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I recently tried to brew a hazy IPA, but due to a couple things that didn't quite go right (i.e. being sloppy with mash temps, cooling) there are a few off-flavors in the beer and it tastes pretty strongly like grapefruit juice. Someone suggested adding orange juice to the beer. I tried a 1:4...

It sounds like this is probably what happened. Good to know that it's happened to someone else as well!

Today I did my first brew on the Brewzilla and I'm trying to figure out if I had logistical issues or if something weird happened during the boil. At the end of the mash, when I tested the gravity, it came in at 1.065 @ 80F, after recirculating the wort with the pump for about ten minutes...

For me, it's really a logistical thing: space on my gas stove for an extra pot. By the time I pull out the wort for my main brew and find out whether there's enough sugar left for a small beer, I'm heating the wort for the boil and there's not space for an additional pot on the stove to heat...

Recently, I've been trying to get more bang for my buck on brew day by (trying to) make small beer out of the last runnings of the mash. This works especially well with a larger beer or after 10 gallon batches, where there's a little extra sugar in the mash that may be harder for a hasty brewer...

Thanks! I actually did use saison yeast in the end and it turned out well. I appreciate the feedback!

Hey -- thanks for that. I'll pull back and make something a little more sane. I just acquired a lot of crystal malt, so I was looking for ways to use a lot -- but there's no point in doing that only to make something undrinkable. I had in mind that it might be going a bit in the direction of...

Ok -- not a quiz, I'm actually just trying to figure out how to profile the beer that I'm "likely" going to brew this evening. 5 gal 10 lbs 2-row 3.5 lbs crystal (75) 2.5 lbs wheat Galaxy hops S-33 yeast? I've also got SA-04. How I hop this and what yeast I use will depend on what it...

Thanks for the feedback! This is helpful. I'll flee the crystal malt and toss in a bit of vienna, and shift my BrewSmith profile to American wheat. Should that work with the S-33? Also, any mash recommendations? I can't do anything too complicated, since I'm working with a cooler, but...

Ok -- so I wanted to try brewing pilsner, but my local homebrew supply shop is having trouble getting yeast for any kind of lager or pilsner, so I'm looking to improvise. I'd like to make something like a Belgian blond ale, but with a pretty high wheat content (say, 30%?), and since I've got a...

Ok, this is what I'm doing (again, a 10 gallon batch): 4# base malt (2 row) 2# victory malt 1# kilned amber malt 1# crystal malt (120L) .25# cara pils a handful of aromatic malt. Predicted ABV: 2%... but I always seem to come in under that, so probably something a little below that. Mash: 25...

Thanks for the suggestions, all. I'll see what I can put together.

Thanks for the feedback on the hops. We were actually hoping to have something a little like Bell's Two Hearted ale, so that's confirmation that things should work. Regarding batch size, we like to host quite a bit and have easy-going friends who enjoying drinking with us. I've been brewing...

So I was getting ready to brew a large batch of IPA for the summer when we discovered that my wife is pregnant. Since she's my main drinking buddy, I now need to modify my plans and am trying to figure out how to brew a low-alcohol beer (definitely <3%, preferably under 2.5%, or even close to...

Would there be any problem with using more Centennial? Most of the recipes I see look like they try to have a complex blend of hops.

I'm trying the following recipe tomorrow for my first stab at 10 gallon brewing. Going for an American IPA...-ish. It's going to be on the darker side, west coast, rather than east coast. I decided to add the wheat because I like good mouth-feel in beers... I may have overdone it a bit. 16...

Any articles you recommend on improving gelatinization? (Or any tips?)

That spreadsheet is terrific! You accurately reverse-engineered what BeerSmith had as my intended target gravity, which was 1.061. And yes, my boil tends to be pretty vigorous. I generally lose about 1.5 g/hr. This boil was about 75 minutes, so... close to 2 gallons. I'm assuming that...

Thanks for the responses! I'm still just starting to figure out the mechanics of the mash: I'd not heard of gelatinization yet. Am I understanding that the direct action of the hot water is what gelatinizes the starch, allowing the enzymes to break down the starch into sugar? And yes--point...

I'm in my first six months of brewing all grain and tried to tackle a step mash for the first time a couple days ago, making hefeweizen. It didn't go as planned, I ended up at too low of a temp, and I tried to jerry-rig a solution to activate the alpha amylase: I'd like to know whether people...