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I love the smell of my fermenters. I've got one that's about 12 years old. another one is 2 years old. That one I may replace soon because the lid doesn't seal any more. If I can find a new lid that fits, I'll keep using it. I wash them with dish washing liquid and a soft cloth. The...

Last year, in the back of a closest, I found a 6 pack of my first two batch that I brewed in 94. One was a stout and the other was a bitter. When I tried them, they both tasted the same. Like caramel but not sweet. There was no hop flavor at all, and there was a smooth, warm alcohol...

I have a couple of different wireless meat thermometers, and they work great for BBQ and smoking. I've never used them for brewing, but I have thought about it. The way I would use one would be to stick the probe through a piece of styrofoam insulation and let it float on top of the mash or...

I made one out of the 60 qt Ice Cube a couple of weeks ago. I made a copper manifold with a dip tube from the drain to the manifold. With no solder on any joints, it will suck the cooler dry. It works great. Also the cooler can double as a fermentation chiller.

I shake my bottles 2 or 3 times a week for the first 3 weeks. My last 2 batches, I bottled together, so I had too many bottles to work with, and ended up only getting to about 15 bottles. After 2 weeks, the shaken bottles were much better than the unshaken bottles. It's about 5 weeks now...

I usually have one or two leakers which results in one or two under carbed bottles. They also won't fit any 6 pack cartons or partitioned cases. And, it's harder to get your empty bottles back from friends and family.

You just need practice. Learn from your mistakes. My first AG went much like yours. I over shot my temp and mashed too hot. Then I sparged too fast. Now that I know how my mash tun works, next time it will be much better.

It's probably just green. 8 days is pretty fast. I usually ferment 3 weeks then age in the bottle 2 to 4 weeks before the greenness is gone. I sometimes get a vinegar taste at bottling time, but it has always gone away with time. Give it time. It will probably loose that vinegar taste in...

I loved it when he talked about his PET bottles. "It's a beer-and-a-half". I never really thought of something as "beer sized" before. Back on topic, most of my beers don't turn out right. I end up drinking all of the bad ones while half of the good ones are given away. It's a good thing...

Sometimes, I think she regrets getting me started, but she does like my beer.

January 1994. My wife (then girl friend) gave me my first home brew kit for Christmas.

I use Avery DesignPro free from Avery.com. I use shipping labels and color printer.

There's also Abita's TruboDog. I think dogs probably love beer more than people do. My boxer used to sniff around my beer until she would "accidently" spill it. "oops", she would say. "Better clean it up". Man I miss that dog.

I did that with my first two batches. Fourteen years later I found them in the back of the closet. When I tried them, they didn't taste like beer at all. One was a bitter and the other was an Irish stout, but they both tasted the same. Like caramel with a mild alcohol warmth down the throat...

I would spend time on here while at work, but they got it firewalled. I can't even get around it with a proxy server.

I had a bunch of bottles that looked like that. Full of soil, dirt, slugs, and various other crawling things. Soaking them in a bleach solution didn't seem to do much good for me. What did work pretty well was a soak in liquid dish washing liquid and hot water. And also probably equally...

That is the reason I use a bucket for my primary. It's nice to be able to see the fermentation going on, but it's a pain in the butt to clean that dried up mess from around the bottom of the neck.

I usually just sling it around, then hang it up. But if i'm in a hurry to pack my hose away, I'll sling it around, then hook it up to my oxygen for a few minutes to dry it out quickly.

The Escali is a great scale for the price.

I've been using this same exact setup for a couple of years now, after my spair fridge died on me with a lager in it. It works better than the fridge did. I fill it up to three inches from the top or until the carboy becomes almost buoyant. I use frozen water bottles to get temps down...