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I'm heading out to Portland later this week. I've got a couple of afternoons and nights at my disposal. I've been to Portland before, but not since I got into brewing and really good beers. I'll be staying near downtown and am looking for any recommendations of places where I shouldn't miss the...

I'm an extract brewer. I've been experimenting with different bottled waters, using spring water, drinking water, and distilled water. I'm just wondering what readily-available bottled waters others have used with good results. My results have been fine, but I'm interested in the experiences of...

I have an RIS that has been fermenting for one week. OG was 1.085. I pitched two packets of rehydrated US-05 and had great fermentation going for 3 or 4 days, with a little blow off as well. My basement was a bit cold, so I moved it upstairs for the warmer temps. It's been sitting at about 65...

I love my swmbo, and she totally supports my brewing hobby/obsession. She's working hard to understand all the parts of the process. However,..... tonight she was going to the basement and I asked her if she could bring up a bottle of my DIPA from the beer fridge. She came up with a full...

On a whim, I used the whisk attachment on my stick blender to aerate my RIS today. It exceeded my expectations and worked extremely quickly. I'll be interested to see the effects on fermentation lag time. If you have one of these, I highly recommend it.

I'm working on a Brown Ale recipe which calls for Caramel 40 (.5 lb) and Caramel 60 (.25 lb) as steeping grains, among others. I don't have either right now, but do have enough Simpsons Medium Crystal to make a substitution. Would this work? If not, it's not big deal; just trying to save myself...

I just finished brewing up a Double IPA. The process went off without a hitch until I hooked up my immersion chiller. I always wrap some paper towels around the fittings to catch any stray drops of tap water. It started off fine and I went upstairs for 5 minutes or so to start cleaning up...

I have a Serbian friend who is looking for beer from home. I've checked the internet, but am coming up blank. Does anyone know anywhere in Chicago (preferably north, northwest, or suburbs of these) that might carry Serbian beer? The top two he mentioned to me were Jelen and Lav. He also...

I have 2 oz. of EK Goldings (5.1%) in the freezer waiting to be used. I thought an EPA would make good use of them. Planning an extract brew of about 1.050 OG and using s-04. I was planning 1 oz. EKG @ 60 and 1 oz. @ 1 min, but that doesn't bring me enough IBU's to make the style. I've got a...

I follow the temperature guidelines for fermentation and bottle carbonation. I ferment my beers at the lower range of the yeast I'm using, and I bottle condition for at least 3 weeks around 70 degrees. My question is, why do we ferment lower, but carb higher? Logic tells me that my yeast will...

I brewed up an English IPA in July that was bottled, I believe, on August 3. It was brewed with Notty and was the first 'off' batch I've done. I'm not sure if the 'off' flavor (band-aid-ish) was a function of summer fermentation temps (although the basement is pretty constant) or bad Notty, or...

I've got about 14 oz. of Centennial pellets and 18 oz. of Magnum pellets. I'm interested in doing a double IPA while I've got the hops at their best. I'm an extract brewer and have a good stock of US-05 on hand. If anyone has a recipe with steeping grains that would work with what I've got, I'd...

I'm working from an RIS extract kit, which calls for s-04 yeast. I don't have s-04, but I do have us-05. I'm wondering how this will change the profile of the beer and if it would be better to wait until my LHBS has s-04. I want to brew this weekend, so will pitch the us-05 if it is feasible. I...

I don't use a secondary when brewing, but do all my ales with longer primary, to good results. I've never attempted dry-hopping because of this, but it was recently suggested that this is something I should try in primary. I'm looking for suggestions and techniques to do this correctly. 1)...

I have a NB kit for and IPA that I've done before. I like it, but it's not as overtly hoppy as I'd like. I just ordered a lb. of Centennial hops and a lb. of Magnum, which will hopefully arrive in the next week. I'd like to mess with this extract recipe's hops to bring out more aroma and flavor...

Hi All, I'm looking for a small fridge that I can use as a beer fridge, but that can also double as a fermentation chamber when I need it. I do my brewing in standard size brewing buckets and don't want to buy a full-size fridge. If anyone has a small fridge used in this capacity, I'd...

Hi All, I wasn't sure if this was the right place to ask this, but it does pertain to equipment. I'm looking to buy a small beer fridge this summer for the basement, as the SWMBO keeps taking over my beer space in our regular fridge. Any recommendations for a small fridge that can hold...

I'm planning a couple of brews, one of which is a RIS. I'm weighing using s-04 vs. notty. I've used notty several times and like its attenuation and flocculation. I've used it for a RIS, but am thinking about s-04 for this one. Any thoughts on preferences and reasons would be really helpful...

I just bottled a Wee Heavy that fermented for 3 weeks at about 60 degrees. I used Nottingham because of its ability to ferment at lower temps. I know that bottle carbing at the same temp will take longer, but I'm wondering if I'm doing my beer a disservice by not carbing at 70 degrees. I figured...

If you think about it, brewing beer is like buying a futures contract. I've read discussions lately, about per bottle cost of home brewing. I like to think about the economics of brewing as paying money today for something that I will partake of tomorrow. My $40 today fixes the future value of...