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I researched this method and was intrigued, but I'm a little confused. The idea is that you had hops prior to filling the boil kettle from the mash tun in an effort to impart hop flavor and aroma to the beer. We obviously add hops at various boil times to control how much the oils are broken...

I harvested a few viles of WLP001 off a pale ale I did about 6 months ago, so they've been in the fridge for about half a year... Just for fun, I whipped up a 2L starter and pitched all three vials. Took about 24 hours to see activity and it's active but not going super crazy, at least yet. It's...

I've had a pretty steady flow of beers being produced, so much that I have an extra chest freezer keeping kegs that aren't under pressure cold, at 40 F. I just had a tap become free so I put it under pressure at 30 PSI @ about 45 degrees. Normally I throw the beer in at 12 PSI for a little over...

Picked up the last smack pack my LHS had of the Wyeast Belgian Wit yeast... I activated it a few hours before I made the starter and it didn't puff up too much. I made a 2L starter and pitched the yeast and put it on my stir plate. 12 hours later, no activity at all. I've got a blow off tube on...

I've brewed a lot lately for the purposes of allowing the beer in my kegs to condition for a bit longer. Trying to get in the habit of having beer on tap, beer in the fermenter, and beer in kegs that will condition while I don't have room on tap. That being said, I want to get a chest freezer...

So for the past year I've been kegging my beers, I usually throw em in the fridge at 10 PSI and let them sit about 7 days and I get a nicely carbonated beer. I notice, however, that the beer gets better and better as I make my way through the keg, clearing up, getting crisper, mellows out in a...

I just brewed up a starter, just like I always do, some good old pilsner DME, 2 Liters, and some yeast nutrients. I notices that even before adding the yeast I have some good old clumpiness going on, not something I've really seen before. Should I be concerned, or could it just be some malt that...

Been brewing for about 5 years, up until this point I plan a brew day, head down to the brew shop 45 minutes away, grab my ingredients and brew, I've recently taken on the task of harvesting my yeast and am thinking I'd like to start buying more grain in bulk, as well as hops. I like the idea of...

I acquired these nifty plastic vials, they are similar to the vials that the White Labs yeast comes in. I see a lot of people harvest their yeast and store them in jars. I'm thinking about harvesting and storing in these vials. If I were to do so, would I expect that one of these vials filled...

I'm going to be harvesting the yeast from my current pale ale, first time for me. I usually crash my beers at near freezing temps for about 48 hours prior to racking the beer off the cake into the keg. Since I'm going to be harvesting the yeast, will this crash kill or hinder the yeast? Should I...

Y kettle is due for a good cleaning. I let it soak overnight in oxyclean and I think that was a mistake because it left a stubborn residue. Can I soak in Vinegar for a short amount of time then wash good with soap, or what would you guys suggest?

So much stuff about water chemistry, I get it that it's important... I live in Scottsdale, Arizona and the water is crap. I've been using distilled water with 3 tsp of Gypsum for the past couple of years and it seems to do fine, but I'm always wondering if I should be doing something else. I'm...

I'm doing an ESB and have been reading my "Designing Great Beers" book. It recommends for this style mashing with a water to grain ratio of 1qt/lb... My grain bill is 14.5 pounds which is obviously 14.5 quarts of water which is roughly 3.75 gallons. My question is whether or not that's to thick...

Brewed a 5 gallon Imperial IPA 13 days ago with a starting gravity of 1.100. I fear I have under pitched. I used 2 vials of WLP001 in a 2 L starter. I just checked the gravity and am only at 1.040, I would have expected more progress after 13 days of fermentation at 71 F. It tastes pretty good...

I may be paranoid but I have a strange feeling about one of my fermentations. Just brewed up an imperial IPA with an OG of 1.100. I pitched a 2 L started that contained two vial of WLP001 last Sunday at about 5 PM. The starter was very active when pitched. It fermented pretty well for a couple...

One of the things I love so much about a nice ESB is a quality I can only describe as raisin like... Every time I try to brew a so called ESB, I end up with just an average pale ale, nothing impressive. Without going into the recipes I've been brewing, what grains really lend themselves to this...

I kegged a couple beers right before I left on a two week vacation. I thought it would be a good idea to throw some oxyclean into each glass carboy, and let them soak while I was gone. I left the carboys in my garage, which is currently pretty darn hot since I live in Scottsdale, AZ. When I...

I typically make a starter 24 hours before I am going to pitch. Typically it's about 1800 mL. I've always just poured the entire starter into the carboy. Lately I've been wondering how big of an impact that has on my brews. My batches are all 5 gallons. I use extra light DME in my starters...

Hi there, I am sitting here in front of my mash and realized I struck with way to much water, 2.0 qt/lb on a 14 pound grain bill. It's just a simple American IPA. This was a recipe error and i wasn't paying attention. I'll be bring 7.5 gallons into the kettle. This means that the greater...