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Agreed. I have used dry yeast quite a bit and my beers usually run about 1.070 to 1.075 OG. Of all the various dry yeasts I have used I have never had a stuck ferment just sprinkling a single standard pack on top of 5 gallons of wort and closing it up. I'm not gonna step out on a limb and say...

If you are trying to get in cheap, forget about the conical, the Tilt, the stir plate, dedicated crash fridge, aerator, carboy cleaner and carboys. The Big Mouth Bubbler is a great fermenter and I have four of them, all with spigots for siphonless transfer. One would be enough, I suppose. But I...

All true and I am in the same camp, promoting an extract kit for first batch. Now it doesn't take much of a recipe to make a drinkable beer, as long as the steps are performed correctly. Two 5 lb bags of generic two-row mashed BIAB and hopped an ounce or two in a 60 minute boil with cascade or...

Ah ok. I was concerned about the beer being blatantly, overtly, overwhelmingly sweet. I think I will up it to an even pound. It seems to work for @Jag75 so maybe it will work for me. So I am thinking add it late in the boil. Or should I add it early, with the hops? I plan to do the usual 60...

Good points. And also, familiarity with extracts is a big help when going for that first really big beer. The brewer can get the flavor profile just right with a well conceived mash bill, then use an appropriate extract to add crazy amounts of fermentables with no waste, after mashing the grains...

Yeah I have used a few flip tops and they are pretty cool except they don't fit in my bottle drain rack unless I pop the bails off the bottles. I actually seldom bottle, but I think it is an essential skill and also bottling has a cheaper entrance fee than kegging, so bottling at least the first...

I have had good results with Kviek. My beers are all on the dark and heavy side so take that in consideration. I have never done a lager due to temperature issues. During hurricane season, electricity for climate control is not guaranteed, and so it often comes to pass that I have to ferment at...

Nah you don't must need to use a secondary. In fact, if the transfer is not done carefully, you can damage your beer instead of helping it. But it can help, too, sometimes, at least a little. I like to transfer to a new fermenter when it is just barely done fermenting, if the trub layer is...

BIAB isn't all THAT complicated, but I would still recommend a 5 gallon extract kit for your first batch. That gives you a chance to get all the things common to both brewing methods down pat first, instead of figuring out everything about grain brewing all at once. Extract is pretty easy to get...

Use acetylene. Then you can serve flaming beer. OK JK don't do that. All I have ever used is CO2, never went in for anything more exotic than that. Yeast makes... CO2. I carbonate with... CO2. Just seems natural and appropriate.

Maybe not. It's not a race. Who cares if it is two weeks or two months before you can drink your batch? Once you have your process down pat, you can have two or three batches going at once, in different stages and different final ready to drink dates, and always have plenty of drinkable beer on...

A bit too little is better than a bit too much. In the case you mention I would put 2. Maybe mark one bottle and put 3 in just that one, and mark it. Store it in a bucket or clean trash can in case it blows, which it probably won't but its good to be safe. If you drink the 3 drop bottle and like...

When I started, I was very concerned about leaving the beer in the fermenter too long. On the advice of many here, I stopped worrying about that so much. Leaving the beer on the trub a week or two "too long" generally won't hurt anything and it can help a good bit. I actually watch my airlock a...

Thanks for the reply. Nothing like empirical results. I just spent a few minutes crunching numbers. A teaspoon of sugar in a pint of something wet is just noticeable. Take lemonade, for instance. Or iced tea. For the record, I happen to hate sweet tea and prefer my iced tea unsweet, but that's...

Meanwhile, you have overcarbed bottles. Not a big deal, though I would rather have under than over carbing. So when you open, it is gonna be a process. Chill the beer good. Ice cold is great. Don't jostle it, let it sit for a while. With your hand held bottle opener, not a wall mount bar style...

Just some thoughts. For perspective. 48 teaspoons make a cup. 16 tablespoons make a cup. A tablespoon of chocolate syrup in a big glass of milk, say a US pint, is a reasonably stout chocolate milk. A teaspoon is pretty meek and mild. There are 8 pints in a gallon, so 48 pints in your 6gal...

Should be fine. The Block Party Amber Ale is a nice drinky beer and it is the first beer I ever brewed. I have even taken TWO BPAA kits and made ONE 5 gallon batch. I call that "Doppel-Block". Not very cost effective but it is pretty yummy. I am no longer using kits and no longer using extract...

I started with LME, first kits and then freestyling it. I always noticed a tendency to foam for the first 20 or so minutes of the boil, and then the foam drops. There is obviously a reaction of some sort there. I have only done all grain for the last year or so but when I did LME I always boiled...

Thanks for all the replies. I am coming away from this thread with a little better idea of what to expect from different mash regimens and a little better idea of how I want to do it, exactly, which was my goal. Your sharing of knowledge is much appreciated.

So a protein rest is BEFORE raising kettle temp to the mash range? And you would add the other fermentables before this protein rest, or after heating to mash temperature? And if mash time is critical, is the mash terminated by cooling below the lower end of the range, or exceeding the high end...