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If you're doing a partial boil, covering it is about the worst thing you could do, unless you like scalding hot napalm all over. For a full batch (especially in a wide pot) I cover to get it up to temperature faster (and cheaper). After that, though, you want to boil it uncovered for two...

With new recipes I develop a drinking schedule. The higher the ABV the longer I let it last, but I'll drink one or two bottles a week of a new brew until it starts tasting pretty good; then I drink as much as I want, and save about a third for later. When something's about to go I drink as many...

Malt freshness isn't as important as hops freshness, in my opinion. The enzymes aren't doing much if it's dry and at room temperature. If it's gone rancid you'll be able to tell by the horrible flavor. Just chew a couple of pieces and see, or you could soak a sample in some hot water to see if...

My mother, who is an avid beer and gin drinker despite her ignorance, has told me that she doesn't like hops, and then proceeded to drink a pint of Fuller's ESB. What the general public doesn't know about beer could (apparently) fill a moderately long forum thread.

People who have never drunk homebrew are wary to taste mine until I assure them they won't go blind. I've tried explaining the physics of distillation and the politics of prohibition, but they usually tune out by the time I get to the differences between beer and wood alcohol and just acquiesce...

I didn't like Pork Slap, but then again I only tried it once. It's possible that it was an old can, or because beers never have a full aroma drunk out of the can. For me, though, it was the savory flavor that put me off. Like chicken soup and molasses. I should probably give it another try...

LME is about 10% heavier than the same amount of sugar's worth of DME; so you can divide by 1.1 to convert from LME to DME. If your LME can is 3.3 lbs, use 3 lbs of DME, for example. As for what kind, I know there are dark DMEs available, but at my LHBS they only have the pale stuff from...

It's probably a tie for me. Butternuts Pork Slap Pale Ale--supposedly an English-style ale, but limited hop flavor and a weird savory taste that was off. Really not very good, although I was drinking it out of a can, which may have killed the aroma. Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA--awful, just...

I don't see any real problem with rinsing except... why use a no-rinse sanitizer when the main benefit is not having to rinse? I've tried no rinse and I still use bleach for almost all of my brews. Never had an off flavor with either, and the bleach is much cheaper in quantity (and...

The Dark Tower may have given it the name "graff" (great name, by the way) but malt and apple brews were not totally unknown in the ancient british brewing traditions, where practically every combination of available fermentables was tried at some point. I make mine with smoked malt (beechwood...

One thing I've found is that if it tastes good before it goes in the fermentor, it tastes pretty good when it comes out too (as long as some little bugger doesn't replace it with vinegar when you're not looking). Presumably trial and error went into the specifics; more grain led to stronger...

I've got dozens of batches under my belt, and after each one I've said to myself, "Next batch I'm going to get it together and make myself an immersion chiller." It still hasn't happened. I switched to all-grain for my third batch and I haven't looked back, mostly because it's worked out so...