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I give up! Every July my hops attract what could be the worlds largest Japanese Beetle orgy and am ridding my yard of every plant that they like. They are on there 5th year and grow like weeds until July and then get stripped in about two weeks. 2 Cascades, which seem to do the best, 2...

I am about to do my first bulk grain purchase and am wondering if there is a preference for one or the other. I did notice on the descriptions that a protien rest is recommended to improve clarity. Is there a domestic base malt that does not need a protien rest? I plan on brewing mostly...

If I harvested some of my hops before they are perfectly ripe will they have off flavors?

What diameter sisal rope should I use? 3/8 seems like overkill but I don't want to under do it. I have 4 new plants and two second year plants I am relocating from my chain link fence.

What do you guys use to store your bulk specialty and base grains in? My current "bag in a drawer" system needs updated. Looked around at walmart and the dollar store for cheap containers but nothing has caught my eye yet.

I just got my keg kit http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7739and have some regulator questions. One is when I went to pressurize my empty kegs to check for leaks I slowly tried to raise the pressure to 30psi. While I was doing this, the regulator started sputtering...

My last three beers have this harsh lingering bitter aftertaste. Very puckering. One is Orfy’s Hobgoblin another an ESB, and the latest is Northern Brewers Czech Pilsner all hopped to the low end of the style. All three 5gallon recipes had a 60 minute 153F mash and batch sparged with roughly...

I have been studying up on water and have found a few things that I need some clarification of. According to Beersmith and various other places Burton on Trent water profile is this: Calcium 275 Magnesium 40 Sodium 25 Sulfate 450 Chloride 35 Bicarbonate 260 Now according to...

I am ordering thishttp://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7739 this week. I am also ordering some extra gaskets and keg lube. Are there any other items that I need that will make cleaning the kegs/beer line easier? Any brushes or special cleaners/ sanitizers? I use oxy...

I am not the biggest fan of fruit beers or lagers for that matter, but I will have a Pilsner yeast cake coming up and my basement is 55 F. So ale’s are out and I feel like experimenting. Has any one tried it or will I piss off the beer gods for making such a concoction? It seems like a good...

Thanks to my new Barley Crusher and the careful reading of many posts on HBT, I successfully brewed a Pilsner over the weekend that ended up at 75% efficiency (per BeerSmith pre-boil gravity). I have brewed three previous AG’s that turned into PM’s due to efficiencies as low as 50%. I did as...

I’m hoping to get a last minute critique on my PM bitter recipe. I should be brewing in a few hours. I’m looking for a good balance between slightly hoppy and malt flavor with a little toastiness out of the Victory. It should fall somewhere between special and extra special bitter depending on...

How does this look for a bitter recipe? I have a full pound of Victory from a recipe I ended up not using. I have never used it so a pound could be overkill. Any suggestions on the hop schedule, grains, yeast, etc? Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) TYPE...

Ordered one of these today seemed too good to pass up. http://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Gourmet-Professional-Cooking-Stainless/dp/B000NVYSHC/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1 I have seen a few posts lately about people wanting to start AG on the cheap. This would be a good start.

What kind of keg am I looking for to convert to a keggle? Is it only a Sanke keg that is stainless? Or are all ½ barrels SS? Before I go crawling around scrap yards searching for the cheapest possible deal on a keg I would like to be 100% on what I’m looking for exactly.

Going to attempt my first partial mash tonight. I converted a 5 gallon Rubbermaid cooler from the DIY section which hopefully will work well. Here’s my recipe: 5lbs 2row 1lb 10L .5lb Cara-Pils 3lbs Light DME 1oz Cascade bittering 1oz Cacade Flaver 1oz Cacade Aroma...

A friend of mine is looking into purchasing the two tap keg system from Midwest. I have looked around online for him to see if there might be a better/cheaper setup to get him going. But, since I have no experience myself, I figured I should consult the experts for him first. What do you...

I took the advice of some of the HBT members and started using OXY- CLean for a cleaner in my better bottles. All I can say is "WOW", and no this is not an info-mercial. I had a cherry stout in the primary for 3 weeks that fermented pretty viciously and left that caked on residue on the top...

This is only my second batch of wheat beer. I ordered a bulk pack of LME about three weeks ago. It has been sitting in my basement at about 70F. I did the normal steeping @ 158F in 1 gallon water for ½ hr, while I raised 5 gallons in my brew pot to 170F. Then I dunked the...

I am brewing Papazian’s Cherry Fever Stout and a Cherry Wheat. Except instead of the fresh cherries, I am going to try a pure cherry juice concentrate that the local grocer carries in the health food dept. They also have it in blueberry which could work for future use. It states on the side...