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I second WarEagle's suggestion about doing it over the open dishwasher. I bought a bottling bucket that has a hose barb on the spigot. Carefully rack your beer onto the correct amount of sanitized corn sugar solution. I put a 1" "nipple" of nylon tubing on the hose barb and the other end slid...

Always seems a bit better the longer it sits, naturally. But fear not! Chill and crack one open. 2 weeks is plenty of time to carb up. I've had some beers carbed in as little as 3 to 4 days. Of course a little green but definitely enjoyable!

I always partially fill, shake, and rinse a few times with warm water after I've poured a bottle. When it's time to bottle again I run it through the dishwasher without detergent on the sanitize cycle. Once the cycle is done, I fill my bottle sanitizer and give it a few pumps and I'm good to go...

I'm going to agree that it's likely the tap water. I always heard the if you can brew coffee with it and it's fine, then you can brew beer with it. So I used tap water on my very first batch and everything seemed to turn out fine except for a medicinal/plastic flavor. I hoped it would clean up...

+1 on taking notes. Also, one thing that can't be overstated. Don't be discouraged if you crack one open and it's....OK. It's amazing how different your beer can be after a few more weeks of conditioning.

I used tap water for my first brew and ended up with the same smells/taste. Although I drink it and brew coffee with it and don't notice them, it seemed to be enhanced when I brewed beer with it. Switched to filtered water and it made a huge difference.

Honestly, I'm not sure which biscuit or crystal was used. I'll have to find that out next time I go to the LHBS. Although not officially a european hop, I figured the Willamette would work well as it is supposed to be earthy and herbal. I recently brewed a brown ale with EKG and I wanted to...

I am currently enjoying an ESB recipe I threw together. It's definitely very English. Per Beersmith it's at 35 IBUs. However, I used Northern Brewer and Willamette so it doesn't have that citrus punch. Here's the recipe. Any sugguestions or critiques are appreciated. ESB - All grain 5...

Correct, the vorlauf step is simply opening the valve and collecting the runnings which are cloudy with bits of husk and grain particles until it runs clear (relatively) then returning it back to the mash tun. The grainbed acts as a filter for these particles and the wort clarifies as it passes...

You should look into putting your hops in a bag. This allows you to extract the goodies and leave the rest of the junk out. And I wouldn't worry too much about your OG....close enough.

Not to steer you away from fly sparging if you're dead set, but batch sparging is another option....and GENERALLY requires less equipment. I will not go into the merits of one over the other as there are plenty of posts on that topic. I sparge in about 20 - 30 minutes and have made some...

Ed, I wanted to give credit where credit's due. I scored 3rd place at the Dixie Cup in Houston with a close rendition of this recipe. Looking forward to seeing the score sheets! Thanks for a great recipe!

Regardless of the reason for your....mishap, I would definitely put the rest of the bottles in a safe place. Somewhere away from people and pets and preferably somewhere that is easily cleaned ;)

I make my yeast starters in 1 gal glass jugs. I put them on the counter and swirl it everytime I walk by. When I swirl, I do get a good amount of foam that quickly settles out. Although technically possible, I would doubt that you could miss it quickly fermenting out if you do indeed check it...

I've had to substitute several times based on what was available at the LHBS. Unless you are shooting for an exact clone I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Even using the same yeast, your final product can vary widely based on starter, amount pitched, temperature, etc. I'm all for...

+1 on the software. Beersmith always puts me spot on my desired mash temps.

I imagine any off flavors would probably be attributed to a myriad of other things. I upped my crush to the point where I am getting a lot of "flour" in my mash and the only thing that has happened is my efficiency has gone way up. +1 on the rice hulls depending on your sparge method to be on...

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. A classic!

Definitely cheaper than paying $10 a beer at a ballgame!

Put it in the fridge until you're ready to make the starter. If you are going to brew within the next weeks you should be fine. As Flars said, you can run it in a yeast calculator for viability but from what I have read, even those numbers can be overkill. My starters are done in 1 gal glass...