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Just wondering if anyone has done this or could offer some insight, especially if you're familiar with brewing/fermenting wort and grape must together (or even if you have advice on spicing beers). I was mulling some wine recently and had an idea for a beer that featured those flavors. Probably...

Hi, all, What are some of your favorite activities or events that you've participated in with your local homebrewers club? Competitions, meet-ups, group brews, etc? What about topics for meetings/presentations? I was recently elected president of my local homebrew club, and our first meeting...

After 4 years of brewing, I finally joined a club earlier this year. As luck would have it, they were about to hold their annual competition. This year's prize was to brew with a phenomenal local brewery on their system and to release your beer in their taproom. After three rounds, I won one and...

I brewed another in a long series of SMaSH's, this time some local pils malt and Northern Brewer hops. I've been using WL007 for this whole series with mixed results (mostly my error, resulting in an acetaldehyde bomb). This one was pitched with a healthy, oversize, fresh starter cultivated from...

I brew ales that can typically ride from the mid 60s to the mid 70s (WLP007 and 001). However, I just brewed my first ever Irish Red as a wedding gift. Brew day went beautifully and it smelled like an Irish Red, but now for the fermentation. I went with Wy1084 based on availability. I...

I'm getting back to a series of SMaSH 'IPA' brews after a successful, punch-in-the-mouth DIPA. Next up is Vienna malt and one of the following: Legacy (very interested in this one, but thought about leaving it for Munich) Northern Brewer (seems to be a popular companion to Vienna) Ekuanot...

I'm headed into business with some friends that want to distill. I make the best beer amongst us, and they want me to be heavily involved in making the liquor. However, I barely know anything about that process. I can make beer for days, but liquor blending and whatnot is another story. Is there...

I'm throwing together a big ol' IPA for this afternoon's brew sesh. I have copious amounts of Azacca and Ekuanot, as well as ample Mosaic. I'm mostly trying to settle on a hop schedule, and have come up with the following: 2.75gal OG 1.077 FG 1.017 8.3% abv 100+ IBU with FO (about 65 IBU from...

Get your mind out of the gutter---this post is strictly about beer. Now then, how young IS too young? I've recently been sampling my beers along their fermentation and aging journies; many (if not all) have been delicious right around 8-10 days. My SMaSH IPA (which friends will NOT shut up...

I have a wedding coming up this summer. My significant other's sister is marrying a great guy, and I want to give them a truly unique and personal gift. So, beer it is. Based on their favorite beers, the two I've chosen to tackle will be: Hers: An Imperial Chocolate Cherry Stout. This one will...

We see SO MANY bourbon barrel beers of all shapes and sizes. While I do enjoy a few of those, honestly, I just hate bourbon. It tastes rotten to me. So why don't we age more beer in Scotch barrels? Imagine a NEIIPA aged in a nice highlands whiskey barrel. Is it just because of bourbon's...

I've brewed for a few years now. I've stuck entirely with AG BIAB in both my apartment and townhouse. I've never had more sophisticated gear than a swamp cooler and a keg. With 75+ brews under my belt, I gotta say---the beer kinda sucked. My friends enjoyed it. I even enjoyed some brews (Equinox...

Virginia has recently been experiencing what I'll call "whiplash winter." That is, it snowed heavily three days ago, and I went for a two-mile walk in shorts and flip flops yesterday. That said, my usual fermentation chamber (a cabinet) has gotten WAY too warm for my ales. My current batch, a...

A friend recently gifted me with a fair amount of Mosaic pellets for my birthday. I've been brewing SMaSH's to get back to basics and learn about my new system and water chemistry, not to mention refining my understanding of base malts and individual hops. It seems like the perfect opportunity...

We've all seen the same descriptors on all sorts of American IPA's and other hoppy brews. "Piney. Citrus. Crisp." In the realm of Cascade/Centennial/Simcoe/etc, what do you all really taste? While the occasional pine-y note comes through for me (see Devil's Backbone 8-point IPA), mostly they...

Hi, all. I've been brewing for a few years now, and one common character of my beers has been a general dullness. Not bad or off flavors, just a lack of strong, delicious flavors that I find in commercial brews. I've tweaked a million things and had very little change, from grains to hops to...

I'm brewing another Maris Otter/Centennial SMaSH IPA tomorrow. My first is kegged and tasting ok, but it's just too bitter for my tastes (especially since it's closer to a session IPA). I love the flavor of the centennial and MO together, but would like both to be able to shine more clearly...

In a recent thread, I got some advice for building a SMaSH MO/Mosaic IPA to reintroduce myself to brewing and to learn my new equipment. However, for a few reasons (one being price point), I've realized I can't go with Mosaic. Instead, Centennial looks to be within budget, and I know I enjoy it...

Hey, HBT! I've brewed a lot (I mean A LOT) of crappy beer. Imperial this, sour that, all horrible. After a year away from brewing, I've decided to come back to the basics and really learn to brew. I'm eliminating a ton of variables with a lot of new gear (and by simplifying my recipes...

My recent ipas suck. I'm beginning to attribute this to munich malt, but it's still a fact. Or so I thought... My friends (even the brutally honest ones) really like them! And now I'm finding that Powder Monkey from Heavy Seas tastes JUST like my recent ipas (particularly one with 2row, c60...