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Inspired by the Alaskan Winter Seasonal, I wanted to try brewing a spruce flavored beer. After much online research, I discovered a surprising lack of good information about this. Much of what info does exist is contradictory, hearsay from people who never actually tried it, or reports of failed...

I'm planning a big barleywine brew, and currently have a Kolsch on the go using WLP029. I know this isn't a typical high gravity yeast, but have used it for a range of low to medium gravity styles recently with great results, so I'm curious how high it can go? (plus seems a shame to waste the...

I'm a fairly experienced beer brewer, currently attempting my first batch of mead, and am wondering how long I can reasonably leave the mead without racking? Where I'm at: - Racked to a second carboy after ~1 month - After two months, gravity was at 1.022 - Yesterday, three months in...

I find myself intrigued by the idea of making a hybrid Wit / Porter, or to put this another way, a dark colored Wit that includes some roastey malts. Anyone ever tried anything like this, or care to offer any advice before I try it out? Here's what I'm planning right now (partial mash)...

I brewed my Wit again yesterday, but included a protein rest (20 minutes at 122 degrees, then 45 mins at 154), where in the past I've just done a single 60 minute infusion. I normally get between 70% and 75% efficiency, but this time I got 83%!

I want to grow up some WLP500 so I can pitch a Dubbel onto the yeast cake. I'm thinking of brewing an English style Mild as my starter beer, but using the Belgian yeast: OG: 1.035 FG: 1.008 3.43% ABV 14.7 IBU 19.4 SRM 5 lb Maris Otter (74%) 1 lb Crystal...

When I look at the kind of mash schedules people are typically using, I mostly see single infusion mashes at 154 degrees taking around 60 minutes. But when people include a protein rest, the saccrification step usually goes down to just 45 or even 30 minutes. For instance I see a lot of...

My wit recipe uses a tablespoon of crushed black pepper in addition to the usual coriander and orange peel. This time, though, I want to try using grains of paradise instead. But I'm wondering how much is appropriate? I've seen people talking about anywhere from a half teaspoon up to 5 or even...

My Kolsch has been in primary for 4 weeks now (fermented with WLP029) at 62 degrees) and the gravity has been steady at 1.008 for the last week. But when I took my most recent hydrometer sample, it was full of bubbles! The hydrometer was covered in them, and so many new ones were forming that...

I'm working on a partial mash Dubbel recipe, and unsure how much sugar I should include. Here's what I have so far: OG: 1.069 IBU: 22.7 SRM: 31.8 2.0 lb Pilsner 1.0 lb Munich 0.5 lb Caramunich 0.5 lb Aromatic 0.5 lb Special B 1.0 lb Candi Sugar, Dark 0.5 lb Table Sugar 4.0 lb Extra Light Dry...

So far I have entirely ignored issues of water chemistry, and been happy with my results. But as part of my ongoing quest for knowledge, I find myself wondering, maybe I could do better if I stopped ignoring this? So I read John Palmer's excellent overview of the subject from How to Brew. And I...

The other day I was discussing first wort hopping with a friend who is a new brewer, currently doing extract with steeping grains, and is a big time hophead. I repeated what I've read elsewhere, that first wort hopping is obviously only possible for partial mash or AG brews, since you need a...

I just realized that my most recent brew marks a milestone: the first time in 3 years of brewing I have not worried about a single thing the entire way through the process. My first couple of beers were full of worry: First time around, I worried that my basement would be too cold, because...

I've been wanting to try a decoction mash for a while, and am thinking of using it on a partial mash ESB recipe. I know this isn't a traditional English technique, but I like my bitters with a big fat malty backbone and figure this might be a good way to achieve that. Here's what I have so...

Crazy that I never tried using a bottle filler before today... I've spent a ton of time tuning my mashing technique, but for some reason never really thought about how I bottled, so I always just went with a siphon out of a bucket and straight into the bottle, the same way I did on my very...

I'm surprised I haven't been able to find more information about how various brands of malt extract compare against one another. As a partial mash brewer, I typically use around 3 lb light DME per 5 gallon batch. So far I've generally used Breiss, just because that is what my LHBS has in...

I split this brew into a small partial mash plus a separate set of steeped grains, partly because I'm not set up to mash so much grain in one go, and also because I was worried about the high proportion of dark grains messing with my mash pH. A couple of weeks before brew day, I toasted the...

Mash: 2.50 lb Munich Malt 1.00 lb Wheat Malt 0.25 lb Acid Malt One hour at 150 degrees, then mash out and sparge at 168. 60 minute boil: 1 lb Jaggery (late addition at 30 minutes) 4 lb Light Dry Extract (late addition @ 10 minutes) 0.5 oz Northern Brewer pellets [7.40 %] (60 min) 0.5 oz...

I've been doing partial mashes with a couple of pounds of 2 row, some Vienna or Munich, and a handful of specialty malts (biscuit, aromatic, etc, depending on my mood). I find myself on a quest to push the quantity of Vienna/Munich as high as it can go. But my current setup can only fit 4...

I've been brewing for nearly three years now: one year with just extract and steeping grains, and since then using partial mashes. I'm pretty happy with my technique, so I thought I would write it up here in the hopes that it might persuade some other extract brewers to take the plunge and try...