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holy crap dude. that does not look good. i would say take some of the flakey stuff off the top and do some analysis. what does it smell like, look like, feel like etc? is it soapy?

good point. i think it was four. might have been three. not sure if it was two. guess i need to start keeping better records.

when i was in prague last year, many of the local brew houses offered up two types of house beers, a light and a dark lager. i have seen plenty of places that offer up clone recipes for the light lager, but how do i replicate the dark? the light was very much like budvar or urquell. do you...

i'm going to put a hop pellet in some natty boh' this weekend.

i think unfinished aluminum can, but i'm using an enamled non-reactive aluminum pot. it's got a porcelin coating on it, like a good dutch oven might. it's a very flexible system. but since you've already invested in stainless steel, you shouldn't change anything. you just need to be...

could it be that your equipment has built up some sort of residue, either cleanser, bleach, or soap that is retarding yeast activity? perhaps you should consider changing your cleaning methods, or perhaps changing the bucket all together.

i had my first taste of wonderbrau last night. it's not quite done carbonating (needs another week at least in the bottle) but i figured i'd give it a taste just to see what was going on. i definitely tastes like beer. however, it doesn't taste like good beer. it is harsh, and has a sharp...

my next brew will be my first lager -- a budvar clone. i have a few questions about lagering however. when pitching lager yeast, do i need to cool the wort to the temperature where i will be fermenting, somewhere in the 40-50 F range? also, would a budvar clone benefit from brewing with...

is this in downtown lancaster? if so, that city is starting to get its groove back. the one time munich of america may be making a comeback!

i'm with you dude. i would need to see some scientific reports on its efficacy. word of the day!

when making a starter from a yeast cake, i understand that you need to "wash" the yeast to remove trub and dead cells. but how do you know how much of the cake to rescue? how much is too much? should you "wash" the entire cake from a previous 5 gallon batch? or will that be too much yeast...

a half gallon of starter should be doing the trick! what kind of water are you using? i've made the mistake of brewing with unfiltered tap water. the chlorine killed off my yeast. judging by the number of posts you have, i doubt you're making any rookie mistakes, so i may be of no help to...

yup -- take it off the heat and you won't have this problem. one of the solutions i have found that works is to use a thin gauge enamelled pot as my kettle, but i set it on top of an inverted cast iron skillet. the skillet sucks up the heat and retains it, but when you need to get the heat...

i think you might need to add a bit more information about one or more of these brews if you're going to get good advice. the thing that i'm reading about lately is that homebrewers in general aren't pitching nearly enough yeast. how much have you put into one of your stalled brews?

oxyclean, eh? does that work as well as the sanitizers that you get at your local home brew supply store? is it the same stuff, essentially?

thanks glibbidy. just fyi -- it's yUEngling. and you do have a mental disorder if you're drinking the porter. man, that's nasty stuff. the lager on the other hand is top notch.

so if you're making a starter from a used yeast cake, scoop a portion of the yeast cake out of the bottom of your fermenter, put it in a beaker, add sanitized water, swirl, let the dead yeast settle out, then decant the yeast suspended in water into a new beaker, add dme, and ferment, correct?

sanitize wort? wouldn't you worry that it could kill off the yeast too? otherwise, it might be a nice thing to have. dry sanitatizing would save a lot of time and effort.

ok, sounds like a plan! i'll go about a week and a half more at 65, then drop to 45 for another 7-14 days. then i'll bottle and condition at room temp for about two more weeks. this could be some good beer! my first couple of batches were made this summer without the help of the lagering...

ok, so keep it at 65 for another three or four days, move it to a secondary, keep it at 65 for another 7 days, then drop the temp down to 45 or so and keep it in the secondary for another 2 weeks. then bottle and condition for another two to three weeks at about 45. will i be able to produce...