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I use Wyeast 2112 for a California Steam Ale that I really enjoy. However last year, even with additional ice packs, it became overly warm during shipping, and although it fermented OK ( I confirmed with a starter ) the final taste was "Off" quite a bit. This year I have been considering...

I seem to be able to find new and different ways to mess up my brewing equipment. Thiis afternoon, during the recirculating mash, my nose altered me that there was trouble in river city. It seems an air bubble had interrupted the flow of wort, and the RIMS tube caked itself with the burned...

Yesterday I transferred my California Ale from the fermenting conical to a keg, and placed it into the Keezer. I know the beer hasn't carbonated yet, but I always take a sample for tasting. I was dismayed to have , what I can best describe, as a taste of rubber. Any idea what can have gone...

I would like to pose a question for the brain trust that gathers here. My normal procedure is to ferment in a FastFerment conical until a Tilt measures the same SG for 5 or 6 days. I then decant into a Corny keg which has been sanitized and filled with CO2 to flush out the sanitizer. I place...

I recently took my Beer Gun out of its box to bottle two cornies worth of heaven. I was concerned when I saw that the inside of the beverage hose had growths of mold/mildew on the inside. I know that I ran PBW through the hose and rinsed it after I used it last year. However most likely...

This year I am trying to learn water chemistry for brewing. The recipe which I m following says: "Adjust all brewing water to a Ph of 5.5 using phosphoric acid." How do I actually go about doing this? Assume 6 gal. batch. I take a sample of the mash water about half way through the mash...

Help will be appreciated. As this years step in learning brewing, I am trying to learn to manipulate the constituents of water. I have purchased a LaMotte water chemistry kit, and a RO water filter system. But I have several questions. 1) Beer Smith 3 calls for water additions in terms of...

Our beer tastes change as time goes by. As I sit here in my snowbird roost of south Florida, I have been pondering the recipe's for the up coming brew season, to start around late April when we are back north. Having brewed for about six years, I do five to six batches a year on an all grain...

As I sit here watching the snow flurries, pondering the brewing season past while preparing for my snowbird flight to south Florida, I realized that I was disappointed at my first attempts at filtering beer. I ferment the beer in a plastic conical which will not fit into my cooler for...

I brew on a gravity two plus ( third tier is the burner with the brew kettle ) system. I have had a lot of trouble regulating the flow of the fly sparge and sparge to the kettle. I shoot for about a pint per minute, when starting the flow into the kettle, and then try to maintain an inch...

Yesterday I brewed a Dead Guy clone, and am using Pacman Yeast. Usually I aerate with Oxygen before I pitch yeast. However I only got about 5 seconds or less from the O2 bottle before it quit. I went ahead and pitched, since the temperatures were good, and today fermentation has begun...

Usually I mail order WLP400 for my Belgian wheat beer. I just stopped into a LHB store and they didn't have any. With the hot weather here, I'm concerned about shipping a liquid yeast, what would be a good dry yeast substitute? Bob

I have been on this brew journey for three or four years now, and am soliciting ideas on what should be my next step. Like many here I have progressed from extract to all grain and added some bells and whistles. I have a 7 gal. electric HLT and have built a tall two tier stand, using the...

I am into my second year of all grain brewing. I buy the grains pre milled from reputable on line sources. I use Beersmith for the recipes. Measuring my gravities with a hydrometer, and correcting for temperature, my OG's have come out higher than planned, and my FG's have come out near or...

Yesterday when I went down to check on my brown ale, its second day in the FastFerment conical, one look told me that the air lock was clogged with krausen, and the brown stuff was running down the side of the fermenter. This is only a 5 gal batch in a rather larger fermenter and I never...

My family, who enjoys my home-brew, has asked me to begin preparing my santa claus list for this year. I have already decided that a good pump and a CFC will be tops on the list. My question : would a hop back prevent the hot break trub from getting from the kettle to the fermentor ? Or...

I would like to call upon the combined wisdom of the experienced brewers on this forum to give some direction to this continuing obsession in home brewing. I have noticed that the first two batches with my conical fermentor have resulted in dams of trub at the bottom of the cone. As much as I...

The chocolate milk stout which I brewed last year turned out well, and most tasters enjoy it. However my daughter , who is a coffee-hollic asked if I could do something to add a coffee taste to it. How much would I add to a 5 gal. batch, and would I just brew normal coffee and add it cold to...

I few months ago I had a really pleasant micro brew at a local bar where the servers knew very little about its name. It was a brownish amber ale, very malty, and a little sweet, without much hops bite. After my first three all grain brews of this year, I seem to be collecting partial bags (...

Due to fortuitous increases in process efficiency, my OG has overshot on the last two batches. (1) Would it affect the taste a lot if I added bottled water to lower the OG? (2) Is there a way to calculate how much water to add, if for example my OG was 1.078, and the recipe called for 1.062...