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I was just thinking about that this morning, I think I'm leaning toward a chocolate-heavy milk stout right now, something smooth enough to share with my friends who are not as into the hops. What I really want to do over the winter is a longer, aged out ale with whiskey-soaked oak chips, but...

You can definitely get away without one on a more normal gravity beer like that. I think the reason why many of the brewers on here (myself included) do make them for all our beers is because: a) They're dead simple (and can actually become a bit of a habit) b) They completely insure that...

Aside from some personal quibbles that I have with their standard crush, I've had nothing but good experiences with Midwest. I have to assume that it's just what some of the other folks have suggested, a new packer on the job, as I've never had incorrect things show up period, let alone that...

My two cents: You don't have to cold crash a starter to use it. Some people do, others don't. You can just as easily ferment a starter out for a day and then dump the entire thing directly into the bucket. There are beer geek debates over the relative merits of this versus cold crashing and...

Always a good idea, and especially good with a weird style like Saison...there really is a lot of variety, it really was just a seasonal, light beer originally, so there have been a lot of different takes on it over the years. One of my personal favourite styles when it's done right, but it's...

You definitely want to try to error on the side of caution with the yeast, sometimes the flavour is mild, sometimes it adds a decidedly nasty edge to an otherwise good brew when they get into the glass. The big, big thing to make sure of is that you pour it in one continuous motion. Any...

Also, in a grander sense, it makes sense to be familiar with the style, if at all possible, so you can judge whether or not the recipe was a good one, if it fits your particular tastes for that style, &c. Some styles really are almost impossible to find in certain areas of the country, but if...

You can really condition using whatever methods your equipment allows for. As others have noted, what Palmer is talking about is the danger of leaving the beer on the initial yeast cake for a prolonged period of time. If you have a spare carboy, then you can easily move the beer over to that...

CO2 will build in the head space as long as the bottles are at room temperature. When you chill them it will dissolve back into the liquid in the course of a day or so. Having some space in the bottle is fine, a couple of inches or so; as others have said, this is much easier with a bottling...

Plastic stains, it's just the nature of the beast. You want to make sure you sanitize it, but don't scrub it too hard, as the last thing you want to do is score it, as that would allow nasties to hide out in the gashes.

I'm also surprised that no one was more curious about decanting. Some of the biggest problems that I ran into when I was first brewing was getting foul tasting beers because of the trub getting into suspension while I was pouring. Not so much an issue with the 12 oz. bottles, but much more with...

UnderPressure: Yes and no. It never hurts to control temperatures but the most important time, by far, is when the initial fermentation is happening. For the most part, this is done within 5 days or so. You can control temperatures after that, and it's certainly going to help out, but the...

Just depends on when you want to go to the hassle. I have a big metal strainer that I put over the top of my primary that I pour the beer through (as I don't use hop bags either, I'd rather let them dance around in the kettle) and I like to use that going into the primary simply because it means...

IIRC it's not only not a big deal, the folks at StarSan specifically note that actually trying to get all of the foam out will render it less effective. I always sanitize my primary, then dump it out just before putting the wort in, but that leaves a decent foamy layer in the bucket. No problems...

If you like maltier beer in general, then you should definitely look into English styles of beer. I'm a malthead myself (though I have gotten more into hops as the years have gone by) and I find that in many cases my favourite takes on a given type of beer come from English sources. English IPA...

Some of the most interesting beers I've had have been made by taking ingredients that normally don't go together and seeing what happens. IPA hopping means you probably should stick to something with a decent bite to it (i.e.: Pale, maybe a Bitter if you use a less hoppy base so the hops from...

OK, what you probably have is an extract kit with steeping grains then. There are a few things you're going to want to keep in mind when you brew: 1) The recipe will probably have some specialty grains included with a steeping bag, and instructions to let them steep for around 30 minutes. In...

No, no, just one or the other. If you're new you're probably using extract (it will either be dry stuff labeled things like "Golden Light" or "Light", maybe "Pilsener" or liquid with similar labels). Almost everyone starts with extract, so I'm assuming that what you're doing. How big is your...

I'm a big fan of Bam Biere. For those who don't live in the JP distribution range (which I'm assuming is small), it's a Farmhouse ale with sourness created by reused wine barrels that JP uses for all of their beers. I recently found this clone recipe: ================= Jolly Pumpkin Bam...

Ah...well, for people who are still in the pre-purchase stage, if you have the space I recommend getting one of the big rectangular rubbermaid type tubs. I think I paid $6 for one? I'm not sure of the exact capacity, but it easily fits my 6.5 gallon primary bucket and then has about 6 inches of...