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I have the ingredients all set. I figure, regardless I'll end up with beer... So if I mash with 5 gallons and sparge with 5 gallons, what's the worst thing that could happen? Lower than expected gravity? Other problems? I realize my efficiency will probably suck, but I'm ok with that. I'm...

I'm planning on doing my first all grain batch this weekend and I'm trying to make sure I've got my volumes worked out... Recipe has 17 lbs of grain (yowsa!) and I'm planning a final post boil volume of around 5.75 gallons doing a single infusion mash with batch sparging. With a ratio of 1.25...

I usually just guestimate on extract amount and plug it into my brew software and tweak it to get the right OG. That's the simple case. You can get into more difficulty when you are dealing with recipes that have speciality grains that require mashing. Then you have to figure out if they have...

My wife picked on up too, we just sampled it and poured about half of it down the drain... Not that there's anything wrong with it, if you like that style of beer you'll probably like it. We just don't seem to like any belgian style ale's and this one had that characteristic belgian flavor that...

Yeah, I was going to say, I'm pretty sure most of those mix carbonated water with syrup, not sure how you would adapt that for beer... You could always hook up pre hopped extract and carbonated water to it and have beer on the fly :) I've actually been tempted to try and hook a keg up to...

Guilty of that one too :)

Ignore the colored bands on the hydrometer, they are useless. 1.012 is most likely 'done'. The proper final gravity is your starting gravity times the yeast's % attenuation, which is usually around 75% but depends on the yeast. Beer is ok sitting in a primary fermenter for up to a month...

Let me point out something else... Your target IBU's were calculated using computer software. They are almost certainly *wrong*. Keep in mind there are several formulas for IBU calculations, each of which will give a different answer. Variations in your water, malt extracts, altitude, malt...

At that temperature, I would definitely expect it to finish fermenting in 2-3 days. When it was 72 in our basement I had no beer that took longer than 3 days, now that it's down to 64 there they are going for 7-10 days. I also hope you're not using an actual lager yeast, if so you're going...

Cocoa powder I think is generally preferred, it's what I've used in the past. I'm not sure how much chocolate flavor you'd really get from adding chocolate to the secondary... People have said to boil cocoa powder for the entire boil to break down some of the fats, last time I just boiled the...

I like the 1056 (american ale) too. I've used it for 4 beers in a row... Unless I'm doing a specialty beer I pretty much stick with it.

If you have some health food or natural foods stores, you might want to check there as well, I've seen some gluten free beers for sale around here at Wild Oats.

I just bought 2 more kegs on eBay and the out posts have an odd star shaped pattern. My other kegs, and the inputs on these, have normal bolt style 6 sided posts that I can get off with a wrench. I can't get these posts off to save my life. I see online they sell sockets with this shape, but I'd...

No one else tops up their fermenter with water straight out of the tap? oops :) Also about every time I drain a plastic fermenter, I forget to take the airlock out and end up sucking all the airlock water into the fermenter when the drain opens up...

I just kegged it today. I had added 1/2 C lactose and 2 oz vanilla after cooling and tasted it a week ago. We ended up adding 6 more ounces of vanilla extract (8 total) along with 2 ounces of bourbon and another 1/2 C lactose. That's a ton of vanilla, but I think it's pretty balanced. With 4...

I wouldn't bottle it, regardless of hydrometer readings. And I'd be amazed if it's done fermenting after a week. High gravity beers can ferment for a really really long time and they tend to need to age for a long time too in order to balance out. I'd plan on leaving it in secondary for at least...

You'd need something like a flash chiller, but those aren't cheap... Flash Chiller @ Micromatic

Er, that's a bit beer! I get 1.118 for the SG (roughly) and 1.030 for the FG, about 12% ABV. That's assuming a yeast with around 75% attenuation. Also note that since you aren't mashing the oats, those are going to leave a lot of excess starch in your beer and will keep the FG higher. And with...

Well, I think malt liquor is pretty much a style of beer. But you get into semantics here since there really aren't any regulations on what is a malt liquor and what is a beer. I think a malt liquor is generally considered to be a light american lager style of beer with a higher alcohol content...

So I was at the store the other day and saw a bomber of Rogue Daddy's Little Helper Malt Liquor. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but when I see a bottle that says 'Rogue' and 'Malt Liquor' on it, that's just something I'm going to have to buy. My wife and I popped it open and skipped...