Search results

...and make some banana bread soon. :D This happened to me during my first all grain brew. I ended up with 3 gallons of beer instead of five. It was my first and only stuck sparge. I'm glad it happened then, because I learned a lot.

Phooey on you sobriety! I'm makin' some hooch! Just one more survival skill to add to my repertoire.

+1 on being patient after you bottle. I had a bottle of my first batch after a few weeks and it was ok. I had my last bottle of my first batch 10 months after my first brew and it was amazing! If you find you love the hobby, brew a pipeline of your faves.

1. Sanitize 2. Sanitize 3. Don't get ahead of yourself. There can be a lot going on and perfecting the process when starting out is more important than anything except one (see the next tip). 4. Sanitize Welcome to the hobby. It can really suck you in because of how much fun it can be.

I shoot for consistency (I guess most of us do), so what I do when I have an issue with my beers, whether it's an off flavor or any other issue, I make a list of theories as to what may be causing it. I then check my brew notes and see what I may have changed in my process (or have done...

I was working a seasonal job in Boston and all my brew equipment was back in Wisconsin. I wanted to brew anyway. When I went to the LHBS I told them my situation and that all I needed was the bare minimum to brew. They kept saying that what I was doing was going to produce a bad beer. "Maybe...

Count me in! Thanks much,

Jack fruit... or Jack fruit and coconut.

I have a 7.5 gal kettle and I have to watch it veeeery closely for boil overs. I just might try that spray bottle trick.

This is exactly what I plan on doing. I'm going to bottle my "Spiced & Canned Pumpkin" Ale next week and my next brew will be using whole pumpkins and putting them in the oven for an hour or so, then into the mash. A side-by-side review will help me decide how I'll brew this every year.

What a great way to avoid a stuck sparge and get a pumpkiny flavor. Let us know how this turns out.

Get the chiller. It will save you time and reduce the risk of infection during that critical time after boil and before pitching. For me, cooling to pitchable temp went from more than an hour to 20 minutes. One of the best investments I made early on. You can get a 25' chiller for cheap...

I agree, don't overthink this. Itme's tips and the video posted by enohcs is the best place to start. Once you get your process down and learn what works best for your setup, a lot of your questions may be answered.

I'm brewing a pumpkin ale too that I needed to put a blowoff on in the nick of time. I'm using Wyeast 1272. I've seen other pumpkins with really active fermentation too. Maybe it's just the time of year and the rise in homebrewing pumpkin beer, but it seems that this style really creates...

This starter wort calc may help you: http://brew.stderr.net/starter_wort_calc.html The key is to keep it below 1.040 and above 1.030. If you're measuring in cups 2 oz = 1/4 cup, 4 oz = 1/2 cup, etc...but as long as you're building a stir plate, you might as well get a scale. They sell them...

Wow! this brew created the most active fermentation out of any brew I've done so far. I just had to fashion an emergency blowoff tube.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think you'll get a darker beer with a more body with the carabelge. Let us know how it turns out.

Many of you have probably listened to this already, but Basic Brewing Radio did a podcast in 2009 pretty much saying that pumpkin is a waste of time: http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr11-26-09pumpkinexp.mp3 It's a pretty good listen. Description from the website: Does pumpkin...

I recently had krausen clogging up my airlock on a pumpkin pie beer and I needed to quickly sanitize the airlock, and the lid of my bucket and anything that touched it. The quickest solution was to put Star San in a spray bottle. It made things so convenient and it's something I'll be...

Look for the non-spiced Libbys canned pumpkin. They come in 29 oz cans in the baking section. I used two of them on my first pumpkin pie beer this year. I roasted them in the oven for an hour or so and put them in the mash with the rest of the grain bill. It's fermenting now and the...