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Hi! My standard malt bill for an IPA is something like 90% 2-row 5% wheat or Vienna 5% Crystal 20 I like a super-clean neutral malt bill to showcase the hops, but this time I'd like to get less of the "muddy" color I seem to with the above, and get closer to the color of one of...

Note: I'm specifically referring to "Pre-Boil Efficiency" as defined here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/ I believe that I am not getting the sugars out of my grain bill, during mashing, that I think I should. I went back for my last several brew days, and I have pre-boil...

I keep a spreadsheet of all my brews, and I just added a column for yeast attenuation, based on the http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew/beginners-attenuation-and-flocculation-definitions. Looking at it, I see some (seemingly) surprisingly low attenuation values: WLP 001: 72% (OG: 70...

I brewed up a Dunkelweizen 18 days ago, and the recipe data from brewersfriend lists an expected FG of 1.013. I'm at 1.021, which is where it's been for 11 days or so. I would normally bottle this weekend, after 3 weeks. But I've had a bad experience with bottle bombs once before, so I'm...

What's the best way of inducing a whirlpool vortex when using an immersion coil chiller? I suppose if I'm doing a hop stand for 30 min, I'd do that first, then insert the chiller and start cooling after then required 30 minutes. But -- if I want the hop stand at, say, 180F, I need to chill...

I've only dry-hopped a dozen or so brews, but I nearly always notice that I get some "hop particles" in my glass after bottling. I always rack to secondary, dry hop in secondary. I never dry hop more than 7 days. I try to rack carefully from secondary to bottling bucket. I don't pour...

I decided to brew (BIAB) a series of IPAs, with only small changes from batch to batch, to try to increase my brew technique and understanding (see this thread). My first batch has has been in primary for 12 days, and the gravity seems a bit high to me at 1.016 (still hoping it attenuates a bit...

Hi: I'm at the point in my brewing where I'm trying to learn from my sessions, not just brew stuff. I decided to start with a "basic" IPA, and tweak it on subsequent brew sessions: - different hops - different hop schedules - different mash temps - different base grains -...

I had to post about my happiness in finally doing a successful AG brew. My first one: I measured gravity post-mash (pre-boil), and it seemed low, so I added 2# of DME. Little did I know about the difference between pre- and post-boil gravity, and so I ended up with wort that was 20 gravity...

I had my first real brew disaster yesterday. Okay, I've had lots of problems in the past 1.5 years of brewing (bottle bombs, forgot this or that), but everything's ended up drinkable. But yesterday I was *finally* going to bottle an American Wheat that I brewed up on July 7 -- I didn't rack...

The last time I brewed, I took a sample of my post-mash wort (BIAB), before starting the boil, to test the gravity. I wanted to do the measurement before I started the boil, to see if I needed to add some DME, but was in a hurry and didn't have time to cool it properly. When I went to...

Hey: So I've been brewing about a year now, and the one issue that consistently bugs me is: over-carbonated bottles. Yes, I bottle my beer, with corn sugar for priming. I've cut back on the amount of corn sugar I use. I religiously check that fermentation is complete before bottling...

Using instructions I found on HBT (but can't find right at the moment), I did the following: - Made a 1L starter from a vial of WPL002 (English Ale Yeast) - Decanted and saved off half of it into two sanitized mason jars - Used the rest in a 3gal brew So now I've got 2 mason jars...

So here's the deal: I brewed my second all-grain BIAB brew the other day, and I forgot to take a gravity reading before I pitched. Oh well, no worries, I just won't know what the ABV is of the final beer. (I understand that taking a gravity reading of the wort+yeast is just going to give...

I've been brewing for a year or so, but I haven't run across an answer to this question. What's the best way of starting a siphon from a pail, not a carboy? I've seen carboy siphon starters (auto-siphon), which look fine. But I've been happy doing primary fermentation in a plastic bucket...

Every time I open a vial of White Labs yeast, I get a vigorous expulsion of stuff from the vial. I finally learned to expect this, and so I StarSan the vial before pitching now. This is fine when I'm pitching into a bucket -- there's a nice wide target to hit :-) . But last night I pitched...

I've got a 3-gallon IPA from extract that's been in primary (bucket) for 27 days, and the gravity is around 1.020. I had issues with this brew from the start. I had too much water boil off, and so only got 2 gallons from the kettle to bucket when I pitched the yeast. About 40 hours later, I...

Yesterday I brewed what was to be a 3-gallon extract batch of Columbus IPA, for which I'd cut down all the ingredients from a 5-gallon batch of the same beer I made about 6 months ago. In my naivete, I just thought that would be it -- 60% of the grain, LME, and hops, and I'd be good to go...

I've looked without luck for a (extract) clone recipe for Port Brewing Shark Attack : 9.5%ABV, balanced hops, dark red color. Any tips? The page above says "medium crystal malts," Centennial and Cascade hops, and an OG of 1.088. How much LME/DME should I use, how much hops should I add, and...

My buddy and I brewed up a 5g full boil extract "Best Bitter" last Sunday. OG was 1.045, everything seemed fine. On this, my third batch, I created a 2L starter about 24 hr before pitching; yeast was active in the starter at pitch time. Here I am 5 days later, with zero activity in the...