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I saw an immediate and drastic improvement in the quality of my beer when I switched to all grain. I know I will get people slamming me on this like I do every time, but that is my experience both when I brewed many years ago, and when I started up again last year. The beer tasted much better...

It is obviously for the huge yet previously ignored demographic home-brewers-who-love-cats-and-don't-mind-fur-in-their-beer-as-long-as-the-sign-they-made-is-cute. Its about time they had their voices heard.

I don't mess with trying to get the tomato base right from scratch, I just use ketchup. With my recipe, I use one whole beer for each batch, and I find it is the best way to change the taste of the sauce. I add Newcastle for stronger meats like brisket, and I use Killian's Irish Red for sweeter...

12 pounds of pressure is far too much for serving pressure. I force carb the same way you do, let it sit for an hour at 40 lbs, and vent the pressure. After that, I never go over about 5 lbs for serving pressure. If I set it at 12, it would be foam all the time. My lines are about 3 feet long...

Welcome, this is a great forum and you are about to become a full fledged addict!

Definitely bottle it and drink it, because you will have no idea how off you were otherwise. Unless a beer is contaminated and totally ruined, you should take it all the way through and learn from it. You won't know what it tastes like until it is carbonated, aged, and chilled. Once you do, you...

Sparging will most likely be the first place you problems with all grain. Get a false bottom to install in your Mash Tun, and then read very carefully on here about avoiding a stuck sparge. The best advice I have found is this: 1. Use rice hulls as a bed on your false bottom - about 1/2 pound...

I agree with the organization part. I have just a part of a closet in my office, but I recently put up shelving where I can organize all the small stuff, and it works great. Besides, lets face it, women are right, it looks like **** to have a bunch of brewing stuff laying around all the time.

Thanks for all the advice. It got going at about 36 hours and then bubbled along great. I am not a fan of the smack packs at all, but in this case it was that or nothing.

I haven't taken a reading, but this is a beer I have brewed several times, so I kind of know what to expect, and there should be some activity by now.

I would wait to try your first two batches before you move on. You may need to make some adjustments to your sanitizing, ferment temps, etc. and it would suck to find out three full batches into it.

It may be done fermenting. I have had beers finish in three days several times. Check your gravity and see.

Without going into a long story, I ruined my yeast for a Sunday brew at 5:30 on a Saturday. I had to buy the only yeast I had access to in the next half hour, or I was not going to be able to brew for another week. I bought a pack of Wyeast Irish Ale that had a manufacture date of 12/3/10, and...

I wouldn't put too much time into that, it will be illegal soon.

I like your set up. If you went to a round upright cooler, you could eliminate a little of the dead space in your MLT, but you can always add sparge water instead, and you'll be fine. All grain is the way to go!

Be sure not to splash that beer around when you pour it back in the fermenter!

Heavin-your-oats-meal-stout

Above all, I would never use your attic if you can help it. Attics are not well insulated and are prone to changes in temperature. The worst thing you can do for fermentation is have a constantly fluctuating temperature. Usually, the temperature of an interior closet in your house stays pretty...

I am getting back into brewing for the last year or so after about 6 years not brewing, and I am amazed at how much I forgot. It is definitely not like riding a bike. The great part is the amount of information on these forums. I did not have that before, and it has really helped. Welcome back...

You are either going to pay shipping, tax, or gas money, so make your choice. These homebrew supply places are not pulling in Microsoft money, so stop trying to shave off two bucks from a batch and support the businesses supporting the homebrewer.