Recent content by smagee

On first glance, I'd up the rye a bit to 1lb; I worry that a half pound of it will just vanish behind the extracts. That said, I like the taste of rye ;). I've brewed this rye saison recipe (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=238831) multiple times and have been very happy with the...

I'd trust your gardening skills and just throw it into a pale ale. Columbus for bittering, then cascade and half the chinook at 10min or so, with 1oz of chinook for dry hopping. If you try to hide them, you'll never know how your first year turned out ;)

I'd say you could use a bit more of it in something like an Amber/Red, maybe a Porter. You could probably use it to try and balance out a heavily-coffeed or roasty stout as well, but it'll still take a fair bit of doing to go through that much of it. The best answer is likely going to be brewing...

My two thoughts: 1. I haven't used the UK Coffee Malt myself, but I'd expect a fair bit of bitterness to come out from it. If so, that seems like a high ratio for it. If you've used it and are happy with that, than disregard. 2. I'd move the Chinook to closer to 15min rather than 30; in my...

Long story short, I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, you can have it go crazy on the sugar and finish things off way faster than you might anticipate (and yeah, that's pretty fast ;). You could just have gotten a particularly voracious batch of yeast, or conditions were just perfect, or any number...

Hulls will last forever in dry conditions. There's not much to them to spoil.

I could see the half gallon of additional water bringing it down by that much, when compounded by being a few points off due to general mash efficiency, extraction, etc. concerns. It sounds like the brew itself was only off by a few points initially, but came in under volume. This could be due...

Lots of stuff! Impressive selection.

That's exactly what I was thinking when I threw the Mild into the mix. Seems like a nice mellow introduction; flavorful, but not overwhelming. I'll have to consider a bit... Thanks!

Wow, quite an array of rapid responses; thanks to all! I had forgotten about BM's C3C recipe; that may have to bump something from the list. I'd love to do a lager, but simply lack the facilities for now; the only lager I've done still fermented too high and while I loved it, it wouldn't be...

I'm providing beer for a wedding reception in January that will host upwards of 50-75 people, with the vast majority of the beer consumers present being unaccustomed to craft brews. What have folks out there used for this type of situation in the past in order to provide drinks that will leave...

If you want the color to come in correctly, you'll have to either adjust the grain bill accordingly or leave it as dark DME. Either option is viable; you could just steep some roasted barley or carafa (husked or dehusked, depending on how roasty you want it) to balance out the color differential.

For your first brew, I'd suggest just using a brew recipe kit (like one of the ingredient kits they link to on the page for your purchase there), as it is geared for beginners to get the ball rolling. The instructions will come with it and will be suited to your basic setup. Once you have a...

I've done this for similar reasons before and never suffered ill-effects. It's not ideal, but I don't see any problem with it.

Looks like a light stout? The bill looks reasonable, although I think I'd keep at least a little of the dark grains in the mash just to provide *some* roast (say, .5-1lb of the chocolate). I usually add lactose at flameout or shortly before, just to ensure that it gets properly incorporated.