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Just poured the first pint of an extract American Amber Ale @ 1064 using Calypso as primary bittering hop, finished with Challenger and Centennials during the last 10 minutes of the boil. Again, this hop does not have any presence in the finish, just a smooth bittering. The Challengers and...

I'm gonna go against the grain here a bit. I've had nothing but great beers from S-04. Most recently it fermented a great Ordinary Bitter which took a 1st place in a LHBC. I've also used it to brew a mock-vienna lager which also placed in 3 different homebrew competitions. It has also been...

I wanted to update tasting notes for the all Calypso APA after it has cold conditioned for the past two months. There are now very strong bruised apple-like aromas. The pear notes are still there as well as a delicate floral quality. Again as I noted in a previous post, the bitterness is...

I totally agree. What's your OG and what kinda yeast didya pitch? that might explain alot.

I used them for about a year before I gave up on them and upgraded to a ball-lock keg system. Of course at the time they served their purpose and performed quite well. As far as cleaning the minis, I would use gobs of oxyclean or straight-A with superhot water, fill up the keg and let it sit...

I coordinate the day-to-day care of cancer patients in the chemotherapy area (infusion) and am the PM triage operator at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. It took me a long time to come to this position. I've come from being the son of restaurant owners to a college student, to an...

I really like your idea of roasting the nibs first, it's like you're toasting the cocoa-ness of the nibs. I'm gonna try this on a mocha milk stout and am totally stoked!

You can soak the nibs in whatever you like! Personally, tequila always reminds me of early mornings waking up on the wrong side of the toilet. I've gotta re-state that I've never had to "sanitize" cocoa nibs before adding to any of my beers. I personally don't find it necessary to soak them...

Cocoa nibs are one of my favorite ingredients whether in brewing or in baking. For me personally, 8oz in a 15 gallon batch is really not that much at all. It really depends on how much time you have to extract the cocoa goodness from the nibs. I personally will use around 4-6ozs per 5...

Fortunately I was able to order the wet simcoe from my LHBS. I used the entire pound for a single batch and am freakin proud of it! It's probably my best IIPA yet considering that my last IIPA was a brewer's choice beer in a local homebrew comp. They went real nice in the 9.1% abv IIPA...

I just brewed an all-calypso pale ale using a very standard pale ale recipe and US05 yeast. It has a fruitiness that really reminds me of some of the esters that come from english ale yeasts, particularly stone fruit and a slight oaky ester. The bittering is very smooth and somewhat mellow...

Ain't that the cool thing about brewing? 15 minutes could become your new standard (for a while) until you feel the need to explore and tinker more! Here's to beer.

I first wanna tell you that it's a great idea and I hope it turns out the way you want it to. Your massive hop aroma is primarily going to come from your really late additions as well as your dry-hopping schedule. Your bitterness obviously will come from your boil hops, and I don't see...

I also own a minibrew conical fermentor and here are some things I noticed when it comes to trub dumps and ferment times specifically with the minibrew: 1. Watch your dump carefully, there'll be distinct layers that you'll see as you dump. 1st dump will most likely get you a bunch of crud...

I've done a chocolate porter with dry yeast S-05, S-04, and S-33. Also done the same recipe with Wyeast London ESB and White labs 001. The batch fermented with Safale's US-05 actually scored the highest of all 5 batches at a local homebrew competition. FG 1019 (2nd BOS). It really let the...

Update: Brilliantly clear cream ale, very well attenuated and finishes dry. I pitched a batch of my Australian style pale ale on top of the cake and it took off like crazy. Just pulled a hydro reading from my Cream ale that was 75% pilsner malt, 10% corn sugar, and 15% rice flakes....right...

ditto with the above. I brewed an Alt at around 60F with the 1007 and it kept that "rocky" ferment head for a good two weeks before it fell back in. We primaried for 4weeks, secondaried for 4 weeks, and then cold conditioned at 37F for 4 weeks and were pleased with the results. The ferm...

Ballzac, cheers. +1 for your given solution. Now I am totally curious about experimenting with wheat vs. carapils and can't wait to try a test batch. More good stuff!

The addition of wheat malt can and definitely will help with the overall perceived body of a finished beer (when added in small quantities). I fully agree with you on that. Several local breweries add a small percentage to their pale ales with no noticeable taste difference (and they are...

+1 as far as mashing higher and shorter. Negative to the wheat, IMHO wheat does not belong in a proper Bo'Pils. As far as the melanoidin production from a traditional decoction mash is concerned, checkout the link below. The Washington homebrewers got together and held a decoction clinic...