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Ok, so I also contacted White Labs about my starter and they said the alcohol smell is probably an indication that the starter didn't do what it should have. I followed the directions for making a starter fairly closely: using 4 cups of water(2 pints) to 1 cup DME. But they said something may...

I'm going to check the fermenter this weekend and take a gravity reading, possibly to rack things up to get the yeast stirred up some more. I'll see if I might need to do something like add some more yeast or other ingredients. I was aiming for a bitter dark stout with high alcohol, but I...

Well, I really wanted to try something new! I didn't think the wort sitting for a few days at 70 degrees would cause it to sour though. I didn't notice much krausen on the starter but should I notice about the same in the fermenter?

I've made 3 successful batches of beer using liquid malt extract and specialty grains only. So, after reading up on everything I decided to kind of dip my toes into the all-grain brewing by doing a kind of half-mash brew. This was a major change in what I have done previously because I put...

Well, since that was my first brew and I think of it more as a training experience (plus I was really thirsty...) I have already started drinking the bottles. I'm going to leave a few for the longer timeframe to compare taste, but as far as carbonation goes it was pretty much completed after...

I'm setting up a pump and cooling system through a mini fridge into my two tubs. With that done, hopefully by this weekend, I can brew over the weekend and put the Irish Stout in the carboy and the Scottish Ale in the bucket. That way I don't have to worry about the temperature during...

I'm going to be leaving on travel here in about 2 weeks. I have two recipes ready to brew, one an Irish Stout and the other a Scottish Ale. I have one fermenter bucket, one glass carboy, and one bottling bucket for main fermentation/ bottling. So, I can start brewing the one this weekend in my...

It sounds like no matter what, the longer you wait for the beer to mature the better it will taste; regardless of the gravity. I guess the only way to tell for sure is to do the testing for each kind of beer at different time intervals, opening up enough bottles to "ensure" a proper tasting and...

I know I've heard the mantra from most on this site saying 21 days @ 70 degrees temp. However, I got some advice from a local shop where I buy my stuff that it was unnecessary. Instead, he said that with average Hawaii temps around 80 it should only take about 5 days. When I asked him about what...

Just got a used kit locally on the verge of 3 years old now. I spent all day yesterday cleaning AND sanitizing everything until the stench of Iodophor was nearly overwhelming. Today I brewed a special grain batch of Paradise Pale Ale, a recipe from my local Homebrew in Paradise, and put it all...