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Vegemite is essentially used brewers yeast. I've only tasted it once, when I was in my early 20s, I don't say this about many foods, but I hope to never taste it again.

I always remember reading and hearing that he key is to get the wort under 100˚ as soon as possible. That being said, I've also read of a lot of people who successfully brew great tasting beers and use the "no chill" method. So yeah, as stated above, you are fine.

One thing I'd like to add is don't dismiss kits entirely. As long as it's a kit that you boil for 60 minutes and make hop additions along the way, (not pre-hopped malt extract) it really gives you a good sense of what home brewing is and gives you a solid base to start building your own recipes...

It isn't going to ruin your beer, but you are also diluting the beer. So your OG is going to be less than what the kit instructions say you will get. Not a big deal if it makes beer you like, but I would suggest putting together the numbers and adding enough Light DME to get you to the gravity...

To me, it looks like you are about 50/50 on weather or not it's an infection. Some of those bubbles do look suspect. That being said, it doesn't look that far off from some funky looking fermentations I've had. I have had 2 beers that I swore were infected upon initial look. The more I inspected...

For future brews, use a true sanitizer like Starsan or Iodophor. One step is more of a cleanser than a true sanitizer. As people have said, pictures would help clear this up better. Take a close look at the white spots you are talking about and make sure they aren't co2 bubbles clinging to...

Holy crap, finally got to brew yesterday after a 4 month layoff. Coaching kids, vacation, house renovation. Man it was nice, did two batches because my pipeline is non-existent now. 21,221.5 = 6 gallons Amber Ale + 6 gallons cascade pale ale. = 21,233.5

Quoted for emphasis, because I was about to post this same thing. Kits are far more involved than buying a cake mix, at least in my opinion. If nothing else, it gives you a clean slate to start on for fermentation. If something does go wrong and you are trying to figure out, "Why does my beer...

Did you see any bubbles ever? I personally don't like the adage that airlock means nothing, only because I've never ever had an airlock not bubble at least a few days. If I were fermenting a beer and didn't see any activity at all after 5 days (actually for me, after 3 days) then I would open...

Possibly, but more than likely it's something that wasn't sanitized well enough. I say that, because once the yeast kick in, it's pretty tough to contaminate the beer at that time. You usually have enough CO2 going out that it prevents anything from getting in, even if the airlock isn't...

Just hit Revolution and Lagunitas here in Chicago this past Saturday. I haven't visited a lot of craft breweries, but the ones I have visited have all pretty much been the same thing. Some a little bigger, some a little smaller, some with nicer taprooms, etc. I knew Lagunitas was bigger than...

When you get home, take a good look. It might be hard to tell, so you'll have to get close, but does it look like one spot, made up of a collection of a bunch of tiny bubbles. I've seen similar lookign stuff in my beers and they freaked me out pretty bad, but once you get up close and look, you...

I'm not trying to be an ass here, but you say that you don't have the money for a new bucket, but that you've wasted 20lbs. of Munich. I would go ahead and get a new bucket and maybe just skip one brew, more than likely your culprit lies in the bucket, unless you are using other plastic stuff...

All in all, it sounds a bit sketchy to me, at least as far as the friendship goes. If he's not paying his part and you have a concern about asking him to pay his part, then how strong is the friendship in the first place? Personally, I'd just go through with it and give him his half, then ask...

To most of your questions, think they've been answered fairly well. As far as #3 though and an ambient temp of 73˚, There is the swamp cooler option, but I have a trick I've used that worked pretty well for me. Take two gallon milk jugs and fill them with water and freeze. As well as any...

My opinion on keg clearing is this. Since the keg draws from the bottom when it pulls beer, you very well could have perfectly clear beer at the top of the keg. It's just my assumption as I've never physically observed this, is that the yeast takes time to drop out of suspension. Since it...

IT's really a non issue, but as others have said, I'd switch the layout you have there, put the fermentor on top of the bucket and have the star san container sit on the floor. This will prevent any suckback that may occur. With the starsan being that dirty and exposed to air, it is a...

As others have said, the genius to Beersmith is being able to plug your numbers in from your system and then being able to build a recipe with your system in place. So your numbers will usually come out close. It's not going to build the recipe for you. I personally find the mac version...

I wasn't being an ass, just relaying information to a new brewer based on what you posted. Your post clearly stated "Starter" Sorry, i didn't read the link because I know how to make a starter so I didn't bother clicking that. Also, just because you find your beer better tasting after 3 weeks...

Sorry, but some of your information is just off. You don't make starters for dry yeast. Rehydration of the dry yeast is best, but it's been said on here many times, don't do starter with dry yeast. Also, 3-4 weeks for fermentation? For a normal gravity beer, that was brewed with good...