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I've been asked to come up with a copy of Green Cheeks brewing, "Nelson in this economy". It's a Czech lager with a big hop load of Nelson Sauvin. I need more information. It's a SMASH beer, w pils and N.S. hops. That's about all I know.

I'm usually a yeast saver. I live far from a brew shop. I use mostly dry yeasts. I've been advised by Grandmasters that saved yeast is good for about a month in the fridge. In my experience, month old yeast can be very viable or mostly dead. I just split a batch of red beer into a Marzen and a...

I moved to a new place and had no idea what was in the water. I knew it was from springs and a well and tasted good. I brewed a hoppy IPA and added a small amount of Gypsum as a guess. After brewing, I got some info from the State as to what is in the water. It's pretty soft.... CaSO4-12 Ca- 45...

I took a brief seminar from Randy Scorby, a grandmaster judge, and past national homebrew champ. Among other things he talked about blending beers. I've tried it a few times now, mostly playing with kegs of beers that I thought were failures (not contaminated though). Recently I did a red IPA...

I've been brewing for 8 years and used star san most of the time. I've had no problems. When I mixed it with tap water is was clear with bit of foam, and would foam when shaken. Their website says it is still good after it gets cloudy from usage. Before the last two brews, I noticed that the...

I just brewed a split batch of lager/ale using Sonnet Golding (4.2%) hops. I bought a pound at a great price. It is supposed to be Saaz heritage. It smells great and is a bit more floral than the "noble" hops. I did four hop additions totaling 11.5 ounces. I may dry hop if it seems needed. I...

I got distracted during the end of my brew day. A moose was eating my spent grain just outside of the garage door. I brew with a manual HERMS system with propane so the door was wide open. I dumped the grain into a snowbank. I forgot my final hop addition. It was supposed to be 2 0z of Hallertau...

I just made a batch of Marzen lager. I used two different yeasts for the two fermenters. Saf23 that was fresh saved in one fermenter and two sachets of Saf 34/70 lager yeast in the other. I just read an article in Zymurgy about Krausening lagers and want to give it a try. I set aside 1.5 liters...

I was going to try an India Pale Lager. If I take a successful citrusy IPA recipe and split the batch before putting it in the fermenter, can I make 1/2 IPA and one of IPL? I get perfect temps for both during winter in different parts of my house. Of course the pitch rates would be different and...

I have a relatively new HERMS setup. Cleanup is worse than ever. PBW works well but is up to $12 for a small container. Oxiclean is about 1/5 the price. Oxiclean works great for crusty yeast in fermenters, even carboys. I have never detected any soapy taste in subsequent batches. If I recirc...

I was kegging and not paying attention and the tube started sucking air into the wort. Will it get better or worse with time?

I was having a normal brew day but using my upgraded HERMS system for the first time. (Alt-bier) I had an equipment failure that was stessfull, right when I needed to chill. I got the wort chilled to 58 degrees but in the jury rigging confusion, I pitched two different yeasts into the same...

I'm using a newly built HERMS system with 3 keggles- HLT, Mashtun and BK. I have propane burners under all three and lots of heat capacity. My recirculation works well but to do a a mash out, it seems like it takes to long to get the HLT/recirc tank hot enough to get a mash out temperature. If I...

Hi: I brewed my first Munich Helles from a borrowed award winning Homebrew recipe. I fermented at 52F, exactly as Lallemand Diamond lager yeast recommended. The ferment went well as predicted. I did a three day diacetyl rest at 64F. When the ferment stopped and the yeast dropped, I cold crashed...

Hi: I'm about to try a Munich Helles. The instructions for rehydrating on the packages and on their website are different and Palmer's book is another version. It sounds like this is more critical for lagers than ales. Lallemand does not recommend a starter and I like simple methods. Can anyone...

I have a Rye IPA in the fermenters that is down to final gravity. I'm waiting for some Citra leaf to be delivered for my dry hop. What is the consensus on dry hopping into the fermenters vs. in the keg for best flavor? I have Speidel fermenters so dry hopping in the fermenter is easy.

I just did a 3 carboy batch of India Red Ale. I used saved yeast from previous batches. Two of Saf 05 and one Nottingham. The Notty was two months old and probably a bit underpitched according to "Mr Malty." The two 05 batches started within 8 hours and look normally vigorous. The Notty carboy...

Even after well-carbonating my Corny kegs, if I fill a growler to take with me to a friend's house, the beer is always flat and tastes like nothing. I'm talking clean growlers with tightly fitting caps. I have brought growler beer home from brew pubs and it always seems to travel and keep...

I saw someone refer to adding new wort to an old yeast cake. I have wondered if I could siphon off my beer for kegging and then add a new batch on top the same day to save all of that cleaning and sanitizing. How about using some sterile water to wash away part of the yeast cake to avoid...

I have been using a used Tru Keggerator for about 6 months. It is great but there is always something new to learn. I was getting a musty off-flavor for the first couple of ounces each time that I poured if it sat for a few hours. Then the beer started to spray out of the spout instead of pour...