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I recently posted something that you might find helpful. In summary I found that trying to control fermentation temperature (especially ales) is very difficult if you are using glass or plastic fermenter - say you want to ferment at 68F so you put your fridge at 68F - problem is some ales will...

8 gallon brew kettle from MoreBeer, Black Iron Stand and multi-jet natural gas burner from Cajun Cooking

Man, this is beautiful. I love the finish on the bar. Looks like you went first class on the hop trellis too. What sort of exposure does it have? When is the best time to plant in your area?

I use natural gas supply from my house. I use it for my gas fireplace, furnace, water heater, my grill and my homebrew kettle. It is low pressure (~ 6 inH2O) so it requires a natural gas burner with larger orifices. I use the multi-jet burner from Cajun Cooking. It is awesome, I never worry...

Absolutley, go to Hofbrauhaus. Dunkel and the Weizen are excellent. Listermans, in Cincy, is also a pretty good homebrew supply store if you get a chance to check it out.

Broadbill, I totally agree, if you are happy with your homebrew then there is no reason to try to fix it. In my case, I used to measure temperature the way you do (surface temp of my glass carboy) and one day I decided to use a measurement in the center of the fermenter, in the wort. I was...

OK, I have finished the experiments. This was much simpler than I was expecting. Basically I ran two separate tests. In the first set I started with my carboy with 5 gallons of 100 F water sitting in my cellar at 70 F. In the second set I started with my carboy with 5 gallons of 100 F water...

If you pay close attention to the actual wort temperature, inside the carboy, you will see that it rises quite a bit higher than the fridge temperature. The Ranco will try to control the temp by cycling the fridge/ freezer but it simply cannot pull the necessary BTU's out of the glass carboy...

Interesting stuff. I am already looking at possible containers for the water and I saw the 10 gallon rubbermaid coolers. I am surprised you had to hold the water temperature so low (~32F) to achieve internal temperatures in the 60's. This is worrisome. I would have guessed that the water...

I have found that attempting to control the temperature inside my glass carboy by manipulating the temperature of the surrounding air (refrigerator) is not really providing the type of control I desire. For ales, during heavy fermentation stage my carboy temperature rises as much as 3 degrees...

This recently happened to me. Beautiful primary beer, racked to secondary and added 1oz hallertau pellets and after 5 days i noticed airlock activity and a thin white foam head in the secondary. I let it go a couple more days and then kegged it - the final gravity was 1.009. The beer has...

One thing to think about is the season - if you will be brewing now it means your finished beer will be at its best in the winter season. An oatmeal stout is a great winter beer. An English bitter is also a good choice. I usually try to avoid having summer styles on tap during the winter...

May the quest for a simple ale clone of SA Boston Lager end here... Size: 5 gallons Ingredients: 3.3 lb Amber Liq ME 3 lb Light Dry ME 1.5 oz. Tettnanger(bittering) 1/4 oz. Hallerttau Mittlefrueh(flavor) 1/4 oz. Tettnanger(aroma) 1/4 oz. Hallerttau Mittlefrueh(finish) + 1/4...

I think this recipe of yours would be interesting, wonder if it would be a bit light in color though. My recipe is similar to Mr. Clean's. Let us know how this turns out! 5-7 days dry hop.

By my measures, 1 ounce of hops would equal 2.5 Tbsp I agree, it was odd that he measured in Tbsp but when you are sitting in a pile of hops like Jim Koch it is easier to measure in a tablespoons than it is to get out the scale and weigh it.

I closely monitor all my fermentations - I'm kind of a nerd I guess. I have had batches of ale that began producing CO2 within 1 hour of pitching the yeast - usually takes a few hours. I have had ale batches similar to what you mention in the post, all the way to 1.010 within 30 hours. This...

Warning - if you follow his recipe exactly you will get a version of Sam Adams Light Boston Ale. This is because the OG for a 5 gallon yield is about 1.040 when it should be 1.052 according to his video. Here is the recipe from the video: 3.3 lbs Munton Amber Malt Extract 3.3 lbs Munton...

Of course Leinenkugel makes this beer all-grain and as a lager. So it is a tall order to try and clone it as an all-extract with an ale yeast. But I think the above recipe will get you pretty darn close - my friends can't tell them apart. I always thought Sunset Wheat had a blueberry flavor...

I searched far and wide for a good ale, extract recipe for Lienenkugel's Sunset Wheat. I finally had to just grab straws and pick the one I thought I could trust. Turns out, it was off a good bit (too high OG, too much blueberry). So then I tried some variations, and slowly I got closer. I...

I used to worry alot about my fermentations. Most times I would brew a batch and see vigorous bubbling within 8 - 12 hours. Sometimes I never really saw much action. It prompted me to devise the fermonitor - a real time specific gravity probe. What I have learned is that my batches behave...