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I have seen some recipes in NB extract kits call for hop teas as well. I think these are mainly to improve hop utilization when you are doing a partial boil with a big beer, since the gravity of the wort is double your target... So if you are brewing a 1.070 beer, you need a 1.14 wort and that...

Yes if you have a basement with a big basement sink, that can be really handy, although the temperature varies by season. Most likely you will eventually want to do your boil outside (if you don't already), since heating a full volume boil on the stove is horrible. The basement is also great...

As for starting temps, I find that a vigorous fermentation will keep it's own temp up in the mid to low 60's even in the dead of winter in the basement, once it settles down I put the heat mat on it.

I use the seedling heat mat in my basement, I just wrap it around a carboy with a bungee cord (see photo below). You really do not need any type of thermostat, without the wrap its around 60 degrees, with the wrap it is 70 degrees in my basement in minnesota. Keep the carboy off the floor (on...

What pressure/temp are you keeping your beer at? I have found the best results with around 8-9 psi at exactly 35 degrees. While this is a little cold for my tastes, it certainly keeps the foaming to a minimum.

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I put up a wanted ad offering $20 per keg on craigslist and got 4-5 responses the same day, all of them had the same story, their roommate had a party or something and moved out and never returned it and they don't have the paperwork or know what liquor store to even take it to. I am shocked...

Build yourself a keggle and toss in a hopstopper if you are really concerned about the trub... I usually just let it settle out in the primary and that is good enough, but for 10 gallon batches maybe it would be too much. I am thinking about doing a 10 gallon batch myself and splitting it...

I was just reading a kit inventory sheet online for a double IPA and comparing the all grain and extract versions. The extract version called for boiling a separate hop tea alongside your brew kettle and adding the hops to that instead of the wort. I assume this is done to combat the low hop...

My understanding is that during the batch sparge process you are just "rinsing" sugars that are already converted out of the crushed grains, so I don't think it really matters as long you stir the big sparge well.

How much temp do you lose over the course of your rest? My cooler loses 1 degree over 60 minutes, so I stopped bothering with monitoring the temp during the mash, and its just the cheapy no name cooler from menards, not the extreme.

I have a belgian tripel finishing primary fermentation after 3 and a half weeks, the yeast has finally flocculated down. I pitched one smack pack that had been in a starter for only 2 days, which was definitely not ideal pitching conditions, but it is very close to target FG. +1 on the advice...

I would imagine it is not a big deal, the temp difference is not going to be that great anyways between outside and inside. Combined with the fact that the fridge is never being opened, I would think it would keep up just fine. Of course the insulation would reduce power consumption, but not...

I have a two tap setup and one of them can swap between a cornie and a sankey fitting. In my opinion, you don't need true "quick" releases, since its ok if it takes 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds to change over. I basically mimicked how the homebrew hoses hook up to the cornie keg fittings, so...

There is something amazing about taking a sack of grain, a packet of yeast, and a handful of hops and ending up with beer, the same way it has been done by those who came before us for centuries.

50lb bag of Rahr is 35 at my LHBS

My understanding from using Promash is that the rest would be sparge water. I tried out promash and was confused by it not actually saying this outright, and also not providing the volume needed to sparge with, since the grain will absorb some. I tried out BeerSmith and its pretty explicit...

The problem with fish tank heaters is that when they break, they stick on and overheat the water. The last two fish tanks I had, the heaters broke and cooked the fish in 100 degree water. I use a seedling heat mat, they are about 20 bucks (new) and use only 25 watts. On average, it raises...

When making mine a couple nights ago, I first tried a dremel, that got me about 1.5 inches before each cutting wheel was shot (probably using the wrong wheels). Next I tried the angle grinder, but the one I borrowed had a really thick cutting disc on it, so it was taking forever too, since it...