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This thread reminded me of this news flash from The Onion: Owner and founder of Fossil Bed Brewery Dave Walker, 39, reportedly struggled Saturday to find a way to work his 5-year-old Labrador retriever mix into the name of a new spiced winter ale. "I was going to just call it Puppy Weizen, but...

I agree with Yooper about the kit. I brewed a few crappy batches at first trying to make my "perfect" beer right from the beginning. Go to Northernbrewer, pick one of the beginner styles that you like, and make that exactly. That way, if the beer isn't good, you know it wasn't something with...

If you're in NC and can find it, Torch Pilsner from Foothills is pretty good. Little less hoppy and a bit more malty than many microbrewed pilsners.

Touchdown.

I agree that alot of the German pilsners are lacking, especially the bigger brands. They're falling into the same consolidation, conglomeration trap that our big breweries went through. But if you've ever drank a Klosterbier made by the monks on top of the Kreuzberg or a Mahr's Brau Kellerbier...

I feel a little guilty because I'm so lazy that I'll pay for four wyeast packs for my lagers just because I don't want to mess with making a starter.

Wanted to get some opinions on this. Do you think that there's a market for good, traditionally brewed German beers in the American Craft Beer landscape? The stuff that gets imported tastes like crap by the time it gets here, and is usually from the German equivalent of BMC to begin with. I...

Looking to brew my first Lager, a Munich Dunkel or possibly an Oktoberfest. I'm looking for a really bready, malty profile, and was hoping to get some thoughts on relative maltiness of different yeast strains. I've got either Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager or 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend in mind...

Did you adjust the times for the amarillo to dry hop and 10 minutes, or is the software defaulting to a 60 or 90 minute boil? Just changing those hops wouldn't have increased it by that much. There's a variable in there that was altered that caused the math to come out wrong. Also, for what...

Hop bags should help. Just make sure you use a big sack. You don't want a real tight sack, as the hops won't bounce around in there enough. Another thing you can do is go to a 60 minute boil to reduce some wort evaporation. I know that the original recipe has a 90 minute, but with this...

I think this is a really original and creative idea. I do have to agree with the poster that said you have to at least give this thing a chance. Do you want to make this a legit RDWHAHB experiment, where you're intentionally making some common beginner mistakes but still hoping to turn out a...

Definately. That's pretty much what happens to lagers, which produces the smooth, clean taste. I think the important thing to remember is that there are two different "aging" processes. The first is at fermentation temp (in the 60's for ales). Once the beer is done with primary...

Nothing bad about "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing," but it was written several years ago when there were many less modified malts available. Now, unless a malt is specifically labeled as being less modified, assume that it is highly modified, especially the malts that homebrew shops sell. For...

One more thing. If you're doing 5 gallon batches, definately increase the grain/liquid to end up with at least 6 gallons (preferably 6.5 gallons) at the end of the boil. For me, that meant I needed to start with more than 8 gallons of wort at the beginning of the boil. You are going to have a...

With that many hops, it's tough to screw this one up. I just kegged Jamil's Hophammer (a Pliny based recipe from Brewing Classic Styles), which is pretty much the version you have in the original post. It was pretty damn close and tasted awesome. As long as you use a similar grain bill (lots...

Apart from the flavor characteristics already discussed, I've found that I get about 5% better efficiency with MO. It makes sense, since the potential yield for MO is higher than American 2-row. Also, MO is more prone to dough balls when adding your strike water, but they go away fairly easily.

I know this has been touched on in a few other threads, but I just wanted to put it out there and get a couple of opinions. In order to reduce the oxidation effects of dry hopping, I usually add my dry hops as the primary fermentation is finishing up. I still want a little bit of fermentation...

Not a huge fan. In theory, the combination is interesting, but in reality, I find the two flavors don't compliment each other at all. The same goes for "Belgian IPAs." I just think that the estery/phenolic yeast character clashes with the strong hops.

I don't think that the nutrient blend has any fermentables in it, so it's not really going to do anything for you carbonation wise. Next time make sure you get some sugar in there. I suppose the only thing you could do is gently open and pour all your bottles back into a bucket and add some...

I've noticed that if I gently swirl my primary to rouse the yeast (in the event of a slow fermentation), I get a little oxidation. It doesn't take much, but I definitely get a cardboard taste. I know that theoretically, the CO2 forms a blanket over the beer, but that hasn't really helped me...