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cweston, Did you just put the slurry from a previous batch into a clean mason jar? How did you store it?

In addition to needing a higher AA% hops for bittering, the partial wort boil reduces the ability of the water to absorb the oils from the hops. Feeding your recipe into Brewsmith and using default values for the hops, I get an IBU of 28.7, well below the 40-65 listed in the style guidelines...

You can always scale a recipe down, but you want to keep in mind that any minor inaccuracies in your measurements will be amplified in a smaller batch, ie, 1 lb extra DME is more noticable in a 5 gal batch than a 20 gal batch. 5 gallons translates to roughly 2.5 cases of beer, which you won't...

If memory serves, concentrated LME has a gravity of 1.45, so 3.3 lb of LME would occupy a volume of 36.4 fl oz. (3.3 lb * 16 oz/lb / 1.45 SG = 36.4)

Perhaps, but it's good insurance that you get a good clean fermentation with minimal off-flavors

My LHBS has the Barley Crusher, works well for me.

I have the red baron variety, and frequently cap amstel light bottles (parents drink it regularly), works great. I'm not terribly fond of the bottles due to the label and light color of the glass, but the capper works well.

Hey, just wondering what kind of numbers you guys have to correct for for the amount of heat that gets sucked out of the mash by the cooler itself. If you preheat the cooler, do you use boiling water or no, and either way, how much and how long?

I'm curious what you all out there do for keeping yeast strains and making starters. (For those of you that elect not to buy yeast each and every time.) Do you keep some in the fridge? If so, just a little, or a whole 2 Qt starter? I'm thinking of making a simple pale ale and canning it...

Yeah, I got one and did a batch a couple weeks ago, the display was put together wrong, so it flopped all over in comparison to mine.

http://www.secureonlineshopping.biz/wychwood/products.asp?recnumber=138

Do you stir or otherwise move the grainbed at all during the mash or sparge?

Never have here, even when I was wrongly instructed in my first batch to put a pound of corn sugar in 5 gal for priming. That being said, I wouldn't recommend this primarily due to safety concerns, and a close second that the beer had to be chilled way down to make it so it wouldn't spew...

I wish...I had been reading "Designing Great Beers" and wanted to finish before drawing up a porter for my next, and just finished last night, in time for the LHBS to close, so now I can't do anything but sit and wait....

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml Look under the third calculation, it'll tell you the volume required.

cwixon, It was about 75, but that'll only throw the numbers off a few points IIRC. It sounds like a low fermentation temp coupled with a very healthy yeast pitching caused this. Not that I mind of course.

3/4 C is the rule of thumb for a 5 gal batch. Of course, what style you're brewing, as well as personal preference dictates whether or not you use more or less. Assuming you're talking about a 1lb bag, dumping the whole bag would certainly over-prime the beer, resulting in a super fizzy...

How well it will carbonate depends on what kind of yeast you're using and how long you plan on leaving it. Some Ale yeasts will work in the 50's, some will be much slower. I personally leave mine in a cool dark closet in my house, but it still stays at about 65 degrees.

Rich/Swami, Thanks for the replies, that makes me feel a bit better, as it was a lower temp mash. I was just looking initially at the OG, and taking that as a measure of what the yeast should be able to attain given then 75% attenuation rate, and when I hit roughly 85% wondered if something...

Ok, I have a question after taking some measurements after moving my wort from the primary to secondary, as my FG is seemingly way too low. I made a 5.5 gallon batch with 10 lb 2row 1lb biscuit malt 1lb rye malt 1lb carapils I was/am making an IPA, and my SG came out to 1.079, showing...