Recent content by mindcrime

Done

Been a while since I lived in Chicago, and I dont know Schaumburg well, but as far as Bottle shops, look for a Binny's. They usually have a solid stock. Bars in schaumburg... meh.. good luck. I'd reccomend getting a car and heading to Two Brothers brewery which is in the burbs, but not close.

I'm trying to do a clone of No Label's Black Wit-O. I've found they use Chocolate wheat for a portion of the wheat in the grain bill, and I love the chocolate notes in the finished product. Problem? My LHBS doesn't stock Chocolate Wheat. I figure the best way to get the chocolate notes would...

I pitch on cakes all the time. I love it. Definately go smaller beer to bigger beer, and also be aware that you will probably never be able to reproduce the resulting product, so its a no-no for competitions and the like, but if its just for your own consumption, do it, and DO use a blowoff...

Slint - Spiderland. Forget the rest :)

British pint or GTFO. Best drinking vessel ever created by man. Heavy glass, but not obnoxiously heavy. Thumb bump to keep it in your hand and not on the floor when you maybe had a few (too many?) Stamped with the queens measurement. Rough bottom to release carbonation. Easily stackable for...

Endevour = middling DIPA, Santo = Kolsch. yes, its black. woo. Icon = Belgian IPA that is neither belgiany or IPA-ish. I stand by my skip it :)

Skip St. Arnolds. Most of their beers are quite mainstream, and you wont get any of the good stuff on the tour. For breweries, hit Karbach, No Label, or Southern Star (though thats a tich of a drive, tours only on saturday.) For beer bars, The Flying Saucer is fine, but it is a chain so it's not...

This. I have a 10 gal tamale steamer I've been using as a BK for like... 5 years? It's beat to absolute hell, dented, bottom is scorched on the bottom and totally warped, lid only kinda fits at this point, has a beautiful oxide layer that stands up to washing no problem. Cost me 15 bucks...

No credibility at all. You should leave headspace for the Krausen, so ferment in a larger vessel than the size of your batch. The second point, you should pitch your yeast and seal the fermenter as soon as you can once you have the wort down to pitching temps to reduce the chances of infection...

Clean, not overwhelming, middling bitterness, middling earthyness, a hint of citrus and floral notes on the nose. Very very versitile, plays well with others, and cheap. Whats not to like? One of my very favorite go to hops. Its never the 'star' of the show like Citra or Amarillo, but it's...

Can vouch for them. Made the Rye IPA PM kit a few months back, came out excellent. I dont really do kits much, have not in years, but got a gift card for them for a birthday and was pleasantly surprised. So much so that I may order some more from them, possibly for styles I dont usually brew...

You're probably just fine. Just because your airlock isnt moving doesnt mean fermentation isnt going just fine. As long as its covered with CO2, you wont have any problems. The ferment temp is a tich high, but you should still produce some perfectly fine cider. Check out the cider forum for a...

4-5 nights a week, average say 4 on a weeknight. Saturdays can get more... extensive, espeically if I'm slow smoking something on the patio, which usually entails popping the first one around noon, and going stedily (say, one beer every 45 min or so) till dinner is done and eaten, around 8 hours...

What yeast did you pitch? Fermentation temp? Cider does not usually krausen much.