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Finally able to brew! I decanted the starter (now been in the fridge for 2 weeks) and am slightly worried at the color of the yeast on the bottom...the top half of the yeast looks slighty darker than the bottom, below are some pics. Any idea if this looks infected? I tasted some of the...

Wife said I needed more hobbies, and bought me my first kit and equipment. She must think I'm pretty boring...

Haha, thanks...let's see if beer can survive under my guise before we introduce other life forms!

Good call, someone also mentioned placing it inside a pant can helps radiate heat? Any tips on heating the rest of the house in-lieu of gas? Haha

If the house gets down to -20F, we are moving South! The heating element is simply a wrap placed inside the cooler. Although the thermometer is stating ambient temp of the cooler at 70F, I doubt this is the case. Will likely be investing in a heating lamp or something.

Over the weekend I bottled my first ever brew. I've read that keeping carbonating at room temperature is preferable, so placed it covered in a dark closet that stays around 68-72F and forgot about it. Falling asleep last night, I started worrying about bottle bombs, so decided to move the...

Thanks folks. The growler still has tinfoil on it, although perhaps now it makes sense to move to something airtight as the yeast isn't active anymore? No mold in the fridge...SWMBO simply would not allow this! Will keep you posted, hopefully get to brew on Sunday if all goes well.

Thanks. I wasn't able to brew this weekend unfortunately. I have placed the starter in the fridge after ~30 hours of fermenting, had a nice 3/4" yeast cake on the bottom of the growler this morning which seems good. Will the starter be safe to use this coming weekend? I believe I need to...

Made my yeast starter today, ~ 2 1/4L /w 230g of light DME. Everything went well, except I made a stupid mistake...I forgot to wipe down the kettle after removing the kettle from the cold water bath. I poured the kettle into a funnel directly into my growler that I am using for my yeast...

Final recipe is as follows, will be doing a partial mash and partial boil of ~3.5G: 2 lbs Oats, Flaked 2 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 8.0 oz Chocolate Malt 8.0 oz Roasted Barley 4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt 1 lbs 1.6 oz Light Dry Extract 1.00 oz...

I swapped out one can of dark LME and the DME for a 3.3# can of light LME and a bag of DME. Thanks for sending the BS file, will crack it open as soon as I am home. I am planning on brewing on Sunday, as I am bottling my first brew tomorrow. Thanks for all your help.

The recipe came from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/none-more-black-vanilla-stout-96969/index4.html#post2172851 It is fairly similar to the OP's recipe, which seemed to get good reviews, and sounds like it turned out good. The LME is in 3.3# cans. I can always swap this...

Thanks, IslandLizard, for taking so much time to guide me through this. I think I will take your advice and do 2 separate mini-mashes, adding the dark liquor at the same time as the aroma hops (i.e. 5 mins left). With regards to the LME/DME that I am using, do you think it would make sense to...

This is incredibly helpful, thank you. What ratio of diastic malt to oats would I use, 1:1? Also, would it make sense to do the same process with the dark malt, or should I steep these after the partial-mash of the oats? Just to make sure I understand the mini-mash process: 1) Add oats and...

Quick google search found this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/PM-OatmealStout.pdf Presumably the mini-mash would be steps 2-9 in the above? If so, I am guessing after this procedure I would top-up to my pre-boil volume, steep the dark malt, then proceed with the LME/DME...

Any chance you can elaborate on the mini-mash? I've seen quite a few recipes where the oats are simply steeped through a grain bag, or sometimes simply added to the boil and strained off. I was planning on doing 2 grain bags, one for the dark malts another for the oats, but am now second...

Thanks, madscientist. Appreciate the input on the DME/partial boils. I eventually want to transition to all grain, but would like to get a few brews down first before going out and purchasing new equipment. I will look into getting the 1/2 gallon jug. I, too, was somewhat worried about the...

Thanks IslandLizard...my quick mental math was off, you are correct - 1/2 lb of DME for my starter. I did not think about leaving that much headroom, but it makes sense - thanks.

Thanks for the fast reply. I do have an old PC lying around, and was going to look into building one when I have more time and it is warm enough in the garage to work (SWMBO and all...) so I might hold off as this seems more of a 'nice to have' than a 'must have'. With regards to not...