Recent content by mttewes

Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator is free and it's online. BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum is a useful program you can download. It has a free trial period.

There is no compromise in quality if you hit the correct SG. If that means 5.5 gallons of wort then so be it. You don't just water down the beer for the purpose of increasing volume. Your hydrometer is the key to quality.

The way I see it, if you top off to exactly 5 gallons then you're going to come up short. The amount of sediment/trub is going to displace the wort, giving you less liquid (beer). (5 gal wort - 0.5 gal sediment = 4.5 gal BEER) Then subtract a few samples, and subtract a bit more if you use...

Great idea using Calvin and Hobbes, I'm a huge fan! Once you clean it up I think it will look great on a bottle. Nice work :mug:

Oh man I haven't laughed so hard in a long long time! :cross:

I do most of my labels in Photoshop but just for fun I've done a few labels in MS Paint. Yes that's right, PAINT. See below.. label was completely drawn in paint, with the mouse. It's no work of art but it was a lot of fun to draw!

It does look like a strawberry daiquiri, thanks to the red food coloring. Nice label, I like the layout and the color choices. Do you print your own labels or take them to a printer? (i.e kinkos)

I've heard of a dry chemical dispenser that can be used in cooking, but I don't know if it would work for dispensing into bottles. Why not just add your priming sugar to the bottling bucket before bottling? I don't know an easier method than that.... well, besides kegging. :D

I add about 3.5 gal water to kettle, heat to 155F, then steep the crystal for 30 minutes. Remove crystal then bring to boil, remove kettle from heat and add the munich and stir to dissolve completely and prevent scorching. Return kettle to burner and bring to a boil. Add the 1.0 oz Cascade...

There is a thread from today about this subject posted in the Equipment section. It's basically saying what has been said before...

I clean and deodorize my buckets with Oxyclean OR Starsan. Just fill the bucket and let it sit for 24 hrs. Works great for me but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Very clean and elegant. I like the look. Does the word "Brewing" seem to be off center (to the right) or am I just seeing things? It's hard for me to tell since there isn't a border.

I do change the batch number for each one. It's quick and easy to do thanks to Photoshop. The 22 represents the name "Double Dos" or "double two". It's just a play on my last name, Tewes... which we pronounce as "tooz" as in Ones, Twos, Threes.... I can see the Jawa sand crawler in the...

I have twice made the Oatmeal Stout kit from Midwest. It's a great stout IMHO and very easy to brew. I'm a new brewer too so this kit was a solid choice for me.