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That do seem low for an OG. I can't tell exactly how much honey you used, but at .5 lbs honey you should have around 1.040. You may have had too hot a sample, which (I think) would make it more viscous and therefore thinner (?), that is, if you used a hydrometer. Make sure you're using a long...

1.030 will be lower alcohol, but if you can post the recipe, mash temp, yeast you used, then we will know more about if it will taste "light" or not. Are you also asking if your fermentation is almost done?

I agree. I think you've got to have fermentation and carbonation to get a good sample. I encourage you to test and taste more, though. I love to cook, and it's much easier to learn ingredient flavor in food. I just recently started down this path to learn the grain flavors better myself. I've...

I was asking myself the same thing as the OP about a year ago, and after having a slow, estery fermentation on a *three gallon* batch pitched with a fresh Wyeast 550 culture, I decided I would always make a starter. I don't think the two big liquid yeast companies have any reason to stick us on...

+1 on throwing out that chart. It's listing traditionally noble hops as having an equal level of citrus as cascade. I think it's a bit outdated. I really recommend Stan Hieronymous' hop book. Incredible detail but easy to understand.

If you want to kill a beer, the electric chair is better. just kidding. if you mean the airlock, no worries. There's a small chance you could have a blow off, drive some fermenting beer into it, and then infect the beer, but IMHO that won't happen. I always keep my sanitizer around, though...

I sit in my room, imagine beer, and my glass is full of carbonated beverage. No, I'm a kid when it comes to this stuff. Drives my engineer-minded dad crazy. What I'm saying is that this is one of the things that I am pleasantly surprised by-- I never stir my priming sugar in, and I always get...

I limit myself to a few times a week, a couple each time, or high gravity just one . When I drink consistently, my head gets foggy, I get fat, and I'm generally slower. That's why each beer has to delicious. Love homebrew, and my friends are thrilled with my habits since they have to drink it...

I'm always amazed that I get even carbonation, and never stir. Sometimes I've even had distractions interrupt my bottling, and it doesn't stratify. On the cooling issue, to be safe, I boil my priming sugar first, then sanitize my bottles and caps, and then gently pour it into the bottom if my...

Yeah, a trend, but its something that has gotten craft beer into shelves all over the country. "Hoppy" is a taste/flavor attribute that people can easily identify and talk about, so I think brewers have responded when people say they love it. It's not a "fad," like rainbow afro wigs or fish...

I don't know about that kit, but I just bottled an APA with heavy late and dry FF hops (first time) and I thought the aroma was outstanding. Unreal aromas that I didn't think could be made by hops.

Sorry bro!

I think positive pressure and CO2 will keep the bad bugs out until this calms down. If you're nervous you can set up a blow off tube. If you don't have any laying around, you can cut a bit of plastic racking cane, sanitize it, put that in the bung and attach a piece of sanitized siphon hose to...

Subbed. Thanks for all the info and killer ideas on low abv brews with big flavor.

Yeah, the pre-heating doesn't interest me, especially since I'm way more concerned about having a sticky, low-attenuating mash, than a highly fermentable mash that will give me dry, drinkable end product.

The first time I used my 10 gal round cooler tun, I guessed at the temp loss, was close, and it ended up being 14 degrees F loss. Now, I just heat my strike water 14 degrees above my mash temp, pour it in, and stir in my grain. I'll compensate a bit when brewing outdoors in the winter.

I hear both of you-- I like whiskey, but I just want my beer to taste like... Beer. To me, beers like this are in a new category. New Holland makes excellent beers, this one just ain't for me!

New Holland Dragon's Milk. $14 for 4 beers that tasted like a Jack and Coke. I don't think their original recipe was finished in whiskey barrels-- it was much better; a big, caramelly, barley wine. Great name, though!

When I was a new brewer, I tried lots of things to improve my beers. One of those was switching to liquid yeast and starters. My beer did improve after i made the switch. I have to wonder, though, if it was my other processes being improved that made the difference. I'll probably still stick to...

That is a killer idea. My one concern is that the main reason I make a starter us to make sure I've got healthy active yeast. Whether I pitch a vial or a smack pack, the pace of fermentation is usually slow, unless I use a starter. All I can think is that the yeast I'm buying at my LHBS has been...