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What's up fellow brewers. It's been a while but I'm back in brewing business. Looking forward to spending lots of time on here going through the forums and trying to help out the noobs. I have an extensive background in microbiology and love to tamper and toy with yeast blends. Happy...

I have two meads in a row going and am about to do a third. I used a smack pack for the first batch... I racked to a secondary and then literally dropped must onto the cake in the primary.. I'm about to transfer into a secondary and drop more must onto the cake... My question is that I want...

I made a batch of mead about 6 months ago and it didn't last.. I have six bottles left so I could imagin how it's gonna taste after a little time. My question is this.. I found an awsome deal on some honey locally, 12# for $15... The thing is it has some crystal formation there.. Can I use...

I made a strawberry ale about 5 days ago and noticed a big ooops... I forgot to include the 3.3 pounds of hopped liquid extract... I know, bonehead mistake but wanted to know how to recover this... Do I need to boil it with some water for awhile and add it into the primary fermenter???? I...

I am doing a stout brew tonight and it's requesting crushed oats... When I apply them to a brew, do I just toss them into the wort or do I have to put them in a grain bag and steep them??? How does this work?????

I made a batch of mead or braggot that was a grand slam to all of my friends and family for christmass gifts... and 2 gallons made for a very fun Christmass party. Some of my friends said that they would love to try it with some carbonation... The last batch of mead literally had airlock...

I've been brewing for about 7 months now and have made some seriously good brew... A month ago, I was messing around with some of my vials of yeast that I have harvested and washed and froze using a method that has broven to be quite adequate. I have a freezer full of different yeast from...

I got a recipe from a book and it's going to be my first attempt at a mead. This is the recipe. 3.0lb honey added to kettle .5 lb pale crystal malt, steeped, then removed before boil .75loz citric acid, added to kettle 10.lb honey, added to kettle as soon as boil is finished...

Four days ago I brewed a beer and went with my own grains. I'm doing an extract beer and selected my own grains from the brew shop. They milled my grains for me there and I used almost the same kind of cheese cloth that comes in a kit. The only thing is my steeping time ran about five minutes...

I made a starter for a pilsner that I'm going to attempt and it does not smell like the other starters that I have done before. It doesn't smell like vinegar and it's not a bad smell. I'm wondering if it's normal for light extract vs. dark would actually have a different aroma>

I made a starter as I have for my last three brews and for some reason the starter is not quite taking off.. . It's been close to 48 hours and and I noticed a build up of yeast in the bottom and there was some air lock activity. I used yeast that I harvested from my last batch of beer that has...

I have had my official blow out last night and feel like I'm now in the club. To see the face on my fiance was priceless... Question, my beer was without airlock for about 3 hours before I woke up this morning. There was a very steady flow of foam out of the top of the car boy. The evidence...

Yesterday I made my first yeast starter for today's brew. I did the 2 to 1 mix on some DME amber and have some bubbling going on. Should it have formed a big head in the beaker or is the fermentation of the starter not as aggressive as normal beer. The DME is an amber, "forgot to look and...

With 4 brews under my belt using the brewers best kits, I'm fixing to move over to the all grain side of the tracks. I also want to attempt to harvest yeast for batches to try and tweak my brews. What is the method that is easiest and most effective in getting the yeast out of a 6.5 gallon...

I am doing good with my first two batches. I had a beer tasting party saturday night that few people remember but that is what was expected. :mug: My question of the day is brewing software. I have a few demo's for PC that I have been playing with and have been playing with different...

I have brewed two kits and kinda have a good working knowledge of how everything goes now. I was thinking about trying to experiment with some ideas. Let me see if I get this right. The "brewers best" kits are extract+steeping grains. For me to try and diddle with flavors and so fourth, I...

I just transferred to my secondary and took a little sample for my gravity and a little sip. The batch is bitter bitter bitter. Is this the general bitterness I am going to get or will my IBU"s go down some. The expected IBU in the kit said I was going to get 15 IBU's but it seems a bit...

First brew is in the primary and bubbling away and I have a question about brewing. The kit I used required me to steep the grains for 20 minutes, bring to a boil and an hour later chill the wort and it's done for the night. I keep hearing about mashing, sparging, all grains etc. Whatdo you...

Little to no problems in the boiling. One little boil over but it wasn't much to talk about. My question now is that the area I am able to store the primary in is about 68F. It might get up to 70 later on this week but for now it will be in the 68 range. Is this too cold or will it just...

The wort boils in the morning and the kit that I have for my first brew is th Scotch ale with trappist liquid yeast from White labs. The guy at the local supplier recommended that I toss the yeast that came with the kit and use the liquid yeast. My question is, will this change the flavor alot...