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That's not a bad idea. I might give that a shot next time around. Thanks!

So I've been brewing for 2 years or so now and this was, by far, the best beer I made. It was inspired by a few recipes I got out of Mitch Steele's new IPA book. It ended up with a nice, toasty dark character. The warm alcohol in it meshed perfectly for a fantastic mid-winter brew. The...

Both will work. You'll get beer either way. Those yeast know what to do!

I think the beauty of this hobby is that it can be as simple or complicated as you make it. Some guys are perfectly happy following both extract and all-grain kits. Other guys want to get way into the nitty gritty of hopping schedules and techniques, water reports, etc. Either way good beer...

I usually throw some munich, vienna, and a touch of chocolate wheat in mine. It gives me a great malty backbone, but everyone else is right. You could also consider some special B. You definitely don't want the roast/coffee flavors in there. They tend to mask the awesome banana/clove esters...

That looks great. Think I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

I washed some 1056 yeast from a previous batch and am looking to brew with it this weekend. What are some of your favorite 1056 fermented beers? Thanks in advance! :mug:

I'm brewing my first Dunkelweizen this Friday and am debating whether or not to make a starter. I want to go for banana more than clove, and I've heard in various places that under-pitching & stressing hefe. yeast creates more of those banana esters. :ban: Would pitching a single WLP300...

Hey at least it was in your tub! Could have been a lot worse...

Sort of a keg noob here... Last night I racked a beer into a corny and put it in the fridge to cool overnight. I accidentally left my CO2 valve open overnight and this morning when I went to hook up the gas nothing came out. I'm trying to figure out whether I simply ran out of CO2 (but only...

I started with Mr. Beer and made 5-6 batches with it. Truth be told I'm glad I did because it got my feet wet and helped me learn the basics of Homebrewing. Then I took what I learned and moved to 5-gallon extract brews, learned some more, and then moved to All-Grain. Sort of a stepping stone...

Actually, your yeast will probably love you for it. They go nuts for the stuff, apparently.

And those specialty grains will also give the beer a "fresher" taste as well as a more complex beer that extract can't give you. I was thrilled when I started using them as they give you tastes you can't get from extract alone. Enjoy.

You could also consider making a yeast starter if you've just been pitching the vial directly in the cooled wort. Each beer is its own unique animal, though. Sometimes they'll start fermenting right away & sometimes it could take up to 3 days. It all depends on a number of variables. Beers...

+1 My last starter did this but I cleaned the flask, pitched it, & the beer turned out fantastic.

Sounds like you're doing just fine. The fermentation temp is always going to be a few degrees warmer than the air temp. Also - the only risk you run by fermenting a little warmer is esters. Often times they're fruity esters, but this depends on the yeast. As long as you're in the ballpark of...

On mine I cut a very small copper piece and connected it to that T (pointing straight up). Then, I put an elbow on the end of the small piece and connected another small copper piece to the spigot. Mine, though, does rest all the way on the bottom so there is enough room to do that. Not...

If it's not touching the bottom completely it will still work fine, you'll just have more dead-space in your mash tun (space where wort that gets left in the cooler and doesn't make it into the kettle.) As you brew your first few batches you can figure out how much wort you're losing in the...

Longtime lurker but going to start posting. Because of you fine folks I'm now rocking All-Grain batches and kegging them in my basement. Thanks for all of the advice over the years!