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Anybody ever have this happen with their aluminum kettle before. I boiled 8-9 gallons of tap water last week to season the kettle before brewing and got a really dark black layer that formed during the boil. I brewed a batch last night and most of the black disappeared after the boil. Weird...

I am about ready to keg the double IPA I made last month and took a gravity reading. It's at 1.009 from OG of 1.080. Safale 05 is a beast. I mashed at 149 because I wanted good attenuation, but wasn't expecting this. What are your opinions about adding 4-8 oz of lactose before kegging?? Good or...

Anybody on here ever try adding fruit juices straight to the keg as a flavor adjunct. I was planning on racking a chilled Wheat beer on top of some Apricot juice (if I can find any). Not sure how much to add. I think the cold temps will keep the yeast from eating the juice. Will fresh juice...

Anybody know the pH of Maris Otter in distilled water? Going to make a brew this week that is primarily Maris and I don't own a pH meter as of yet

I received the water report for Oct 2011 Alkalinity 21 Bicarbonate 21 Calcium 14.5 Chloride 19.6 Hardness, Calcium 36.2 Hardness, total 56.8 Magnesium 5 pH 6.5 Sodium 7.6 Sulfate 8 Looks like pretty decent brewing water. Thoughts anyone?

I have become very confused with mash vs sparge addtions in terms of water chemistry. I am leaning towards using lactic acid with my water instead of adding acid malt, mostly because I do not have a mill and storage of precrushed grain isn't ideal. I just don't understand the differences...

I am making my second lager ever and had a quick question. I am using the Saflager 34/70 yeast in a Surlyfest clone. I pitched the yeast in a 58 degree wort and put it in my garage which has in floor heating. The temp in the garage was 51 degrees. Anyway, on the 2nd day of fermentation, it got a...

The generic spring water from Walmart. The source is Lafayette Springs, Lafayette TWP, WI. Just wondering if anyone has checked considering there are probably quite a few home brewers using it

Looking at making a Berliner Weiss for this summer and had a question. Someone told me they use some maltodextrin to ensure the lactobacillus has something to eat. Can Lacto break down maltodextrin?? I plan on doing the no boil method, mash hop , pitch a clean ale yeast in primary with Lacto...

Trying to come up with a clone of Surlyfest, which I love. Let me know what you guys think if this recipe. Too much crystal?? 10 lb Vienna 1 lb flaked rye 1 lb malted rye 1 lb crystal rye .75 oz Sterling (first wort hop) .75 oz Sterling (60 mins) 1 oz Sterling (10 mins) 1 oz Sterling...

I just received a kit for an Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout from Austin Homebrew Supply. The recipe calls for a mash temp of 150. Is this normal for a stout?? Seems kind of low to me. Don't want this thing to taste like cider

I am thinking about using this yeast while making a clone of Samuel Smiths Oatmeal stout. I thought it would be a good choice because it leaves a residual sweetness and is very flocculent. Its also a true top cropping strain and I plan on doing open fermentation with this batch. Anybody have...

Thinking about making Austin Homebrew Supply clone of Sam Smiths Oatmeal Stout. I know the brewery uses open fermentation with their beers and I was thinking if doing the same. Anybody on here have any experience with this? I was originally going to use the Irish Ale yeast, but may use the...

I am in need of a little advice. I recently made a pumpkin ale that seems to gave fermented out pretty dry at 1.005. It's an All Grain batch. Is there anyway to add a little body to the beer after fermentation? The guy at Northern Brewer recommended boiling up a half lb of Maltodextrin in water...

So I am rather new to kegging. I have kegged 3 brews so far. Since putting my latest keg on tap a week and a half ago I have noticed a very slow but steady drop in the CO2 tank. I've tried spraying the keg connections and valves with starsan to look for some sort of leak, but could not see...

I'm new to kegging and am wondering how much priming sugar to use for 5 gallons for those batches I want to naturally carbonate while they are waiting for room in my kegerator. Some of the advice I have read is using half the amount as I would during bottling. Also like the idea of using brown...

I had an unfortunate incident with bottle bombs recently. Basically my brew had a stuck fermentation that decided to unstick when I bottled. Anyway, after its been a month and pouring one of these beers has become a serious PITA. I decided to purge a keg with CO2 and and carefully transfer the...

Quick question. I just received my Johnson temp controller for my kegerator project and am wondering if any of you had to open up the box and change around any of the jumpers inside. The menu buttons seem pretty straight forward and it is factory preset for cooling purposes.

I'm trying to figure out how to set up my kegerator and had a quick question. I plan on have 3 kegs and faucets, but was thinking I would get a 4 way manifold and use the extra for hooking up to the Blichmann beer gun for bottling. I would just clamp on a small piece of tubing to the barbed...

So I just ordered my first couple of kegs and a Johnson Temp Controller. Now I need to get myself a chest freezer. I envision myself making a kegerator with the wooden skirt with 3-4 faucets coming out. Not sure what equipment I need to hook the kegs to the faucet. Obviously a line, but what...