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Off topic, but what was in it last? Does the previous beer flavor the oak as well?

Warm it up first. Easier and safer. What temperature is it at?

I do something similar, except I have a funnel with a mesh screen to catch the trub. Your method probably gets more of the wort out of the trub so I may try it. I have not had any problems and my fermentation is pretty aggressive and pretty consistent within 10-12 hours.

Wort Chiller. Worth every penny and I saw that Midwestsupplies.com has them in stainless steel, to keep the cost down. You put them in the brew pot while it is still boiling, or nearly boiling, and it sanitized the chiller. I brew 5 gallons in a 7.5 gallon pot and it cools down in about 20...

Goose Island is a bit north of the loop on Clybourne. Great food, atmosphere, and (of course) beer. I had a friend's bachelor party there and they gave us a room above the bar with pool tables and about 8 taps.

Rogue beer uses the same labeling method as Corona. Painted on the bottle or whatever. And they don't suck.

Samuel Smith's labels come off the cleanest in my experience. Sam Adams put up a small fight. I use really hot water and let them soak for about 30 minutes. The labels come off and I take one of those green scrubbers to get the glue off. A little labor, but not too bad.

Probably not done yet. You will know if you have an infection. Dirty diapers in a bottle.

Mine is about 3 months old and tastes watery too. Not in particularly good way. I am hoping it drys up in bottles.

I agree, no need to boil. I keep my carboys in the cold basement, so boiling water would probably cause a significant problem.

I use Iodophor all the time. Your math looks correct, but you may be overthinking the whole thing. I put about half a capful in 2 1/2 gallons of water, but I do not bothering measuring. I aim for a weak brown color in the water and then the proportions are right. I do the same for small...

Take a look a EdWort's Apfelwein. Your idea is pretty close, but in smaller proportions. EdWort's yeast apparently did not create a lot of krausen, but I used champaigne yeast instead. I had to swap out an airlock for a blow off tube and it still managed to get though the hose. So you...

I age in the basement at around 50 - 55 degrees. Not real scientific and I have had great results.

I use an electric coil stove for 5 + gallons. It takes a little longer, but works fine. I imagine the gas has to be more efficient. It is worth mentioning that the weight of one batch broke the coil supports, but it kept heating.

Is the specific gravity reading in the right ball park? There should not be a ton of yeast activity in the secondary anyway. My vote is that it is probably fine.

I really like bourbon as well. Probably too much. So I will more than likely dump it all in. I am only using about a pint too, so now I am wondering if I should add a bit more. I suppose I can taste it after a few months in the secondary and add a bit more before bottling.

I just finished brewing a bourbon barrell ale and I have the oak cubes soaking in some Maker's Mark. I looked around the forums and saw that some people weight their cubes in a bag and some just float them in the secondary. I also found that some people only put in the oak and others dump the...

I'm thinking about trying your recipe and I'm a little confused on when to add the vanilla. Do you actually mix it in when you prime it for bottling? Or after the boil and the wort is cooled?

Is there any particular rule of thumb for which beers benefit the most from an orange, lime, or whateven sliced and floating in a pint? I don't see any similarities between Corona, Blue Moon, or Dos Equis other than the fruit adding something to them. I was thinking of maybe trying some in my...

I live in the sometimes artic of Northern Illinois and my house is normally about 60 degrees. My question is whether the less than ideal temperture will affect my brews? The fermentation seems pretty normal, but I'm a little new to all this and wondered if I'm better off finding a way to bring...