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I have a beer a night. There are so many good beers out there now. Long are the days of just having Budweiser to drink. I still buy beer of course because there is no better way to understand beer flavors than to drink beer. The hardest decision for me is whether to have a homebrew or something...

What temperature did you ferment at? Last brew was the Centennial Blonde found here using Nottingham. No diacetyl off flavors. In fact, I've used Nottingham a bunch and have yet to experience this. I've never let the temp of the carboy rise about 64F though until active fermentation was done...

Want to know for sure? Do the work. Brew the same recipe over and over again and change the hop schedule. Simple as that. There have been so many things in brewing that have been "pretty well understood" only to be not so well understood a few years later.

I have made 3.5-4 gallon average gravity beers in my 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler and have lost a degree or less over a 60 minute mash. I simply preheat the cooler and mash in a degree or two high, stir down, seal it up at temp. Never had a problem with headspace yet.

Get the 10 gallon cooler. I use a 10 gallon Rubbermaid and have plenty of room for high gravity 5 gallon batches through moderate 10 gallon batches. Skip the 5 gallon kettle as a boil kettle if you plan on doing 5 gallon batches. You'll need something that holds 6.5-7.x gallons pre-boil. The 5...

The data you are looking at is at best 2 years old and you have no idea what time of the year that sample was pulled. City water reports are not brewing friendly. The easiest step you can take is to take a sample of your treated/filtered brewing water as you would use it and send it to Ward...

Craig, I have some advice about your all grain video. Although I enjoyed watching it and think it's great you had the balls to post your first (and only?) experience with it. Here are some simple things that will make your next all grain on the stove so much more easier. Maybe it will help you...

I just enjoyed a Ruthless Rye tonight. Good beer to try and clone. My suggestion would be to sub the Bravo with Warrior as the bittering hop. I'm actually going to brew something like this doing that. My next rye recipe on deck is Denny's.

Bud Light.

Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA.

I'm guessing you pitched a whole pack of Nottingham? If you've been at 64 for a day now just let it sit and keep the temp constant. How's the airlock activity? How about the wort? Is it starting to mix around when you look in the carboy? The weak foam is an indication that active fermentation...

A glass carboy is one of the easiest ways to track fermentation progress. By visually learning what the fermentation process looks like can help tremendously when deciding when the beer is done. An airlock also helps with knowing when fermentation is done. More so with the glass carboy than a...

Two weeks on a gallon batch is plenty of time to ferment. I know my batches are done by experience and sight. I ferment in glass and have watched many batches ferment. It's good to get a hydrometer, especially during the early brews to check for FG before deciding to rack. How many ounces of...

Learning to use a hydrometer is a mandatory skill needed to make beer. I would also add that fermenting in glass or a better bottle is a simple luxury that allows you to see the process of fermentation which is more important than pulling out the hydrometer all the time. Seeing active...

Yes I know I pretty much set that one up! Funny still. I would have posted the same thing.

Actually, it's good you got the temp down before it took off. The act of fermentation produces heat so while it's really going for around 3 days you'll be adding ice to keep that temp at 64. Once it slows down start backing off the ice and you may be able to dump the water/ice altogether. Just...

Be careful not to get it too cold. Also, don't worry about not rehydrating the yeast. In fact, that was probably my most "controversial" statement. You'll get varying opinions on it. I say do it but others who produce some fine beer don't. It's so easy to do that I just do it every time I use...

The best tip I can give you right now to improve the beer is to get the carboy temp down in the lower 60s. The fermometer shows 70 degrees and that's really hot for just about any ale using yeasts like Nottingham, S04, US05, 1056, 001, etc. It's probably only going to go up in temp which is a...

I believe you'll know when you get good. The ultimate deciding factor is the beer. When I started I used extracts either via steeping grains or partial mash. These beers ended up disappointing me to the point that I dumped a portion of all of them. They were drinkable but they had a taste I...

Northern Brewer is legendary for telling you to secondary. After all, the kit you bought comes with two carboys. The fact is, that beer has absolutely no need to go into a secondary. It would be a complete waste of time. But you'll do it because the kit says so and it's your first brew. I like...