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I do 170 to 172 degrees. It usually mashes at 152-154 depending on the amount of grain your are mashing. I just did 11 pounds of 6 different grains for an IPA, and mashed at 152 on the button with water heated to 172.

I have used these coolers with great success. If you warm your water to the proper temperature to get the mash temp at 152, you should have no problem. I mash for an hour and sometimes a bit more, and I have never had a variation in temperature. One day I will move up to a sculpture...

Ed, Have you tried the Huckleberry ale from the C'oeur D'Alene Brewery? Very nice summer ale. Light in body, but with a nice hint of huckleberries. With all the blackberries you have over in the valley....let me know how your ale turns out.

Generally speaking, it usually takes 5 days and up to 8 or 9 days in the primary before you rack to secondary. A long time homebrewer once told me count the time between bubbles in the airlock. If it is over a minute, it may be ready for the secondary.

I would have to ditto all the above. Here's how I list the top five ways to improve your brew: 1. Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize. I sanitize after brewing and before the next brew. Everything that touches the wort gets sanitized twice. 2. All Grain - I am a believer in all grain. You can...

At what hydrometer reading do you generally transfer beer to the secondary? Thanks.

I've always been an advocate of racking to a secondary fermentor to take the beer from the used yeast to avoid off flavors, and to help clarify the finished product. I've gotten rid of the plastic primary fermentor and moved to all glass carboys for both primary and secondary. This reduces the...

I would also ditto to take your time sparging and draining the wort. Slow both down and you will probably have better success. It usually takes me about 35 minutes to sparge and about 45 to fully drain the wort. So far, I haven't had a stuck mash ever.....

Nothing is more frustrating than a stuck mash. I avoid them by putting in the flaked grains the last thing in my mash. Since then, I haven't had a problem. I feel you still achieve the sparge efficiency by doing this. I've actually run flaked barley through the grain mill along with the...

After two years of partial grain/partial extract, I moved to AG brewing and will never return. I can target my OG much better, and with the freshest ingredients around, I can almost guarantee a quality beer every time. All grain is the way it all started - the original way of brewing. My...

I have both sets of software and I think I like Pro Mash best, although I find Beer Smith very easy to use. Either will help you design better beers that will stay within the category styles you are trying to achieve. Both allow you to use literally hundreds of combinations of grains and other...

I live in Bend, Oregon (65,000) and we have the luxury of having 5 micro-breweries in this small town. It's like heaven. The world famous Deschutes Brewery, McMennamin's, Silver Moon, Bend Brewery, and Cascade Lakes. They all have a niche. Recently, the Deschutes Brew Pub has been serving a...

If the beer is low in alchohol content, test your wort to check the original gravity before taking off the boil. Be sure to cool the wort you will measure down to about 70 before testing, or you'll pop a hydrometer. Depending on that reading, you can adjust gravity by adding a bit of dry malt...

Peppermint doesn't excite me when thinking of a beer, but I have had some Spruce Beer from Siletz Brewery on the Oregon Coast that is a knockout. They have it down - a refreshing, but not over-powering spruce scent that adds a bit of bitterness, but not much to the beer. This is a brown beer...

I find when the temperature of the wort is right and there is plenty of oxygen introduced, fermentation will take off rapidly. I just brewed a Strong Belgian Pale and used Wyeast Belgian strong yeast and it took off in four hours. It's still going 8 full days. In a few days, I'll rack into...

If dry hopping in the secondary, I just throw in whole flowers loose and let the wort have at it. If I dry hop in the keg, I use a sterilized bag so dispensing doesn't get plugged. Works both ways for me.

In answer to Dennis' question regarding dry hopping, I have tried three methods: 1). Adding hops in the secondary fermentor, 2). Adding hops into the keg using a straining bag sterilized by boiling first, 3). Pouring wort over dry hops in a strainer as I keg. Each method provides a...