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Hi everyone - I started keeping frozen yeast bank about a year ago. I started with The Yeast Bay's "Vermont IPA" yeast. Every time I thaw out a vial of yeast and build a starter it can take as long as 72 hours to see any activity. I had been creating 1 liter starters and I thought that this...

Last February I brewed a Westveletern 12 clone. I only yielded about 3.8 gallons due to a massive overflow during fermentation. In mid-March I bottled the beer in Belgian bomber bottles which I corked but didn't cage. I tasted some test bottles along the way and at about 5 months the beer...

Hi everyone - I am currently brewing my first Belgian Tripel. This is one of JZ's recipes. My brew day went pretty smooth, I was aiming for an OG of 1.081 and I achieved a 1.079. I made a 1L yeast starter (WLP530) and it took about a day for the yeast to take off. What was strange was that 2...

Hi Everyone - I just bought a used mini-fridge to control fermentation temperature. My normal 12" diameter 5 gallon fermentation bucket will only fit in the fridge if I rest 1/2 of the bucket on the "compressor" shelf while supporting the other half by placing a brick on the floor of the fridge...

Hi Everyone - Recently I was given a couple of cans of extract (Light & Wheat) from a friend who never got around to brewing. Being winter time I really didn't want to brew a Hefeweizen. I decided to brew a winter wheat which I was shooting to be a Wheat meets Porter. I came up with the...

SWild Brew Take 1: This past spring I took my first shot at brewing a wild ale. I took some left over 2nd runnings from a Hefewiezen put it in a jar and left it out on my deck for a couple of days. It fermented so I built up (2) consecutive 1 liter starters. When I tasted the starters they...

Hi Everyone - I have question about hop schedules. When I brew IPA's I generally put in a generous amount of hops at distinct points in the boil, usually at 60, 30 & 15 minutes. I have noticed that alot of commercial brewers tend to hop at a more regular interval with smaller additions. I...

So here in the Boston area we have been getting a ridculous amount of rain this year. Yesterday my hop trellis finally gave up, between the soft ground and wind load it fell over. This trellis had been supporting 5 different 2nd year hop plants. The hops were well over 12 feet high with plenty...

Hi everyone - I'm getting ready to brew an Imperial IPA. I would like this beer to have a dry finish. I have set up my recipe to have an OG of 1.085. When I put the recipe into the Brewers Friend calculator it comes back with an FG of 1.020. I would like to get this beer down to the 1.012 -...

Hi Everyone - I am in the middle of a hop harvest dilemma. My hop trellis is a maypole where I have 4 different hop varieties growing into one another. On this trellis are 2nd year Centennials, EKG and Magnums and a 1st year wild hop transplant. I am having trouble figuring out which hop cones...

Hi Everyone - I am in my 2nd season of growing hops. I have included a picture of my trellis, its a May Pole design. I have 4 different hop varieties on this May Pole: 2nd year Centennials, 2nd year East Kent Goldings, 2nd year Magnum and 1st year transplanted wild hops (I am guessing they are...

Hi Everyone - Lately I have been collecting, washing and storing yeast after primary fermentation. This yields quite a bit of yeast. When I make a starter to get the yeast active again, how much yeast from storage should I be putting into the starter? I am worried about potentially over-pitching...

Hi Everyone - I am a long timer luker but this is my first post. I recently tried brewing a California Common, its the 1st time I've tried brewing a hybrid style beer. After primary fermentation the beer had a very strong pineapple taste. I fermented the beer in my basement which stays between...