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I have a 1.100 OG mead in the primary now for a month that I am about to rack over oak. I have American oak cubes, medium toast, and I was planning on using 2 oz. Any suggestions as how best to use the oak? I have seen several ways, and was leaning towards covering the 2 oz cubes in water...

I'm making a pecan brown ale today, and am currently roasting 12 oz of pecans to add them to my mash. Anyone know how small I need to crush them? Thanks!

I'm brewing a cider as we speak, and the hydrometer (in hot pasturizing cider) reads a SG of 1.033, which is impossible. Other than a defective hydrometer, which worked fine for my last brew and calibrated at 1.000 in water, any idea why the reading is so low? The recipe is: 6 gal apple juice...

Background: I bottled a Belgian saison last Monday, made using WLP670 yeast blend, FG 1.006 and stable for 3d, aged 1 week in primary and 2 weeks in secondary, primed with 4.75 oz table sugar for added dryness and carbonation level of around 2.7-2.8. When I age a beer longer than 2 weeks, I...

Afternoon, all. I was planning on making my blood orange summer ale again (it's popular--the batch I made in April is already history), but I've found that blood oranges are now gone until fall. All I can seem to find so far are navel oranges. In the opinion of fruit brewers out there, am I OK...

I rehydrated some safale 05 last night to prime by t'ej (Calagione's recipe) for bottling this weekend, but managed in my sleep-deprived state to forget to add it to the carboy and left it uncovered on the counter all night. The yeast solution looks and smells like nothing more than yeast. Since...

I'm making the T'ej recipe from Calagione's "Extreme Brewing" book, my first attempt at mead or its cousins. The recipe calls for shredded gesho, but the only gesho I could find is the whole sticks. The recipe calls for 9.6 oz. Since shredded roots would have much more surface area than the...

I'm hoping to brew the T'ej recipe from Calagione's Extreme Brewing. Anyone know where in the DC metro area I can find Gesho root? I haven't had much luck calling African grocery stores around here. Thanks!

I'm a partial mash brewer, and cannot for the life of me figure out why most of my brews finish darker than I plan. I just competed a Tripel and IPA, and both of their critiques labeled them too dark for the style (I can't argue). My Irish red is basically an Irish brown. I already add most of...

I was hoping for input on this recipe (partial mash): 6 1/2 lbs pilsen LME 2 lbs Belgian 2-row 1 lb Munich 8 oz Carapils 8 oz flaked oats 8 oz Belgian aromatic 6 oz crystal 60 4 oz caravienne Grains mashed at 153 deg for 90 min 5 gal batch, 6 gal boil 90 min boil for carmelization...

Maybe this is a silly question, but I'm relatively new to partial mashing. I have 2 young kids (2 months and 22 months), and the house is so crazy that the only way I can brew these days is when both are asleep. At night this doesn't happen until after 8, which means I'm up much later than I can...

My starters all fizz like soda or beer head when they ferment, without the krausen that I'm used to in my full-sized worts. I can't remember the last time I made a starter that had a real krausen. Most fermentations have been OK. Is this normal for starter fermentation, or am I doing something...

I'm making a winter spice ale this weekend, with nutmeg, anise, and allspice additions. I have been meaning to experiment with whole spices and now have some fresh whole star anise and allspice, as well as nutmeg seeds with a nutmeg grinder. My question is what would the crushed whole spice...

I have a stuck fermentation problem. I'm making the Affligem Noel clone from Beer Captured. My OG was 1.090, FG was supposed to be about 1.018. I made a 1 qt starter of WLP 570 Belgian strong ale yeast and pitched 3/4 of it, getting very rapid start of fermentation. I saved a cup of the starter...

Good morning, all. I'm making the Affligem Noel clone from "Beer Captured." 2 weeks ago I pitched a 1L starter of Belgian strong ale yeast (WLP 570 I think), andnow my airlock is still bubbling, one bubble every 20 seconds or so. I popped the fermenter lid about 3 days ago and found no more...

I'm making the Affligem Noel clone from "Beer Captured," and the recipe calls for priming with dry malt extract. I've never primed with malt extract, and I use liquid rather than dry extract anyway. Is it within reason to prime with liquid ME, and if so how much? My general conversion is 3/4 lb...

I'm making the Affligem Noel clone from "Beer Captured". The recipe recommends priming the wort in the secondary with an additional dose of yeast 3 days before bottling, as the ABV on this one is about 9%. Rather than buy 2 separate vials of WLP 570, can I make a starter and save 1/4 of it or so...

I'm brewing tomorrow, so I cooked up a yeast starter at ~noon yesterday: 2/3 cup pilsen LME in 1 qt water, cooled to 70 deg and pitched a vial of WLP 570 Belgian strong golden ale yeast. It's been almost 24 hrs now and I'm seeing no signs of fermentation. The yeast cake doesn't look all that...

I'm having a gravity issue: three straight brews have wound up with lower-than-expected OG, all by about 4-8 GU. I'm an extract brewer which I always understood would mean missing the target gravity wouldn't be an issue. The first 2 brews were extract with steeping grains, and I'm pretty sure I...

Doing my first partial mash at this moment on a pumpkin ale. I mashed 3 lbs grains along with a pound of rice hulls and 4 lbs canned pumpkin in 2 gal, then sparged with 1 gal at 170. So how long do I wait for the sparge to run off? I don't think I have a stuck sparge as far as I can tell, given...