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My biggest problem from a few low efficiency batches turned out to be as simple as the way I stirred. I thought I was doing enough but then for a recent batch I took my time and added the grain very slowly and made sure there were no dough balls and it made a difference from previous batches...

I mash and then boil the next day fairly often and have never had any issues. I don't really do anything special, just drain it all off and cover it. I think if there is anything unwanted in there there's usually such a small amount that it won't have a chance to do any damage in a few hours and...

Thanks for the input. My next planned batch was going to be an ipa. Maybe I'll parti-gyle it and bump up the starter a bit so I'll practically get the lighter beer for free just to toss in as a test and ferment the main batch in one of my buckets that didn't come in contact with the funky one.

Thanks guys. If it is brett will the same cleaning process work? I've heard people who intentionally use brett usually have separate equipment for it, and since I started bottling before I noticed the patches, the beer has now been in two of my buckets and through my siphon, so I'm hoping it can...

So, I bottled this beer last night and it seems to taste fine. Its a spiced beer, so maybe off flavours are more likely to be masked or maybe it is just fine. But while transferring I noticed some possible mold in the fermenter. It was little white patches on the sides of the fermenter above the...

So after about 8 days the beer is at it's FG, had a small sample yesterday and it seems to taste fine, not as much flavour as I would have expected from a 9% ABV spiced ale, but it doesn't taste bad, I think that's the main thing right now. Would any bad flavour caused by bacteria take a while...

Thanks for the input, I'll see how it goes. With any luck it will be drinkable, I kind of hope it isn't too good though, probably won't be able to reproduce it if it is. I'll post again when it's done

So I brewed a winter spiced ale this week, on Monday, but my yeast starter for whatever reason didn't seem to work. There was no accumulation of yeast in the bottom and no change in SG. Didn't think it was a big deal, got a new pack at the store and remade the starter, but the wort was already...

I've been brewing 2.5 gallon batches all summer, going by the mr.malty numbers in general one full smack pack has been perfect for most of my batches, even had to make a starter for a couple. Since the required amount is usually about 750000 yeast cells per ml times gravity points it ends up...

I'm relatively new to brewing (less than 10 batches so far), but in my experience that amount of time has worked fine. With the small amount of sugar in a starter it really doesn't take too long to get to the FG, the only plus I've had from leaving it longer is having more time to let things...

I've had some pretty big differences between the numbers in the recipe (mostly been doing ones from brewing classic styles lately) and the numbers from different calculators available, not really sure why but the beers turned out great either way with just higher or lower alcohol content

I've learned greatly recently on how much improvement comes with a little aging (usually noticing how good a batch suddenly tastes when half of it is already gone). Anyway, I ended up going with Marris Otter for mine. Turned out the store had that when I didn't see it there before, and didn't...

Not sure if this is always the case but I found with a hoppy brown ale I recently made that when it's still very green tasting I refrigerated it for less time, basically just enough to be just cold enough to drink (maybe 4 hours) and it was 10x better than when it was in the fridge for a few...

Have you had a taste yet? Probably a bit too soon, but I was thinking of doing a partigyle with a similar combination, having a barley wine as the big beer with a single hop (undecided as of now, something British though) and what you have there as the small beer.

Sorry if its unclear, I basically just wanted to know which grain bill would turn out better. The two row and 5% or so crystal, or two row with 30% or so of munich or vienna. Just looking for opinions as I'm sure there are preferences for either side. Also, just wondering if the amount of grain...

I wasn't planning on mixing afterwards, I want two different beers from the same grain.

So, I've done 6 A.G batches now with decent results and I'm planning on trying a partigyle to make an English barleywine and something along the lines of a pale mild. The recipe is going to be fairly basic, just wondering what everyone thinks of my two options I'm considering. It'll be two...

cool, thanks!

I thought the problem may have been aeration, but my first batch was aerated less if anything compared to the stalled ones and it came out fine. Maybe it was a combination of lack of air and older yeast compared to the first one. It kills me that I have to wait till May to do another batch and...

I'm using a hydrometer and making sure its not stuck to the side or affected by bubbles, also tested pure water to make sure it was reading properly, I'm waiting on a refractometer in the mail. I've been pitching full smack packs, I was going to split them up but the guys and the brew store...