Recent content by Machine

sweet thanks i think i'll give it a try soon

I'm looking for a Begian style ale thats not very dark but that has a 8.5% ABV+. if anybody has had Dragonmeads Final absolution(its a local detroit brewery) i'm looking for something similar. Someting with a red/amber color would be perfect. i believe its a belgian tripple.

When it comes time to add the hops to the wort and there's still some foam on top do you have to wait till the foam is gone or is it ok to just put the hops in and start stiring.

my 7.5 gallon has no gasket besides the one or the air lock. it seals fine and takes some work to get off.

I know that the higher the ibu the more bitter it will be but could somebody explain more what ibus are and how they effect the beer.

So i guess for now on i'll just turn it as low as it goes once it 10 degrees below the target temp and watch it closley. I just couldn't figure out when to turb the burnewr down and wasn't sure how critical it was to stay at the temp and how high or low it could be from it.

when i'm steeping grains I seem to have some trouble getting it right at the tempature it needs or holding it at that temp. If i wanted to steep at say 150 degrees about what temp should i start turning the temp down. and are there any tricks to getting the right tempature you want.

I have a porter in my primary that I'm about ready to rack to the secondary either tonight or tomorrow. My question is will it turn out ok if I add vanilla extract to it at the time I rack it to the secondary. Also how much vanilla should I put it i don't want it to be to strong of a vanilla...

So baisicly its just a clearing tank and a place to let it age and settle to avoid any bad flavors from the yeast.

What purose or benefits does using a secondary fermentor have. Or what is the reasoning behind using one and when should a secondary fermentor be used.

I'm going to be making a Weizenbock soon and plan on carbonating it with DME. Its going to be a 5 gallon batch. What exactly is the procces i do and how much DME do i use.

I would like to get a keg for brewing. Where do you guys get the kegs from. I'm assuming that you guys just cut the top off of them and add a ball valve on the bottom with a high temp gasket. am i right?

Does any body have a list or a link to a list of how long and at what tempatures different beers ferment at?

Cool i'll sanatize them right before bottling.

I'm going to be bottling my first batch of beer on friday. Should I sanitize my bottles right before I want to bottle or will the bottles be ok if i sanatize them a day or two before i bottle them.