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Techno Viking friend, I just stick with a slice of orange or lemon. With an American Wheat, I just go Viking. :)

Brewclub outings are the best place to share and enjoy homebrew! Brewcommune meetings are great to share too, but kicking back at the club campsite during Southern California Homebrew Festival with so many homebrew taps open .. just perfect!

Consider cloves, all-spice, cardamon and/or orange peel as other additions for a wintery ale... :)

Brewed a few gruits, and never found a way to calibrate bitterness like hops do with AA%. Wormwood is much more bitter than Mugwort, but similar in character. I would stick with Mugwort, as it is more forgiving. Yarrow is awesome, and has a nice lemony dryness. Marsh Rosemary is my favorite...

5-6 Clove buds, 2-3 cinnamon sticks, at 30-min of boil left. 3oz fresh sliced ginger, 3/4 oz orange peel zest, at 15 min boil left. :) should be tasty!

Yes! Pick me! --LexusChris

I was asked by my daughter for a birthday beer, like one of those 'Summer Shandy' beers you see in the store. So I improvised something that was not a combo beer/lemonade, but something I could brew & bottle, and drop off at her apartment. It hit the mark very well. 10 gallon batch #9.75 - US...

I've used Bog Myrtle a few times, and really enjoy its aromatic properties.. So I tend to use it late in the boil... 0.5 to 1.0 grams in last 10 minutes. I've also tried dry herb'ing with it in the fermenters, to keep the aromatic thing going. Bog Mrytle is often sold as Sweet Gale (myrica...

I ended up brewing this combo myself last month for a party. My grain bill was 95% German Pilsner, 5% Vienna malt. Before transferring my 10 gal Kolsch wort to two 5 gal fermenters, I added 1# of honey to one of the fermenters. When I pitched my WLP029 starter, I put 2/3 in the straight...

In earlier batches I used more, and even tried dry-herbing with it. The previous batch before that one, I used: 1oz Yarrow @ 30m 7g Wormwood @ 15m .4g Sweet Gale @ 15m Dry-herb for 21 days after primary ferm: 1oz Yarrow 2g Wormwood .7g Sweet Gale The dry-herbing was fun, and I agree was...

If you add the honey after the boil, once it is in cool and in the fermenter, or even as the boil kettle is cooling below 130-F, you will retain more of the honey character. --LexusChris

As you have heard & experienced, Wormwood is really bitter. I've made several gruits with wormwood, and each time, it seems like I halve the amount I used last time, and like it better and better. You can still get some mileage out of your mixed herb bag, but I would treat it like a Wormwood...

I'm thinking it could be diacetyl .. a result of fermentation challenges. With a lot of hops. it combines to a 'odd flavor' and can be perceived as sweet. Many things during fermentation could contribute .. yeast stress from low pitch rates, high pitch rates, cold initial wort temp, high...

Perhaps its not so much the Crystal 60, but the Mild , Victory & Vienna malts? A lot of malt flavors going on there, and 1/2# of Crystal 60 in a 5 gallon batch sounds fine to me. Still, sounds like a tasty beer! Hope you enjoy it more & more as it ages! --LexusChris

You should have no problems. After active fermentation is done, the yeast counts will be so high that nothing will be able to compete and get a foothold in there. I use Muscovado sugar regularly, and just add it to the whirlpool, when the wort is down to about 135F. Just hot enough to help...

Sounding tasty! Heads up on WLP028. I do love this yeast for malty english beers, but be warned that its krausen can be quite thick and vigorous. I recommend a blow-off tube for active fermentation (1-4 days), especially if your fermenter has limited headspace. Every time I've had a...

Hey JD! I love the idea of a Fruit Cake spiced ale, so I am interested in how this turns out for you! However, I do not know the spices used in a proper fruit cake, but he ones you listed look like a great holiday spice combo. :) I do know that spice intensity varies from fresh cut...

I prefer to go light on cara-pils in most recipes, and for a Kolsch, I want something light and crisp on the palette anyways... so I would swap it out 1:1. My last Kolsch had no cara-pils, just Pilsner & Vienna malt. I would also limit the hops to a single bittering addition, around 20...

Sounds like you are splitting the wort into 2 fermenters? So only looking at post boil options? I like your idea of going Blonde vs. Kolsch yeast. Yes, many would say its subtle, but I found the difference to be noticeable and very useful for future brews. The WLP029 Kolsch yeast has a...

Shanidze, I'm only familiar with Yarrow directly, although Mugwort is from the same family as Greater Wormwood, albeit not as bitter. Experimentation is the best way to go.. maybe even making some teas to explore combos, amounts/ratios, etc. Also, I found this BYO article and spreadsheet...