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I have a 3G batch of saison I'll be bottling soon. I added organic orange zest in the last 5min of the boil, but after three weeks fermentation it's indiscernible. I thought maybe I could put the zest of one organic orange into like 4oz of vodka and let it sit for a week, then pour the...

I'm doing a 3G batch of wheat: 4# white wheat 1# pale ale .4# honey malt .3# flaked wheat .3# Victory 1# clover honey @ flameout .5oz Saaz @ 60 .5oz Saaz @ 10 White Labs 320 I realize that most of the honey taste ferments out, but this is more of a thing I'm doing to show...

It's February in Michigan--a warm day is 25F. To spite the bs that is midworst weather, I pitched a WLP 565 into 5G fermenter, wrapped it in heavy towels and placed it within inches of a floor vent in my home. This morning, a room thermometer next to the fermenter read 80F, and the fermenter...

My copper IC is beginning to get that statue of liberty patina on it. That's safe to use still, right?

Any advice on preventing a stuck sparge with rye malt? I've never used it, but I've read of horror stories of gooey nightmares. The recipe I've concocted uses 15% rye malt (the rest 2-row, munich and crystals). Going on advice I've read on this forum, there will be 1# of rice hulls as...

I'm making the transition from 5G to 2.5G batches because I've found that I actually like the process more than the product. Instead of my usual cooler-mash tun infusion method, I am going to use the reduced grain bill to my advantage, and do a multi-rest mash on the stovetop. I used to...

I've never had a problem with extraction in my years of doing this. Suddenly now my last two mashes have been pitifully weak. Yesterday's dunkelweizen... 5# dark wheat malt 3.5# Pilsner malt 1# dark Munich malt 0.5# Caramunich II 0.3# Caramel 120 bottled spring water at a 1.5Q/# mash...

I'm stumped. Please advise. My pale ale target OG was 1057 and I rung up 1041. 9# Michigan 2-row 1# crystal 40 .5# dextrin Doughed into 3G at 170 (1.14Q/#), mashed at 152 for 60 min. Iodine test said conversion was complete. Fly sparged with 4.5G at 170, collection took 65 min, yielding...

My cooler mash ritual is as follows: - Add 180F water to tun (1.25Q/#), close lid for 10min, wait for water to hit 169F. - Dough in 10-12# of 65F grist, stir, cover for 10 min After 10min my digi-thermometer reads different areas of mash as being anywhere from 149 to 161. Even additional...

i'd always thought that a full hour was needed for starch conversion. i've even done a few recipes that called for 1.5 hours. with my last batch--9# Belgian pilsner malt--i tried an iodine test. several spurts outta the old cooler mash tun and several separate tests yielded iodine that stayed...

it's winter in Michigan, and i'd like to use the freezing weather to try a lager. i know your supposed to lager most dunkels (at least the recipes i've seen) for 2-4 months at temps from 33-45. since i don't have a dedicated fridge to condition a fermenter, i'm going to just set the bucket on...

Just so i know I'm not falling into a bad habit/misconception, the 60-min boil begins @ the hotbreak, yes? Meanwhile the technical boiling action begins 15-20 minutes before the hotbreak egg-drop appears. I only ask this because my last two english beers have weak bodies, and since my...

would a scientist out there please briefly explain how uv light skunks beer in clear bottles? i've always understood glass to absorb uv radiation, but i've been told that uv destroys isohumulone, which is why newcastles are so frequently yuck. feynman trusted a jeep windshield to protect...

Is there a reason sugar isn't endorsed, rather than DME, for making starters? I've read that using sugar in a starter selectively-breeds yeast that metabolize sucrose, and that putting that sucrose-adapted yeast into the polysugared environment of a wort makes for a sluggish, low attenuation...

I have 5G cider that's 4 weeks old (1 primary, 3 secondary). I sampled it tonight and couldn't even get my face close to it because of the diacetyl movie theater popcorn fart stink. I've made cider before and I'm aware of the periods of ghastly stench it goes through, but I've never known...

I was intending to bottle a 3-week old dark ale, but a sample of it tasted slightly yeasty, thin and sharp--green, I guess. (I hit my target gravity, temps were fine and my pitching rate was right.) Will these things even out after 3 weeks bottle conditioning? Or should a beer always taste...

i primaried a Scottish 80 for 11 days, and i'm currently on my 8th day of secondary. i know this is treading on a moot point, but i can't seem to grasp the science of fermentation length, and the there are those who cellar their potions for months, and diehards who swear by the 1.2.3, and...

What's a good resource for learning about the mechanics of brewpub apparatus? Let's say I have years of experience as an entrepreneur-so I dig the insanity/vow of poverty that is self-employment-and I'm looking to translate my success as a brewer on the quark-scale to a larger, professional...

I bottled 4 brews 2.5 weeks ago, hoping to drink them this weekend at the 3 week point. They're all around 5.5% ABV, and none of the them smelled funky or looked weird at bottling. Everything was cleaned/sanitized as usual. The fruit was added to their secondaries after hitting 160F and cooling...

I have the following leftover grist from a few batches last month: .5# flaked barley .5# crystal 60 .5# black barley .75# chocolate malt 1 oz liberty ...and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what I could add to it to make a batch of some kind of beer. Normally I do the...