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After cleaning my equipment on Saturday I wasn't too fussy about draining the aseptox solution from stuff before I sanitised with Iodophor. I noticed while sanitising my gear that the iodophor solution had lost its colour and its smell. I did an experiment tonight and I can make a glass of...

I did my first AG a couple of days ago and heated my mash water in 3 pots and my sparge water in 4 pots on an electric stove. It was a big hassle getting them all to the same temp. So I need a hot liquor tank of some sort. I don't want to use a burner. I can't brew outside and having one...

I'm hearing here and there that the 2006 hop crop is out in a lot of varieties and that there is doubt if the 2007 crop will sustain demand for the year. Is this something to be concerned about? Is it just a great marketing strategy? Will it only affect some varieties? Are the people that...

So being a guy I have to rush out and tell all my friends. It seems a lot of people have done the same in the last week or so. Maybe it's peer group pressure. Now that I have told you all that, I'm now thinking about my performance. In a few weeks a friend of a friend is sure to tell me, but...

I'm getting ready to do my first all grain today. My burner is a 72,000 BTU outdoor cooker. I'll boil down to 6 Gal. I estimate I've got about 1/3 of a tank of propane but it's always a bit hard to tell. It's an 8KG cylinder. Does that sound like enough? Maybe I'll could heat the wort up to...

Mr Fedex just delivered my pre-cracked grain. There seems to be a lot of uncracked grain. This is my first AG so I'm not sure what properly cracked grain should look like. I pulled out 30 grains that looked uncracked and 14 I could break between my fingernails but 16 I couldn't break. Does...

When the FedEx guy/sexy beer loving chick arrives at my door in the next few days with my grain and hops I'll have everything I need to make my first AG. Except for wisdom (even Northern Brewer doesn't seem to sell that). I still have a few questions to ask and I guess I have a lot more...

I came across a couple of brewing web sites tonight that I really enjoyed reading. Do you have some favourite sites to share? Here's the two I liked: http://knewshound.blogspot.com/2006/03/homebrewing-101.html which features Dave the assistant and also Betty the Buick in a brief sub plot...

I downloaded Beer Smith the other day and I've been having a bit of a play around with it. It seems pretty good but I've never used brewing software before so I don't have anything to compare it to. And I'm still getting ready for my first AG so a lot of the details I'm not familiar with anyway...

I built a wort chiller today from 25' of 3/8 OD copper. Considering I've only got a handful of tools and my kitchen is my "workshop" it all went together pretty easy and there's no leaks so I'm pretty happy. I haven't assemled my burner yet so to test it I boiled up about 23L (6 Gal) of water in...

Hi all. I want to buy ingredients for an AG SNPA and I'm having trouble finding them. My LHBS (L'Atelier Biere et Vin) is mainly into wine and has a limited range of beer stuff. I've heard of a place called Choppe A Barrock but I don't have a car so even if they have what I want it's 2 bus...

Hi all. I'm getting close to doing my first AG but I still have a couple of things to work out. One of those things is how do people cool a sample of runnings to take a SG reading? Maybe you don't cool it at all and just adjust for temp? Thanks, Jaf.

I've had a couple of beers that seem to have a sherry flavour to them. I've read a little about oak chips and I'm wondering if anyone has used oak chips soaked in sherry in their beer. If so, how did you use them? IE what quantities of chips and sherry, how long did you soak for, when and to...

Recently I visited a pub-brewery and had a chat to the brewer there. His beer was great. He had a lot of interesting things to say. Let me share a few with you that stand out in my mind. Brewing is a philosophy. Don't think of brewing in terms of right or wrong. If something works for you...

I’m Australian so therefore I find the imperial system completely ridiculous but I’m probably not going to make many friends in this forum by banging on about the metric vs imperial issue. What I’m wondering though, so I can convert it to metric for easy calculations, is what is meant by a 5...

Hi all. I recently moved from Melbourne Australia to Montreal. I had to leave all my brew equipment behind so I've started again. In Aus I fermented in a cylindrical plastic drums with an airlock in the lid and a tap (spigot) fitted near the bottom. But I figured "while in Rome do as the...

Hi beer lovers. I've just moved from Melbourne Australia to Montreal. I'm in Chambly at the moment but I'm moving to Greenfield Park (South Shore) soon. Is there a brew shop close to me that someone can recommend? I was filling old post-mix soft drink kegs back home (very popular in Aus)...