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I've seen several different ways to do each when searching the interwebs. Some say begin ferment mid 60s and ramp to 80 and hold to finish (some include a cold crash), then bottle. Others say 68-54-68 (BYO) then bottle. Others include a lagering stage. Bottling is same thing with some saying...

Weird one. I use a dime sized rare earth magnet to "hold on" to the stir bar in my yeast starter through the glass while pitching so it doesn't go into the primary with the yeast. Good news is that the stir bar didn't make it in but I did drop the magnet into the primary along with my huge...

I brewed a saison 2 weeks ago and pitched a healthy starter of 3711. Just checked and was down to gravity of roughly 1.000. I don't like the heavy banana taste to it, tasted more like a hefe than a saison. Started fermenting at 68 and gradually rose up to 84 and held. It's not the flavor I was...

I want to brew an oatmeal stout and add rye whiskey w/ oak to secondary. Any thoughts on how much? I'm not looking for punch you in the face levels but enough to know its there. Thanks.

Bottled a heavy porter 3 weeks ago and still little to no carbonation. I'm going to give it more time, but say in a month or so there is still no carbonation, can I empty the bottles into a keg and go that route to save the batch?

Made a porter yesterday with OG of 1.083. Pitched 1 pack of wyeast 1275, not knowing until tonight that with a high OG I should of made a starter or used multiple packs. So far so good with Steady airlock activity. But Im worried that when I check the gravity in a few days it will still be high...

I'm brewing a peanut butter pecan porter this weekend (no idea if it will turn out, just something I've wanted to experiment with) and I'm not sure what I want to prime with. I like the idea of maple syrup but I'm worried it might be "too much" in the end. Brown sugar or molasses I have the same...

Buddies and I are having a homebrew contest in early August and I just can't decide what to make. The audience/judging group will contain about half men and half women. Almost all are straight macro brew drinkers so I don't want to get too heavy or explosive with the taste. Also being in August...

Having just made my first cyser recently I'm looking ahead to bottling after 4 weeks in secondary. Should I use the 3/4 cup corn sugar as with beer or is their something else that can give a good flavor to it?

Yeah I know this has probably been asked before, but I couldn't find a good answer by searching. I recently made an easy cyser (5 gals cidey, 3 lbs honey). I made a starter with Red Star wine yeast and pitched it about 24 hours ago. No activity yet but there are white "gobs" floating in the mix...

So I'm at my my LHBS buying some yeasties today for an upcoming brew and digging through Wyeast smack packs in the cooler for the strain I want. I find it and notice the price had been marked down to 99 cents. Curious I think since that's like $6 off normal. Looking at the package I see that the...

Every year a bunch of friends and I get together and go camping towards the end of June. Next year I'd like to bring along a nice strong homebrew with good taste for summer to them. I was planning to brew it this fall and have it sit for the winter/spring to mellow out. Any ideas for an extract...

I plan to make my first cider soon and was wondering a proper amount of cinnamon to add to 5 gals. I don't want something that tastes like gum but enough to tell its in there. Also, any recomendations on other spices to add to the cinnamon to get a good "Christmas-y" flavor to it? Thanx.

I have been submerging the brew pot in a ice water bath to cool after boiling but after reading some of Papazian's books he always seems to just dump the wort into the primary which has a couple gallons of cold water in it. Is this all right? It would cut some time out of the preparation. I...

I've been trying some of my strawberry honey wheat which has been in bottles for two weeks now and there is zero carbonation. I haven't had this problem before and I was wondering if there is anything I can do. I used 3/4 cup of corn sugar after 1 week in each of the two fermenters. I boiled the...

Just had my first boil over. Wonderful experience. I highly recommend it. I started to stir and she just flared up. Absolutly wonderful experience. It'll be even better once I start cleaning. Better start downing the brews now :drunk:

I had thought about a holiday brew next but I think that will wait until next year when it can have more time to marinate. What I do plan to do is an oatmeal stout and I was thinking about priming with brown sugar but I have a few questions on doing that. Any thoughts in general on doing this...

I'm thinking about a spruce beer to make soon for the upcoming crappy winter. Anyone have a solid extract recipe? I found one at ***********/recipe/715.html that doesn't look too bad. I've never had a spruce beer before but it sounds like something I would enjoy. Thanks and brew on

Just finished brewing my third batch and noticed that after taking the wort off the boil and setting it in a ice bath to cool, the hops did not settle out but formed "clouds" that were suspended in the wort. I figured it had something to do with using irish moss and gypsum since this is the...

I'm planning to use gypsum in my next brew. I typically boil about 2-3 gallons (all the pot space I have right now) and then add enough water to get 5 gallons after transferring the wort to the primary. Should I add the gypsum to 5 gallons in the fermenter and take out 2 to boil or just add it...