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I have a new two corny keg kit from Midwest and a Sanyo 4912 refrigerator. As it happens, I can fit the two kegs, the CO2 tank, and the dual regulator in the fridge if I put the CO2 tank on the left and have the regulator extend to the right. This means that the gauges are below the regulator...

I just put together a recipe using Beersmith. Having experienced a stuck mash last time, I added a pound of rice hulls. So, I have 12.25 pounds of grain and 1 pound of rice hulls for a total of 13.25 pounds. Beersmith calculated I'd need to mash with 16.56 qts. of water. The math tells me that...

I'm planning to brew a strong Scotch ale next weekend. Usually, I use an appropriate liquid yeast for my brews. However, given the high OG for this style, it would be much easier to use a couple packages of Safale than make a humongous starter. AHBS offers Safale S-33 as an option with their...

I brewed an American brown ale this weekend. When I measured the SG pre-boil, I got 1.057 on 7.25 gallons, implying an efficiency of about 67% (disappointing). After the boil, I got an SG reading of 1.068 on 5.7 gallons, implying an efficiency of 62%. For the pre-boil reading, I cooled the...

When is it necessary to add yeast at bottling time? I have a dubbel that I will bottle after 2 weeks in primary and 3 weeks in secondary. Should I add extra yeast and, if so, how much? My last brew was a Saison which I bottled after about a combined 4 weeks of primary and secondary and it seems...

I've been reading Stan Hieronymous' "Brew Like a Monk". I was surprised to see that all of the abbeys leave all their beers in primary for only 5-7 days. There's a lot of variation in secondary, 2 days - 6 months depending on filtering, etc. etc., but the primary period is remarkably consistent...

I'm at a loss. I have a hydrometer and a refractometer. I calibrated both using distilled water and both read 0 (1.000 and 0 Brix respectively), so I have to assume they are working correctly. When I measured OG of my last brew, the hydrometer read 1.071 (1.072 after temp. correction) while the...

One of my neighbors asked me to donate some homebrews to the neighborhood's silent auction. The proceeds go to charity and I would not receive a dime. Can I do this legally. By the way, I'm in California.

I have a beer that has quit at about 1.020. It fermented quite actively for about a day and a half and then the bubbling stopped. As it happened, this was when I had to move the carboy a couple of times between rooms (we had a party and needed it out of the way). I was using a highly flocculent...

For the third brew in a row, fermentation has seemed to stop at 1.018-1.020. All three had predicted FG's of 1.014-1.016. Two were extract brews using different brands of extract. One was an ESB and was relatively pale, and one was an American brown. Now, I've brewed my first AG batch, a...

Tomorrow I plan to do my first AG. I'm using John Palmer's suggested recipe (Oak Butt Ale). According to his procedure, you would put the grain in the mash tun and then add the strike water a gallon at a time. On the other hand, at our club brew's AG class last week, we were told to add the...

Well, my Kewler Kitz came, and I'm ready to install it. Unfortunately, no instructions came with it. I'm not sure where the washers and o-rings are meant to go. I'm guessing that the large o-ring goes on the outside of the cooler and the small one on the inside. Is that right? Do both washers...

I've been planning my first AG batch and have been reading John Palmer's book fairly religiously. I decided the safest thing to do for my first batch was to follow the recipe and procedure for Oak Butt Brown Ale that he describes in great detail in the chapter "Your First All-Grain Batch."...

This is probably a NOOB worrying way too much, but anyway.... The other day, I got a water analysis report for Crystal Geyser Olancha spring water. I'm not sure how to use it in a brewing context. Compared to most water in the water table in Beersmith, it appears to have remarkably little in...

I was looking at false bottoms on the Midwest Supplies site. I was planning to buy a 12" false bottom to use in a 10 gal. Home Depot Cooler that I am going to buy. However, along with a 9" and 12" false bottom, they list a 10" which is described as "fits 10 gallon Rubbermaid coolers." Now...

I was at the LHBS Friday to buy ingredients for a recipe that I brewed today - a modified brown American. While at the store, my brain went on vacation and I somehow ended up grinding an extra pound of chocolate malt. Now it sits in my refrigerator waiting to be used. Does anyone have a recipe...

Two silly questions: I brewed today and everything seems to have gone well - the ESB extract kit from morebeer.com. I did my second full boil so I used my wort chiller to chill the wort. My silly question is that with the chiller in, the pipes that bring the water in and out prop the lid of...

I brewed Austin HB's Nipper IPA kit two Sunday's ago. It managed to survive blowing the lid off the plastic fermenter one night, and having taken a couple hydrometer readings, it actually seems to taste pretty good. Two days ago, I did a hydrometer reading (9 days in) and got a reading of...

I just bought a turkey fryer and will be doing some full boil extract brews. Most kits, like AHB Nipper IPA which I brewed last week, specify boiling half and then topping up. Will doing a full boil rather than a half boil affect the amount of hops needed to attain the recipe's IBU?

Well, my IPA exploded. I have 5 gallons in a 6 gallon plastic bucket. OG was 1.061. Last night, some time between 1 AM and 6 AM, the airlock clogged up and the top of the fermenter blew off. This morning I sanitized the lid and airlock and replaced them. So far, after a few hours, the airlock is...