Recent content by Winesburg Ale

Nope, no dry-hopping. Fermentation temps are generally on the low end of room temp - 68 degrees F or so. The varieties of hops used have varied, but they have all been pelletized. Generally, we have done full, 5 gallon boils. Most of the batches have included bittering and flavoring/aroma...

I've made around 15 batches of extract homebrew and they've ranged from OK to great. Generally, the batches that I'd rate "OK" tend to have the same off-flavor, a very faint earthy to grassy taste that is most detectable in the after taste. I orginally suspected the taste was due to yeast...

This is one of my favorite debates. I've tried both methods. I like to use a secondary because it tends to produce beers that look and taste cleaner. As a bonus, using a secondary usually prevents having yeast sediment at the bottom of the beer bottles. On the negative side, I really think it...

I have found the Grape and Granary to sell great kits at very reasonable prices. They put their kits together themselves, so the ingredients tend to be pretty fresh. They also use high-quality stuff and excellent recipes. Check out their website: http://www.grapeandgranary.com/ If you...

I brewed a 3-gallon batch of pilsner about a week ago, and poured it into a 5-gallon carboy for primary fermentation. I'd really like to bottle it from the carboy, without racking it to a secondary vessel. However, there is a very thin layer of krauzen and hop bits floating around on the top...

I'm happy to hear there are other home brewers who appreciate the benefits of dry yeast like I do. I've used both liquid and dry yeast, and I have a hard time telling the differnce in the final product. There is this funny bias among some brewers and a lot of brew shop staff that liquid is...

I tried making hard cider a few years back with limited sucess. I think I added too much sugar and then used a yeast that gave an overly-dry finished product - there was very little apple character. So, I've come up with the following recipe for this batch, let me know what you think: 3...

I'm just curious - why all the resistance to re-pitching? Is it just because of the expense of the yeast?

I'm looking at a similar situation with a high gravity ale. It's been in the primary for only 3 days, but I've been hearing a lot of bad things about Muntons. Would it do any good to pitch some Nottingham yeast in the primary at this point?

I appreciate the advice. I won't be able to pitch the new yeast until tomorrow. Does anyone know if it will do any good at that point? The brew will be three days into primary fermentation by then.

This yeast question is a good one. Most home brewers (particularly those who are fans of liquid yeast) swear that different yeast strains make significant differences in the finished product. Interestingly, I toured Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland a few weeks ago and the tour guide mentioned...

I brewed a batch of Christmas Ale last night. It was an extract ingredient package from the local homebrew shop that was well-recommended by fellow brewers. The fermentables included 7 pounds of malt extract and one pound of honey. I've made a number of brews from this store's kits and had...

Does anyone have a good Bohemia Classica clone recipe? I think it would be interesting to brew because it has a golden color but the flavor of a dark beer. It's really good - if you haven't tried it, you should.

While you're technically right, the utilization will be greater if you do a full 5 gallon boil, you'll never notice it in the finished product. Now, if you accidently dropped an entire country ham in the wort, that would be a major mistake. Or, if you put any vanilla in it. I did that once...

Hey everyone I'm planning to brew an extract batch of a lager-style beer. I bought a recipe kit that included a packet of Nottingham Ale yeast. I've got a couple extra packets of ale yeast in the 'fridge and I've heard that pitching more yeast can result in less yeast flavor, so I'm...