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Every now and then I try to get a bit creative. And it's usually dangerous! I am going to post a recipe here and some thoughts on what I am trying to make. Maybe someone has made something similar and can share (I did a search and failed to find anything.) I like having a nice porter...

What is it in big beers that requires them to be aged for extended lengths of time? Is it mostly the alcohol content? Other variables? I want to make a beer that I can age at least 2 years. So many to decide from--I like the idea of a Belgian Tripple, Barley wine, Belgian Strong Ale, or a...

Fall weather approaches and the end (for me) of making Saison's. I have 2 oz. of Pacific gem hops that I want to use up and while I know most of the character of a Saison comes from the yeast, what about using this hop in a late addition? I am always of the mind to just try it and see what...

I've had my BC for years now and it's never failed me. I never changed the settings on it as it seemed to give me a good crush. This year I decided to tighten the gap a bit to see if I could get a better utilization. First two crushes seemed to work great and I got a 10 pt increase in...

I did a search here and came up with one thread where someone tried WLP 550 Belgium Ale with WLP 400 for a wit beer. Never posted the results, unfortunately. Anyone ever do a Belgium wheat with 550 and compare with other wheat beer yeasts (belgium or otherwise?) Wheat beers seem to get a lot...

In the past, I've had success making my own mild malt, brown malt and victory malt just from using regular 2-row or pilsner as a base a cooking it. I am on the hunt for some nice dunkleweizen brews and have a lot of wheat malt. Sometimes I will be using specialty grains to get the darkness...

Baltic Porters are made with lager yeasts and the one I did years ago came out great and smooth. Since Imperial Stouts need so much time to "clean up," has anyone ever tried to use lager yeast, fermenting near 50 instead of an ale yeast? Would be very interested if anyone tried this and had any...

I am thinking of building a simple heatstick that mostly can be used to heat strike water and more importantly use it periodically to keep my mash temps from dropping too far. I have basically two options where I brew. A dedicated 120v/20amp plug and a dedicated 240v/20amp plug. I would...

I brewed a Dopplebock this past weekend. Been doing all-grain for over a year now and this was, by far, my biggest grain bill at 16lbs for a 5.5 gallon batch. Boy was THAT fun to grind all that grain and it start to overflow a 5 gallon homer bucket! On to my questions: last two brews I...

I have recently done two orders with Brewstock.com out of New Orleans. In my situation, I HAVE to order all my ingredients, equipment, etc as there are no LHBS within 50+ miles of me. He has excellent prices on ingredients (fresh grain!) and equipment. He also packages equipment really well...

I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2782 Staro Prague Lager yeast. Date of production was just over 4 months ago, and this is one of their specialty yeasts they don't put out often. I would love to brew another lager in a few weeks, but not sure I'll be able to. I don't want to wait forever to use...

About to pitch some Wyeast Munich lager yeast in my Vienna Lager. However, I had some questions after explaining my procedure. A week ago I smacked the Wyeast pack and let it sit in 80 degree closet for 36 hours. It is just over 3 1/2 months old. No swelling (not unexpected,) but I wanted...

A little background: started brewing in 2006 and went from the Mr. Beer, to extract, to partial mashes and now all-grain. Never said I would do all-grain, but that is beside the point. Love how that always happens. I digress. in 2007 I brewed up my first PM oatmeal stout. I also happened...

Maybe this isn't the forum to post here, but perhaps someone here knows some information to help. I have the temp controller thing on my fridge and would love to know how often it cycles at certain temps. Is there a timer or counter that I can install that can keep track of that? I tried...

I wanted to sell my 3 gallon cooler (Rubbermaid) that I used for a few years for partial mashes. The cooler has had the spigot added back on it and so it will need a manifold or better yet a SS braid (that's what I used and it was perfect for this.) If you want it without a swap, $15+...

I recently got a refridge (top/bottom model--whirlpool) and installed a Johnson control. Main use is for fermentation of ales and lagers. Really like how the Johnson control works at keeping temps where they need to be! :ban: At the moment, the top freezer isn't really used (too small...

Ok, I've spent some time going through the search feature and trying to find my specific answer, but so far haven't found it. I have read on these forums that you can reuse yeast 3-5 times (even read up to 20 times?!?) Does this include starters? This is what I mean when I ask this...

My first "real" disaster in brewing came this weekend. Actually, it turned out ok and could have been worse. Started everything normal; crushed grains; heated infusion water; added to mash tun; add grains; stir (with NEW wooden mash paddle that I made the previous week); wait an hour, all is...

I have a unique chance of testing a variety of locally grown hops (native, yet there is a lack of information and the owner wants to know what we can use these hops for.) All the hops have been tested for their alpha properties, so making a balanced beer should be relatively easy. So, from...

I am planning on doing a vienna style lager this year (now that I have something to control lager temps for fermentation and laggering.) I wanted to start simple and figure vienna style is that. First is it even necessary to do a decoction with vienna grains? If one didn't do a decoction...