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The OP didn't let his cider ferment out dry to reserve some residual sweetness. He pasteurized to kill off the yeast cells so he didn't end up with bottle bombs. Instead of pasteurizing you could also use campden tablets to stop the yeast but some people would rather not add chemicals to their...

I would start with whatever style of beer you like to drink, within reason, of course. Something fairly straightforward with a little faster turnaround. As a new brewer you are going to want to taste your creation, I know I did, so something that needs a lot of aging or a lager would probably...

I don't know about awesome, but it is pretty darn good. And it is different enough that it sort of stands out in the crowd, so to speak. With the variety of darker malts and an estery ale yeast there are many possible combinations to experiment with. I may cut back on the Special B a bit on my...

When I make my Cran Cider this fall I am going to use craisins for one batch. I never thought of using them, that's a really good idea.

Last fall I was messing around making a bunch of different ciders, and had the idea of making a Belgian Dubbel Style Cider. I made a four gallon batch, with four pounds of home made candi syrup from this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/. I used the...

I brewed Northern Brewers Rye Maibock kit a while back. Brewed a Rye IPA the same day. I used a combination of W34-70 and S-05 on both of them. Fermented in the low 60's in the back of the basement. They have been in the bottles for around two weeks now. They still need a bit more conditioning...

Just tell her she can keep her 7/8ths of the closets and medicine cabinet and you are going to keep your brewing rig. :D

So it has been ten days since I bottled, I put one in the fridge to cool down just to see how it was coming along. The flavors are coming together nicely,and it is very clear but not a sign of carbonation. Did yours take a while to carb up? Maybe I just need to be a little more patient, but that...

I think the Fixed Gear is one of the better beers I have brewed. I haven't tasted the real thing but my daughter and son-in-law said they couldn't tell the difference between mine and Lakefront's. At first I thought mine came out too dark, but I saw it poured from a tap and the color was the...

If you ordered your grains crushed and they came whole, the first thing I would do is contact Midwest and request that they resend your order. I understand they are pretty good about fixing these sort of mixups. To use the grain you have, if you don't know someone with a grain mill, I would...

For the e-stop you run one leg to ground, but if you look at any of PJ's diagrams you will see the infeed is fused and runs through a couple 1K 1 watt resistors. All it takes is a trickle of current, there is really no need to slam 120 volts across the mushroom button. Which is why it is good to...

He is using BCS instead of PIDs. But by the time you get your back plane in there, some DIN rail and the breakers I doubt the door would be able to close. Although I do understand the desire to save some money on an enclosure. I have been looking for something I can repurpose, but haven't found...

Crap, I never got that advice. Oh well. I have my starter going. I guess tomorrow I will put it in the fridge to crash the yeast, siphon off what I can and then do it all over again. Thanks for your advice, from now on I will pick up my liquid yeasts closer to brew day.

Is there a reason why it wouldn't be possible to control an SSR with the control signal through either a parallel or serial interface? Much like CNC systems use the same signals to control a driver board? Use a one wire interface for temperature monitoring and something as simple as a Bash or...

Hmmm, I didn't realize liquid yeast got "old" so quick. I guess when you are used to dry, six months doesn't seem so long. So if I step it up, obviously it won't be ready for tomorrow, but if it is chilled and kept in the fridge for a couple days that shouldn't hurt anything, should it?

I am planning on using liquid yeast for the first time. The production date on my smackpack is 1/16/12. Both Mr Malty and Yeastcalc say the viability of the yeast is down to 10%. Does liquid yeast actually lose viability that quickly? Even if kept refrigerated? If so it looks as if I am going...

I don't think those work up in Canada. I would be willing to take it off your hands. :) But seriously, a great find. If you could find or build a steam generator it would make a great boil kettle. Might be a little hard to stabilize the mash temperature if you decided to use it as a mash tun...

I'm not sure what Strongbow tastes like, but what you are going to end up with is similar to a dry white wine. It will take a fair amount of conditioning time in the bottle. If you want a higher level of carbonation 50 grams of table sugar should do the trick.

I finally got my batch bottled today. I can never really tell what anything will taste like until it gets carbed and sits in the bottle a while, But this one should be a winner. At first there is a nice raspberry flavor, then(I think) a little spicyness from the yeast(T-58). A nice, clean and...

I bought myself two corny kegs as a Father's Day present to myself. Not that I didn't get a nice Father's Day present (Bosch cordless tools) from the wife and kids. But I figured if I couldn't get away with buying a couple kegs on Father's Day I never would. :D