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The expression I use when I am off by that amount from my target OG is: "Nailed it!" So, no, not an issue. After your original post of despair, I am happy to see you have gotten back in the saddle.

It's not bad equipment that causes the beer you don't like, it's the recipe, ingredients, and process. I don't much like today's trendy hop-forward beers either, though I find a few at least drinkable. But with a couple of 10-gallon coolers (one for treating water, one for mashing), a $4 mash...

At my very first batch using an extract kit. After 3 weeks of fermentation, I popped the lid off the fermenter, took a look and took a whiff and said, "Wow! It's beer!" That was last August. Forty batches later, and after moving to all-grain MIAB, my beers have gotten better. But there's...

3343.8 + 5.5 gal Boddingtons clone + 2.3 gal English Barleywine II + 0.7 gal English Barleywine III + 5.0 gal Red Rye Ale + 5.0 gal Hefeweizen = 3362.3

Or 0.00178 of a slug.

Then there's this contraption at Narita airport which gently pours the beer to avoid any head, then adds a fake head on top:

Agreed. I just started brewing last August, quickly became obsessed, and have brewed 30+ batches since then. The quality is definitely getting better. But even if that first batch had been perfect, who wants to make just one type of beer over and over? I like more variety. Anyway, I have saved...

I disagree, as long as you can chill down to 60 F or so before pitching, and ferment in a room that doesn't get too warm. I have made several successful Belgians in the downstairs family room with my only "temperature control" being to open the sliding door in the early morning if the weather...

I assume you know the "magnet in the hop bag trick", right? Having tried it once in my simple stainless steel fermenter, I can confirm that it works.

Assuming you can source the ingredients and Belgian yeast, the process is no harder than any other variety, and easier than, say, an IPA with its numerous hop additions. Mash or mix, boil, add hops and adjuncts, chill. Then "pitch low and let it go".

Do you like Belgian dubbels, tripels, and quads? Personally, I like them a lot and have brewed several of them in my short (since August 2020) homebrew career. I enjoy the interplay of flavors coming from the specialty grains, from adjuncts like amber or dark candi sugars, and from the yeast.

I have nothing helpful to add regarding your infection problem, but just wanted to say that that is a clever, super-cool business model. I love it.

This. I have been doing 3-pot boils on my crappy electric stove for my last 30 batches or so. The biggest pot is 5 gallons, the smallest 1.75. The first running from mash-in-a-bag goes into the big pot, with two batch sparges going into the others. By the end of the boil, I'm down to 2 pots...

That was my very first kit too! Back in August of last year. Since then, I have become completely hooked on homebrewing, moved to all-grain mash-in-a-bag, and brewed up about 32 batches total. Anyway, don't worry about the bubbles slowing down. I have had some batches bubble steadily for a...

Could you elaborate a bit on that? Is it because the effects of any hot-side oxidation are less noticeable in ales, or some other reason? I ask because I make nothing but ales and have been experimenting with some simple hot-side LODO techniques such as pre-boiling and adding a fraction of a...

I don't bother with such extensive cleaning. I just make sure to triple-rinse my bottles soon after pouring the beer from them, let them dry, and put them away. Then on bottling day, they get dunked in Star San. In 30+ batches done this way, I have not encountered an infection. Apart from a...

My one and only attempt at this turned out well. It was 2 oz of Azacca hops in a LightSky clone. The bag dangled from the top of the fermenter for 9 days before being dropped in for 5 days. The fragrance in the finished beer was intense and pleasant, with no hint of any rotten or musty smell or...

When your fever dreams the night after getting dose #2 of a COVID vaccine all concern homebrewing.

5 gals Red Rye Ale 2.5 gals English Barleywine 2.5 gals American Wheatwine

Lots of good advice here, but I will throw in my two cents as well. I routinely do 3-pot boils on my crappy electric kitchen stove. I'm happy with the setup and don't consider it a hassle at all, partly because I never have to lift a very heavy pot. I have a 5 gallon, a 3.25 gallon, and a 1.75...