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Thanks, Yooper. I basically started taking every piece of advice I saw you offering, right down to IPA grain bills and yeast selection. You should start charging for this.

After struggling through several mediocre batches, moving from extract to BIAB to full all-grain, tearing my hair out over a major recurring off-flavor issue, and finally upgrading to a small single-keg system, I am now drinking a draft IPA that is as good, if not BETTER than most pub-draft...

Definitely fine. As I understand it, this is no different than buying liquid yeast that's a month old: you produced it a month ago, which means its viability is still fine.

That seems to be exactly right. I've had a keg at 12.5 PSI at 42F for over a month now and the carbonation has remained stable for two weeks.

Agreed with the above... I wash the tun carefully with hot water and run a couple gallons through it to make sure it's clean.

So, your spring water is *very* alkaline, that is, the HCO3 (bicarbonates) are high, and as such it is more suited for a stout or other such 'dark' beer. It also has no sulfates, which is what accentuates hop bitterness. In order to approach the ideal pale ale profile, I believe you would need...

Wow. That's terrible. If you really were careful with those measurements, then you have a bad refractometer, and you've motivated me to test mine in the same way. Also, while BlueHouse is technically right that you should test the hydrometer at its calibration temperature, 12 degrees F is not...

If something takes 3 extra seconds and prevents a small chance of infection, then of course you should do it. That said, people do freak out and over-exaggerate the risks. I know this because I recently did a bottling experiment on an IPA where I didn't clean or sanitize 5 of the bottles and a...

If it took off as you say, and you've been fermenting at normal Pale Ale temps (64-72F), it is almost certainly very close to finished. Best practice is to take a hydrometer reading as others say, but to be honest I never do this: I just look for the beer to start clearing and for the activity...

Theoretically I don't think there is anything wrong with putting it back into the bucket, adding some boiled, hopped extract, and re-fermenting. I haven't read anything which suggests that this would make for a gross beer. That said, the fermentation might be impeded by all the CO2 in...

I decided to try the Willhi 1436, mainly because I don't trust myself with electronics and wanted to save $50 off the Johnson controller. Past two days its been reliably regulating my kegerator. My fridge is rated for 0.6 amps so the 5A limit is no problem (manufacturer now claims that it's...

In my experience, if I'm bottling within 3 weeks after fermentation begins, with no cold crash, the large majority of my bottles will carb in 5 days. The yeast are still very active and will munch the dextrose instantly (basically you're making little starters in your bottles, except the yeast...

HI Azazel, yeah, I realized late on that the earthiness was definitely the Willamette and that I used too much aroma hop here. Over 2 oz in this kind of recipe is stupid. Also, a fair bit of the hop material made it into the fermenter, and this might have increased the perception of the...

Hey all, thanks for the input, here. Here's the recipe. I made a starter, matched my water to AJF's Pale Ale profile, sanitized everything obviously, fermented at 64 and raised to 70, etc. And sorry: shouldn't have said it was "undrinkable", since I am drinking a pint a day. But the...

This is partly true and partly not true. I think I may have just slightly over-hopped, period, because I've been concerned about under-utilization. But do the math: 38 IBUs, 1.045: .844 BU:GU. 38 IBUs, 1.040: .950 BU:GU. So in terms of BU:GU, that is actually a fairly significant jump...

Hi all, just wanted to share something that might provoke a little discussion: I've been trying to figure out why my recent British Bitter is so undrinkable. I had a standard malt bill and used a fair dose of EKG and Willamette hops, aiming for something on the slightly bitter end of the style...

Go sens go!

Don't worry about rushing it... I've never racked a beer away from Primary in less than two weeks, though others rack sooner. Time is important because the final stages of fermentation, while not very visible, have crucial effects: the yeast "clean up" after themselves, gobbling up undesirable...

Well, not to be the bearer of bad news for your Wife, but I can almost guarantee you that you won't make cider that tastes like Angry Orchard. "Cider" like that benefits from a large number of processes, including large-scale pasteurization which allows them to halt fermentation as they choose...

Yeah, I agree, but it's almost a month out and still nothing. I don't doubt that I accelerated future oxidation, but it wasn't nearly as significant a variable as I thought it would be.