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My first attempt at lagering will be a Baltic Porter kit. The directions call for the regular lagering method, pitch yeast relatively warm, cool over the first couple days of fermentation to primary fermentation temp, warm back up for DR and then lager for four weeks. HOWEVER, I would like to...

I have been getting ready to build a keezer for some time now, purchasing faucets, shanks, regulator etc when I had the cash. I recently noticed that Sears has an appliance layaway plan now (in the past appliances werent applicable). Thought this might be a good way to purchase a 5.0cf chest...

Hello all- I have a fellow homebrewer friend that will be in the Madison area Monday night. Any recommendations on breweries or good beer bars (with local craft beers) to hit? Thanks in advance!

Headed to Asheville this coming weekend and then to Pisgah for some camping. Fo sho, I'll be hitting up all the beer spots in Asheville AND bringing a case of homebrew for the duration of the camping. Would anyone in that area care to recommend some hikes or sights to see?? Thanks in advance!

Hello fellow HBT'ers- One of my BFF's who homebrews is travelling to Rhode Island this week for a conference. Newport, I do believe. 'Tis where I got my first tattoo, but too young to drink. Boo Hiss. Any "must try" recommendations for brew pubs, brews, bars or the like?? Thanks in advance!

I recently brewed a black ale (my 1st partial mash!!) and I believe I will dry hop it when I transfer to secondary. Recipe: 2-row, de-bittered black malt, crystal 90, amber LME, 3/4oz Galena @ 60, 1/4oz Galena @ 15, S-04 dry yeast. In the past I have dry hopped with many of the usual...

So I scored some used homebrew equipment off a fellow who is retiring from homebrewing (the horror!!). He had a freezer full of hops that he just gave me with the rest of the goods. Unfortunately he couldnt remember the age of most of the hops, except that they were less than 5yrs old. I have...

After reading on HBT how great this patio cooker is, I decided to retire my old burner and purchase this one. I was pretty excited about it, free shipping at Amazon too. I got the cooker last evening. YAY!! But to my dismay, when I went to assemble the brass hose connector to the burner, I...

After a month in primary, I racked my AHS American Barleywine to secondary yesterday for further bulk aging. It. Tasted. Awesome. Beyond awesome. Buy it. Brew it. You wont be disappointed. ...except for the waiting part!!

Hello all, I have a question for those of you who are partial boiling, extract brewers (like myself). Ok, well anyone may reply :). When transferring the cooled wort to your primary fermentation vessel, do you strain out the hops and hot break or just dump it all in? I personally just dump...

Hello All, I am a realtively new brewer, extracts and partial boil only at this point. I have a quick question with regards to the BeerSMith software. What is the difference between setting my boil volume based on equipment vs. setting batch size and boil volume? I have a 5 gallon pot, but I...

Hello All, I am beginning to have quite a collection of Belgian bottles, and needless to say, a huge affinity for Belgian beer! I'd really like to use them for bottling an oatmeal stout that I have in my fermentation chamber but clearly I need larger caps...or corks. I have done a little...

Hello All, I am about to order NB's Sinistral Warrior IPA, but would like to dry hop it. As a new brewer, I am really not able to distinguish the specific differences between all of the hop varieties...yet! Nor do I know which variety would be best for dry hopping when (in this case) the kit...

Hi All, I am a partial boiling, extract brewer, residing in the south. I have a wort chiller and it functions properly, but it's efficiency isnt as good as it should be because...I live in the south. The groundwater just isnt cool enough (yet, nor EVER in the summer months) to chill my wort...

Hi All, A friend is about to brew a porter extract w/ steeping grains kit, which calls for US-05 dry yeast. She was thinking of brewing a Bell's Two Hearted clone shortly after and reusing the yeast by putting the IPA directly on the porter cake. The Two Hearted clone also calls for US-05...

Hello All, I am still chuckling at my brewing blunder...I was just about to pitch the yeast into my freshly brewed & cooled oatmeal stout wort. With a pair of sanitized scissors I snipped off a tiny corner of the (sanitized) 1028 Wyeast smack pack. In what seemed like slow motion, I watched...

Hi All, I am currently doing partial boils, extract/steeping grains only. I would really like to start doing full 5 gallon boils, so I will need to upgrade my brew kettle. Now, I can get my hands on a sanke keg fairly easily, so would converting it to a keggle be the most cost efficient...

Has anyone tried the extract version of AHS's "Northwest Special" (session series)? It features 4lbs of DME with 1lb of Crystal 10L, Crystal 20L, Carapils® and Biscuit grains. Yeast options are White Labs California Ale V or Wyeast American Ale II. Unsure of the hops. They dont specify...

Hi All, I have a friend who is about to brew a Russian Imperial (extract kit from NB) and the two of us wondered if it was better to age the beer in secondary for eternity and then bottle it OR bottle it after secondary and then age it there for eternity? Recipe: 0.5 lbs. Simpson's Roasted...

I am converting the spare fridge in my garage into a fermentation chamber so I can control temps better. It's hot here in South Carolina!! Any suggestions as to what I could use as a base to rest the glass carboys on, while inside the fridge? Plexiglass? Lumber?? I am not 100% convinced that the...