Search results

I have been have an issue with astrigency/harsh bitter flavor in several of my beers and I can't figure out what the issue is! They all have been English ales with some portion of dark grain in them (porter, stout, brown ale, and even Irish red). I recently did a brown ale with victory...

So, my wife and I just purchased a new house and will be moving in 5 weeks. I was planning on brewing my Christmas ale soon to give it a few months to age before taping. If I brew it and just leave in the primary, as long as I drive slow and dont tip it over, the airlock and co2 in the...

I was working on rebuilding a keg I got as a present. When I pulled the gas in tube out, it was plastic and smelled very strong of pop syrup so I figured it was best to just replace it instead of trying to get the smell out of the plastic. So I threw it out and went to my LHBS a few days later...

I have brewed several dark beers recently that have had a weird off flavor. My best guess from everything I have read is that its a sulfur issue. I had the issue when using wlp005, but only on beers above 25 SRM. I made an amber colored pumpkin ale and christmas ale with the 005 and didnt...

I've used this strain on several of my beers now and they all seem to come out with this weird flavor in them. The best way I can describe it is a sourdough twang. It's not bad, just not a flavor I want in that beer. As the beer ages it goes away, but still in the background. I did read that...

I love Maris otter and use in several of my beers. However, I'm curious if there is a way to substitute it. I can get a 50lb sack of 2-row for $35 at my LHBS and Maris otter is $65. In the essence of brewing on a budget, I'm debating if I can use 2-row and some victory or Munich and get...

I recently brewed my first American Rye and its been on tap for about 2 weeks and it has a very strong banana flavor. Here is the basic recipe info: 50% 2-row 25% malted wheat 25% malted rye WLP001- Pitched and fermented at 66 Pitched a starter and used pure oxygen with a diffusion stone...

I went to Home Depot yesterday to pick up a spare O2 cylinder and I was told that they are no longer going to be carrying welding supplies and wont have the tanks anymore! I am a little skeptical b/c I heard this from one of the cashiers..... Has anyone else heard this? I was able to go to...

I have been kegging for over a year now and this is the first time I've ever run into any problems with a keg not properly carbonating. I put the keg in the fridge about a week and a half ago and it is still not carbonated! If i pour a little taster glass full, there is no head and I can see...

I recently bought a barley crusher and have used it for about a half dozen batches or so. Every batch I have used it, I got an efficiency around 87-90%. I bought a feeler gauge, but didnt check the gap when I first set it, but the crush was really tight and what I was looking for. I brewed...

My next batch of mead is going to be a 5 gallon batch that is then split into 5 seperate 1 gallon batches to make a few melomels. I would like these to end up on the sweeter side and was thinking instead of racking onto the fruit and restarting fermentation, to let the primary finish, then...

I have been washing and saving my yeast for about 10 months now, and have only recently started running into an issue. If the vials are stored any longer than a couple month, when I open them, they smell sulfury, rotten, and a mix of a ton of other awful flavors (I'm assuming this is from...

I made a 2 gallon starter for a doppelbock I am brewing soon. The starter has slowed dramatically and I was wondering if it would be okay to cold crash now to give the yeast plenty of time to settle out, or would this cause harm to the yeast?

I am planning on brewing a doppelbock next weekend, using some washed yeast I have from a prior batch. Based on the Mr Malty calculator and some info from How to Brew, it looks like I am going to have to step up a couple starters to get to the desired yeast count, based on how much yeast I...

I am placing an order online in the next few days for a bunch of honey and would like to order a bunch for several future batches, to cut down on shipping. This summer I want to make a 5 gallon batch, split that into 5 1 gallon jugs and add different fruits and make a few different melomels...

I have a mead that has been sitting on some French Oak and I am about ready to bottle. However, everytime I move the mead, the fine yeast at the bottom swirls up and clouds the mead again. I would like to use some gelatin to coagulate these yeast particles more and keep them at the bottom when...

How long can I safely age beer on gelatin? I would assume that since its unflavored, it wouldnt effect the beer. I have a dubbel that I made almost 4 weeks ago. Everything went great, except I forgot to add the whirlfloc :drunk:! Anyways, its been in my primary for 4 weeks and I would like...

I want to start adding oak to my meads while they age and I have a quick question regarding the best practice of this. I know some people use various techniques to sanitize the oak first, steam baths, soaking in a campden solution, etc, and then adding to the mead. Also, some add them straight...

I brewed my first batch last weekend after switching from batch sparging to fly sparging and my efficiency only went up about 3-5%. I build my manifold, based mostly on the instructions from How to Brew. After I built it, I tested it with some tap water and food coloring to see if I would get...

I am putting together a recipe for my first sour beer and would like some imput/thoughts/suggestions..... I am basing the recipe off of Jamil's Flanders Brown as I love the style and want something with a nice malt backbone. 12lb Pale 2-Row .75 Caramunich .5 Special B .5 Aromatic...