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I just moved a lot of my bottled beer to the garage sine the water heater room has been getting a little warmer. Is the garage too cold for beer to condition? I live in NJ so it is pretty chilly ( though this weekend it will be in the 70s!!). The temp out there this AM is 57F. Is this too...

My black lab loves beer. He is always in the kitchen on brew day licking up the spills & trying to lap at the bottling spigot. He growls at the bubbles when I use the blow off tube for primary fermentation. It can get a little frustrating bc I get paranoid about sanitation- but at least I...

I made my first starter Saturday morning. (about 1 cup LME & 1000 ml h20). The yeast was a wYeast slap pack w/ a date of 3/2005. I figured it might be slow to get started, but now I am concerned that the yeasties may be dead. No activity at all thus far. Here's a visual. Should I give it...

Why is it important not to expose the beer to oxygen after pitching the yeast?

I have posted alot about the batch over the last month. This has definetly been the most problematic, but also the most educational batch yet. My OG was 1.06, my FG is 1.02. Is that too high? It was in the primary for almost 2 weeks, and in the secondary for about 2 more weeks. I am...

Last night was a lousy transfering experience. Not only did the Flyers take a loss to the Maple Leafs, but my beer took a serious ass kicking as well. My racking cane broke- which thanks to El Pistolero, I managed to patch up. But fooling and fussing with it so much got me worried about...

my auto siphon broke into 2 peices: The "L" shaped peice. Is there a way to mend it fast? I tried sticking the hose into it, and it didn't work, and I also tried duct tape. If not, do places like home depot sell that stuff? I am going to have to make a trip out to the hbs tomorrow if I...

I purchased a plastic lid with a drilled hole from morebeer.com. When I tried to secure the bung in the hole it went right through. So the bung hole was drilled too big. Can you buy different sized bungs? I didn't know if i got one that was larger if my airlock wouldn't be snug. Should I...

I have to say- I never knew what a weird word "cocoa" was until I had to spell it out. Anyway- I made an oatmeal stout that called for 1 oz of semi sweet chocolate in the boil. I didn't have this, so I substituted it with 1/4 cup of cocoa. I just read a post that adding chocolate makes a...

I brewed an oatmeal stout Friday night. It called for 2 1/2lbs of specialty grains, 1 lb of flaked oat, and 7 lbs of dme. I boiled the mixture in 3 gallons of water- and had to take it off the boil about 5 times bc of possible boil overs. Needless to say, I think this is the highest...

I am on my 5th brew (whoohoo!), and I have noticed 2 things: 1- I don't usually get any signs of fermentation till about 36-48 hours after I pitch the yeast. 2- Sometimes my airlock doesn't burp during fermentation - even though there is krausen. This just happened on my last brew, i...

This looks like so much fun! Is anyone going- or has anyone been to this event? I'm sure the macrobreweries are very prominent there, but I see most of my fav local breweries are also setting up booths (flying fish/triumph/dogfishhead) Anyone know the cost? Cheers

I just bought a fine mesh bag to put my hops in during the boil. I've seen this done before and it makes sense to keep things not-so-messy. Then today while listening to a beer pod-cast, a master brewer came on saying that the hop bags are a bad idea bc the hops don't get incorperated in the...

http://www.strangebrew.ca/beername.php :p

I am going to try making an oatmeal stout. I see that some recipes call for a british ale yeast, and some call for irish ale yeast. I am thinking Irish, but I wanted to know what the difference b/t the 2 strains is, or which is preferable for a stout. Thanks!

I am finally brewing my pumpkin ale tonight- & i have a 1 oz packet of pectic enzyme. when/how much should i add to my 5 gallon batch? thanks!

I have a slap pack that is fully expanded and ready to use: problem is I don't know if I am going to have the time to brew today. If I leave it for another 24 hours, will it be ruined?

I want to make a kick-ass pumpkin ale... I found this recipe, but am a little leary using it. The last online recipe I used for a blueberry weizen called for adding 3lbs of fruit puree to the secondary, but they didn't say anything about a blow-off tube or not to use a 5-gallon carboy...

I am making a blueberry weizen- and the recipe I am following says leave in the primary for 2-3 days then rack onto puree in secondary. Is it ok to transfer beer after only 3 days in the primary? I am assuming it is ok since this is what the recipe calls for, but just wanted to check with you...

I want to make a blueberry wheat beer and I bought a can of the oregon brand fruit puree. The recipe I read said to add this to the secondary. Is this the best method? Should I be concerned about pectin haze or anything else? Any advice or past experiences would be helpful! Thanks