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My favorite part of brew day is just before the wort comes to a boil. The stuck sparges and temperature adjustments are over and it is all down hill. The smell of the malt is also at its peak. The foam rising up in the kettle looks cool, too.

I just kegged my first 10 gallon batch. It was fermented under identical conditions in two carboys. As expected, the two halves of the batch tasted the same and had the same FG. Have you ever had that NOT happen? Did you ever taste the two halves of the same batch and find that they were different?

Heads up for IPA lovers in or near Virginia. Keep an eye out for Chaos Mt Mad Hopper. It is one fantastic hoppy beer. The hop and malt flavors are incredibly clear, crisp, and distinct. I've brewed lots of hoppy beers, but I've never been able to make a beer like this one.

I did my first ten gallon batch. It has been a long time coming, but I finally got around to it. It went pretty smooth, too except for a slow sparge. I used rice hulls for the first time, which probably saved me from a totally stuck sparge. Apparently 3 oz isn't enough - next time I'll do at...

My woman wants to have me neutered. My first appointment with the urologist is in January. Please tell me it's going to be OK.

The ads on HBT suggest that you, dear reader, might enjoy beer and comfortable underpants. That sounds like a complement to me. I have a subscription to Family Handyman magazine and let me tell you, the ads are somewhat offensive. The seem to think I'm an impotent, balding idiot.

I've been working on using acid malt to get my mash pH right and have found that 3% brings the mash down, but also makes a tart beer. It is not undrinkable, just noticeable. How much acid malt do you all use on a regular basis? For the record: 4 lb pilsner malt 4 lb two row 2 lb flaked corn 4...

I use this recipe to try out new malt and hops. It always comes out very drinkable with good balance regardless of the mash schedule and hop variety. 8 lb Fawcett Pearl malt 3.5 g calcium chloride 1/2 oz Freshops Crystal leaf 4% 60 min 1 oz Freshops Crystal leaf 10 min 1 oz Freshops...

I did a batch today that had a negative starch test after 20 minutes at 140 F. Normally it takes most of an hour. Sometimes I don't get full conversion until I bump up to a higher temp to finish it off. Two things were different: Kolsch malt and pH. This was my first time using Kolsch malt...

Any other users of the Fix mash schedule out there? It is 30 min each at 40, 60, and 70C. He claims that you can adjust the dextrine balance by shifting the times for the two high temp steps. My last one was 50 min at 60C and that was long enough to get a negative iodine test. It was at 1.016...

I was talking to an experienced brewer a while back and he told me that rye needs high temps to make the most of that spicy character. He recommended 170F. I'm not even sure how I would go about that. The whole mash can't be done at that temp, obviously. Maybe do a separate rye mash, then add it...

What did you do recently that bumped your beer quality up to the next level? What are you working on now that will let you break through a plateau? My last big improvement came from cutting out the crystal malt. I was adding crystal to everything until I tried some SMaSH brews and found that...

I built this ferm chamber about a year ago. It is 3/4" oak ply with 1" foam insulation. There is a heat exchanger inside that uses glycol from a tank in the freezer next door. Heat is provided with a 100 W waterproof heating pad. There is an STC-1000 for control. More pics to come . . .

The brewery where I work a couple days a month didn't have very reliable results with acid washing yeast, so they switched to sodium chlorite instead. There is an article about it on the Birko website...

Swing top bottles for sale in central VA 23960 20 porcelain top brown Grolsh ~17 oz 10 plastic top brown Grolsh-style ~17 oz 25 porcelain top brown Hopfenperle ~19 oz They have all been used for many batches of homebrew. I've replaced the gaskets on the older, porcelain top bottles. I will...

My grandfather was a homebrewer and I just took some pictures of his gear. I still use the antique capper in the picture. You might not be able to see in, but the caps are labeled "Pepsi Cola -- with added caramel color" and the gaskets inside are cork. The can is labeled "Mead's...

All the serious talk of exploding carboys and trips to the ER has me feeling grateful that all my homebrewing accidents have been funny rather than dangerous. Here is a description (from rec.crafts.brewing) of my second batch of homebrew: "My second batch of beer was a batch of Imperial Stout...

I everyone, I'm Keith. I've been brewing since 1995 on and off and started doing all grain batches in 2001. Most of the time I do pretty simple beers (single step infusion ales) because of the time constraints, but I'd like to try lagers when I can get a fridge set up for it.