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Hear me out. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter if you have yeast that's mostly dead. What I want to know is, if I have a certain number of vigorous cells, and I grow them up to a number I need, do I really care about the viability of the original source? Specifically, I have some saved...

Hi all, I want to brew something a bit different, and my tastes run to malty, not so bitter session beers. I've seen references to a Biere de Printemps (spring beer) brewed in France. It is described as similar to a Märzen, which I like, but not quite as strong, less bitter, and darker. Right...

Greetings, I have a 7 cu ft chest freezer, and I am contemplating adding a second level to it. My idea is to make a well-insulated shell like the collar typically added to a freezer that's too short for cornies and fittings, but to make it about 4 ft tall with the door on the end. I would...

Hi all, A local gourmet-ish grocery store started filling growlers a while back, and I subscribed to their emails about what they had available. Mostly it's been things I consider a bit weird, so I didn't actually go there until yesterday. They had a Mild I really wanted to try. I knew about...

I brewed a light colored Mild yesterday using Simpsons Golden Naked Oats for the first time. I chewed a few gains before grinding them, and they seemed fine. After I mashed in, there was a smell that reminded me of vomit. It persisted through the mash, but seemed to dissipate in the boil. BTW...

I put starter wort on the dregs of a bottle of Barbe Black a couple of weeks ago, and the gravity hasn't dropped a bit. Should I assume that the beer is pasteurized?

I've gotten several 1 gallon jugs to split wort and try multiple yeast varieties without having to brew a huge amount of beer. If I use a full pack of yeast I know I'm ridiculously overpitching, but will that seriously affect my results? Is there any particular effect of overpitching that I...

I have been kegging for years, and this one has me stumped. I have 4 kegs on a CO2 manifold, so I know they are all at the same pressure. Three of them are running exactly as expected, nicely carbonated, moderate foam. The 4th keg runs a tiny bit of clear beer (presumably what was in the...

I started using a welding oxygen tank with a sintered stone, and have been getting solventy off flavors. I believe I have been adding too much oxygen. I'm going to buy a flow meter, and I'm looking for pointers on how much oxygen should be added in the fermenter- flow rate and time. I can do...

I read that you can tell if your water has chlorine or chloramine by testing the cold tap water with swimming pool test strips, then boiling and chilling, then testing again. I tested my cold tap water and got almost no ( 0.5 ppm?) Chlorine. Is the pool test strip too insensitive, or do I just...

I recently made a thermowell from copper tubing. I've used it in about 3 batches, and I've had a problem with a sharp, solvent-like bitterness. I had thought I had an infection problem in some of my kegs. Most recently, an ordinary bitter than was wonderful and nutty out of the fermenter is...

(Warning, long post) I'm fermenting a Witbier with Whitelabs WLP400. I've used this yeast before multiple times, but I have never seen a fermentation like this one. It's an 11 gallon batch- 10 gallons of post-boil wort, plus a gallon starter. I have it in a 15 gallon plastic drum, 13 inches...

Hi all, I just kegged my Mild a couple of days ago, and there is a powerful band-aid phenolic flavor. There are three conspicuous things I did differently this time, and I'm trying to figure out which was the most likely culprit. First, I used PBW to clean the kegs and it is possible that...

I was fermenting an ABA with Whitelabs 001 in a room that has been staying in the high 60s pretty dependably, when we had a heat wave. For two days it was about 80 F in that room. I think the main fermentation was probably finished; it was the sixth day in the fermenter, but my only choice...

My Flanders Brown (first version) is now 18 months old, which is what they say it takes for the full character to develop. Thought I'd provide some comments. My grain bill for a 5 gallon batch was 12 lb. Marris Otter malt 2 lb Crystal Malt 40L 1 lb Munich malt 1 lb Aromatic Malt 0.5 lb...

I realized after my 10 gallon batch of Wit was already in 2 fermenters (a carboy and a plastic bucket) that I had completely forgotten to add the spices at flameout. :0 I put the spices in a couple of quarts of water on the stove and brought it to a boil for a few minutes. Since whatever went...

I just finished constructing a Sanke keg mash tun. I would like to have the option of applying direct heat, but don't want to depend on that for maintaining temperature for fear of scorching the grain. What has worked for your folks as far as insulating the whole thing?