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I brewed this in early october, bottled it mid January. Now in late Feb it has aged into an AWESOME beer. I used a friends home-roasted Columbian beans and left them in for two days prior to bottleing. The first bottle i tried after 2 weeks was really strong coffee flavored and not all that...

I've been drinking this for 2 or 3 weeks now. Overall I like it and it turned out fairly well. My only 'complaint' is in the carbonation, for some reason I didnt' get a real good carbonation in the bottles. Maybe I didn't get quite enough corn sugar. I don't get much head at all either - i'm...

Great site. Thanks!

Bottled this last night, in my sample prior to bottling, you could get a hint of the ginger and other spices, but it wasn't overpowering at all. I think it's going to turn out nicely! I'll post back in about 3 weeks or so.

i wash fermenter bucket and carboy with a little bit of soap, not tons just a little after every use and store until next time. Last thing before putting the wort in the fermenter is that it gets dosed with star san, i don't fill it up full, but use 5 gallons of water with one oz of star san...

fancy boxers! LOL (1:25)

For sure get a hydrometer. You can't tell if the fermentation is complete without one - and you run the risk of exploding bottles if it isn't and you bottle anyway. And - good call on the bottles. Yall would have FREAKED if you'd been sitting in the living room when that bomb went off!

I think you'll be happy with that decision. There's no substitute for practical experience. Go thru the various processes and steps a few times and that knowledge gained will serve you well in the project phase.:mug:

Hebrews, i skipped over a lot in this thread, so apologies if this has been mentioned, but - the 'ideal temp' for fermentation will have some variability depending on the yeast your using. Most ale yeast like to be around 62 deg., but some of the Belgian yeasts like it hotter, up around 72...

You make a good point about the gelatin dropping out. Actually though - a lot of commerically produced cheese uses enzymes and not rennet these days. My SWMBO is vegetarian (has been for years and years) and we read cheese labels looking for those made with enzymes and not rennet.

what are you going to use for a heat source? I'm in the planning stage of a very similar project. Don't have much problem cooling (not counting any lagering), but i need to warm up to temp in the winter.

If you have any vegetarian friends, be sure and mention it to them before they consume.

the little brew balls look a bit gimmicky to me (but thats just me)

Thanks - i thought there was something in the conversion to do with hop utilization, but wasn't sure how much it mattered. Looks like a good amber.

so here's a 'dumb' question. to convert the 10 gal recipie to a 5 gal batch, do you just cut everything in half? is it really that simple??? thanks -

brewed this on 10/9/10, it's fermenting its arse off at the moment - clogged the airlock overnight! I used White Labs Irish Ale yeast and added 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient at the end of the boil. Also used 6.0 lbs of Liquid Malt Extract instead of dry.

Planning on getting an Oatmeal / Coffee Stout going. It's supposed to age quite a while in the secondary, so this timing oughtta get it ready to drink just as winter is getting into full swing. :mug:

Has anyone tried to brew any clones of the Vertical Epic series from Stone? They publish the recipies on their site and i've been thinking it would be a neat long-term project to recreate a small batch for each one.

I sampled a bottle of this last night - and OMG! this is a GREAT brew! the spices come thru real nicely, but don't overpower at all. Beautiful color as well. Needs about another week in the bottle (only been 17 days) and it'll be perfect.

Nice! I did my first multi-step mash last weekend, using a decoction method. It worked out fairly well, but I just had two steps. My final stop was a couple degrees shy of ideal, but the final OG was right on target. I sparged a little bit hotter to try and make up the difference.