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Has anyone used a Better Bottle on a heat panel. I'm am talking about one of these: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/home-brew-heat-panel.html. I just used one with a brand new Better Bottle hooked up to a thermostat set to 68 degrees. I developed a divet on the inside of the bottle and a...

I am going to be around Midcountry soon and I had a couple of questions about buying there. Can you just walk in and buy a sack or two, or must you call ahead? If you can walk in, is it very dusty? I will have an infant with me so I just wanted to check.

I realize that this post is similar to another recent post, but I was wondering, do a few small bits per pint after vorlauf matter? I care mostly about astringency.

I think this is extreme anxiety talking, but I have a question about maximum keg pressure. I brewed my first extract batch in a long while. It is a brown ale that started at 1.051 or so and I used US-04. I had it in a primary for 13 days then moved it to a secondary for seven days (I needed...

This may not be the smartest question, but I now have my first chest freezer and the thing makes odd noises. When running it makes an odd hissing/buzzing along the walls. When starting up or stopping it also makes other noises that I might describe as popping. I assume this is due to the...

I wanted to vent. I was crushing my grain for my next batch in my kitchen, and I think there was a stone in the malt. The mill stuck, wrenched out of my hands and sprayed malt and flour all over my kitchen. I had to pour the grain from the hopper and feed it back through. I didn't find any...

I brewed a Vienna a few weeks ago that is starting to get on my nerves. I overshot my O.G. and ended up at 1.060. I made a one gallon starter with Wyeast Munich Lager. I don't have a stir plate, but I shook it occassionally. I pitched at 50F. Lag time was less than 16 hours. It has now...

I was looking over my brew notes yesterday and realized that I missed a step with my last big porter. I neglected to check the gravity for a couple of days before I bottled to make sure it was good and done. It started at 1.066. It fermented for three weeks at 68F using 16 grams US-05. I...

I have not been kegging for very long and there are a few things I still do not understand. For instance, I learned today that when you set a regulator that is sitting in your refrigerator, the pressure can creep up a couple of psi over a few hours until it hits equalibrium. I thought I just...

Apparently I have a rat in my basement. I'm not so much disgusted as angry. My father kept rats as a part of his work, so I'm no stranger to rat droppings. The problem is the bastard got into my box of specialty grain. Thankfully, I keep my bulk grain in another part of the house. I have...

I rarely brew an ale above 1.055 for the simple reason that I enjoy the smaller beers. When I do brew them, my fermentation temperature gets all out of hand. I then move the vessel to someplace cooler and drop a couple of frozen bottles next to it. I'd prefer not to do all this and I'm...

I am enjoying my first Scottish 80/- right now, and am noticing something I didn't expect. My recipe is as follows: Scottish 80/- 12 lbs. British Pale 1 lbs. Munich (10L) .5 lbs. Crystal 20 .5 lbs. Crystal 60 1 lbs. Crystal 40 .25 lbs. Chocolate Efficiency...

I have read a number of threads regarding indoor brewing. Most mention split boils and note that it works fine. However, I get the feeling that other methods including partial mash and smaller batches are preferred. Is there anything at all wrong with split boils aside from dividing the hops?

I am currently fermenting a scottish export using wyeast scottish ale yeast. Wyeast gives an extremely wide temperature range. I know that scottish ales are meant to be fermented low, but what is the best temperature in your experience? I am currently at 57F.

I just saw a picture of Kai's trub cone and I thought "Why not me"? Time and again I am left with a thick layer of silt-like material spread across the bottom of my pot. I always have a fair amount of hot break, I use supermoss in the last 10 minutes of my boil and I chill rapidly with an IC...