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Geez, way to put my pic to shame. All I need to match you is for my kid to get older and a *slight* improvement in my brewing operation. :)

So at this point that would require mean the beer is sitting on the trub for nearly 6 weeks... is there any with concern with that causing off-flavors? I've read that one month is the cut-off that most people use. Thanks for the response! I should be able to get it up the mid-80s, but I live...

Alright, here's the deal... Saison, 5gal batch OG 1.064 Wyeast 3724, 2 packs no starter Fermented at 75-78deg I measured the gravity at bottling 2.5 weeks later to be 1.030 (was hoping for something closer to 1.013). To me this indicated a stuck-fermentation, which I heard 3724 is...

I was never good at bottling. I had the same junk happen. I would measure out the sugar precisely, protect against infection, ferment until every possible sign showed the coast was clear. Then I would bottle, 4 weeks later the beer was great, then 2 months later the carb levels would start...

Thanks everyone. My buddies tell me that he'll soon want to be making the hops additions. Until then I'm just content with the fact that I have managed to find the time to brew with a 9 week old son in the house. Although I definitely used up a lot of my hobby-equity when I did an all grain...

Would've been nice if the photo rotated right...

This is a pic of my 7wk old son helping me bottle an old ale. I tried to get him to face the camera but he didn't want anything to do with that. I think he's hooked!

I'm looking to add vanilla to a bourbon porter, but I don't know whether to add it in the form of extract or bean. Anyone out there have any opinion on the matter? The beer is already in secondary. I'm also curious if people have had success adding vanilla beans at the end of the boil? I've...

I've brewed about 50-some batches at this point, and along the way I have stashed some of these beers for extended "aging" just to see how they respond to time. Unfortunately, I haven't had much success with this. I haven't had any bottle bombs or anything, but nearly every one of these beers...

For removing labels, I found that soaking them in my sink with hot water and a cup of oxyclean works great. If the label is going to come off at all, this ought to do the trick in under 20 minutes. I've had some problems reusing bottles, but there has definitely been a pattern. There are...

I'll try to respond to several things at once here... * Thanks for the tip on more water in the mash/sparging process. I knew that was going to be a problem going into it. I had anticipated 65%, but landed with 57%... lower than expected. The problem is that I only have an 8 gallon brew...

I think you're right, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. As I mentioned in another response, the samples of my 1st, 2nd runnings and overall mash collection were done at ~110d. I used brewing software to correct the measurements for every measurement I took. And given that this isn't...

I don't think that's my problem... I planned on poor efficiency. The measured gravity of the wort was 1.062 for 6.8 gal, and should have boiled down to 1.077. So I added 1.5 lbs of extra light DME and 6.2oz of molasses to boost it. Unfortunately, even with the adjuncts I still only landed at...

I didn't record the actual temps of my gravity samples in my documentation for the day, but I remember all of them being in the 105-120d range. Is that too high? All of the specific gravities listed below are corrected for the temp using some brewing software. * I mashed with 6.5gal water...

So yesterday I brewed a 5.5 gal AG Imperial Stout... 18 lbs Pale Ale .6 lbs Roasted Barley .6 lbs Choc Malt .6 lbs Med Crystal .6 lbs Black Malt I mashed the whole deal in a 10gal cooler. This is only my second all-grain brew, so I expected that with that many grains in a 5.5 gal batch...

Fair enough. I'll post elsewhere.

I had a similar problem yesterday with a 5.5 gal Imperial Stout all-grain batch of mine. Here was the recipe... 18 lbs Pale Ale .6 lbs Roasted Barley .6 lbs Choc Malt .6 lbs Med Crystal .6 lbs Black Malt I mashed the whole deal in a 10gal cooler. This is only my second all-grain brew, so I...

I've got about 50 brews under my belt so far, and I've always been stubborn about using a blow-off hose, until this morning (see pic). I checked my beer before bed - no bubbling yet - and woke up 7 hours later to find my carboy about ready to blow funk all over my ceiling. If I had brewed a...

This all seems strange to me. I've never had a problem with condensation before and I have stored beers in fairly extreme temps. Did you have condensation problems before adding the water pan? Also, did I read correctly that your primary carboy has a spigot? If so, I would buy a new brewing...

When racking you shouldn't need to do any filtering. Just keep the bottom of the cane away from the trub on the bottom of the carboy and you should be okay. When you get close to the bottom, carefully tilt the carboy a little to get a little extra beer out while still keeping the cane out of...