Recent content by Area51BrewCo

Hello everyone, I lurk here more then I post but I help out when I can. I just wanted to invite everyone here to an Oktoberfest I am throwing in Frankfurt, IL which is the southwest suburbs of Chicago. It is in correlation with the local VFW hall to raise money for the veterans and my young...

Stable Fermentation temps are important for the yeast however when actually lagering the yeast is dropped out. So what I'm saying is the 2-3 weeks you are fermenting at around 50 degrees try and control the temps the best you can. Then to really do it right its best to drop the temp down 2-3...

Drink it fast :)

What is your water report look like this year. A similar situation happened to me. The water treatment plant began adding ammonia to the water as an additional cleaner. Well Ammonia bonds with chlorine forming a compound that can't be boiled off. You must either filter or add camden tablets...

Following other peoples tried and proven methods and recipes will lead you to good beer most of the time. However, formulating your own recipes and experimenting with exoctic ingredients often leads me to dissapointing beer. I have even tried to make my own styles of beer some have ended...

I recomend drying them out I have used wet hops and I felt I didn't get the flavor or aroma I got from the dry hops. However, this was just perception as I didn't measure the exact amount used I just filled my hop holder and dry hopped. If you lay them out on a screen of somesort they will dry...

I think its better to be polite about it I have noticed I can get anyone to drink craft beer with the right approach. I am a salesmen and I just use the same techniques that I would use to sell cranes to sell beer to people. If people are drinking then half of the work is done for you. I...

Great I was leaning that way. I want a good clean Czech style Lager and I needed to know if I needed a protein rest or not.

I am finding mixed information on this malt. Is this malt modified enough for a single infusion or do you guys recomend a rest. If so, what rest how long and at what temp.

Though this isn't really proof before I got my own barley crusher I had my LHBS crush my grains and my first All grain's effiency was way off. So the next time I ordered 20% more grain achieved the same effiency (it was 45% according to my pro-mash session). I have since made that recipe...

I am a numbers freak myself, my recomendation is to set your recipes for 5.5 - 6 gallons this way if you need to boil down to get your number up you will still have 5 gallons. Unless of course you totaly missed your target. I also have a refractometer that allows me to measure gravity easy...

I love this beer and I really like this recipe. I would assume it comes out darker then the original with roasted barley added.

My vote is to just wait patience is usually a virtue in this hobby

I got into it because I simply love beer and hate my job. I make good money and have partners willing to put up capital. I work as a mechanical engineer and I have worked in a brewpub for several years as a volunteer to learn how to run a brewery. I began studying organic chemistry and I have...

This is actually an argument you will find amongst us brewers. I personally prefer to "Keg condition" my beer because i don't bottle. This will pull the Yeast out of suspension and allow the flavors to mellow out. The problem with this method is some will say you expose the beer to oxygen and...