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Hi there. Been several years since I’ve done any brewing. We have a party coming up and my wife decided I should brew a beer. Decided on a light ale. Dug out the equipment and brew day went pretty well. Kegged last week and it was tasting pretty good going in. A friend donated an old mini fridge...

Hi folks. I have a canvas bag that I use to carry around my tapping stuff (hoses fittings, etc). One way or another this bag wound up in a tub of ice water. Unfortunately I had a regulator in the bag that wound up at least partially submerged in the water for several hours. I believe the...

Made a beer using White Labs' WLP 802 Budejovice Lager. The specs say the yeast should attenuate 75-80%. By my calculations, I got about 72%. Figure i could have aerated better. Also, the yeast was getting pretty close to the best-by date. However, looking at the mini-ferment data on the...

On Sunday I brewed a Pilsner. I decided to take a crack at a partial (crazy I know) decoction mash a'la DeathBrewer's BIAB style. Despite a few missteps along the way, I still came out about 10 points over my target gravity (which I guess is really a misstep in and of itself). Here is what...

Brewing a lager. Unfortunately, due to my schedue it HAS to be brewed this weekend, which gives me three days to make a starter. I figure I have two ways to play this: 1. Ferment the starter at appropriate temps (50-55 degrees) and pitch the whole shebang on Sunday, or 2. Ferment warmer...

Got an empty 1 gallon brown glass bottle from the lab at work that I think would be perfect for starters and such. Thing is, it contained methanol. I figure with a decent cleaning its got to be ok for use. What do you all think? Chris

I swear, it feels like yesterday we were digging out from the snowfall of the decade... We've had the typical Illinois spring; we're barely out of the crummy weather and everything is already starting to grow. My schedule is kinda goofy so I haven't had the time to tend to the hops as I'd...

Tonight on Bloomberg TV, Jim Koch will be on "The Mentor". I think the gist of the show is that he'll be helping out two aspiring entrepreneurs as they try to get a brewery off the ground. Show times are 9 and 11 PM Eastern. 8 and 10 PM Central

So, as I'm working toward all-grain, my plan is to move up to larger batches. With 5 gallon batches, by the time I'm done sharing and all, there isn't much left. Ok, maybe 10 gallon batches. The thing is that I'd still have to split batches up between carboys. Might be weird, but something...

Picked up a Bayou Classic Turkey kit off of Craigslist for 10 bucks. The pot is, I believe, the 30 quart aluminum - a little grungy but can be cleaned. The stand looks kinda like an SP10. While the burner is the high-pressure type, the stand is a little different and does not have the wind...

I haven't had a chance to get out and cut any rhizomes like I had wanted. We've had some amazing weather for so early in the season. Today's high is about 80 degrees! So now I have shoots coming up all over the place - probably averaging 6 inches long or so, though some may be longer. Is...

So yesterday I decided to brew a simple extract batch. I use a 4 gallon stainless pot for my boil kettle. Normally I put it over two burners on my stove, but for various reasons I decided to try it with just one. Took a long time to get to any sort of a boil - like an hour? I had put in...

I'm no gardener, and while my hop plants have struggled with the overly wet weather the past two seasons, the weeds have had no trouble encroaching on my hop mounds. With spring being around the corner (let's hope), I was wondering what are some good methods of keeping the weeds at bay. I've...

Apparently Superior Lager yeast has been discontinued. Dang! Maurivin allegedly packages their yeast in 15 gram sachets, but I have yet to find anyplace that carries it. Does anybody know where to get Maurvin yeast in the 15 gram sachets? I'm particularly interested in Mauribrew Lager 497...

I said in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/extreme-leaf-curl-120684/ that the leaves on my 2nd year plants were curling under quite severely. I had hoped to see improvement but it only seems to be getting worse. Tips of the leaves are also turning black and dying, and the more...

I've got some homegrown Crystal hops I was looking to use up. How do you folks think a little Crystal will work with Cascades? Here's what I was going for: Style: American Pale Ale Batch: 5.25 gal Extract Characteristics --------------- Recipe Gravity: 1.054 OG Recipe Bitterness...

I seem to recall having this issue last year, and I think the plants eventually outgrew it. I'm just wondering what would cause the leaves to curl under so severely. Most of my plants have the issue to some extent. Aside from the curling leaves, the plants seem relatively healthy. The leaves...

My hops are in their second year and they've been doing really well, some having reached the top of my 10' trellis a week ago. I have chicken wire surrounding the mounds. I had intended to replace the chicken wire with something a little more elegant this year, but money is kinda tight. Also...

I have a Firestone (or is it a Spartenburg) Challenger VI. It has the nylon gas tube and flat rubber washers as opposed to o-rings. I was looking to replace the washers. I know that Williams has the correct washers, but I've got a batch I wanted to get kegged, so I headed to the local...

The other day, while shopping at the LHBS for my next batch, I came across some Fermentis yeast which, apparently, the LHBS recently started carrying. I picked up both varieties of Saflager they had: S-23 and W-34/70. There appears to be a bit of information on on the W-34/70 strain...