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Anyone ever have a period where suddenly you can't hit your gravity numbers? I'm consistently in the 75% range and then suddenly my last two brews have been lousy. I'm hitting my volumes, but my extraction has just been terrible. Last brew was 58% and today's was 51%. Again, i know...

I've been looking at kits online and two places indicate a scale for both oak and sweetness. For example, one pinot noir kit said oak 3, body 3, sweetness 0 I've been doing some reading, but haven't come across anything that explains the scale. Is this an indication of level, or a...

I'm getting ready to make my first wine kit and have been reading up on the process in several places. Many said to oak the wine later in the process to taste, but in reading my kit instructions it seems to say to add the oak cubes on day 1 and let sit on the oak until fermentation stops and the...

i was given a used mag-mix stir plate from a friend recently. I've used it once, but the thing gets really hot and i'm a bit worried. I took it apart and everything appears to be properly attached and wired but the potentiometer appears to be the thing getting hot. Is this normal? I know it...

So, i thought i had more DME than i actually did. I'm brewing yooper's california common soon (haven't decided exactly when, maybe tomorrow) and have never used a lager yeast before. When i went to make my starter tonight, i realized i only had half a cup of dme, so my starter is about a...

I was given an older model stirplate that a college used to use in a chemistry lab. It works okay for my needs, but after the first time i used it i realized that the motor is generating a lot of heat. I don't think it's meant to be 'heated' as there is no way of controlling the heat. My...

So, about five weeks ago i made some edworts o-fest using yeast from a previous batch of kolsch. I put them into a different fermentation bucket and let the yeast go to town. Walked in to the bathroom tonight and there was beer coming from my closet. I thought maybe something had happened...

I was soliciting votes for a contest (loser had to shave his goatee, no money to win or lose) and have had a lot of support and success. Since the contest goes on for longer than i thought i'm editing this to remove the link. Thanks for all those who voted.

So i have a question. I got a used chest freezer a month ago and am using a johnson controller to turn the thing into a fermentation chamber. I ran it at 40° for a few days to make sure it got cold (it did) before running it at 68° for the past three weeks while my latest beer ferments. I...

I've got condensation inside my used freezer. I can tell several spots where the gasket has pulled away from the top lid and is leaking cold air. I assume this is causing the problem. I just did a quick search for gasket replacement parts and the parts will cost me twice as much as the whole...

I've got a line on one locally, but can't find anything on the brand/model no. the guy gave me. FFCO522FWO is the model. He thinks it's 5.2 cubic feet. I'm needing something to ferment in. thanks.

This is likely a dumb question, but i'll ask anyway. I need to come up with some form of fermentation control for the summer months. I'm not sold on SOF since i don't know how well an ice jug would do and i'm not sure i like the idea of the jug sweating and melting in the high humidity (mold and...

I'm about to bottle my imperial stout in bombers and i've realized i don't know how much priming sugar to use. An online calculator i found (which didn't have imperial stout as a style choice) suggested 2.4 oz (by weight) of sugar for 5 gallons of beer. It's been a while since i've bottled...

So, i'm sitting here trying to figure out how to unstick my RIS (stuck at 1.033 after starting at 1.096 two weeks ago) and my mind began to wander and i've realized i'm not sure how to improve my brewing. Now, i've done a couple dozen batches and have tried various things to improve my results...

This isn't a question about how long to leave my beer in primary, but rather, i'm curious how long a RIS will show signs of fermentation. My bucket seals tightly, so the airlock is my gauge for activity. On sunday, I racked my 1.096 black chocolate stout clone onto a wlp001 yeast cake from a...

Did 7 fast miles on the mountain bike today and my head isn't handling my numbers well for palmer's spreadsheet. I'm trying to brew a RIS with SRM about 55 mash water volume is 4.5 gallons here are my source numbers (i know, almost distilled) Calcium 8 Magnesium 2 Alkalinity as...

The Evil Twin recipe calls for amarillo and centennial. Looking at the hop sub chart i see that cascade is a sub for either. I just happen to have a lb of cascade i recently purchased. So, would you sub cascade for either hop and if so, which one? thanks

Don't you just hate it when you WANT to like a beer you've heard a lot about, but just can't? I recently had a hoppy amber on a trip and really liked it. Came back, did some research, found Bear Republic's Red Rocket online. Found a bottle of it on a trip to NC over New Years break. Just...

So the wife got me a gift certificate to brewmasters warehouse for Xmas. So what do I get? I kinda feel like I should invest in equipment since I have to buy ingredients. I have a good all-grain setup already, 7gal mlt, 10gal pot, immersion chiller etc. So now to my question. I have...

I don't really have much experience with hole saws, but i need one to drill my fridge door. I stopped by home depot tonight, but the only 1 inch saw i could find said 'not for metal or plastic'. For the minimal thickness of the fridge door, does this matter or is there a specific kind i should...