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I noticed in your recipe that it does not have any steeping grains. If you are looking to add more body to your extract based beer, I would suggest steeping specialty grains before the boil. Usually this is 1 to 2 pounds of *crushed* malted barley that is steeped at 150-155 F for 30 minutes. I...

I use both One-Step and Star-San. One-Step for cleaning the hard to reach dried out gunk in my carboy and other equipment (I don't clean it the night of brewing because I'm usually too exhausted afterwards). Then on brew day (which may be weeks or months later) I sanitize any equipment that...

Yup, that Star San you speak of is long gone as it provided nutrients for the beasties and eventually became one with the wort. What you are seeing is most likely C02 bubbles from some latent fermentation activity or other detritus such as yeast rafts and other fermentation by products. In any...

Try using a proxy. Here's a good place to start: http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml. Simply go to one of the proxies listed on this site, type in this site's address and you should be taken here. Sure, your workplace may block proxies as well, but there are many to choose from. If one doesn't...

Whether you go with a Better Bottle or glass carboy (I have glass myself but would have no problem using a BB as well), be sure to cover the carboy with something dark while fermenting. I use two black garbage bags with a hole cut out for the airlock to go through but I have read that old...

*Sorry if this one has already been posted* You get up at 3 A.M. just to go and sneak a peak of your fermenter bubbling away. You call your latest brew "My Precious...".

My last two brew sessions were 'brew parties' of sorts where my wife would cook up some awesome food and then I'd show whoever was interested the 'art' of brewing. Keep in mind I am still learning myself so perhaps I wasn't the best one to be teaching others but all in all we had a good time...

Excellent suggestion, rockfish42. Dark & Stormies are wonderful. Got a friend who brewed his own excellent ginger beer (drier and less sweet than ginger ale) and made his Dark & Stormies from that. If any of you haven't had one yet, by all means do so soon. :)

Just voted from afar (Anchorage, Alaska). Here's hoping you get the win! (Oh, and if you're ever up here check out the Moose's Tooth Pub & Pizzeria for some great pizza & micro brewed beer.)

Thanks for all the excellent responses, folks! I'm glad this is a hobby that our better halves can get enjoyment out of as well and it's been really interesting to see what their preferences are. For women, fruit inspired beers/beverages seem to be popular but there were a few that really...

Isn't it funny how these things happen? But, I feel your pain! In any case I think your brew will be fine. I'm assuming it was not wort but fermented beer due to it being in the bottling bucket so that greatly reduces the number of beasties that could infect it. As for the magazines themselves...

I thought I would ask all of you homebrewers out there who have a kind and loving significant other what she (or he) wants you to brew for her (or him)? Is it usually something that is the polar opposite of what you prefer to brew or do you have a SO who is in alignment with your brewing...

TheSlash: Congratulations on your latest beer turning out 'odd flavor' free! I think the fact that you decided to go back to square one and make a simple, no frills batch was a great idea. You now know that at least the replacement equipment you used can brew an untainted batch. And, as you...

I just read through this thread and I must say it is quite interesting (not that I'm taking pleasure from your frustrations, but the wanna-be Sherlock in me wants to know what the culprit(s) is/are). The problem with trying to deduce the problem is that while any of the factors (yeast/ferm...

I'm thinking that because the beer leaked there was also a possible entry point for infection. The increased cloudiness could also be a result of that infection or it could be chill haze. Definitely odd though as I have not heard of many finished beers getting infected.. although if the beer is...

I'm thinking the possible causes of the off flavors in your beer are infection and oxidation (exposure to air). The buttery flavor in your beer could be diacetyl. The following quote is from 'Beer Me! - Down with Diacetyl!': "One possible source of diacetyl is bacterial infection. Pediococcus...

Mooses's Tooth Fairweather IPA in snowy Anchorage, Alaska. Great beer!

While you're on the topic of great HBS customer service I thought I would recount a great experience I had recently. A few weeks ago I ordered a dual body C02 regulator from Austin Homebrew Supply. After a week or two I discovered that the regulator had a leak (or at least that is what I thought...

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out, Stoutman82 :). I'm glad it's drinkable, but can definitely see how you'd want to reduce the peppers next time. I'm definitely interested in the idea of using peppers in brewing and may try to do a habanero IPA in the future. Cheers!

Geez, I hope SWMBO lets you keep brewing beer after the kitchen incident! Sounds like this beer will be good (if not hot as hell). IANAL, but if I were you I would make someone sign a release statement before you let them try it to free yourself of potential legal liability. Restaurants do this...