Recent content by thesink

This was my 2011 IPA. For some odd reason, I decided to do a 3 gallon batch. It was good enough, in my opinion, that I severely missed that other two gallons.... 3lb 3oz Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 2lb Extra Light Dry Extract 8oz American Crystal 20L ~ 60 mins 1.0oz Centennial...

I'll be making my annual 10 gallons of kolsch this spring. I'd like to split the last five up into two batches and add some fruit to one of them, maybe both. I've always thought raspberry would be a nice touch. Has anybody used fruit in their kolsch recipes? I've never used fruit in any beer...

Hi all....wondering what your thoughts are on the NB pilsen malt syrup. I have a number of brews coming up March through May that I'm going to be making, and I'm wondering if I could use the pilsen malt syrup for all of them, to save a little $$$ buying a 6-pack. IPA, kolsch, and two belgian...

The title for this is a little deceiving. I really have no way of actually controlling the temp of my brews. I made a makeshift swamp cooler out of a rolling cooler and some wet t-shirts in the past. But this time of year, temp in my basement crawlspace is pretty steady around 64 to 66...

Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Yep, I did aerate the wort. I do partial boils, so I boiled 3 gallons of bottled water. Then after I cooled the wort down, I mixed it with 2 gallons of clean water and then aerated it for about 5 minutes.

I brewed a stout on Friday, August 6th. The recipe was: Steeping grains: 1 lb Crystal 60L 8 oz Chocolate Malt (UK) 8 oz Roasted Barley - 550L Fermentables: 6 lb Dark Malt Extract Syrup 8 oz turbinado sugar 1 oz Nugget hops 1 oz Fuggles hops Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast I...

I was primarily concerned with fermentation. My extract brews seem to have a tendency to have higher FGs than I anticipate/want. So I was hoping some brown sugar would help that and also make the beer a little more dry. Maybe it won't be to style, but I thought it sounded good. I saw a...

I'm brewing up a coffee stout tomorrow. I'm an extract brewer, so I'm using some steeping grains and 6 lbs of dark malt extract. I'd like to dry the stout out a little more, so I was thinking of adding about half a pound of table sugar near the end of the boil. However, I got to thinking...

I brewed this honey weizen from Northern Brewer about 10 days ago, using some yeast from an american wheat I brewed a couple weeks before the honey. The honey weizen directions call to transfer to secondary. I did some searches here and elsewhere and can't really get an idea of whether this is...

Found this thread so decided to BUMP: I plan on using this same yeast pitching method tonight. I bottled an american wheat last Sunday (1.040 OG, 1.006 FG) and plan on pitching into a 1.048 honey weizen. I saved the equivalent of 2-16 oz mason jars worth (including the layer of beer)...

Others probably have other experiences and comments, but I wanted to ferment the Wyeast 1010 at 58-62, and was worried it would be too warm in my basement, so I just put my 5 gallon carboy in my cooler with water at 60 degrees. I put a couple of wet t-shirts over it and would take the temp...

Well, this is some good advice! :mug:

I've always wondered this, but what does RDWHAHB mean? :) I agree with Tipsy...blowoff tube. I have a 5 gallon batch of the American Wheat brewing right now. She's an active one, she is, and I've got it sitting in a cooler surrounded by 60 degree water. I had a 5 gallon glass carboy...

I had about a 12 hour lag time, but there is sign of life now. Fermentation seems to be going strong now. I have it in a cooler filled with water. Temp is around 60 degrees. My buddy told me that the lower the temp, the better for this yeast, but 60 might be overkill. I have a blowoff tube...

Good point. I thought I would be okay with water temp. The water in the cooler is at around 50 - 52 degrees, but when I pitched the starter, the wort was still at 71 degrees. I wanted to bring the temp down over night to get it in the right range. I just couldn't cool the wort off enough...