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If I were to do this, I'd unhook my Ranco ETC temp controller from my lagering freezer, and set it to heat instead of cool, then figure out whether it overshoots by the differential and cools down to the set point, or heats up to the set point and cools by the differential . Once that's...

Here's what I would do: 12 beers, 6 lagers, 6 ales. Of the 6 lagers, one would have to be a BMC product, just for contrast. One would be a true pilsner- German or Bohemian, one would be an Oktoberfest, one would be a Dunkel, one would be an American lager of some sort - Sam Adams maybe...

I know this is several months later, but I have something interesting to share... I recently had a bottle of Orval... and it has that same weird taste, and it's the same weird taste that my first homebrew ever had (using EDME yeast). I suspect that maybe Fermentis is right, and S-33 is...

Are there any ill effects on your beer from lagering for too long of a period? If so, what time scale are we dealing with being too much? Days, weeks, months, years? Also... if I'm aiming to serve a particular beer at an event, am I better off lagering it until about 2-3 weeks beforehand...

Some folks have no lives. It's as plain as that. I have friends who literally have no hobbies, who basically work, go out and drink beer, hang out with their wives/girlfriends, and watch tv/movies. That's it. They're usually the ones who think I'm nuts for brewing my own beer. Generally...

So I'm thinking about brewing myself an Oktoberfest beer this year, and since my birthday usually falls within the Oktoberfest time (Sept. 19), I'm going to call it "Mark-toberfest" (my first name being "Mark"). Anybody got any good recipes? Also... when would be a good time to brew it...

Another counter to your theory is the fact that back in the day (pre-refrigeration), "well hung" meat was aged in the open air, often to the point of smelling bad! They'd just cut off the rotted parts and go to town. I think it's not unlikely that the meat produced by this method wouldn't be...

I brewed what I thought would be a pale ale using S-33 back in October, at about 70 degrees. I ended up with something much more Belgian in character than I think I'd prefer, although it's eminently drinkable. A homebrewer friend of mine called the Belgian taste for me- I couldn't put my...

If I regulate the flow out of the kettle right, I get right where I want to be. I was more thinking in terms of speeding that up, and/or giving myself more options for brewing in August, when the water temp. out of the hose is lukewarm at best. This time of year, it's not a problem.

I recently got one of the Duda diesel plate chillers, and it works very, very well. Last Saturday, while cooling my wort with it, I happened to glance over at my old immersion chiller, sitting there looking forlorn, and wondered about the best way to still include him in the brewday. Here...

Update 12/1/09: Back on Nov 22nd, I brewed, and used both starters- they worked rather well. Even though I didn't exactly follow the best procedure (pitched at about 70 degrees, and cooled to 50 asap), it still did well- it smells like beer (well, beer and farts), and not like anything that...

I did use a rather massive starter- the slurry from the bottom of 2 one gallon starters (I had a thread about that too), and it took off pretty quickly as a result. I'm thinking I may just leave it at 50 for another week or so- that would do the trick, then rack & lager. Anyone see any...

So I've had my first real attempt at a lager in the chest freezer at 50 degrees for 8 days now. The krausen has fallen, and at this point, there are some little yeast cruds floating on the surface, but no more white foam or anything like that (there sure was last week!) Anyway, I'm...

I've always thought about the difference like this: Lagers are more about showcasing the malt & hops, while ales are more of a package deal, with the yeast character being a major part of the total flavor. It surely isn't total flavor intensity or depth of flavor; go try a Pilsner Urquell...

I brew in the garage/driveway. That way, if I have a boil-over, I can just hose it down, IF there's no rain in the immediate forecast.

Yeah, mostly because I'm not going to have the time today to rack to another vessel and pitch. Plus, I broke my auto-siphon yesterday getting the wort into the fermenter, so it's pretty much stuck there for a while. I think it was probably near 50 after 12 hrs though; the temp readout read...

Here's one that I couldn't find any info on while searching. How long would it take to cool a full 5 gallon carboy from say.. 70 degrees down to 50 degrees, using a chest freezer set at 50? The reason I'm wondering is because I brewed my second lager yesterday (hopefully the first...

I'm going to brew my first Bohemian pilsner-ish lager this weekend, and I plan on doing a single-infusion mash, without decocting or doing a step mash. I'm thinking that if I keep it simple, I'll have a better chance of success. Since I'm not going to decoct, I've been thinking about putting...

Okay.. here's the story: I recently brewed a sort of APA/BPA hybrid (no sparge). 12 lbs Fawcett optic 1 lb melanoidin malt (wanted to try it out) 1 lb carapils 5.2 buffer Boil 60 mins .5 oz Columbus (60 mins) .5 oz Glacier (30 mins) .5 oz Glacier (5 mins) 1.051 sg post-boil...

I'd shoot for maybe a 1.040 pale ale of sorts... like 90% base malt, 10% some sort of crystal malt (maybe aim for 6-8 SRM), and an IBU level of about 20-25. Ferment with Wyeast 1056 at the lower end of its temp range, carbonate to about 2.5 volumes of CO2, and have at it! Sounds chuggable...