Search results

For anyone interested in the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year competition, there is a new site at http://midwesthomebrewer.com that now provides historical standings for previous years and a "Brewer Scorecard" for every brewer who has entered beer in a participating MWHBOY competition in the last...

SYSTEM IS SOLD! Thanks to everyone that replied. Complete 10-Gallon Brewing System for Sale Price: $900 Local pick-up preferred. Will deliver within a 1 hour drive of Janesville, WI for $75. Location 4336 Huntington Ave, Janesville, WI. Overview This is a...

I've brewed a about 35 batches, everything from Belgian Dark Strongs to American Lagers to Scottish Ales, and have had success with every style except high-gravity lagers. Of the 5 high-gravity lagers I have brewed, all have contained a distinct acetaldehyde character; that is to say, an...

I know this question has been asked before, but none of the threads I have found have actually explained the phenomenon that is occurring. Essentially, when I dispense the beer from my keg, it pours complete foam, but when the foam settles out, the beer in the glass is completely flat. Anyone...

I'm planning an Orval clone and have had different recommendations on the best way to add the Brett. In his "Brewing Classic Styles" book, Jamil's recipe for an Orval clone calls for adding one package of Wyeast or White Labs Brettanomyes bruxellensis to the batch after the end of primary...

I just bought an older plate chiller from another homebrewer, and am trying to figure out how to use it. It should be simple, but apparently I am missing something obvious. Here is the picture of it in action: The hot water (which would be wort if I were brewing) goes in the top port and...

Does anyone know where I could buy a stand for a hurricane burner? This is a 10" burner, and I believe that either the stand pictured below, or the KAB4 stand would fit the burner. But I can't seem to find any place that sells the stand without the burner.

I keep making changes to my brewery setup and today came up with this alternate design. Basically, it places the heat exchanger coil in the mash tun, and then recirculates near-boiling water through the coil to add heat (in order to maintain temperatures). The temperature controller simply...

Frequently on this message board I see posters stating that yeast need oxygen so that they can grow and divide through "respiration" in order to reach the concentrations necessary for a successful fermentation. The idea is that little, if any, yeast growth occurs during fermentation, and that...

Wyeast's website states the following: Oxygen requirement is variable depending on: yeast strain employed, original gravity of wort, and wort trub levels. Some yeast strains have higher oxygen requirements than others. It is generally safe to assume that you need at least 10ppm of oxygen...

I'm trying to build a stirrer that will faciliate whirlpooling during chilling. I bought one of these motors (63 RPM Rotation CCW, Torque 10 lb-in ) based upon a recommendation. I believe it is what Carl's Wort-O-Matic uses as a stirrer. Anyway, now I am wondering how to remove the gearhead...

I have a 17 5/8" polarware false bottom that I need to fit into a 16" pot. Anyone know what type of tool I could use to cut it down to size?

Tell me if this is a dumb idea. It is really simple, but I haven't read of this technique before, and it seems like it would work. I only have a single-stage temperature controller - a RANCO ETC-111000. But when I want to ferment ales, sometimes the ambient temperature of my house varies...

A recent post ("Cold Crashing Method") was asking about the best method of conditioning a beer. The question essentially comes down to balancing the risk of autolysis with the benefit of exposing beer to yeast that will clean up fermentation by-products. So this leads to the question of...

I was planning to install a motorized stirrer on my dedicated heat exchanger (HEX), but recently read a post in the Brew Science forum that made me question this practice. The poster's point was that, given the convection currents in a HEX, you are already going to get a good degree of...

I keep running across what appear to be conflicting statements about yeast behavior in an aerobic environment. One statement is that in a solution of at least 0.4% glucose, which wort always has at the time of pitching, yeast metabolism is fermentative rather than oxidative (Brewing, Hornsey...

Can anyone think of a reason why it would be a problem to perform a diacetyl rest AFTER primary fermentation, secondary fermentation, and a period of lagering have occurred? My idea is that after lagering for about 3 weeks, I would warm the beer up to about 55 degrees and add one or two fresh...

So I want to perform some yeast starter experiments and am trying to figure out the cheapest way to perform yeast counts. According to the White Labs website, I basically need a hemacytometer, a 400X microscope, and methylene blue solution. Has anyone used this equipment before? Can I buy just...

I'd like to get some recommendations from anyone who has brewed a Bohemian Lager and has been really impressed by the results. What would you say are the keys to really brewing this style right? What recipe did you use? I've read Designing Great Beers, but I would like some first-hand feedback...

Is there any point of performing a multi-step mash if the steps are all within the saccharification range? I can understand the desire to a do a protein rest in the 120s and 130s, but is there any advantage to doing a step mash from, say, 140 F to 158 F? It seems like the same effect would...