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Most supply shops do a good job milling your grain. Having said that, if you mill the grain yourself, you'll get much control over the size of the grist. Floury-looking grain is normal to a point. Look at how whole the husks are. You want them to be as whole as possible. If you decide to obtain...

If one is expecting a vigorous fermentation, get some 1 inch pvc tubing, and use that for a blowoff. You could pass a bucket of peach pits through that no problem! Also, if one wants to duplicate a conical fermentor using a glass carboy, use a Fermentap. Its used with the carboy inverted. One...

DME stands for dried malt extract. Same as the syrup, but with more water removed. Getting back to the honey, however, I've used it in the boil, the primary, secondary, and at bottling. If you prime with it, it will take much longer to carbonate, as beer yeast has to choke down the more...

Using a yeast starter is the best start one can give their beer. For every 5 gallons of beer, a quart of good starter will work wonders. For high gravity beers above 1060, 1 1/2 quarts is even better. This is especially true with lagers, and almost mandatory with bocks and dopplebocks. When I've...

From what I've read, as well as alot of personal experience, I don't use a bag with pellet hops. The bag inhibits hop utilization. Instead throw them in, and when the boil is finished, stir in one direction for a couple minutes(taking care not to splash), then let it sit for 10 minutes or so...

Don't fret. If you sterilize anything touching the wort, you're okay. Just leaving it to ferment is fine too.

Thats the spirit!

Fantastic! I hope it turns out well for you. You'll never be the same after drinking your own stuff. I wish you well, and keep us posted. There are some real good folks here, and will help you and answer your questions. Good luck, Tom

You'll want to maintain 1-2" of water on top. This will help the mash "float", and help prevent a stuck runoff. This will also help your yield as well. If the mash is allowed to sink down, it will tend to compact. Then you'll have a wonderful opportunity to think up long and creative bunches of...

I usually rack to the secondary after a week to 10 days. It will slow till you see a bubble every 15 minutes or so. Then rack after noticable activity ends. Keep in secondary till it drops clear. This is pretty foolproof, in my experience. Yes, you can use hydrometer readings too, but when...

Try adding 4 oz. of lactose at the end of the boil. Lactose is unfermentable by brewers yeast, and will leave a bit of residual sweetness. Brew on...

No, but thanks for the warning. I usually order from either Homebrewheaven.com, or Morebeer.com. Good folks, exellent service and advice.

I never use bottled water, but our water here is moderately carbonate, so just a bit of boiling to precipitate the free calcium carbonate works fine. From my understanding, most bottled water is put through a reverse osmosis filter, so one would have to add gypsum, and also table salt, to most...

True enough, you can use some lager yeast at ale temps, but some will give solventy, sulpher flavors too.

I like decoctions so much, that I never use step mashes anymore. The malt flavor you get, plus the greater extract potential, makes it more than worth the time. I'll use a 2 decoction for hefes, etc., and a 3 decoction for czech pils, munich dunkles, etc. There is a great deal of control in this...

For lager beer, and some ales, an addition of fresh yeast gives kind of a "scrubbing" effect. It does really mellow things out. You then just wait till it drops clear, then transfer to your priming vessel, and bottle as usual. I use cornie kegs, but do the same thing. Yes, it is a bit more...

The biggest advantage in 2 stage fermenting is getting the beer off the yeast cake . This will lead to a much smoother, and more rounded flavor. Many off flavors will no longer be an issue. This is true for ales and lagers both. If you're cold conditioning your beer, this will make the final...

I just looked at my brew log, and I racked into the secondary after 13 days. No diacetyl rest, as at 60 degrees, that would be where a normal diacetal rest would be. What I did, and it worked like a champ, was: I added more yeast( krausen beer).Did you oxegenate your wort before pitching, and...

It should take just a bit longer than a normal ale fermentation. I've used 2112 several times, and thats what my brew logs tell me.