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I'm not exactly drunk, but I have had a little to drink - enough that I'm questioning whether I should be posting in the forums I usually frequent. I went out with some friends the other night and when I was talking about my beer and having them taste it a friend said she's going to have a...

This is the first winter that I'll be brewing here in the Willamette Valley. As those of you who live here know, the temps stay above freezing for most of the winter but don't get that warm, either. Last year the temperature read about 43.5 almost every day (at least when I happened to glance...

I'm definitely not going to dump the beer or anything like that (!) but I'm trying to brace myself for whatever surprise awaits me. I pitched an Irish Ale Wyeast into an oatmeal stout. This is the second time this has happened and I've only brewed four times! The first time it was because...

I'm not sure where to post this, but I brewed (and bottled!) and videotaped yesterday while my husband watched our 8 week old daughter :) Brewing with Bonnie Cheers. I would have been drinking homebrew while I brewed but I'm all out :( I spent $14.37 for this batch. What do your LME recipes...

On Sunday I had planned to bottle. I had gotten two identical hydrometer readings two days apart. I got so far as adding the priming sugar (it's in the primary still. Both of my buckets are full of drinkables, so I don't have a bottling bucket anymore) and then came down with a fever (103!)...

The other day the fridge was just so packed I didn't have room for the blueberry pomegranate (from concentrate) juice that's in a huge container we use for mixing it. So, I left it out. The next day (or was it two days later?) I drank some mixed with water (I know it's unusual, but it's usually...

The only two batches of beer I've made so far have this oil-slick like appearance on top of them in the fermenter. It's not over the whole surface, but broken up. The first batch turned out fine taste-wise, and this second batch is still in the primary but I can see it on the surface again...

I'm new to mead making but I've done a little bit of beer brewing and I'm moderately familiar with the fermentation process. I'm also patient and am fine with waiting a fair bit (6 months to a year sounds pretty reasonable) for good mead. I want to make a dry, still mead. I don't want it to...

I know that beer brewing seems to be something that I will learn to make recipes for, but are there any really good books out there? I don't know where to find true and tried recipes for (especially) the beginner brewer who doesn't want to just go to the store and throw things together.

I'm actually in Newberg, not far outside of Portland. I see hop farms around when I drive on the smaller highways. I just realized I am right in the middle of hop country. Can anyone in the area recommend a local (well, at least Willamette valley/Portland area) grower to buy hops direct from...

I haven't invested in a carboy yet. My first (and only, so far) batch I just used a bucket for primary fermentation and never racked. However, I want to get a few carboys for other projects I want to start, like cider and mead, and I imagine someday I might try secondary fermentation with a...

I'm thinking about trying this with a batch of beer and I was thinking it might be interesting to try with a cider, as well. Some herbal teas are fruity and fairly fragrant (they smell SO good, actually!). They're not super strongly flavored, but I'm guessing they might add something if they...

Ok..I've been looking for some time with the search function and haven't been able to figure out what I am looking for. My brain is pretty much fried from having a new baby in the house, so I'm sure it's there but I just can't find it. Do I need to cold crash if what I'm looking for is...

Ok. So I posted another thread about my expired Coopers and went back to the store to get different yeast. I was in a rush (someone I was with was late for work and I had to hurry!) and I ended up with Fermentis WB-06, which, when I arrive home says for wheat brewing. The brew store is a good 25...

I'm planning on starting a brew tomorrow (my first!). I'm going to use Star-San. How long in advance can the sanitization need to be done? I'm planning on brewing in the afternoon. If I sanitize it a few hours before, is that OK, or will my stuff get "infected"? On the other hand, is it...

Hello, I'm completely new to brewing and relatively new to beer drinking (well, as in the past two years). I grew up in a family where Budweiser was the devil's drink - and not for quality, but for alcohol content. After I married and moved away, things changed :) I'm a full-time nursing...

I'm a complete newbie. I bought some of my own equipment yesterday and am borrowing a carboy and a boil pot on Monday. I'm doing a 5 gallon brew with 6 pounds of light malt extract, cascade hops, and about 2 pounds of cracked grain (I'm not sure any of this has bearing on the yeast I'm using...