Recent content by SparginGrain

I'm going to go with the full 60 minute boil.

Thanks for all of the input! I was planning Hallertau, saaz, and 2 Americans like chinook and centennial! I guess my main concern, and only phantom variable, is evaporation loss during the boil. Still not sure how much preboil I should have if I'm going down to 3L. I assume there will be some...

I just use Brooklyn Homebrew, but since I'm on the UWS it takes me 3 hours round trip on the weekends. Does Whole Foods Bowery carry everything for a brewday (minus yeast since I wash)? I can't really mail order since my landlord would be pissed to find me brewing (I'm subletting a 1bed in a...

Very good point on not needing a full 60 minute boil. I think I may do it now with only 30 minute boils so I can get a bit of bitterness into the beer. I do like the idea of hop bombing these since I'm looking to learn the flavor/aroma. Thanks for the help!

Back during Christmas my brother bought me a $100 gift certificate to the wrong brewstore. My LHBS is excellent: carries everything I need, has good prices, and is the ONLY store in NYC. Unfortunately my brother bought me a gift card to an online shop, brooklynbrewshop.com, that his horrendous...

So this may be a dumb question, but when testing for conversion with iodine, do you test wort from your outtake valve--through the grain bed as if you're collecting or vorlaufing--or is it drawn through the top with something like a turkey baster? I understand you need very little I just don't...

I'm really trying to brew this Sunday and can't make it out to my LHBS until then. I was planning on building up a starter from previous homebrews' bottle sediment, which were made with a starter of Wyeast 1056 American Ale, but Brew Day snuck up on me and now there's no way I can get the...

I just cleared up all of my fermentors before the holidays and am looking to start brewing again in about 2 weeks. I have 50 beers sitting in my apartment after giving just as many away during the holidays. My question is: Can I build up the yeast from the bottom of one of my bottles into a big...

I’m about to rack an IPA tonight into the secondary. I was also reading today about making hard cider. Could I use the slurry from the bottom of my IPA to create a starter for the cider, or is the yeast not going to eat the sugar because it is now used to maltose (WYeast American Ale 1056, made...

I have a family member who used to work in quality assurance for a large commercial brewer. He recently recommended to me washing every 5-6 generation of your strain with a very light and very diluted acid, then of course rinsing. The process on a home brewing scale takes days repetitively...

genius

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I had a feeling... So I guess the only way to really save money on yeast is saving wort from previous batches, since DME is not the cheapest (at least not here in NYC). What is the best way to save wort for about a week, which is about how often I have been brewing and in turn, how fast I can...

Hello all! I’ve been getting into all grain having brewed a few batches extract and finding it kind of lame compared to what I could have been doing. I was going to brew my 3rd batch of all grain tonight but am worried that I will need a yeast starter to get my desired FG. I’m going for a...