Recent content by ajk170

+1 with the Big K

I agree that the Brewhouse kits are an excellent kit as well. I also can understand how many homebrewers can be put off by "wort in a bag" concept. Especially with so many bad kits out there! I think it's just like extract brewing was 15-20 years ago, not very good for a whole host of...

Here's an update on my first cider - I still have it sitting in the secondary and I have been tyring to find time to deal with it while also trying to decide what I want the final product to be. I have lactose, potassium sorbate, a can of 12 oz apple juice concentrate and campden tablets in a...

Pogo- 1) I haven't tried the Lager yet - not sure about that one 2) The temp is based on the yeast and I have only used various ale yeasts with my kits so far - I dont' have a lager set-up yet. Thus my temps hover around 65-68 degrees. I did kick my IPA up to 70 for a few hours to get it...

The Brew House kits can make anywhere from 5 gallons to six gallons. The difference lying in the amount of "top off water" a person uses. I personally only use ~4 liters of "top water" and it make a little over the 5 gallon mark. In fact a person could forego any top water and just brew...

IS that the Brew House Octoberfest? Primary or secondary or just total? I am considering this one or should I wait till Nov 1 and order the Winter Ale - I suspect that needs just as long to be great?

Are you talking Feista or Brewhouse? If Brew House, I know for a fact that the Weekend Brewer out of Chester, VA will ship (plus shipping costs of course). Bob is a good guy and is happy to give suggestions as to hacking the Brew House kits. I'm pretty sure Wine & Cakes out of Norfolk, VA...

Not much new to report, the oil-slick is still there and I took a "sniff test" to see what aroma might be present. I becaome concerend whenI saw the formation of "icebergs" last week and having read other posts about these things I thought I might have an infection. But turns out there was no...

I've never seen a festa brew kit- that is interesting to think that there are better ones out there! I'll have to look into those and see what they are like!

You're right about wanting to have more control over the brew process and knowing what's in a brew, but a person can find out what's in these via RJ Spagnols website - although, they don't say exact measurements, boil times and the like - and for obvious reasons, they tell you that, then you...

WOW! That's a great price, I just found a place closer to me that can order them through the distributor but they are going to charge a few dollars more than what I was paying at the HBS an 1.5 hours away. I guess it''ll be cheaper in the long run plus the people are friendlier and the place...

I'm getting ready to start another batch, I'm interested enough to try this idea, my ferments never start out very strong. I'll have to look around at the stores for this stuff!

That's interesting to hear, especially from a person that has moved to the AG side of the house- That's what I thoguth as well, start out with these and then move to the AG when I have the space and understanding of how it all works together. I think it's great that one a person's first...

Now that I have this racked into the secondary and the S/S suds had all dissipated, I see that there is an oil slick that developed on the top. I assume that it's from the pecan-water that I added to the primary in the attempt to give this a pecan flavor. What I realize now is that an oil was...

Yup- I used ~4 liters in the primary but I then used ~ .5 liters for the priming sugar. What method did you use? My FG was 1.01 - I started this on 17 Aug using 11g Nottingham and ~4 gram Coopers and moved it to the secondary on 27 Aug and dry-hopped with ~ 2 oz Cascade pellets and let it sit...