Search results

I got mine on Craigslist for $75 in essentially new shape. If you're in or near a large urban area, something is bound to pop up. Good luck!

No. I get bulk pricing from Midwest, Northern Brewer, etc, on base AND specialty grains. My LHBS does not provide bulk pricing on anything except base grains. Plus, they sell bulk in odd sizes. Austin Homebrew, 40lbs (??) Marris Otter, $69.99 + $5.77 tax = $1.89 / pound. Midwest, 55lbs...

There's no way a decent mill should cost you that much. Even if you insist on new (and you shouldn't), a Barley Crusher from the manufacturer is only $115, and you can find them cheaper.

Yes. Can vs bottles for Moose Drool, Fat Tire, SNPA, and Shiner Bock. Bottling/best by date was as close as possible between cans/bottles. All beer was poured into identical glasses and served blind. In three cases, the cans was superior to the bottle. The exception was Shiner Bock, which I...

You should make short clips in that lid where the "thin" spots are around the edges. There may even be markings on the outside showing where to cut.

Yes, and it's wrong. Wine is used to add acidity and to pull out alcohol-soluble flavors. Cooking with wine destroys any of the delicate subtleties present in a good wine. Those volatile compounds boil off quickly and leave you with the most basic flavors. Cooking with good wine is a waste of...

The factory setting on the Barley Crusher is generally kind of crappy anyhow. Mine wasn't even consistent across the gap. Once I locked in at .033" at both ends, I got great efficiency.

I had a bottle bomb (also a barley wine) that broke the bottle in a very similar way. No fragments, just large pieces. I assume it was a chipped or slightly defective bottle.

You're a little off on Texas laws. Liquor store close at 9, period, even on Saturday. No liquor sales on Sunday. Beer and wine can be sold until midnight on Sun-Fri, and till 1am on Sat night. True. While it's true that there are no liquor sales allowed at a grocery store, I'm not sure...

In my opinion, you should do some research.

Did you adjust for the temperature that your hydrometer was calibrated for? A hydrometer calibrated for 60F and measuring a SG of 1.044 would read 1.022 at 160F.

The recipe calls for both Victory and Biscuit? There's not much difference, and it's pretty pointless to use both. Biscuit is from the UK, and Victory is American, so use 1lb of whatever is easiest or cheapest to get.

There is a screw on each side of the roller that needs to be loosened. Once you do that, the roller adjusts by rolling it one way of the other. I used feeler gauges to set mine to .033". You can use a credit card as well, which is .03". I wouldn't go tighter. Make sure you measure on both sides...

Yup. It's far easier with a bucket fermenter than a carboy. Some people get tired of fishing the bags out of the carboy, so they do what Will said above: dump hops directly into the carboy and filter them out later.

Thomas Fawcett floor-malts their grain. I'm not sure about Crisp. Thomas Fawcett's Halcyon is tasty, as is their Maris Otter. Depends on if you're doing a lager or ale.

The sludge will stick to the outside of the fermenter when the krausen drops. It's not going to be in the beer. What's you're doing is a little OCD, and you're providing more chances to introduce possible infections. However, you're not removing enough yeast by doing this to cause any...

Take some pride in your craft. How lazy do you have to be for it to be too much of a burden to soak bottles in oxiclean? No scraping involved. No interaction involved until you rinse, which you do anyway when you clean your bottles. You do actually clean your bottles, right?

No odors will permeate the Better Bottle. While bacteria might be able to grow their way down the bag, it's more likely that the bag wasn't completely sanitized to begin with. I soak mine in Star San for hours before I drop them in, and I definitely would not leave any part hanging out the neck...

I don't think I've ever had a yeast starter that smelled great. Have you smelled the liquid yeast vials? Not a delicious aroma.

Nope. Again, you seem to equate "craft" with "stuff I like to drink". That's fine, as "craft" as pertains to beer is a pretty arbitrary term to begin with. However, it's a commonly used phrase with a commonly understood meaning, that GI's stuff, no matter which brewery it's brewed at, doesn't...