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What did you brew?

UK brewers who cask their ales habitually rack with 2 gravity points to go, for that natural conditioning. You need a Forced Wort Test to see when that is, of course. Just had that nugget to impart.

ThreeSheetsBrewing is right about testing in batches, but I would be even more cautious than that. Brew your beer, then add the salt to the pint glass to get the flavour you want, then try a small batch with your yeast, to see how it behaves. Salt furks yeast RIGHT up, so be careful, but it...

You'll make a lovely beer, no doubt, but swaying off the Irish Red style. Munich gives a bready/toasty flavour, which isn't a million miles away, but you're heading into Oktoberfest territory. Pumpkinman, your 1oz of chocolate will make a nice beer, no doubt, but you'll miss out on the...

I'd drop the 1/2lb crystal malt and double the roast. Traditionally (Irish Red, aye?) you wouldn't have the last hop addition. This is a malty beer. HomebrewMike is right about splitting the extract too. You aren't going to need to worry about darkening the malt by a few degrees in a dark ale...

I got some free hop seeds from Meantime Brewing (London), and of 28 seeds, about 20 have germinated. A bit late of a start this year, but should man-flower next year. My main concern is, presuming half are male, that's 14 plants, how do you decide which to use as pollinators? Survival, vigour...

Yep, just as I thought, too soon!

Just tried my Yorkshire Oat Ale attempt. Two pieces of advice: treat it like wine and sulphate the life out of it, and don't worry about filtering it so much, as it all drops out as sediment. Rack this like wine. Also, don't be surprised if the 18th century meaning of 'balsamic' is the same as...

Follow your local hop merchant on Twitter and harvest a couple of days after they do! I live in NW Ireland, and I'm planning on harvesting a fortnight after the Kent growers, as that's how late our season kind-of is, on average. That way, I get an expert opinion on when to harvest.

You might not have ruined them. Try http://www.examiner.com/article/t-hopping-there-s-more-to-beer-s-hop-mojo-then-meets-the-i It's not something I've done myself, yet, but will do in about 4 brews time. If they don't smell bad, then they're probably worth a try.

(Old post, but someone might find this useful) When hops are left out, heat up etc. they oxidise. In some hops this can reduce the desirable aromatics, but in others it just changes the aromatic properties, or even improves them. I don't know any off-hand, except Cascade smells like fizzy...

Hmm, never as easy as it seems! I think I'll order loads of Oat Malt, and then measure it into my fermenting vessel, then I'll at least know the volume... Thanks for the doomsday book link.

Hi, Seen this a little late, but I've signed up on the strength of it. I've been reading some of those things myself, thanks to the copyright/public domain law, and Google being very busy photocopying them on my behalf. I'm planning on brewing an oat ale over the summer, so I'll let...