Recent content by JDFury

Howdy... I'd like to switch to a keg system after Christmas, but I'm not in a super hurry to set up a kegerator, per se (though the wife is surprisingly on board with it if we can find a compact fridge used and make it look like a built in dining room cabinet). Long story short, I was...

I recently added baker's chocolate (4 oz. to my Paul Coffey No. 77 "Power-Play" Stout) to a boil (the full 60-minutes), and I put it in by melting it in a bowl in the microwave and then drawing out a bit of the nearly-boiling wort, adding it to the chocolate bowl, and then whisking it into a...

My plan is to keep the ginger in a small "hop bag" (both additions) and then yank them when I put the wort into my ice bath. I'm fairly certain that leaving them in the primary would definitely result in an overpowering product. I like the idea of a "winter warmer" type of beer, but I'm more...

I'd like to start a holiday ale this weekend (with the goal of four weeks in primary and six to eight weeks in the bottle). Here's what I've come up with. 6 lbs light LME 2 lbs clover honey 4 oz. Belgian Special B (steep 30 minutes) 4 oz. American Crystal 90L (steep 30 minutes) 4 oz...

I'm hoping to start a holiday ale in the next couple weeks (with the goal of four weeks in primary and six to eight weeks in the bottle). Here's what I've come up with. 6 lbs light LME 2 lbs clover honey 4 oz. Belgian Special B (steep 30 minutes) 4 oz. American Crystal 90L (steep 30...

Interesting. I wonder if you could just store them in a cooler or plastic bin of water itself (so long as you haven't labelled the bottles yet). I don't think a filled bottle would be buoyant, and the water itself has a specific heat of 1, so it's not likely to be affected by huge temperature...

I've learned an awful lot of things by coming to this site, but I'm a 100-percent passionate booster of this bottle storage system. This is also a spectacular way to blow off events/gatherings you'd rather not attend. "Sorry, but I have to spend the evening reviewing my files..." Also, Revvy's...

Cool beans. So if I'm planning on letting it go four or five weeks in the primary, I can just pop the lid at about two weeks in (after most of the activity has died down), pour in the coffee, and let it do its thing? Easy peasy. Is a mild non-oxygenating stir appropriate when I add it, or given...

My reasoning for adding it extremely late in the boil is to make sure any nasties that may be in it are de-nastied, so to speak. Though from what I've read about fermentation "scrubbing out flavors," I would tend to agree with you. Can I just add it in (I'm thinking four cups of cold-brewed...

Thanks for the confirmation, Bill. I could have sworn I'd come across information along those lines somewhere, but I couldn't find it again, no matter how I asked the google machine. Maybe I heard it on a podcast... And, KISS, thanks for the link. I entered in the recipe and and upped the hop...

Howdy, I'm about to tackle my third batch, and I wanted to follow a recipe for three-vice stout with some tweaks to the LME and the steeping grains. Looks easy enough, but I was a little concerned that the recipe just called for 1 combined ounce of hops. That seems a bit low to me (even...

I've considered doing an oatmeal stout (extract) myself and only steeping the oats. I'm more interested in achieving that smooth mouth feel than I am in converting all of the sugars. I'll definitely keep my eye on this one as the experts weigh in...

No matter what bottles you decide on, see if you can get yourself one of these. I know I heard harps playing and angels singing the first time I looked at this ... For fans of the 22-oz bottles, do you have special glasses you're pouring into? If you're like me and have the typical...

Howdy all, long time reader, first time poster. I've done a search and seen a lot of different info and techniques for adding spices to a brew, but I had a specific idea in mind that I couldn't see confirmed or rejected as an evil beer-killing technique. I want to attempt a chai porter...