if I messed up pretty bad on this one.

I own a small sports contracting company that provides tech services for ESPN. This is the off season and to bide my time until the season begins again, I've started home brewing. It is a pretty expensive hobby with the startup costs so I tried to figure out how to make this tax deductible...

Hey everyone, new brewer here from Pig Town in Baltimore. I just started brewing a few weeks ago and am already on my 3rd batch ready to start my 4th tomorrow. This is such an awesome hobby. The best part is due to traveling for work all the time, I can make a batch and it's done fermenting...