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Has anyone ever tried using a drill and one of those aerating drill bits to create a whirlpool when using an immersion chiller? I feel like the combination of aeration and increased flux of wort over the chiller would cool down the wort much faster than just stirring by hand. I normally just...

I'm planning on brewing up 5 gallons of a wheat (I really like SN Old Chico so probably a clone of that). Ferment it together but then split the batch into fifths and rack into 1 gallon jugs with different fruits in them. Can you guys give me a list of what 5 fruits you'd recommend. I'm...

The more I learn about homebrew the more I see people consistently saying the more foam the better. Even Dr. Bamforth professor of beer science at UC Davis says to always pour into the glass vigorously (if I remember correctly). It seems like people are aiming to get a few inches of foam on...

Has anyone ever filtered post boil through the grain bed? I consistent struggle with clarity even using a paint strainer as I pour into my primary and cold crashing (to the best of my abilities (45-50f). I imagine if I were to do this, say after I get my wort down to ~120 I could (a) get the...

Title pretty much sums it up. I work very close to Russian River so I'll buy them when I get an offer and they'll be as fresh as possible. Pretty much just trying to work my way down beeradvocate's top 100. Looking for any highly acclaimed beer really. Not really a fan of belgians but...

I recently read in a thread on here that a refractometer was the most useful tool a brewer can have. SWMBO recently got me one as a present but I've only found it useful to take OG. After fermentation starts its useless as the alcohol throws off the readings. Is there something I'm missing in...

I scooped out most of the grains but there definitely were still some in there during the boil. What sort of off flavors should I expect?

I brewed up an IPA (extract + steeping grains) the other day and realized a bit too late that my steeping bag was barely too small to fit all my grains. I ended up just dumping them all into the pot and then just scooping as much of them out as possible before adding my hops. After I cool my...

Do any of you like to put salt and pepper in your BMC beers? My friends all make fun of me when I do but I think it legitimately makes it taste better.

So I recently made an Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale clone that I just bottled a few days ago. The OG was 1.046 (was shooting for 1.059, yikes) and when I transferred to secondary it had dropped to 1.014 (recipe calls for it to drop to 1.016 resulting in ~5.7abv) after 2 weeks in secondary I...

I was transporting one of my carboys the other day and when I made it home I noticed this giant crack in the side. It runs though the glass but there aren't any gaps in it. I highly doubt this would hold up to pressure and I'd be willing to bet that water would probably seep through. Is...

So I'm sure this has already been asked but I haven't found it yet. Can I just buy a vial of liquid yeast, say WLP001, and step up a starter twice as big as needed and just save the second half in the fridge till the next batch? It makes perfect sense in my head, and the saved portion should...

I brewed an Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale clone 6 days ago but I forgot to add the flaked barley ( http://hopville.com/recipe/70437 ). I could be totally wrong but I feel like this is what gives this beer its creamy-ness. Can I just add this into the secondary when I transfer (possibly after...

Green Flash and Hess.

So with that ratio I could fill up to 4.81 and bottle around 4.6 gallons. might have to give that a try. So losing yeast through the blowoff isn't really as big of an issue as I thought?

how about something like a mocha porter on steroids

QUESTION: What happens If I just use the 2.5ish gallons of wort that I end up with after boiling my partial mash and pitched straight into that instead of adding the 2.5 gallons of water?

So after reading the responses (thanks guys) I'm thinking I want to get into the %15-20 range. I wouldn't mind having some liquor taste, I just want something that tastes like beer but has a serious kick to it. Like I said, this would be more of a novelty brew, not so much a session beer. I...

tinman: I like the sound of that! I don't think I've ever had a wheat with a super high alc content. You have the recipe by chance? Revvy: that looks awesome, once I'm out of college & get a place I'm definitely going to have to whip up something like that.

I'v got a few 5 gallon carboys and a few 6.5 gal plastic buckets that I've fermented in. I prefer using carboys for primary but I don't like having to limit my batch size to 4 gallons. I know, I know, just ferment in the buckets right? I just really like being able to see my beer ferment and...