Recent content by brewmanStan

Thanks Broken Crow. I'm of the opinion, and maybe you also, that if I keep everything good and clean and sanitized I should be alright with 3 gal in a 5 gal fermenter. I don't ever open my fermenters before at least 18 days using US-05 so the chance of contamination is low, and generally the...

Hey kohalajohn. Thanks for pointing out the All Rounder to me. I've seen them before but never paid much attention to them. I don't have any reservations about the type of plastic used in these modern vessels. I once did, but that has faded after five or six years of using the 5 gal big mouth...

I've been wondering about this myself. I have plastic 5 gallon big mouth fermenters that I've been using to make four gallon batches. The headspace hasn't caused me any problems in the thirty or so batches I've made like this thus far. I would really like to go down to three gallons and still...

A few years back I tried to grow hops (Brewer's Gold) and was somewhat successful the first year. I actually used what few cones I harvested in one of my beers. After that it was straight down hill. Everybody tried to tell me that Alabama was not a good place to grow hops, and now I have to...

Glad your Mex lag turned out well. Good luck in the comps and enjoy.

Hey Broothru, I ordered and received several pounds of Root Shoot Corn Malt to try in an upcoming batch of '60's Falstaff Tribute. Hope this is what my recipe has been missing. We'll see. It's featured in a pre-prohibition lager from Northern Brewer and I thought about your interest in that...

Yeah, I remember my dad and uncles opening cans of Falstaff with a church key, and then later on, about the mid 60's, raving about the new pull tab cans. Unfortunately, we as a society are not responsible enough to have such convenience, and many of them eventually became responsible for an...

Yeah, I can relate to everything you wrote there, except down here it was the Braves we rooted for after they moved from Milwaukee, and Alabama football in the fall. My father, and almost all of my friends' fathers, aunts and uncles drank Falstaff, Shiltz, or PBR. Those, along with Bud and High...

Absolutely Broothru. It has always seemed to me that the flaked maize was lacking what I wanted out of it. I suppose it would have to be milled along with the other grains, which is no problem, I was just wondering if it should be milled separately. Incidentally, I took your lead from several...

Hey guys. Haven't changed much on this recipe posted four years ago, although I've moved away from the flaked barley and lowered the biscuit malt/Victory slightly along with slight variances in hops and addition times. All my friends and family love this beer (they can't believe I make it) but...

I suppose I can consider myself lucky Yooper. When I got interested in brewing beer a few years before I retired in 2018, I did a lot of research, and that's when I discovered that one of the brew supply places had a one gallon starter kit that just happened to be BIAB. I thought to myself "This...

Yeah Halfakneecap, I've never used anything but an old fashion hand held thermometer myself. Everything I do is about as basic as you can get with good results. I prefer it that way and I kinda enjoy it. No need in investing any more. If it aint broke don't fix it.

I'm seriously considering going back to making 3 gallon batches, mainly because 3 gallons is easier to carry downstairs where the temp is just right for ale fermentation. I'm 73, and every time I head downstairs with a 4 gallon batch I cuss myself. Not to mention, after a couple weeks I have to...

Yeah, hey bwible. I use 5 gallon Big Mouth plastic fermenters I purchased from Northern Brewer. They are light, easy to clean, and work well for me. I don't do secondary. All my beers are bottled, 12,16,22 and32 oz bottles depending how I want a particular batch. My first thirty to forty bathes...