Recent content by DenBobber

For encouragement, I once brewed MidWest Supply’s 1 gallon cream ale kit which looked like a jar of formaldehyde with an alien in it. In the end the only issue was my poor efficiency and 3.2% abv. Tasted pretty good!

Thanks for the advice. I think I may up my estimated efficiency a tad to 65% and just see what I end up with. Now the hard part is waiting to try the thing out since I'm packing to move in a few weeks. If anyone does come up with an equipment profile for the Mash&Boil in BeerSmith I'd love to...

I'm excited to try out the Mash&Boil I was just gifted. It'll be a lot different and hopefully a big improvement on the 2.5 gallon concentrated boil, partial mashes I've been doing on the stove the past few years. Without modifying the system, what efficiency would you use when converting a...

I've been curious about this yeast for a while as I live about an hour from their brewery (which has one of the best tours I've been on so far). This is what Flying Dog said about the yeast when it was last released: "This ale yeast is a vigorous fermentor, producing ales with a complex, malty...

I appreciate this article for helping to open up more discussion on systems like this. In my opinion, systems like the Zymatic and Pico oversimplify the process, but I still love the fact that people can make great beer so easily. I'm all for having a wide range of options. As someone who...

I can second covering everything with towels. My junk/car towels cover the floor while dish towels cover the counter tops. For me, 2.5 gallon batches work well with a 3 gallon carboy while using a 5 gallon bucket full of water to keep it cool (while swapping out ice packs). I can fit this in...

I'm a fan of the California Lager; a tasty, but dead simple beer. I'd be curious to hear how this comes out if anyone gives it a try since I was planning on brewing it later this year. Figured I'd probably use the White Labs Cream Ale yeast since I can't lager. I'm hoping I can fit this in by...

My only comment here is to say that brewing with water from an iceberg is simply awesome.

I'm not sure how much I can help with the recipe design, but I have found a way to mitigate the tinseth/rager discrepancy in Brewers Friend. Once you setup your hop additions, you can split your extract additions in two, with one added at the beginning of the boil and the other set to 'late...

Haven't made it up there yet, but Troegs is great. There's a brewery in just about every town going up 81 Virginia through the Shenandoah, not too mention amazing scenery. I'm a fan of Devil's Backbone in Lexington, they've got a great Schwarzbier. Haven't been to too many places around DC...