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93% is a pretty high efficiency. I would imagine you are getting some flavors that you may not want in your beers like tannin and grainy flavors. I'm always going to shoot for between 70% - 80% to try and avoid those flavors. Netflyer, sounds like you got your process down pretty nicely. I...

lol that sounds like something one of my buddies would have done in college. I cant remember how much crap he had in his room from random nights of drinking. I love the look of the fridge too! Nice work :rockin:

Thanks guys. Im going to see if I can get a more detailed water report from my city since I think its a little odd that they dont list the ppm of a lot of key minerals. Ill also see if my water softener goes through the whole house or just certain areas. Thanks again for the info!

Im just starting my first all grain batch and wanted to get more detailed with the way I brewed. I understand that people use gypsum to get a more bitter taste with their beers if their water is too soft. My question is what is the normal method of using gypsum. Ive looked at my local water...

From my experience, particulate absolutely does affect your reading. I accidentally took a reading of my wort before letting all of the hops settle to the bottom of my kettle and it was way off the charts. After things settled my reading was spot on. The hydrometer has no way of telling if...

Check out the sticky kegging FAQ since there are actual measurements for pressure vs length vs height of the tap over the keg to get a perfect pour. The most general line set up is a 3/16 diameter liquid grade tubing at a length of 5-6 ft with a presuure of 10-12 psi. That will get you a solid...

I don't use a bag. Eveything settles for me during my chill after the boil. I'll even dry hop with no bag and just give the secondary a good shake to get the hops moving around. I have never had a problem with doing things this way.

It sounds like your boil off rate is pretty high telling me that you could probably reduce your boil temp next time. On an average 15% loss you should have come out with about 6.4 gallons after a 90 min boil. The boil only needs to be a mild roll. When I boil it hardly seems like it's moving. I...

From what I understand you will want to bottle at the same temp that you last fermented at. The more fluctuation in your temperature, the quicker your beer will produce off flavors or spoil (at least I think thats the reasoning behind it). Im guessing the overall effect of raising the...

Here is another kit that NB just released. I havent tried it but I havent had a bad recipe from them yet! http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/shirley-furioso-all-grain-kit.html If any of these are attempted please post back and let us know how they turn out!

If you use fermcap in the boil do you need to put more of it into the fermenter to prevent the blow off or is the amount added to the boil sufficient?

I used to always think I needed a vigorous boil and went through a tank of propane after 3 or 4 batches! It wasnt until I started to read the forums and people were saying to use a soft rolling boil that I turned down my heat. I cant believe how much freaking propane I am saving! I also...

Yea, I definitely agree with this. Starsan dilute or vodka are the best ways to go. Ive always used a starsan dilution and have never had any problems.

lol, me too! I cant wait. Ive brewed about 10 extract batches and every one has either been PM or with specialty grains so im really looking forward to having the customizability with the base malts and grain bill. So far, they have all turned out good so Im hoping to get the same success...

You would be correct in your assumption. If you dont have a temperature controlled area in your house then you need to stick with ale recipes until you do. Otherwise your beers will come out poorly (at least the lager beers). I actually just got my temp controlled place set up. I got an...

Any suggestions for bottling? I dont have a kegging system (yet) so Ill most likely be bottling this. I would guess the standard 2/3 cups of corn sugar boiled in 2 cups of water. Im planning on brewing this in a week or two and am really looking forward to it based on the comments so far...

This chocolate mint coffee stout sounds absolutely amazing. Would you care to share this recipe with us? I would love to give it a shot. Stevoster, glad to hear your stout worked out well! Its always nice to try something new and have it work out for the better.:mug: Thanks!

I just tasted one of my pumpkin ales after letting it sit for about a month and the flavor came out great. I used the extract kit from NB and the only thing that was added to make this a "pumpkin beer" was a small packet of pumpkin spice at flame out (I think it was about an ounce). When I...

Did anyone use pellets for this recipe or did you guys all use whole hops? I just checked out their promash link and they show leaf hops as their addition. If you did use pellets, did you reduce your hop additions?

It also states this at the bottom: "* The low extraction from steeping is attributed to unconverted, insoluble starches as revealed by an iodine test." My initial question pertained to the enzymatic power of steeped grains which, depending on how you translate this sub note, could mean...