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This is the most up to date information available regarding my local water supply. I have never attempted to adjust my water other than using a home filtering unit with a 5 micron charcoal filter cartridge. Can some of you more experienced brewers out there check this info. and suggest some...

So I have been away from brewing for a bit due to a back injury and today is my first attempt at a 100% Cascade Pale Ale using my home grown hops. I have never attempted a single hop brew before let alone one from home grown hops. Using a basic recipe I have been successful with previously...

Is it necessary to first carb my Scotch Ale using straight CO2 and then switch over to Beer/Gas to dispense or I should I just use the Beer/Gas from the start? Will the B/G provide sufficient carbonation level in the Ale (75%Nitrogen/25%CO2 mix)? If so, how long will it typically take @...

I have a White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast in the refrigerator which has been kept at 38 degrees and the expiration or "Use by Date" is December of 2009. What's the likelyhood of it actually coming to life in a good starter? Hate to waste it or the time, so what's your advice...

I am new to cheese and want to get it right, so here are a few questions: 1. Why do you need a culture? 2. If you use rennet, do you need a culture (may be answered by #1) 3. If I use a vacuum sealer instead of wax, will the cheese still age? Thanks for any info supplied. Salute...

I tried the basic recipe found in BYO and failed miserably. I then strarted to do some research and found better information and methods to use. I went to Leeners and purchased the rennet tablets, some calcium chloride, flaked salt and a few other future ingredients for other cheese recipe...

I just tapped a DFH60 Clone that was dry hopped using Citra Hop Pellets (1oz) and it is very good........ Very Good indeed! My LHBS had them in stock so I picked up an ounce of them to use in my brew. I had never used them before, but will use them a lot in future IPA recipes. I love the...

I have put together a tiered brewing stand and am considering a March Pump to re-circulate wort to my mash tun and transfer to my brew pot and I wanted to know how much (if any) wort is lost in the tubing run between the vessels. I know the pump is mounted below the vessels because it is...

So I finally got a friend of mine to brew beer. His father brewed beer and made wine in the past, but he never took an interest in it. This past labor day, SWMBO and I joined Ray (my buddy) and his wife on a motorcycle ride up to Slippery Rock, PA. We indulged in several of the local brews...

Me and SWMBO are heading to the annual North East, PA Wine Festival next weekend and we plan to stay in Erie, PA, so I was hoping to get a few good locations for great beer and food. We plan to stop into Erie Brewing, VooDoo and a few other places, but I was looking for a nice pub or two to...

Does anyone out there know what size false bottom I will need for an Igloo 5 gallon cooler? I know I could just measure it, but I am an idiot and would probably screw it up. I currently use a stainless strainer designed for a larger diameter pot and have it slightly bent inside the cooler...

I have harvested several ounces of hops from my vines this year and I want to use them as wet or fresh hops. Is it okay to vacuum seal them without drying them first then throw them in when I need them? I sure hope it is, cause they are in my freezer right now all vacuum sealed up...

I built a heat stick per the directions in another post here and I used JB weld to seal it as suggested, however some of the JB weld is exposed and I am concerned it will impart bad stuff into the water of my HLT. The heat stick does not leak (good thing for me) but it does have an odor to it...

I was able to obtain several stainless carts from the hospital I work at (It's all legal stuff too!), so I decided to put it to work at home. Here are a few pictures of the stuff I have together so far. It is not nearly complete, but I have done a dry run using the HLT and PID controller and...

I have been trying to perfect my House Belgian Wit which has it's roots from BierMunchers original recipe post for a Blue Moon Clone - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/blue-balls-belgian-wit-blue-moon-clone-24978/. A few of the modifications to his recipe I use are: Wheat Malt instead of...

I use starters on all my brews (most all - not Safale-05) and I typically dump the entire starter into the wort. Is this the right way of doing it or am I supposed to remove the top layer of liquid and just add the yeasties? How do you do it?

I ran low on kegged beer because of my schedule so I bit the bullet and made 2 - 5 gallon batches yesterday. I started at 7:15am and finished up (clean up too) by 3:45pm. I did not have my water filtered, grain crushed or equipment set up prior, so I hustled the entire day. 1 - 5 gallon...

SWMBO and I have a frozen starter we received recently and we want to re-activate it soon. I have ead up on the process and from what I understand, this stuff can double in size daily. So I am wondering what to do with that much sour dough starter and if it is possible to freeze some in case...

I have come across 2 - Honeywell UDC3000 Digital Controllers which can use either Thermocouple (K) or RTD input, as well as several other configurations. The ouput mode is 4-20ma. These are 1/4"DIN controllers, so they are beefy units and will operate on 120vac. Anway, my intent is to set...

I have 3 shanks mounted on the wall in my basement. Two are used for my regular brews and 1 is for Stout. I had to remove the stout keg and dispose of it's contents (don't ask why!), so I now have a faucet available. I removed the restrictor plate from the faucet, but the beer foams greatly...