Recent content by Monte

Thanks for the tip on the bottle bombs. What I was thinking was to use 10 lbs fresh cherries and to: - de-stem and pit them - freeze them to break down cell walls - then thaw and give bath at 170* to pasturize them - maybe then crush or puree them - place in sanitized mesh bag, suspend in...

Thank you for your reply. Did the puree you used include the cherry skins, or just the pulp? Also, I assume the canned puree was pasturized already?

Hi there. So, I'm still kinda new to the hobby (7 batches brewed) and even newer stepping into partial mash brewing (just 3 batches brewed). Although I've used some flavorings in previous batches, I'm about to brew my first recipe with proper fruit flavoring--a cherry stout. It's a partial...

Ah, didn't scroll through enough pages the first time. Seems there are a couple of partial mash versions and an extract version. Have you tried both the 1.25# and 0.5lb variants of the chocolate malt? Preference?

Thanks again. Unfortunately I haven't stepped up to all grain yet--hopefully at some point this summer--so for now I'm stuck with either extract or partial mash. I was looking at getting or cloning the recipes of either Northern Brewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter kit--heard some really positive...

Just thought I'd share my experience as well, and give props to this thread for appeasing my worries and not rushing and doing something stupid. I just brewed my first batch in a new setup (stainless fermenter). I used a Wyeast smack pack, let it sit out in slightly warm room temperature for...

I'm farther up north, closer to the NYC side. That black cherry bourbon oak casked american pale ale sounds right up my alley--a recipe you created/modified, or found? I was starting to think about labeling too, but didn't want to put *too* much thought into it up front and jinx...

Fantastic recommendations, thank you guys for taking the time to respond. I will keep these tips in mind as I continue to experiment. Sounds like I can experiment a little with adding boubon directly during bottling of the oatmeal stout (which is a Samuel Smith clone) and adjust for various...

New brewer here with a question on added flavorings: So, if I wanted to, say, add a bit of bourbon flavoring to a brew, can it be accomplished with something as simple as adding a bit of bourbon to the finished beer prior to bottling (seeing that the bourbon itself is already...

Hey there, new-ish brewer from NJ here. I say new-ish because I have brewed in the past with friends, but many, many years ago. I'm a big fan of craft beers and of brewing, so decided to get back into it now that I have my own place and enough room to put my brewing gear. Thanks to a buddy of...