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I've been kegging for a few years. I use a converted chest freezer. I run a case fan inside at all times for air circulation, and always have a tub of Damp rid in there to keep things nice and dry. I typically clean all my beer lines once a month, sometimes once every two months, and I've...

Just wrapping up a Vienna lager here. I forgot to add my kettle additions of gypsum and calcium chloride and I am now aerating the cooled wort. It would be nice to get them in there because my water is low in calcium, but I am worried about adding them at this point because its post boil and I...

I just set up a fermentation chamber in a chest freezer. I only have a single stage temp controller, and I was running a fermwrap with it. The ambient in my basement was 59 and I had the controller set at 61. What I didn't account for was the heat generated by my muffin fan. I left the set...

I mash in a 7 gal. round rubbermaid, which has worked really well for about 40 batches. I remember when I got it set up originally I was finding it would hold the mash temp within a degree over an hour. In the last few batches I have been seeing really low numbers by the end of the hour. I...

I just came by a free chest freezer and I want to set up a fermentation chamber. I know JZ uses a dual stage set-up with a fermwrap-ed carboy inside a chest freezer. I guess I have two questions: 1. Is it really necessary to have both a heating and cooling element at work? Wouldn't it be...

Hi all, I'm gearing up to brew two American IPAs and I was hoping to get some good ideas for hop combos. I have a pretty nice inventory at my disposal right now, but I haven't played around with combining them much. Here's what I have to work with: Chinook, Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial...

So I've got a classic american pilsner that's been sitting for about 84 hours now with no signs of fermenting. No bubbles in the air lock, no krausen. It was aerated with an aeration stone, and I cold pitched (50 degrees) two packs of wyeast pilsen lager yeast. This morning I took a hydro...

Hello everyone, Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been brewing for three or four years now, and I've learned probably 90% of what I know about brewing from this site. I don't know what I would have done without HBT! Everything from walking me through my first extract kit, to going all...

Hi all, I'm broke and i'm trying to set up my first keg system. I have a chest freezer coming for free from mom. It's deep enough I don't need a collar and I don't plan on installing shanks and real faucets for quite some time --i'm just using picnic taps. Because there is no collar and...

Hi All, I make a batch of cider with just store bought pasturized cider about 6 months ago. I didn't do anything special with it, I just pitched some champagne yeast. I tried one many months ago and it was rather harsh tasting so I decided to put it in my basement and forget about it for a...

Hi All, I brewed an ordinary bitter yesterday (actually finished today at 2 am!) and it is bubbling away in the ale pails. I know this is one of the faster maturing beers out there and in fact I chose to brew it because my recent brews are more high gravity/roasty and they need more time --...

I'll be brewing Jamil's Dry Irish Stout all-grain in a week or two. I'm debating whether to go with an irish ale yeast like wlp004 (irish ale yeast) or something with higher attenuation and a cleaner finish like wlp001 (cali ale yeast). I just used wlp004 in an irish red and it did 81%...

I have been planning on brewing Jamil's Bohemian Pilsner this Sunday, and I have all the ingredients in his recipe. I'm using Weyerman Pilsner malt, 5oz of 3.9AA saaz and I have a 7 liter starter from a vial of WLP 800 Pilsner yeast. Tonight I happened to have the pleasure of trying a Pilsner...