Recent content by RepealProhibition

I brewed a 5.5 gallon extract version of this using 12# light DME. I can only do a partial boil so I added 1/3 of the DME at the beginning and then added the remaining 2/3 in the last 10 minutes. Pitched two rehydrated packs of US-05. The OG should be somewhere around 1.098 but this was a...

What's the upper limit on how much DME can be added to an extract brew while still producing a good tasting beer if hops and specialty grains are balanced? I'd like to do a 5.5 gallon batch with 11# or 12# Light DME to hit close to 1.100 OG. This would be balanced with hops and specialty...

I'm only able to do extract brews with specialty grains for now but I'm going to give this recipe a try this weekend. I plan on using 10 pounds of light DME and 1 pound of D180. Any tips on the following? 1. Steep specialty grains in two gallons of water at 158F in two separate muslin bags at...

What about using hop shot?

I had heard two weeks before visiting this forum but it seems like more of the norm is to only rack to a secondary if you're aging for months. I'm planning on making an imperial stout and a strong belgian, both of those I'll rack to a secondary after primary fermentation is complete but only...

What kind of yeast and what fermentation temperature?

Update: The porter was bottled today and it's steady at 1.022 so it's done. The IPA dropped down to 1.017 after a second week in the fermenter. I'm dry hopping it now for a week but I don't expect it to drop any further. Both batches were brewed similarly with S-04 dry yeast. The main...

I want to have a definitive answer for the 1.02 problem. I brewed a Ferocious batch from Midwest Supplies after the initial Porter and this new batch appears to be sitting at the same 1.02. There are two things to try, switching yeast from S-04, and a late malt addition. If I like the flavor...

I prepared a batch of Power Pack Porter last week using an extract kit from Midwest. I'm not sure what the OG was because I made a mistake measuring, topped off the container with water to get to 5 gallons and then didn't mix properly before taking sample. After one week I'm sitting at 1.022...

27,079 + 5 gallons of Power Pack Porter = 27,084 gallons

I started with around 3 gallons of water which boiled with the lid on. After adding around 9 lbs of DME I'm guessing I had very close to 4 gallons of water which seems to be just too much for my current setup. I think I'll add insulation to the kettle next time which hopefully maintains the...

I did an extract kit with specialty grains yesterday. I steeped the grains at right around 160F for 25 minutes and then brought the liquid to a boil. Just to increase the temperature as quickly as possible I left the lid on until a boil started and then took the lid off. After that I added the...

I'm looking at a kit like Ferocious at Midwest. Is it realistic to think I can hit 6.5% abv with just the kit and no starter? This will be my first brew so I don't want to get overly complicated first the first time. This brew will be a huge learning experience but I'd like to end up with 6%+ if...

I plan on brewing my first extract kit this weekend. What's the highest gravity kit I can reasonably expect to brew well without doing a yeast starter? The kit will be from one of the big guys like Midwest or Northern.