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i just got a UPS shipment from a fairly large brew supplier who shall remain nameless until they have a chance to address this issue. the box was handed to me by the UPS driver. I opened it up and ten ounces of hops were in a paper bag. they were in sealed vacuum bags, but they were all in a...

i suspect that is for an extract or partial grain where you start with 3 gallons in the boil and top up to 5 afterward.

i've used the IR/laser thermometer. it seems like it is reading the steam in a boiling pot. it doesn't read anywhere near 212, so it has its limitations. i've used a barbecue digital with braided cable, but i have three of those that now are not working right. two of them showed around 130...

i was going to borrow a plasma cutter for mine, but discovered that my reciprocating saw (sawzall) worked fine.

look up some clone recipes of commercial examples you like, or just recipes of that style. that should get you in the ballpark.

bread yeast is not designed for beverages. it doesn't flocculate well. whenever i move the carboy, it immediately swirls up in clouds of yeast. even the lightest nudge will do that. when i'm ready to bottle, i move it to the bottling counter a week or two ahead of time to let it settle. i've...

well then it's a different recipe. joe made this one to be an easy mead for beginners. i've made about 10 batches of it, won two awards and it is pretty consistent. i've tried to modify it and change parts to more normal mead recipes, but that hasn't worked yet. enjoy experimenting but don't...

i've been a member for almost a year now. very good group. we meet at Dbaks monthly. the owner is a member and a good supporter. good german food, too. about 40 or 50 peeps show up every month. most of us bring our brews and we walk around pouring samples and talking loudly. we also have a...

my wife was out of town for the weekend, i got bored and did three batches. friday night i disposed of an old pilsner partial grain kit. i put in fresh hops, belgian yeast, coriander and orange zest. i'm calling that one a belgian pilsner, about as much of an oxymoron as polish reggae, but...

i have a few "brewer's best" box kits that have been on the shelf for a few months. i didn't know about hops freshness until later. now i am replacing the hops with fresh ones. the hops are all still sealed in their vacuum packs and in the refrigerator now. can they still be used for bittering...

does the "sarcasm" tag make it acceptable to act rude?

this isn't exactly chemistry, more like physics. why would anyone fill to the brim except to demonstrate this property of water? i didn't realize water would expand as much as 4%. i've always measured water volume at ambient temperature. this is a good thing to remember if i ever need to...

i don't understand how boiling can change the volume significantly, aside from some of the water evaporating off. the level might rise because of the bubbling, but why would you want to measure it then? i would generally want measurement marks when the pot and water is cold.

maybe it's the anal engineer in me, but i prefer to take a bit more care and time to set up my system to have maximum accuracy so any sloppiness in my actual using it will have less of an effect. 1. how are you measuring that gallon of water that you are pouring in before you mark each gallon...

i would like to be able to adjust hops aroma and/or bitterness after fermentation and bottling(or kegging). have a few extract kits that have been sitting around for a few months before i thought to pull out the hops and refrigerate them. i didn't know any better. this would explain why most...

the love of my life is an active part of our brewing operations. she is very understanding when a gallon of something spills into the carpet or flooring. she is now planning to design her own recipes with her superior sense of cooking sauces. chai stout, chocolate stout, dark belgian strong and...

i cut off all but 2 or 3 smalish (.5") leaves on each. already tiny new leaves have appeared. i had a lot of side bines and was mostly curious to see how it would work. this is my first year and this might get me more new plants for next year, or the year after.

on the way home last night from our local monthly interclub judging, my wife said she thought that my altbier should have been served colder. my preference is to always drink colder than the recommendations, but that's just me, so i deliberately chilled it just a bit and carried in a cooler...

they said it couldn't be done, but i've now had 3 cuttings, about 6 inches long in a small water container in a north windowsill. in a week or two, a nice system of white roots appeared. the first one didn't survive transplanting. will report.

small batches are good for experimenting, like if you are preparing a 5 gallon batch and want to try different ingredients or amounts in separate ones, but i always make 5 gallon batches. the first 3 or 4 are for testing to see if it's aged enough. i would hate to realize how good a batch is on...