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Good point, I'll keep at least some of each batch separate to see how they differ.

Just to see how fast I could start a fermentation I did the following experiment: Made two batches of brown with a super simple extract recipe. The first one sat in the carboy for a week then I transferred it to secondary. For the second I cooled it to about 120F then poured that along with...

A potentiometer won't work but a variac (variable transformer) will. That won't regulate temperature - it will just adjust heat output so you will still have to play with it. Or just get a $10 Home Depot mechanical thermostat and use that. Make sure you get one that's intended for baseboard...

Update on this - after TWO MONTHS in a warm garage, the Maris Otter SMaSH has finally begun to carbonate! I tried one the other day and it wasn't half bad. Not much to it, but it's definitely more complex (more body, very slight nuttiness) than the 2-row SMaSH. It's becomng a drinkable...

The old Stone Brewing location is now Lost Abbey, and given how well they are doing I don't think they will be selling. (I could see Tomme contracting out a fermentor for Pliny or something though.)

I can think of several bars/breweries out here where homebrewers "serve" (i.e. give away) their own beer. It's pretty common for someone to come in with a few bottles of X and give it out. Heck, in San Diego, QUAFF does that all the time with homebrew - and they're big (100 people per meeting)...

Nope. You can still get bacterial growth in beer; the alcohol content isn't enough to kill it all. That's why many people either boil their fruit (actually get it to over about 170F) or use sterilized purees like Oregon Fruit. That being said natural yeasts that hitch a ride on your fruit...

I've tried that with Oxyclean (the invert the bottle thing) but I'll give it a shot with PBW - thanks for the tip. When I pick it up by the neck it sucks air (often airlock water as well) in. When I pick it up like a glass carboy (hugging it) it blows air out, then sucks it back in when I...

Some notes on carboys: Better Bottles are a bear to clean. I know, you just fill them with oxyclean and everything comes off like magic, but maybe they forgot to include the magic in my box of oxyclean. I made a sponge on a metal arm to get the krausen ring off and that works OK, but it's...

Shaking has worked fine for me as well, but after dropping a glass 7 gallon fermentor full of sanitizer I'm a little gun-shy about doing more manipulation than needed. For my glass fermentors I use an oxygen system/stone now.

Maybe, although the boil doesn't really start until the kettle is about 1/2 full. Most of the time savings for me comes from the time saved warming the wort from mash temps (150F or so) to just under boiling. I'll have to see what happens with this beer. I've been assuming that the thinner...

Did an experiment last month, a SMaSH with american two-row, German Tradition hops and US-05 yeast. It was based loosely on the "SMaSHing Blonde Ale" in the recipe database here, which got good reviews. Anyway tried it for the first time this week - and it tastes amazingly like Miller. I...

I have yet another shortcut that allows me to start brewing at 6 and have it in the fermentor by 10:30 - After I recirculate the first wort, I start draining into the brewkettle. As soon as I have about an inch of wort I start the burner and get it boiling. I generally get it to a boil...

I find the biggest problem is beer storage space. A 6 gallon fermentor fits in a closet, and everything else can hide away in cabinets. But once you've bottled it you'll have to store it somewhere; even with a garage we're running out of space. (Admittedly I make too much beer.)

After I pitched the yeast. Fermemtation was still going on. (I have no idea if that's right or wrong, it's just what I tried.)

I started at room temp in a regular fermentor, waited 48hrs then transferred. So I got the lagering but not the lower temp fermentation.

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Wanted something that would fit in the fridge, so I made a 3gal fermentor out of a refrigerator water bottle, some tubing and a yeast vial. Seems to work pretty well and fits in the fridge. Limits me to a half batch though.

Two suggestions. One, put some of your beer into sanitized 16oz plastic Coke bottles, then squeeze them periodically to see how rigid they have become. When they have gotten rigid, you have enough CO2, although it may take a few more days to properly dissolve. It takes me 7-10 days to have...

Walmart had a 40qt aluminum steamer pot for $19.99 last week. It's flimsy but it works.