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I've been troubleshooting wildly inconsistent efficiencies in my brews over the last couple of years. I've been brewing exclusively belgian and french beers this year and as a result have been using nothing but pilsner malt of various varieties as my base. I've also been very happy to have...

I'm looking into brewing up a Biere De Garde and I'm curious about trying out the technique of extended boil times to achieve the kettle caramelization for color and flavor. The book (farmhouse ales) says some breweries boil hard for 3 hours or more (one example cited 12 hours). It does not give...

i'm currently fermenting a few batches of the fabled apfelwein and I'd like to distill one into a brandy. Will the brandy batch also benefit from the 6 month+ aging period or will the distillation erase the subtle improvements of the aging process? I'm fairly new to distilling but aging prior to...

I just made my first experimental batch with Golden Naked Oats and it didn't go quite as expected. Its hard to find many recipes out there using this ingredient but I did quite a bit of digging and it seems everybody just throws it right in there with their other grains to grind. I inspected the...

Its my first attempt at apple wine. I made two 5gal batches with one using the montrachet wine yeast as per EdWort's instructions and the second using a vile of While Labs champaign yeast (no starter). The one with the champaing yeast is going crazy and is foaming up into the airlock while the...

I was reading in Papazian's Homebrewer's Companion and ran across an interesting tip. He states the following. He then expands on the point with a little narrative. Has anyone tried this? I wish it provided a few more specifics. Precisely what is meant by "at the end of the mash" and how...

I just felt like posting as a sort of public service announcement, decoction mashes can be turbo efficient so plan accordingly. I normally do regular infusion mashes and the occasional step infusion but I recently got a chest freezer so I figured I'd try a decoction mash with my first real...

I would like to experiment with and learn the flavors of this ingredient. Does anyone have a good simple recipe (or suggestions on formulating one) which features Golden Naked Oats prominently and without a very complex grain bill to get in the way?

I just received my new chest freezer and had to mod it a bit, but it works! I use blichmann 7gal conicals and the freezer is a Danby DCF550W1 5.5 cu.ft. Chest Freezer. If you're scouting a similar solution i'd try to find one that was a few inches taller, though I had a tough time. 5 cubic...

I have been systematically troubleshooting chill-haze and in my last batch I tried a protein rest in my mash. I just did a 20 minute protein rest (for the record i didn't infuse enough water, it ended up way too thick) and i infused up to sacc rest for 60 minutes and the rest of the mash went as...

I recently moved to NYC and my apartment runs very hot. I have had the A/C turned on all winter with the exception of about 1 week over sub 20 degree weather. I'm running AC right now on medium blast room temp is around 72 degrees. Running on full blast is very expensive, my electric bill was >...

Apologies if this has come up before, my search abilities are failing me. A majority of my coworkers are under the impression that they can discern the nuanced flavor differences between Bud Lite, Miller Lite, and Coors Lite in a blind taste test. Lets just say they are not BJCP judges but...

I don't want to start a primary vs. secondary fermentation holy war but I'm curious what peoples strategy is for conical fermenters. I upgraded this year to three lovely blichmanns but I'm still using my old strategy of 4 week primary fermentation. It seems like a lot of reasoning for not doing...

I have several AG brews under my belt now but I've yet to come anywhere close to 70% efficiency. All brews sofar have been in the low 60's and today's clocked in at an even 50%. That is unacceptable as such a low efficiency will limit my beer style choices. My gear: I'm using 10 Gallon Igloo...

Finally got my own mill and a bunch of bulk grain. decided to try this malt conditioning thing for my inaugural batch and I'm wow'd. The grind is so light and fluffy I want to make a pillow out of it. I searched but I couldn't find a grain in there that wasn't perfectly crushed with a nice...

Brewing a light lager. Mash, lauter, boil, aerate, pitch and seal the fermenter. At the end of your long and arduous brew day, happy with the very light color you were able to achieve, you realize you forgot to crush the grain.

I see lots of threads where people set a psi and leave it for weeks to achieve proper carb. I still don't understand why. Dissolved co2 is dissolved co2 so there can't be a taste difference. I set at 30psi and agitate till I no longer hear bubbling. then I release the pressure and re...

Had this beer for the first time last week and its already one of my all-time favorites. Looking to clone it up. Troegs website is nice enough to list malt and hop varietals used, but no precise measurements or ratios. The beer is a barleywine with 100 IBU's but it is very well balanced and...

Dear Internet, I thinking about making a floating raft that I can set in my mash tun to eliminate the headspace. Does anyone have any design recommendations? I would like to give it a handle and the material must be insulating and buoyant. I was also considering it for the ability to...

Brewed yesterday and today. I though yesterday's yeast was incredible as I was off and bubbling in about an hour, but today's batch was bubbling in TEN MINUTES. The picture below is yesterday's batch after 22 hours and its going crazy (starsan frothing up and extruding out the airlock). My first...