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First off, it's been a long time between brewing, and a long time since I've been on the site. I was here regularly during my lunchtime at work, but the LAN guys put in a new firewall the blocks sites that come up as Beer/Alcohol. I've always thought the best way to "store" a keg was to clean...

So this last weekend I brewed an IPA, which is in the primary and fermenting away. My hope was to move it to the secondary once done and dry hop with 1/2 ounce of Cascade hops I grew last season. They're in a vacuum sealed bag in the freezer right now. Is there anything I need to do to...

That the beer sample they just gave you was bad? A coworker of mine is new to home brewing and has about 6-8 brew kit batches under his belt. We chat a lot about how he does his thing, and how I do mine, and occasionally trade samples to taste. One sample I got from him was a Belgian...

Boy, this is great section. I'm exploring kegging and picking up a "starter" kit. This led to some questions. 1. The chart I saw for how much CO2 psi to use only seems to go up to 60 degrees. So is it necessary to carb a beer at temps cooler than room temp? Meaning the keg must be in...

Went to brew today - small batch (3 gallons) of an American Pale Ale 5th All Grain, first time using my new 11 gallon brew pot to combat boil overs in my 5 gallon pot. I need about 5.1 gallons per-boil to have 3.25 post boil based on the old pot. Recipe (The Plan) 1/2 pound Belgian...

I boiled my wort outside, it was just after flameout and I was carrying the pot into the house so I could chill it. I thought I saw something floating near the surface that didn't look like a hops leave. When I got the pot into the sink, I stirred it around, but no luck, whatever it was...

After picking up Jamil's book on brewing I've decided to try my hand at a California Common (Steam) beer. Beside the technical problems of keeping the fermentation at 62 degrees as the book suggests, I have another issue. I've had a heck of a time keeping my mash temps on my glass-top...

I just did my first all grain batch. One of the steps was was to test for the completeness of starch to sugar conversions was the old high school iodine test. I bought a "tincture of iodine" from Rite Aid. Unfortunately, it was "decolorized", which appeared yellow and stayed yellow on both a...

Two weeks ago I boiled and spritzed with SanStar about twice as many bottles as I needed to bottle my batch. Each bottle top was foil wrapped and the unused bottles are still wrapped, are sitting in a box covered by a sheet. Are they still clean or do I need to boil them again? Thanks.

I've got a long weekend coming up and just picked up some new brewing equipment (Bayou Classic 16 inch square burner and an immersion chiller). I'd like to try it out on Monday the 20th, but the current weather report projects it might be in the high 30s. I have to cook outside. So do I...

I made an IPA, probably closer to and IIPA. It spent 2 weeks in the primary and then 2 weeks in the bottle. The amount of carbonation I selected was toward the low end of the scale. After ALMOST two weeks, a warm bottle I opened, had the kind of carbonation I was looking for. Nice initial head...

Bought a "cheap" 5 gallon stainless steel stock pot to brew in. I have a glass top stove and the design of bottom of the pot is such that only about a 1 inch ring actually makes contact with the heating surface. As a result, it takes me forever to get to a boil on my electric stove. The...

I just read on line that if you do a partial boil, say 2.5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch, that you need to build your recipe with twice the IBU values to compensate for the fact that you will be adding 2.5 gallons of top off water to the primary. Can anyone confirm this? I've been brewing...

I am fermenting a simple cream ale. Small batch (3 gallons) that has flaked corn and flaked rice in it. I don't usually get bad advice from my LHBS, they said just add the adjuncts straight to the boil, which I did. Once done, some of these solids made it into the primary which has just...

I'm planning on brewing my first Cream Ale this weekend. Real simple version 3 pounds DME, half-pound pound corn, hops, yeast. O.G. is calculated to be 1.050, F.G. at 1.012 It's a small batch (3 gallons) and my local beer supply store has WLP-080 White Labs Cream Ale yeast. This is...

I made a American Pale Ale, with a nice taste and, for me, a pleasant citrus/grapefruit finish, much like Wachusett's Country Ale. It was a 2.5 gallon batch using one shot of 1/2oz Northern Brewers hops at 8.4% A.A. for 60 minutes, for an IBU around 35. Some members of the family aren't...

I have seen several threads here concerning carbing beer in bottles, growlers and modified growlers. In Maine there is an establishment called Federal Jacks, that sells their "made on site" beer in growlers and six packs. The Master Brewer there is Alan Pugsley, who is also the Master Brewer...

I know, odd question. Just after Thanksgiving I brewed a Pale Ale (see thread "A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words") All the numbers looked correct, and after racking to my secondary, a taste test revealed an odd taste I could only describe as "solvent" like. 3 weeks in the secondary and...

I went back about 6 pages in the thread and didn't see anything about this. If I decide to bottle directly from my primary fermenting bucket as some people have suggested, how is that done? If I put the priming sugar into the fermenter and stir doesn't that stir up the yeast cake too...

Nothing fancy. I want to get a basic recipe down before adding coffee, honey..etc. Batch = 5 gals Type = Extract and Steeped Grains Recipe Gravity = 1.055 Est. FG = 1.014 Bitterness = 34 IBU Color = 35 SRM ABV = 5.4% 6.6 lbs Muntons LME - Light 1.50 lbs Crystal 80L 0.50 lb...