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What is this 'cube' you guys are talking about?

I just use this: http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

As a sorta-newbie that just bottled my 20th batch (with my first all-grain batch in a fermenter), I say CONGRATS! You're gonna love the beer you made. I remember my first batch all those 10 months ago, and how miraculous it seemed when I opened my first bottle with a satisfying hiss. Such a...

Thanks for the tips! As for now, it's been soooo cold that the heater is struggling to keep the swamp water above 60! I know it's working, because when I take a fermentor out of the swamp (well after activity has settled) I have to move it into an especially warm part of the house or the temp...

I'm looking to upgrade from my 20qt kettle so I can do full boils, and your 36qt is by far the least expensive one I've seen. So while I have no advice for you, I'm definitely interested in how you like it.

Yeah Beersmith is central to my brewing. I generally create my own recipes using DGB, then input into Beersmith and tinker from there. Haven't made a bad beer yet standing on the shoulders of those giants.

+1 - this is a great book!

I agree with using a swamp cooler. And since I keep the thermostat pretty low overnight and during the workday (mid 50's) I also got an aquarium heater that I put into the swamp cooler that keeps things at a constant temperature which I can control.

Wanted to update - after bottle conditioning the spices really came out and (in my opinion) are the perfect level: you can taste them, the complexity and interplay between them, but it's not so overpowering that you can't have a few in a row and not enjoy each and every one just as much as the...

How about: soak, drain, rinse, boil. Basically the same as cooking spaghetti, amirite??!?!1111?!

Unfortunately the one I got looks like it only goes down to 72. Not sure yet, only time will tell if it'll work for my needs. I don't own a fish tank but I guess I never realized that every fish that ever lived can only live in upper 70's water. And I only had the heater plugged in for like a...

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In lieu of kits, if you have a little time and some inclination, you can create your own recipes using this book: Designing Great Beers. It's so easy to put together a recipe for just about any style, and then tinker from there if you want. For example, if you wanted to put together a...

I brew both partial mash & extract-only beers. Partial mash for when I have time to devote the extra 2+ hours, and extract for after-work-brewdays. (Don't have the stove or closet capacity for true all-grain.) With extracts, you can keep the malts tame and try out different hop combinations...

I used my lunch hour to buy one for $25. There were options at $15 and $20, but those have the "feature" of "not having to set the temp", which means they're at 78F and you can't do nothing to change it. I thought different species of fish have different ideal water temperatures but oh well...

Thanks! For the porter, I used the London Ale 1028, and on the package it said 65-72, but because of what Denny was saying I checked Wyeast's website and it says 60-72 there which makes me feel better about the batch's current temp. Still gonna get me one of those aquarium heaters.

Fo' realz? That sounds like an awesome solution!

Unfortunately in my tiny house, I do not even have that much room. The hope is to move within 9 months to a year, and you better believe a "must have" for the next place will be a room just for all this stuff. Sounds good - I was looking at a Scotch Ale as my next batch anyway, so that works...

For someone like me who can't get a temp-controlled mini fridge, summer was easy to understand, if a bit tedious - when your ferm temp is getting higher than you like, throw some ice or frozen water bottles into the swamp cooler to bring the temp down. Repeat forever. Now I've got the...

I think carapils simply adds body without affecting flavor. So it depends on how much body and mouthfeel you want your porter to have. Coincidentally, I just brewed a porter yesterday (smack dab between brown and robust) and I did not use carapils, and in fact mashed at 152 to limit how much...