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Anyone ever make their own candi sugar using a method similar to this? https://joshthebrewmaster.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/how-to-make-belgian-candi-sugar/ I've done it 12 or more times, and it always came out clear and amber (darker the longer the sugar was cooked). Today when I did it...

I'll be brewing a strong dark Belgian ale and am considering trying star anise (and maybe some bitter orange peel). I've looked all around for how to use the star anise but got a lot of confusing information as far as quantities and length of boil. I've seen suggestions of teaspoons, fractions...

Is it possible that irish moss could have a negative effect on head retention. Since head retention relies on the presence of proteins couldn't the irish moss be pulling those out?

According to Palmer's How To Brew, 3rd Ed., when discussing using roasted malts like chocolate, black and roasted barley, he states, "These highly roasted malts contribute a bitter chocolate, coffee, or burnt toast flavor to brown ales, porters, and stouts. Obviously, these malts should be...

I usually let my beers sit in fermenters for several weeks and reyeast when bottling. I'm planning my first wheat beer (leaning towards a dunkelweizen) and would like some advice on how to proceed. I generally do the main fermentation with a liquid yeast and bottle with a dry (US-05 or...

I know I'm being paranoid, and it's quite a common practice, but doesn't throwing something unsanitized into our fermenting (or nearly finished fermenting) beer fly in the face of one of the first rules homebrewing?

I broke my hydrometer (2nd one this month!) between the time I racked my beer and when I bottled it. After racking the sg=1.014. Before bottling it was 1.018 (with the new hydrometer). Obviously at least one of them is inaccurate. More than likely they both are. I always thought they...

I got a tube of White Labs yeast that's about 5 months past it's "best if used before" date. I'm hoping it's still viable. I'm planning a trippel of about 1.080. I've started it in a qt of starter, and once that starts (hopefully), I'm gonna add it to another 2 qt starter. My question is...

A few questions about rice hull usage: 1. How much do you use? 2. Do you use them in all your batches? Which ones? 3. Do you add them to the grain bill as other grains and increase the mash water, or do you soak them first and throw them into the mash?

The beer of the day on my "365 Bottles Of Beer For The Year" calendar is Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Brown Ale, which actually uses pecans in its recipe. Has anyone used nuts to make a true nut brown ale (or any other color)? If so, what did you use, how did you use them, and how did it...

Is there a good reason not to use high alpha hops for bittering? If you're boiling them for 60 min they don't contribute to the flavor anyway. With the price of hops so high these days I figure that would a way to save a few bucks.

Ok, maybe I'm being impatient, but I pitched my yeast (White Labs Trappist - WLP500) last night to 2 qts of starter. I expected to see either significant activity or evidence of it this morning. Nothing. Yeast and starter both at room temp when pitched. I pumped some oxygen into it before...

Anyone use what MoreBeer calls "Oxygenation Partial System?" Comes with the regulator, tube, filter and stone. I just used it for the first time and kind of expected a more vigorous release of oxygen than I saw. I'm thinking it's the diffusion stone and the filter that keep the release of air...

Just sent my first brew in 15 years to the primary. A Belgian Strong Golden. All-in-all it went well. Thanks to this forum I was pretty well prepared. Used a 10gal round cooler for my MLT. Thanks to FlyGuy for the instructions on putting that together. I shot for 154 for the mash and hit...

I'll be adding candi sugar to my boil, and Beersmith has me adding it at the beginning of the boil. I plan on adding it closer to flame-out. Does anyone know if there's a setting in Beersmith that lets me change where that shows up in the Brewing Steps?

I'm going to be brewing a Belgian Strong Golden ale with the following: Batch Size: 5.00 gal Boil Size: 6.50 gal Estimated OG: 1.082 SG Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM Estimated IBU: 26.6 IBU Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 % Boil Time: 75 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amount...

I'm planning a Belgian Tripel and have heard it's a good idea to re-yeast prior to bottling. I have a few questions on how to do that. Should I make a pint starter a few days before bottling and add the yeast from that, along with the priming sugar, to the bottling bucket? Is the yeast I...