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It may seem a little flip but I actually have been worrying about the following (great) problem: The wife and I came into a little unexpected money and after paying down the important bills, contributing to college funds and all that horrible responsible grown-up stuff we have enough to do...

I wonder if 5 pounds or so of sweet potatoes thrown into my smoker next brisket I am making would be interesting thrown into a stout. Smoked sweet potatoes run through a cuisinart added for the last 10 of the boil? -dylan.

I was driving to work thinking today about how yeast reproduces. Is it sexual or asexual reproduction. I ask because I have been wondering about 'custom straining' or something, say I have a yeast that I like the beer it produces but it can't handle high ABV solutions. Can I put a packet of...

I have very limited experience and none with potatos but I have added some fruit to beers and if flavor is what you are going for not just added sugars I would say add it in secondary. I have tried adding at boil, after flameout, in primary and in secondary. With fruits that is the...

At work we have an unused water cooler that is getting ready to be thrown out. Last time it was plugged it the cooling option worked but the heater didn't so away it goes. It is a stereotypical water cooler like you would expect to see in an office, a tall box with a jug on top. I was just...

I generally call those mornings my Jim Morrison mornings, they happen less often than they did when I was in my 20's but sometimes if I have the time and my to-do list can be ignored they are good to have. I have even been roaring drunk before the sun has fully risen but that is pretty rare...

So I don't use airlock activity as anything but a general indicator. If it is bubbling I don't bother worrying about it. I brewed a fairly beefy stout about a month ago and promptly blew my knee out playing hockey to where I couldn't lift anything over 20lbs, stoop, bend, yadda yadda. So the...

One of the few perks of working at a grocery store, an essentially unlimited supply of 3 and 5 gallon used honey and feta buckets. If you live near a natural foods store (whole foods or local co-op type place) they should get honey in bulk and if you are nice they will give you one, I give away...

I made a pale ale with some ingredients that were originally intended for use in ginger-pear jelly. I boiled up my extracts and hops as usual, and added about 4 inches of ginger grated fresh into the pot at the start of boil, hoping it would mild it down a little. At flameout I added about 4...

Adding fruit to secondary will preserve more flavor, dropping it in to primary will make almost all the taste go away but will give you a GREAT aroma. At least thats how it went with my two ginger pear beers so far. -dylan.

If you are aiming at more of a pumpkin pie, most (pie) recipies also call for cloves nutmeg and allspice in varying degrees. I would put them in at the same concentration as the cinnamon, with ginger being a half dose. But thats just how I like my pie. A potentially interesting combination...

I cap my halvsies and immediately chill them for a week or so and the use it in meat brine. I generally smoke 10+ pounds of meat on brew days and I brine most of that for a few days beforehand and a little alcohol helps break down connective tissues.

C-Brite to clean, chunks and crusties (if any including ones too small to see) then unsanitized water because C-Brite is a rinse sanitizer and Idophor to sanitize after being rinsed, to get the microscopic thingies. My understanding from a medical background is that Cleaning is a more...

Feel free to say 'keg it' but I don't have the money or space just yet so I will ignore those responses ;) Basically the biggest hassle in brewing has been maintaining the temp where I want it for fermentation, but a REAL close second is the pre-bottling process. I read the stickey and...

Variance in water additions will only modify the flavor and ABV of the finished product, more water less ABV and a thinner flavor and vice versa. About the only other thing I can think of is a variance in bottling, if you have substantially less water you would want to scale back the priming...

Some consensus seems to be 1/2 tsp of spices for a 5 gallon batch, any or all of the following; ginger, juniper berries, cloves, allspice. I would probably go get some hella dark chocolate ideally with some cinnamon and chili spice in it (Mexican Chocolate) and throw in a pound or so chopped...

Using http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv_calculator.php the magic box tells me your ABV is 8.9%, you might need a higher alcohol tolerance yeast to get any more sugars out.

In making my weekend brew (Porter) I started thinking about ways to isolate and experiment with brews. Next brew (next weekend or the one after, when the In-Laws are gone) I am planning to conduct a yeast experiment. I will use beersmith to come up with a reasonable 8 gallon recipe for a...

I have a Stone (I think) earthenware flip top like moxie's up there, I wonder if a quick go through a sand blaster would remove the paint without harming the integrity of the bottle?

Just wondering what bottle people like to recycle? I really like Santa Fe Brewing Co. Pale Ale bottles because the lables come off in one piece after about a 2 hour soak in water. I also get some Deschutes Brewery bottles when they are on sale at the local store because the lables aren't too...