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I didn’t wax my barrel in the past, but I probably should have. If you’re using the barrel for clean beers and limiting contact time to 4-8 weeks you probably won’t encounter much oxidation without barrel wax. But if you’re using it for long-term aging (3-9 months) and / or adding Brettanomyces...

Way too much roast malt for the style. You can get away with just 5% of the grist as debittered black malt. If you’re concerned about the black malt affecting your mash pH and resulting in astringency, feel free to cold steep, but you shouldn’t need to if you’re only using a modest...

It’s not the lack of sugar...it’s the absence of nutrients and presence of alcohol that prevents the yeast from propagating. Dry yeast has an upper hand over liquid and is probably your best bet after using fresh krausen. But honestly at this point, if it tastes good just package it. There’s...

Actually tannins have the opposite effect at low finishing gravity — they provide palate-clinging polyphenols that increases the perception of mouthfeel and body. Which is why dry red wines and gueuze have a balanced palate despite the extremely low finishing gravity. Astringency from wood...

It depends what you’re looking to do. Anything darker that’s on the mellower side will benefit from Midnight Wheat...black IPA, Schwarzbier, Baltic porter, etc. It’s a good option for color correction, but to me it doesn’t bring much roast flavor. Black patent malt or roasted barley are better...

I really don't like chips for wood-aging homebrew. They have this odd astringent quality that always seems to strip out the worst flavors from the oak, and the oak flavor is a lot more "fleeting" than other methods. Oak cubes and spirals are a safer bet to harness the woody, vanilla notes...

I've done this a few times on ski weekends. It can be a bit challenging to negotiate, but the best option is to bring a mason jar of hopped, sterilized starter wort. Fill a sterilized half-pint mason jar halfway with starter wort and a couple of hops and leave it in your fridge/cooler during...

Hmm...I wonder. Does this have anything to do with USDA laws regarding pasteurization of food and beverage over 4.6 pH? Not saying I disagree with any of it...I’ve had a fair amount of muddy IPAs with high pH myself.

Yeah, I thought about that as well. I know standard 2-row is perfectly acceptable for making porter, so I might end up switching it up. I wanted to get some biscuit notes from the Maris Otter, but I suppose I can always use some Victory or Special Roast to get there too.

Thanks. That’s actually very similar to what I had planned on using (42% Maris Otter, 42% Rauchmalz). My concern with pushing that proportion higher is the low diastatic power (~46 L) might not be high enough to guarantee conversion over a short mash at higher temperatures. I’ve never used...

Looking to make my yearly smoked beer and I wanted to take a departure from my traditional Rauchbier lager for an ale this time. I’ve seen a lot of smoked porter recipes that call for cherry, alder, and even peat smoked malt, but not too many with standard beech smoked Rauchmalz. (I have brewed...

After hearing all the horror stories about high dissolved solid levels in RO water sources, I decided to buy a TDS meter and test my local grocer’s RO water. Lo and behold... Damn it feels good to be a brewer.

Commercial NEIPA brewers regularly dry hop below fermentation temperatures to avoid hop creep and diacetyl production. That being said, they are dry hopping around 53-58F, not serving temperatures. Very low dry hopping temperatures will reduce extraction and utilization of dry hops; extending...

I would reverse the hop stand and dry hop quantities and ferment with the Whitbread dry strain instead, but yes. Yes yes yes.

Pretty much any spice you might add to beer will do better as a whirlpool addition vice in the boil. Boiling drives off a lot of aromatic compounds rapidly. Though I’m not a big fan of spiced beers, my Witbier does use 0.1 oz/gal of coriander and curaçao (15 min @ 160F) and they’re definitively...

I’ve heard it’s better to add finings around 50F / 10C for solubility reasons, otherwise it will settle out before it has a chance to bind to the proteins. I hate to beat a dead horse here but you really shouldn’t need post-boil finings at all. Managing water chemistry, thorough sanitation...

Hmm...I recently brewed a lager with a similar grainbill, with almost all the yeast flocking out after 72 hours @ 36F. No post-boil finings. So I don’t think it’s anything on your hot side that’s driving a lack of clarity. What temperature did you add your finings at? How did you verify the...

My plants had all sorts of bugs living on them, so can’t imagine the cones were exactly antiseptic. I’m sure you could sanitize them somehow but with all the nooks and crannies I’d expect you’re gonna miss a few spots. I think just about the only application for wet hopping is in the...

This is similar to what I do except I’ve switched to dry hopping at the tail end of fermentation and adding krausen to make up the volumetric difference and naturally carbonate the beer. Unfortunately there’s always some losses due to the addition of dry hops and dead space in the keg. As far...

Join a homebrew club. It’s fantastic for getting insight into the same flavor discrepancies you’re describing. At the very least you’ll get more honest feedback than sharing with friends and family. Also really good because some people are more sensitive to certain flavor thresholds than others...