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I brewed Northern Brewer's Imperial Stout recipe about 11 months ago and have struggled to get the final gravity below 1.040. The initial gravity was around 1.086. Recipe contained 12lbs of Dark Malt Syrup, 0.5 lbs of English Roasted Barley, 0.5 lbs of English Black Malt, and 0.5 lbs of...

I recently brewed a beer based off of the northern brewer bourbon barrel porter kit. I have a few bottles that are gushers, and the remainder of the bottles do seem overcarbonated by a bit, but not to the gushing level. I am perplexed by this. I am very careful with sanitation and the beer...

I'm making a variation of Northern Brewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter and I was wondering if it is absolutely necessary to use a secondary to add the oak chips and bourbon. If I waited for fermentation to be mostly finished and then bulk aged in primary would that cause any problems?

I bottled a spiced porter about 4 weeks ago. Now I have overcarbed bottles that make an explosive "pop" sound when I open them after refrigeration and mild gushers if I open them at room temp. I used about 4 oz of priming sugar for a 5 gallon batch. The beer tastes fine, just really over...

I have an assortment of ez cap and swing top bottles with the rubber seal. I've heard that in the case of overcarbonation ez cap bottles will vent prior to becoming dangerous and creating bottle bombs. Is this accurate? Has anyone ever had easy cap bottles explode? I have a pretty overcarbonated...

I made the northern brewer st. paul porter kit and have had it sitting in primary for about 6 weeks. I moved my carboy to bottle and suddenly it started bubbling again. There is a thin layer of foam on top of the beer now. I measured the SG with my hydrometer and it read 1.01 which is within the...

I'm making a pumpkin porter for the fall based off of the NB St. Paul Porter Recipe. Here it is: KIT INVENTORY: SPECIALTY GRAIN - 0.5 lbs English Chocolate Malt - 0.5 lbs English Dark Crystal FERMENTABLES - 6 lbs Dark malt syrup - 1 lbs Dark dry malt extract HOPS & FLAVORINGS...

I use iodophor to sanitize at 12.5-20ppm to sanitize. I know it says its a no-rinse but i can't bring myself to not rinse my equipment. If I don't let the equipment dry, could trace amounts of chlorine and chloramine be getting into my beer from the rinsing and creating phenolic and medicinal...

I have a Belgian Dubbel that spent 1 month in primary and is currently bottle aging. I tried one after 1 month and the initial flavors were relatively pleasant, however the finish and the taste it left in my mouth were pretty awful. Overwhelmingly bitter clove taste at the finish. Will this...

I just made an experimental one gallon batch using a gallon of store bought apple juice and red star Montrachet wine yeast. I'm hoping to be able to try it this summer. What's the shortest amount of time I can keep it in primary and how long will I need to bottle age after that. I've read...

I brewed a belgian dubbel recently and it is good but it has a really bitter and spicy phenolic finish. I treated my water with campden tablets and used a proper concentration of iodophor for sanitizing so i don't think its that. I left it for a month in primary and its been bottle aging for...

I'm thinking of brewing a saison based off of a Northern Brewer recipe but I'm hoping to pick up ingredients at my LHBS. This is the recipe: SPECIALTY GRAIN - 0.5 lbs Briess Caramel 20L FERMENTABLES - 3.15 lbs Gold Malt syrup - 3.15 lbs Gold Malt syrup - 1 lb Gold dry malt extract...

I'm making a Belgian Dubbel from a Northern Brewer kit. I smacked my Wyeast pack and started brewing the starter. I saw no swelling after 5 hours but decided to throw it in my wort anyway. It's been 24 hours and I have no activity at all. I noticed the date on the yeast was for October 2012 so...

I've been using campden tablets to dechlorinate my brewing water. I've heard that if you begin mashing too soon after treating the water it can cause problems with the wort. Additionally, I've heard that treating your top-off water and then adding it to the wort immediately after can stun the...

I have a Russian Imperial Stout that has been bottle aging for about 3 months. It's not bad but the hops are way too powerful and it just tastes kind of thin and is lacking complexity. Will that hop flavor diminish with time a great deal? Will I get a thicker and richer tasting beer if I just wait?

I have an oatmeal stout in primary with an OG of around 1.7. I made a 2 liter yeast starter from a Wyeast smack pack and its been in the carboy for about 3 days. The krausen only ever got up to about an inch the first two days and now it is gone completely. Airlock activity around every 6...

I brewed an Old Rasputin clone and it turned out way lighter than I was expecting. Tasted good from bottling sample but after being poured into a pint glass it looked more like a brown ale than an imperial stout. What happened? Should I be worried or is it a failing of the recipe? I did notice...

So I know for higher gravity brews its sometimes good to add champagne yeast at the time of bottling for better carbonation. My question is: Why not do this for all beers in order to get faster carbonation? I was under the impression that because champagne yeast only eats the bottling sugar it...

I have a Russian Imperial Stout thats been sitting in primary for about 3 weeks. All visible signs of fermentation stopped after about 2 weeks. I'm eager to get this one bottled and age it in there to free up my one and only carboy. If I'm aging for 4-6 months in bottles can I get away with...

I'm looking to make an oatmeal stout. If I understand correctly oats need to be mashed to extract fermentables from them and avoid simply contributing starch to the brew. I have only done extract with specialty grains before so I have been researching the partial mash process. I stumbled upon...