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This is my amber ale, 11 days old. I took a hydro sample two days ago and gave it a gentle swirl to try to get some of the yeast colonies on top to drop out. I took another sample today, and saw this (the clear spot on the right is where I drew today's sample): The beer tastes fine: the...

Hope I didn't miss a thread about this, but has anybody listened to the latest Basic Brewing Radio podcast? The topic is the result from the BYO partial boil experiment, comparing hops utilization and color differences between full boil, partial boil, and partial boil with late extract addition...

I promise this isn't the usual "green beer tastes green" post. Mostly. I brewed a pale ale in early December and, unknowingly, pitched a packet of the recalled Nottingham yeast into it. And, of course, it didn't ferment like Notty usually does. My only backup packet was, of course, another...

I brewed up a mini-mash APA this weekend, and I'm planning on dry hopping it in a couple of weeks. My original plan was 1/2oz each of Amarillo and Centennial, to match the flavor/aroma hops, but I thought I'd take the temperature here and see if anyone's got suggestions. I've got Chinook...

I'll be giving these out for Christmas, so I figured I ought to come up with a label of some kind. I got a friend to do the cat drawing, since mine would look more like a couple of blobs with sticks for legs. :cross: I'm trying to come up with a reasonable way to do a matching necker; I'd...

This is just a rant, and a warning: if your digital probe thermometer starts acting funky--randomly switching from C to F, for example--you should have a backup on hand. I learned this last night when the thermometer told me that, after 25 minutes in an ice bath, my 2.75 gallons of wort were...

So I fermented 2.25 gallons or so of apfelwein in a 2.5-gallon #2 water jug. It's been chugging along just fine for almost four weeks, and I took a taste (but not a hydro sample) last week. Still a little sweet, but I think it's pretty dang good already, and surprisingly clear. In any case...

I'm planning on bottling a beer this weekend that will have been in primary 4 weeks by bottling day. I don't have a spare fridge, or a garage, or much space for outdoor use, but the weather is cooperating, and the highs and lows should all be between 30-40 for the next three or four days...

I've got Austin Homebrew's Our Special Holiday Ale in my primary right now. It's been there three weeks at 68F, and I had been planning on bottling this weekend so it would have 5+ weeks in the bottle before Christmas. I'd like to be able to give a few six-packs out without saying, "don't...

I pitched a 1qt. starter of WLP008 (East Coast Ale) into a 1.050ish wort on 10/25 (Austin Homebrew's Our Special Holiday Ale kit, extract), and after 7 days it was at 1.020 with nothing but a few large clumps of yeast hanging out on top. I took another look at it yesterday, and it's still at...

So I've got Northern Brewer's Extra Pale Ale kit lying around in the brew queue, and I'm thinking I might want to brew an IPA instead. It's got 6lbs. LME, 1lb. Dingemans carapils (Cara 8, I think), and 3oz. Cascade. I'm thinking about turning it into a partial mash Sierra Nevada...

I'm getting ready to bottle my mild (NB's extract kit) late this week or this weekend, and am weighing my options with regards to carbonation. I took a look at the carbonation in English beers thread, and I'm considering priming for 1.8 volumes or so, but is there any reason to go higher, or...

SWMBO is a huge fan of Radlers. She'd drink them all year long, morning, noon, and night, if she could. Surprisingly, she doesn't like them all that sweet: maybe 70% Helles / 30% lemon soda. Which means the base beer has to be fairly good. I don't think she'd mind if we made them with a...

After months of deliberation and a couple weeks of reading everything I could get in pixels, tonight's the night. It's NB's Mild Ale extract-and-grains kit. I figured on starting with a low gravity brew so my impatience doesn't win out over making drinkable beer. It's been cool the past few...