63 F for three days, 54 F for several weeks (Maybe 6). Not a "by-the-book lager" but it was delicious anyway. Served at 41 F a couple of weeks later. Just couldn't wait several months :)
Since then I brewed a NewCastle Brown Ale Clone that turned out better than the commercial version... and...
Congrats! Welcome to the world of brewing. It's a great hobby to share with your wife. HBT is definitely like going to brewing college. There's a lot of experience and advice to choose from. Keep brewing!
Dry hopping won't give you much bitterness. I guess you could try boiling some hops for an hour. The question is (I'm clueless here): How much hops would you need to put into a small amount of water (1/2 gallon maybe?) to get the IBUs you want. I'm sure one of the masters around here has been...
Merry Christmas. You never really "try" home brewing. It's a one-hit-addiction (like crack cocaine). It would be more proper to say, "I'm about to begin my life-time obsession with home brewing."
My wife still regrets that fateful Christmas gift. Now after lots of money and many upgrades, she...
I always have Starsan in a spray bottle. All you have to do it squirt it into the nozzle and around the fittings. When I did small 5 gallon batches I used a wash tub combined with an immersion chiller, then sat it back up on a surface to drain with a hose into the carboy. Lifting was easier than...
Veggie, corny flavors (some claim other nasty notes of flavors) that dominate the finished taste. Not something worth dumping, but without those flavors the beer is awesome in comparison.
You're good. All of that CO2 will zap & kill anything that floats in the little hole (but it can't with a steady flow of CO2 coming out the hole). Sounds like a fun beer. Ya gotta love yeast violence.
If the malt extract is sealed, try it. But you want fresh hops and yeast. If it ferments, it can't kill ya.
Somebody gave me two Mr. Beer-like kits that they had for over five years! What the heck, I tried them. The DME had turned into a solid lump (like really hard caramel or Toffee). I...
For future brews: Automatically just use blow-off assemblies for heavy beers. If you didn't need it, no biggie. If you did, biggie.
I am about to start using Fermcap-S because I've lost a lot of beer to the blow-off bucket. Especially with Imperial Stouts or Belgian Triples and such.
Just a...
Try brewing (if you like this recipe enough) the exact recipe 5 times using different hops. Save a few bottles from each and compare. That will give you some idea of what hops you may like the most.
Keep tasting notes beforehand because the first batch will mellow and change in the bottle by...