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I am in the process of building a eHERMS system mostly based on Kal's work. You can see what I have done so far in my build thread here... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-eherms-mostly-kal-clone-home-brewery-421059/ My question relates to having breakers in the control box itself. It...

So I have been brewing since 2006 when I first joined here and have been thinking/planing to move to a better system for years. (and saving) :) I had first planned on going with a Brutus system until electric systems started to become more popular a few years ago and decided electric was the...

I live in the south suburbs of Chicago and we get our water from the city of Chicago. I asked my local city water works about a chemical analysis for the water and they actually gave me a copy of the City of Chicago report. A PDF of it can be found here...

For various reasons I have not brewed for a long time. I want to brew again here in the near future and want some opinions. I have some grain left that has been kept in a vittles vault. I opened it the other day at it looks fine... no moisture, no mold, no bugs, smells and tastes fine. It's...

The results are posted from this years GABF. http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/06winners.htm My local brewpub Flossmoor Station took 1 gold 2 silvers and 1 bronze and won Small Brewpub Company and Small Brewpub Company Brewer of the Year. I call it my local brewpub because its only a...

I know some of you listen to the brewing network..... On the last broadcast of the Jamil Show they covered Imperial IPA's. He posted a recipe from Mike McDole of an imperial IPA that is a (sorta) clone of Pliny the Elder with a Northern Brewer kicker. This beer I think took a best in show (I...

Ok whipped up a starter last night of some WPL001 and and its now been about 18 hrs and I still see no activity. I use a stirplate and have always seen activity long before this. I got the yeast at a local(ish) brewshop. Is this a bad vial or is there still hope?

Welp..... Its been a mostly crap year so far.... not like I got hit by Katrina or anything REALLY bad but really a pretty **** year so far for the most part. I have been working on a project at work for over 4 years that is finally finished. Tonight I took some time to sit out on the front...

Well I visited my local brewpub, flossmoor station tonight and realized just how far I have to go to REALLY get good beer. Not that any of mine have been that bad its just.... man they brew great beer. I just love the Pullman nuttbrown they make. I had a chance to talk to the brewer (Matt)...

When you fly sparge I know the general rule is to keep about 1" of liquid above the grain bed as you sparge. My question is.... do you use enough sparge water to keep the grain covered all the way till you collect your full volume of wort or do you just use enough to run the sparge tank empty...

EDIT: More detailed instructions start on page 3 https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8850&page=3 After seeing some of the posts about making a stirplate to aid in starter production, I scoured my stash to see what I had and came up with this stirplate that uses a LM317 voltage...

Anyone know where I can find someplace that carries Brewtek yeast? I can't find any place that has it. Reason I ask is I have found a few recipes that swear by the brewtek yeast with that particular recipe and was thinking about trying it. I know I can find a whitelabs or wyeast equivilent...

Well I did my first AG batch today. It went really well considering everything. I was low on my target for mash temp so I had to add some boiling water and ended up with a lot thinner mash then I wanted but it didn't seem to hurt anything. I stopped the runnings at 6.5 gals after sparging for...

Pretty cool.... just racked to secondary on my 1st batch after just less then a week. Hydrometer was at 1.016 and Fg is supposedly 1.010-1.012 so I'm getting there. And HEY! it tastes like BEER! :rockin: Took a lot longer then I figured it would with all the sanitizing and cleaning but I...

I'm going to wyeast activator for the first time and have a few questions..... How long before pitching do I need to smack it? It also says that i should be at 70-75 degrees but its only 65 degrees in my house is that going to be ok? thanks

I'm new here so be gentle... :) I was wondering about taking notes etc as you bew.... Do most brewer keep notes when brewing? Things like date, gravities, times temps etc. I guess like a brewing journal. Does anyone do that? Just wondering what most people do. Seams like a good idea so...

Well I bit the bullet today and ordered all my equipment to start brewing! I can't wait to try it out. :D I'm going to start out with a nice nut brown ale. I'm going to be like a kid waiting for christmas till my stuff arrives. I'm sure I'll have some questions when I get going and I'm sure...

Yes I am new to the home brewing thing... but I have been reading lots about it for months on the net. This site looks like it will be VERY helpful. I hope to be starting out very soon and look forward to reading through this site more. I am from the south burbs of Chicago and was wondering...