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So I made an attempt at a cider roughly following the recipe/directions here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/5-day-sweet-country-cider.265986/ I've done this before with great results, halting fermentation at maybe 1.030 via dishwasher pasteurization. However, on this attempt I ran...

So I'm skipping work to brew an Oktoberfest, but I'm trying to get work-related tasks done at the same time. In my multitasking hurry, I didn't grab my thermometer to measure my strike temp and just trusted the dial on the outside of my pot (I BIAB). Turns out, the dial is not particularly...

I tried my hand at an ESB recently and it was fantastic. That's saying something considering I'm generally not that into English beers. Im not sure if it's just that it's been a while since I had one, but something about it was captivating. Also, a colleague who just moved here from England...

Probably an obvious answer to this question, but I'm just not coming to it... New neighbors just moved in and the guy is from England. What better way to welcome them to the neighborhood than to assume he likes English beers and brew an extra special bitter as an extra special welcome? Admit...

(My favorite palindrome) Watched my wort not come to a boil for like 15 minutes... Got bored, opened the New York Times app on my phone, scrolled past 50 headlines about Trump, checked the wort (still no boil), finished the mini crossword in 45 seconds, looked up to see the pot boil over...

Ok, I've made quite a few batches of beer (2-3 dozen), so my feet are pretty wet but I'm still a noob. I usually make a starter, but I got to thinking while making my latest (for a green flash IPA clone). 1. When I use yeastcalculator.com to determine starter size for the appropriate pitching...

Sorry, I know there are like a million and six threads about wiring. 1. Is there a limit to to gauge of the wire I can attach? I am a "bigger is better" type, and I have 12 gauge solid wire from redoing my basement. Can I attach this to the leads or is it too big? (Every other thread about...

Ok, the obvious answer is Pacman. But in researching a recipe, it got me thinking...Dead Guy is a maibock/helles bock, correct? Did they (Rogue) use Pacman yeast because a clean ale yeast is easier to use than a more traditional maibock yeast? I guess my real question is how representative of...

First off, I've never used White Labs yeast, but I understand WLP001 is also identical... I've heard a bunch of times that these three yeasts are the same strain and can be used interchangeably. As far as flavor goes, I've never noticed a difference, but I've also never done a true taste test...

But just to drive the point home and remind everybody: I was making a starter for an Oktoberfest (way behind schedule as I would have liked to get this to the lagering stage before my basement warms up) and decided to check the gravity of an IPA I have fermenting. Grabbed the hydrometer and put...

Question for you pros: How common is it for the pressure to "walk" up and overcarb a keg? Seems to happen to me a lot. I don't know if I just have a crappy regulator or if this is common. For instance, I put two fresh kegs in the fridge last night. Cranked the pressure up to 30, partially to...

Do mash efficiency and hop utilization go up on larger batches or is it all basically determined by gravity? If I was making a 100 gallon batch (20x my current batch size), would I use 20x the ingredients? Or say, 15x for hops and 18x for grain?

Saw this in the Hef I brewed yesterday. Not worried because I actually saw this while it was nearly boiling (burned my finger trying to hook it). Also saw some film on the surface that looked like a hop-oil slick. Maybe this is just hop goo stuck together? Or maybe just cold break? Didn't notice...

I brew mostly ales. I am doing my second lager now and I have what is probably a stupid and easy question: Normally for an ale I am careful about temp at pitching and I hold temp well for the first couple days. Usually I have the fermenter in a tub of water to hold the temp down and to hold it...

Used a priming calculator to get to (I think) 2.4 volumes of CO2 -can't exactly remember. Added sugar by weight, not volume and made sure my volume of beer was right. I'm not getting gushers (at least by what I call a gusher). I just have a steady output of CO2 after opening a bottle that...

Couple questions regarding hefeweizen yeast. I think I understand it, but I want to confirm. If I am wrong with any of the following, please let me know. 1. It is possible to stress the yeast to give esters. The esters taste like banana. To stress the yeast, one could under pitch or ferment...

Ok, my last brew session I did my first AG and used my new pot for the first time. I didn't exactly plan the whole thing out because I was too busy fabricating my new counterflow chiller. When it came time to actually use the chiller, I realized the entire thing needed to be lifted up for...

I'm going to apologize in advance - I did no research on this before posting. I just got a new pot - 8 gallon with a valve and thermometer. My question is this: I really like mashing in the oven to hold temperature. Can I still do that if the pot has a thermometer? Its only like 155-160 in the...

I'm sure it's been asked a thousand times, but is there a good way to seal a keg? I mean, I understand the mechanism and my gasket looks good, but when I spray with a little soapy water I'm still getting bubbles. I already emptied my CO2 tank once and just caught it before I emptied it a second...

I know a high ABV brew can commonly take longer to bottle carb than than a standard ABV (5-6%) beer. I generally go by the 3 weeks at 70 should be good, but it could take longer. I figure double or triple for a high ABV beer. Or longer. It seems that they benefit from bottle conditioning anyway...