Recent content by A_McG

Interested in buying, pm with general location? I'm Michigan as well but it's a big state Nevermind, I see your in Warren, quite a ways out for me sorry

Just wrapped up my first IPA! Hit gravity of 1.064 Mosaic and citra hops at end, and again for dry hopping later. Smells fantastic!

I really like this idea, thanks for sharing your setup!

My plan is too fly sparge, but I'll look up using a bag. I'm all for faster cleanup. Is it like brew in a bag but mashing in the cooler instead of the boil kettle?

I've been thinking about getting my water tested, it's pretty good to drink and never had a brewing issue. I really want to get into a couple competitions this year, if only for the critique to see what I can do better. My local store does quarterly competitions and it's free to enter. My...

Thanks for the additional input. I doubt I'll do anything more than 5gal batches. My current equipment is really 5gal friendly, and I can only temperature control one bucket at a time.

Thanks to both comments, I was leaning towards using the round until I saw the chest cooler conversions. I don't think I'll ever need a 12 gallon capacity. Didn't think about the grain bed filtering.

Got my hands on a couple of coolers and looking to set up my mash tun and hlt. One is a 10gal "gatorade" drink dispenser style, the other is a Coleman chest cooler, holds 12 gallon. Wondering which makes a more efficient mash tun. I've been looking up conversion videos and see both styles being...

I've taken to buying most everything at my "local" store, tho it's 40 miles away. The price is similar to online but I'm able see dates on yeast, freshness of grain and the expensive equipment is opened and checked for quality and damage before leaving the store. I got fed up with buying new...

I brewed a 5gal chocolate oatmeal Stout last year. Baught roasted cocoa nibs from Amazon. I used 4oz, soaked in 8oz vodka (tincture) and added after primary fermentation was completed. Leave in until it's just a little stronger than you'd like it to be, the flavor will mellow. Of note, a...

I like to brew cheap beer to pass freely among friends and expensive brews to enjoy in moderation and share with those who appreciate the difference. I still buy a decent amount of beer, usually expensive or types I'm not easily able to brew. But I do get extreme satisfaction from brewing a...

What's your primary vessel? If it's a bucket I'd say rack to glass or bottle it. The brown ales I've made in the past (also from extract with grains) seemed to hit peak flavor at 6-8weeks old. Timing wise you should be good, even if you secondary you will have plenty of time to bottle carb

So I was wrong on the model, it's a Danby, not a Haier and quite a bit larger than described. Either way it's working great. Brewed a Chocolate oatmeal stout yesterday and this morning it was showing airlock activity. The temp was set at 58 all night too help cool the wort, I bumped it to 60...

I'm brewing a chocolate oatmeal stout this afternoon, will also be trying out my new temp controlled fridge.

I'll give it a shot and lower the sugar that I add. Do fruit wines tend not to age as well as grape? I found it odd that the 1 year old bottle wasn't as good as the earlier ones, expected it to be much better. This is my first successful non grape wine, attempted peach twice and just won't come...