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Thanks, Zen Brew. We tend to like dark beers best (and tend to make them most frequently) so it's great to know that they also typically cure themselves of off-flavors. Bonus! And, as you predicted, the airlock is now bubbling away every 3 seconds or so. It looks like everything is going to be...

Thanks Philrose. I've been looking around on the site - it's been awhile - and am feeling a bit better. It's a high gravity beer and I didn't aerate. Plus I used liquid yeast. So I guess I'm not surprised that it hasn't taken off quickly. I'll wait and repitch in a day or too if necessary.

After taking a long time off from homebrewing, my wife and I made a porter yesterday. However, we made a (few) stupid mistakes and I'm wondering if this batch can be saved. The biggest was that I forgot that tapwater is chlorinated (we live in Boston for what it's worth). We boiled all our...

Go for it, vav. I named this brew after my sweet but slightly evil wife. And my buddy and I have now done a beer for his girlfriend too. They're very proud and protective of their beers.

As some others have implied, you could in theory up the ABV by adding in extra dextrose. HOWEVER, as I learned from a similar post, you will give your beer a cidery and extra dry flavor in the process. The alcohol boost provided by AHS is apparently more than just dextrose so if you go with...

When you steep hot, you'll extract lots of tannins from your grains, which probably accounts for the scorched flavor (could also be product of scorched liquid malt extract or run of the mill extract "twang"). Even using tap water, I can't see any reason not to heat the water to ~153 F, steep...

More than this - Roxy Music Everybody Hurts - REM The Best Way to Travel - Moody Blues All the Love of the Universe - Santana It's All Too Much - Beatles

I second mcaustin on using cold pressed coffee and adding it at bottling time. We did this for our mocha stout and it's pretty great. Actually steeping beans in the hot water of your kettle may result in bitterness...let us know what you choose to do and how it goes.

Good to hear about another homebrewer in Philadelphia. Whereabouts in the city are you? Do you get your gear/ingredients from Home Sweet Homebrew? It's a great place. Incidentally, what makes a cider "raw"? Lack of pasteurization?

Welcome! It sounds like your brew is coming along fine. As for the foam out the airlock, you will probably want to replace the airlock with a blowoff tube - i.e. a tube running from your fermenter to a jar of santizer - until everything calms down. Good luck!

If you're just looking to get people drunk (a waste of good homebrew IMHO), why don't you make Apfelwein? It's easy to make, drinkable, and has a ~10% ABV.

Don't worry. I've sometimes thrown in some tap water out of laziness and it's been fine. The yeast will usually take care of any nasties that want to eat that tasty sugar. As for the wateriness of the brew, try adding some concentrate as others suggested.

And it'll only get better with carbing and some time in the bottle. Congrats!

I've done around ten batches of beer now over a 6 month period. I've noticed that the tubing in my kit has turned yellow from iodaphor and sometimes smells beery or stays wet even though I rinse it right away after use. I'm starting to get afraid of infection. So my question: how often, if ever...

I don't really like any lagers (no smell) and IPAs. I'm writing my dissertation on Pliny the Elder so I tried Russian River's Pliny the Elder double IPA. I want to like it, but it's way too hoppy.

Looks great! And I'm having chili tonight too.

There's no way the amount of foam produced using Ed's recipe could even get close to the airlock in a 6.5 gal bucket. But this is assuming you use Montrachet or a similar wine yeast. Others have recommended weihenstephaner or other wheat beer yeasts, and those will produce a big krausen, so you...

Yes, you're going to be fine. In fact, extremely vigorous fermentation/foaming is to be expected from hefes especially. What you should do now (and, in the future, at the start of fermentation) is attach a blowoff tube instead of an airlock at the start of fermentation. This is simply a tube of...

UPDATE: This beer won first place as a Robust Porter in the English Browns and Porters category of the HOPS BOPS 2007 competition in Philadelphia!

Impressive! And I like beer too. You'll get along great on this site. Welcome!