Recent content by illini0250

I formerly used a swamp cooler and now have a son of fermentation cooler. It cost me more than 55 to make it, but I was needing something to do. It takes 2 liter bottles 2 times per day for a very active fermentation, but only every few days after that (near 60 deg in a 70 deg basement). The...

Add the yeast. Easy insurance.

Yes!

Mason jar mug. Have 5 million glasses, but the mug is the workhorse. I had to drink a pint of icehouse to get it though.

I like the place. I have been there, and they'd be better off without the house brew and maybe specializing in local micros. The food is very good in all my experiences and a nice atmosphere. I consider it a restaurant that happens to have some homemade beer, not a real brewpub.

I agree, you need to mini-mash this one. I use this mini-mash recipe. I've made it twice. First time it was very very close in all aspects. The second, I didn't mash long enough (I think that's where I went wrong) and the OG was low, but still tasty. If you have a kettle 12qt or bigger, a...

For the starter, take about 4 oz of the kit lme and boil in 1L water, cool to 70f and use that to start yeast the day before you brew. Pitch the whole thing. If you dont have time to do it, I'd skip the starter. Temp in mid to high 60's should work well from my memories. Check white labs...

I did a PM version of the recipe (Beersmith conversion of the one halfway down page 1) and I thought it was pretty close to the real deal. I had to tweak the hop schedule to get the IBU's right. I haven't had a chance to do a head to head, but I'm pleased with the outcome. Definately will be...

I've experienced this a few times. I've had 3 of about 12 batches come out exactly as you describe. All were secondaried, and all were brewers best kits with lme. I haven't had this on any brew not secondaried, but all of those were with dme too. I did have this occur with one pm and dme...

It looked like it was maybe closeouts from last year, so probably hit or miss.

Just picked up a $20 fryer from Dicks sporting goods in Geneva, IL on Saturday. Haven't fired it up yet and may be of Toyota 2010 quality, but the Al pot (30qt) seems decent enough to justify the price alone so I am hoping for the best with my new exploits. 148,000 BTU for what its worth...