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How frustrating that there is no way to tell if you have a dud before proofing the yeast. I had two pouches out of the bad lot, the first has taken off and given me a krausen in 24 hrs, the second is still in the fridge. I do like the nottingham, but I think I will be buying something else...

I'm going to have to agree with the person who said PET. The pressure that beer builds can be a little suprising, and even if the bottle held it, I'd bet that the bottle would rock back and forth the next time you sat it on a flat surface (I have seen a few bottles that were dropped at a funny...

I would be interested to know if this is all grain or extract. Also if all grain, what temperature did you mash at? I find extract tend to underattenuate a bit for me. High mash temps would do the same. Also, things like lactose and maltodextrin would lead to higher finishing gravities.

I am looking at making my first barleywine in a few weeks. My understanding is that you want to pitch an alcohol tolerant yeast (ie champagne yeast) into secondary to make sure that all of the fermentables have been consumed, and to ensure that bottles carbonate. Since wyeast 1056 will be...

Thanks all for the responses. I knew that hop flavour would fade, but I was not aware that the bitterness would fade as well. That is very good news, I will definitely leave it. Worst case scenario now is that I will have a well balanced beer for next halloween :)

Thanks for that, I really should be tasting post boil more often to try to get a sense of what is normal.

I got started to save money. Somehow along the way I learned to enjoy making and drinking beer. I still haven't saved any money, although if I don't buy any more equipment for the next 4 years I just might get ahead. Who knows, but then again, who cares? Of course if you really want to get...

Okay I'm not a complete noob, only a partial noob, however after todays brew session, i realize that I don't know as much as I thought I did. I look forward to any and all suggestions I tried to make my first pumpkin beer (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/samhain-pumpkin-ale-140674/). After...

I started making cold process soap before I learned how to make beer. Its one of the main reasons aluminum makes me nervous (Aluminum and Sodium Hydroxide do not mix!). I personally wouldn't steep the grains, I would just throw them in whole and they could act like pumice (if it were me, I...

In Canada, my favorite website is www.homebrew-supplies.com Shipping does get expensive, but if you can find just malted 2-row barley anywhere locally, buy it by the sack and get the specialty stuff online. For your first few attempts, you can get it all online and have him crush it for you...

Well, the masonary bit works for me, the little 'wings' on the nose of the bit engage the slots, so it doesn't slip, and the bit requires no modification. People have also ground down spade bits to fit the slots, but it wouldn't use a standard twist drill bit as i would think it will slip and...

Are you using the handle or the 11/32 masonry bit in a drill? Also, have you tried conditioning the grain?

This is so interesting. I had the identical experience, using nottingham, making a cream of 3 crops. I am a noob myself, and assumed that the large amount of adjuncts was the culprit. Either that or I somehow oxidized the batch (because your description of the stale beer gardens was right...

I have two on deck to brew in the next few weeks Samhain Pumpkin Ale for fall 2010 and Fireside Barleywine for fall 2011 unfortunately I don't know if either of these will come in at your price point. Its never too soon to plan for the future though! I think the one problem for you is...

I am still something of an all-grain noob myself, but one thing I would like to chime in on is that I have done it both ways. My first all grain I actually did 3 sparges of about about 1.5 gallons each. I got 70% but I think I might have gotten a little tannin extraction, because by the time I...

I would suggest that the suggestions about temperature control are spot on. In the case of the oxidizing sanitizers, I should clarify that I would not be all that concerned about the addition of oxygen until fermentation is underway. For example, sanitizing the thief when taking hydrometer...

One step is an oxidizing cleanser like oxi-clean, not really a sanitizer (although some will debate that I'm sure) I would worry that using that as a no-rinse sanitizer would oxidize your beer something fierce. I would consider saving the one-step to use as a cleanser, then rinse it off and...

I would like to add that the biggest difference in my beer was temperature control. Probably more important than even grain versus extract. That being said, if you have a basement that stays at 65 degrees year round, this will not be as important to you as it was to me.

I recently tasted a very green (one week in bottles) cream of three crops just to see how it was coming along. I used nottingham fermented at 62 (although pitched at 80) for this one. Still a little yeast in suspension (of course), but definitely getting there. I asked SWMBO to try it, and...

Before just adding more sugar, do you know what went wrong? How did you prime before, and what was the temperature where the bottles were stored?