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Yooper, My next brew will be your extract Cali Common (Michigan Common?). I bought the ingredients today. I'll let you know how many from your checklist I achieve this weekend!

After months of reading HBT I have come across a lot of things that nearly all brewers encounter when they are first learning. I have done my best to learn from others mistakes, but alas, I am not immune to mistakes. I realized how much I haven't learned, yesterday I broke my first...

Friday? Is that only 8 days in the Fermenter? I would give it at least another week (if not 2). On my first kit I bottled after 7 days, like the kit said to do, but I have found that leaving the beer in the 2 - 3 weeks before bottling is much better for the beer. IMHO you should buy some...

You'll be fine. I thought the same thing about my first recipe until 3 weeks AFTER it was in the bottle. I am no Revvy, but here is what a wiser man than I would tell you: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/never-dump-your-beer-patience-virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Bottled tonight. Hit 1.019 so ~4.5% ABV. The color is very dark red (OK it looks more brown than red) but I am hopeful that with carbonation and in a glass, the red color come through. For flavor, the rye adds a nice, subtle spiciness and a faint whiskey like aroma. This is the first time...

Thanks Forrest. I noticed that when I replaced the Generic DME I put into Beer Calculus with the Munton's and Breiss the estimates dropped: Estimated Original Gravity from 1.074 to 1.065 Estimated Final Gravity 1.021 to 1.018 Color from 6° SRM to 5° SRM Alcohol from 7.1% A.B.V. to 6.3%...

Today, I went to my LHBS to pick up ingredients for a Biere de Garde recipe that I have put together. I am hoping to roughly achieve something like Castelain Blond Biere de Garde. Batch size: 5.0 gallons Boil: 3.0 avg gallons for 60 minutes updating Estimated Original Gravity 1.074 (1.066...

I'm sure it will be fine as long as the new pot is big enough. The wort will be boiled and take care of any contamination issues from transferring. Just to be safe, you should post some pics of your wife for good luck!:tank:

I like whiskey_pickle's advice, but there are 2 different directions you could go with yeast. Pick a clean, good clean yeast like california ale or another simple ale yeast (English WPL002 and British WPL005 are nice) and learn about the flavor profile of the DME and hops OR pick a more exotic...

+1 on this kit. I only have a couple batches under my belt, but this was my first batch brewed with borrowed equipment. I have had a couple of my friends HB that were good, but it was the porter I brewed from that kit that made me buy my own equipment. FWIW, my buddies, my father, and...

Steve, Thanks for the info! I will have to check out NFG during one of their few hours of operation (14.5 hours a week?!) I know the guy you ate talking about at Homebrew Emporium. He has actually been helpful for me as a noob, especially when I first went to put together a recipe and pick...

You say all extract, was there any steeping of specialty grains? A squeezed grain bag releases tannins with an astringency that causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth. Could this have happened?

Diablotastic I am actually in Holden, just North of Worcester. Where do you buy your brewing ingredients? I go to the Home Brew Emporium in West Boylston, but was curious if there were other good places around that I should check out.

Brewed it up tonight! Right now it appears more light/medium brown than red, but I'll see how the color develops over the next few weeks. I read 1.054 for my OG which is low but still in BeerCalculus range. I do not have a great record on taking OG, because I do not make full boils and the...

Robsbrew, I love DrDirts advice so I would try that first, but another suggestion is to buy a good quality kit. I drink a lot of porters (especially this time of year) so I bought a Brewers Brest Robust Porter kit. It had all the ingredients ready to go and the beer came out Great. The...

Gremyn1, it is honey not honey malt. I have seen this and a handful of Red recipes and I have it on hand so I figured I would add it to boost fermentables. Since I was already thinking about adding all the hops at 60 and both you and moonbrew think it is a good idea, that is what I will do! I...

Gremlyn1, Thank you for the feedback! I wanted to be in the 9-18 SRM range so I am thinking that I will try the following recipe: 5.0 gallons Original Gravity: 1.060 (1.053 to 1.062) Final Gravity: 1.016 (1.014 to 1.017) Color: 17° SRM (Dark Red/Brown) Bitterness: 4.9 HBU 13.9 IBU...

Gremlyn1, was it red at 6oz/8oz? My fear is anything above 4 would end up being a brown ale rather than a red.

OK, now I can show my noob-ness. I want to maintain the color, so I went to Beer Calculus and replaced the Amber Extract for Light LME and added roasted barley. But barley adds a lot of color, how much will I need to add to get the flavor to come through? Will 2oz of roasted barley add enough...

When I was putting together my Oatmeal Milk Stout, my LHBS guy recommended Irish Ale Yeast (WLP004). I bottled yesterday after 3 weeks in the primary and I was very pleased with the flavor profile. I'm looking forward to seeing how much it improves 2 weeks in the bottle.