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Do yourself a favor and get the 6 gallon fermenters and a nice size boil kettle, preferably 8.5 gallons. You're going to get addicted to all grain brewing and wish you made bigger batches. I just graduated to 10 gallon batches from 5 gallons. I used an 8.5 gallon turkey fryer for 20+ beers...

I second the Hefe, they're definitely more flavorful than a Belgian wheat. A mild hoped German pilsner would be refreshing and tastey too. Here's the recipe of the pilsner that we just kicked a keg of: 7lbs German Pils (2row) 1.5lbs Crystal 10 1.5oz Hallertauer 60min .5oz Saaz 60min...

I use a 1/2 nipple on the interior of my mash tun too. You'll need a 3/4" diameter opening in your washer.

I attempted my first 3 lagers with WLP830. The first was a German pilsner followed by a Vienna lager and smoker lager. The pilsner and Vienna had an off flavor at the end. I believe the smoked lager would have the same flavor, but the 4lbs of smoked malt masks it. The off flavor is hard to...

This is part of a post I made last week, but it gives you a good idea how my brew day goes. "Since the burner worked out perfectly something else had to go wrong as always. Don't give your drunk buddy permission to brew his first batch alone. It seems that he lost the washer for my coleman...

A Victory Headwaters clone. If it was placed right beside the original no one would be able to tell the difference. I love my Citra hops. My local HBS hooked me up with 3lbs of Citra leaf hops for $13 a pound. What an amazing price for hops that you can't find on the internet.

Yeah, it's really hard being patient, but it's definitely worth it. The second brew I made was a Scottish ale that seemed to lack head and character. After two months in the closest it's delicious.

I've had 2 beers within the last 3 months that were stuck at 1.020 two weeks after fermentation began. I believe I narrowed down what cause the stuck fermentations, but I will not go into that now. I was able to get the yeast working again by adding yeast energizer and shaking the fermenter for...

If I don't plan on harvesting or using the yeast cake I just throw it in the lawn. I love yeast cakes though. Nothing like dumping a finished mash on top of a fresh yeast cake. You know the yeast is still viable and fermentation usually starts within hours.

I brewed a Hefe a few months back and used about 1/2 oz. of the pre-dried orange peels you get at the brew shop. It was a little much. The beer had a sharp bitter orange bite at the finish. I would only use a very small amount.

Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. I rechecked all the gas connections and tested for leaks. It turns out that I was able to unscrew the gas line from the burner with little force. Gas was most likely leaking out of the connection. I guess that's what you get when you let...

Well it seems like the propane smell means that there's something wrong, as most of you reported that doesn't occur for you. I'm surprised at the number of brews that most of you get on the Blichmann. I thought I would easily get 5-6, my old turkey fryer usually made it through 5 easily. I'm...

My friend and I purchased a Blichmann TopTier burner last week after the hose on our turkey fryer caught on fire. We purchased the turkey fryer at Lowes back in December for $60, pot and all. It served us well through at least 15 brews. We averaged about 5-6 brews per tank of propane. However...

Thanks for the link, I will definitely take a look at it.

I started AG brewing back in December after a two year hiatus. When I first started home-brewing I always ignored the hydrometer and careful measurements. I always ended up with drinkable beer, but this time around I became more interested in the science of brewing and proper procedure. I've...

I put about a gallon of boiling water into the mash tun about 20 minutes before I mashed. I probably stirred the grain longer than 5 minutes due to the temperature discrepancies. I'm going to try using it again with the next mash, it works well in plain water. If it goes haywire again I will...

I brewed my first batch of beer last week after a two year hiatus. My buddy and I finally invested into some new equipment. The brewing kit we purchased advertised that it came with a thermometer on the box, it turned out to be a sticker style thermometer for the fermenter. It was late at night...

I ended up boiling 1 cup of water, which boiled down to about 2/3 cup, chilled it in an ice bath, then pitched the yeast at around 90 degrees. I let it sit for 15 minutes then gave it a quick stir. After another 10 minutes my wort was cool enough to pitch. I shook my wort for about 5 minutes...

Last week I brewed an IPA and pitched Safale 05 directly on top of the wort after aeration without re-hydrating the yeast. My OG was really high because I ended up with less wort than I predicted. It took about 2 1/2 days before fermentation kicked off. I was worried that the yeast was pitched...

I have been homebrewing occasionally for the last few years and have finally gotten back into it after a 2 year hiatus. I always use a yeast starter but never with re-harvested yeast. I'm thinking about harvesting and washing the yeast from my Pale Ale at the end of the week. I understand the...