Recent content by Captain Willard

SWMBO and I will be there, going with Trencher and his better half. :mug:

Last weekend I brewed the recipe you posted for it, looking forward to seeing how it comes out! I got a pound of Sorachi from Freshops last year. I've made couple of all-sorachi IPAs, and I think you have to be careful with the stuff - it's very overpowering. I dry-hopped with it once and it...

Whirlpooling a Munich Helles right now. I've been brewing a bunch of ale lately, the lagerator's been lonely. :)

Wrap each bottle securely in bubble wrap, and pack them with styrofoam peanuts. Shippers probably won't ask you specifically what's in the package, but they will ask you is it's perishable, breakable, or liquid. Say no, and if they do ask you what's in the box, tell them it fruitcake or bibles...

Here's the real deal - all the lab details. Classified as "moderately soft".

This is the latest report for Raleigh, sounds like the one you found. As far as I know, Cary gets their water from Raleigh so it should be relevant. [edit]Actually, Apex & Cary have their own treatment plant now - here's a report from Cary, but it doesn't seem to provide the details you would need.

WLP007? :D

I just finished a 14.5 lb. batch sparge (10.060 pre-boil) in my 5 gal. w/hose braid, no troubles. If you're using a false bottom, you'll have a little less room - not sure how big the difference is though. I will say though, that if you're trying to decide betwen a 5 and 10 gallon cooler...

You should be able to fit just over 17lb. in a 5 gal. cooler with a .9 liter to 1lb. water to grain ratio. The most I've done is ~15.5 lb, and it seemed like a tight fit. Pay close attention to the thermal mass of the cooler and grain to make sure you get your mash temp right, you're not going...

If you want to add chocolate, drop 8oz of cocoa powder in the last few minutes of the boil. Otherwise you'll get the nasty slick that brewpilot mentioned. Don't strain out the trub and let the beer sit on it as long as possible during fermentation.

I mash in a 5 gal. beverage cooler (start with a 10 gal cooler kids, trust me), which leaves little room for "extra" water for most recipes. I never lose more than 1 degree F over the course of a 1 hour single infusion mash. My advice is to plan leaving some extra room for water during the first...

Gotta love google images :mug:

1.050 at 70% efficiency. Should come out to a FG of 1.012 and ~5.1% ABV

I use it alot in place of standard 2-row. Supposedly it's extremely close to Golden Promise, which is hard to come by. Sub for 2-row in any recipe that looks good. The slightly nutty flavor goes well with English hops IMO. I like to toast .25lb of it for hoppy american ales. How about an...

You keep the "first runnings" from the mash - it's good stuff. It contains a lot of the sugars from the mash. The sparge water rinses more sugars out of the grain. Most of your OG will come from the first runnings.