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I bottled some chai cream stout last night and it only took 1 Tbsp of the extract to make a 5 gallon batch smell like Chai. I had a couple pints and it was delicious. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of the pint of extract. It's pretty much enough to flavor a small towns...

I thought it was pretty tasty a month in. Of course it gets better with time, but the ale yeast doesn't produce as many off- flavors and smells that need to age out as a cider or champagne yeast does.

Next time, don't transfer if you think you FG is too high. You can kill your chance of completing fermentation by leaving most of your yeast behind in the primary. Just give it a swirl and put it in a slightly warmer place to get your fermentation going again. As for now, you should stick an...

Lactose doesn't ferment at all, so you add it in addition to the priming sugar. You use the same amount of priming sugar as you normally would.

You should stop using a juicer unless it's one you don't mind tossing. I have a friend who owns a restaurant and she has ruined many a juicer with ginger. The juice is pretty frickin caustic and will eat away at the parts. I have had a lot of luck extracting ginger by chopping it up real small...

It doesn't always finish as sweet as 1.011, but the hefe yeast almost never drops too far below it. If you use "cider yeast" or champagne yeast, you are guaranteed a very dry end result. I don't sorbate or pasteurize, although I've considered doing a heat pasturization after the bottles are...

Good call. After thinking it through, though, I'm pretty sure it's the bottling bucket. It's not getting contaminated until bottling time and I use all of the same equipment for my secondary transfer. Once I bottle though, It goes bad in a week.

Hmmm.... I wonder if it's the bottling bucket. My fermentors are all glass.

What the hell? I have ruined 3 out of my last 5 batches. I have brewed about 25 batches previously and never had this problem. I don't know what is going on. This last batch, I was extremely careful with sanitation, and careful not to aerate. It tasted great right before bottling. Then a week...

The cider yeasts I have tried finish at or below 1.000 (very dry) and the hefe or sweet cider can finish out at 1.010 or so (fairly sweet but not sticky). I have heard of people using sweet mead and still getting 1.000, but I use hefe and it always has worked for me. Like oldtimeydave said, if...

If you have had marginal success with AG, I would recommend starting with some quality recipes. I love the Clonebrews books. They are recipes to emulate commercial brews so you can know what your beer is supposed to taste like before you start, and the recipes are easy to follow. I recomment the...

With those OGs being as close as they are to the target OG, it sounds like you got great conversion. Sounds like you are doing it right to me.

If you are looking for a sweeter cider, use hefeweizen or sweet mead yeast. These don't attenuate as well and allow for a bit of sweetness in the end product without back-sweetening. I have used hefe yeast several times now and love the way that it works. And Oldtimeydave, It's me, Dan Smith. I...

Why are you using the dry yeast at all? Just let the white labs raise to room temp and pitch that. I almost never make starters and have never had a problem. The fermentation may take a day or 2 to get started, but that should be fine.

I've discovered that document storage boxes from office depot are excellent for storing 12oz bottles.

Whatever you do, don't use rapid-rise yeast. I thought it would be a good idea once for carbing some soda. The soda was undrinkable. Smelled like sulfur.

Yeah, The Clonebrew books are the same way. I pretty much need to rewrite the recipes for all-grain with a calculator in hand. It's worth it, though.

I've actually heard of this being done by a local brewing club. From what I've heard the yeast attenuates a little more each time. This can be a good experiment if you want to raise some of your own yeast that attenuates to a certain amount and then stops. Maybe if you want a sweeter stout...

Are you gonna have anything left to drink after those hops soak up all your wort? Or is that the plan, to eat the hops after they've soaked up the beer. That would be insanely hoppy. :)

OG=1.061 FG=1.011 ABV=6.7% Primary ferment until it stops. Transfer to secondary for 1-2 weeks (it tastes awesome at this point). Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar. I think this stuff is delicious. Let me know what you think.