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Is is possible for needle style thermometers to go bad? I bought one at the local homebrew shop a few months back and have loved the simplicity. However, after the last 5 batches I'm doubting its accuracy. I usually get around a 72-75% brewhouse efficiency, but my last 5 batches have been around...

I'll try to get pics up asap. The camera on my phone is broken so I'll have to wait til I get over their again. Hopefully that will be sometime next week.

Thanks for the responses guys. I really appreciate it. I finally finished the bar tonight. I probably put in 15+ hours of work into the thing. It really turned out great. His neighbor, who we hang out with often, stopped in and was really impressed. There are two bottles of their favorite...

I just brewed a hard cider for the coming of fall. It was very simple and actually quite delicious. Friends that normally hate beer seem to love it too. I made the Graff Malty, Slightly hopped cider in the recipe section of the site. I used Saaz hops and substituted sugar for one of the pounds...

I like that one. I'm a man of few words. I like to get to the point.

I'm really not sure where to ask this question, but I'm going to give this thread a shot since it's somewhat related to beer. My best friend got married this past weekend, which was actually a pretty fun time. We consumed copious amounts of alcohol two days prior to the wedding, and of...

I lived in Lancaster for 5 years while in college so I know a little about their beer scene. You have the Lancaster Brewing Company, which actually brew a few of their beers on premise. Some of their small batch brews are pretty delicious. There is also an Iron Hill Brewery Pub, which also has a...

Usually around $12.50 for 24 12oz bottles. Sometimes the LHBS will give me bottles that he acquired from a local brewery for free.

I have 10 gallons of my first Albier fermenting in the basement. I plan on lagering one of the carboys for 2 weeks before bottling and the other for 6 weeks. I want to see what effects a longer lager would have on it. I also have a number of beers bottle conditioning. The one I'm looking forward...

I started out fly sparging because I thought it would be more efficient than batch sparging. The longer process and extra equipment tricked me into believing that. However, once I got my keggle and started making 10 gallon batches, lifting the fly sparge water pot above my mashtun became...

I second the Citra. I've made numerous beers using Citra hops exclusively. It's excellent for bittering, flavoring, and aroma. It's the renaissance man hop, it just does everything. It also tastes and smells amazing!

My buddy and I have been brewing strong for the past 7 months. We started our operation with a cheap 7.5 gallon turkey fryer. It worked great and make some excellent brews. However, about 4 months ago we decided to purchase a Blichman burner and make a keggle so we could start brewing up 10...

Thank you, I never thought about doing that. I figured the issue was due to the lower amount of sparge water. That was really the only variable that changed. I use DME to make starters, but never added it to my boiling wort. I've used Belgian Candy Syrup before. The guy at the brew store...

My brew buddy and I currently mash in a 50 quart rectangular shaped cooler with a CPV manifold. When doing 5 gallon batches we try to keep our beers Original Gravities below 1.070 due to the size of our mash tun. We usually mash with a 1.25-1.5q ratio of water to pound of grain and end up...

I stir after adding adding mashout water and sparge water. I follow beersmith for my water volumes and always end with the exact amount of suggested preboil water with very little water left in the mashtun. I use a cooler style mashtun with a cpvc manifold in the bottom. I've fly sparged in the...

The 10 gallon batch was based off an 80% efficiency and the 5 gallon batch 82%. If a 15 degree difference in sparge temperature didn't result in a 10 point change in gravity what did? I crush my own grain so I know the crush isn't the factor.

That's good to know. I'm going to be brewing again so I'm going to make sure my sparge water is around 175 again rather than 160. If you received a 4% boost in efficiency with a 5 degree difference in sparge temperature, I'm hoping to receive an 8-10% with a 15 degree temperature difference...

My water measurements are pretty accurate. I use a bucket that has pint marks between every gallon mark and have tested it. I also measure my own grain at the homebrew store and crush it. My buddy measured all of the specialty grains for the Scottish, but I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing...

Last night my brew buddy and I brewed a 5 gallon batch of a Scottish 80. We mashed at 155-156 for 60 minutes with a 1.45 q/lb ratio, mashed out with 1 gallon of boiling water, stirred, let sit for a few minutes, vorlaufed, then drained like we usually do. However, we forgot to put the lid on our...

I've tried different ratios ranging from 1.1 to 1.5 q/lb. I've personally had better efficiency results with a 1.5 ratio. Most people say it doesn't really matter as long as its between 1 and 2. I would test each ratio for yourself and see what kind of results you get, then just stick with...