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IMO, the best solution for a short supply is this: All extract batch, 15 min boil, 1.040-1.045 OG, buncha whatever hops you like. Pitch two packs of dry yeast (I like S-04 for this but whatever). Watch it go like crazy, beer will be done in about 4 days -> package. Now you have something to...

Cool build. I have a cool brewing bag that I use for my temp control. Are you seriously chilling that whole space from 80 to 60 with only 2L of ice? The pink rectangle has much thicker insulation, so I assume it's more efficient, but still, a 20-degree drop takes me about 7L of ice. ... now you...

Definitely Ommegang. If you're heading down to the city at all, there's a ton of awesome small breweries. In no particular order: LIC Beer Project, Singlecut, Rockaway, KCBC, Big Alice, Transmitter, Other Half, Threes, Interboro...

I've yet to run into any problems dry hopping early, including dry hopping when I pitch yeast. Whether or not your want to have your beer on hops for longer is a different question though. I usually dry hop early to get the beer finished quicker. Two weeks isn't bad though. I'd say hop away!

The hoppy lagers I've done never pack that wallop of really fresh hops, i think due to the time involved in lagering. I've gotten prominent, big flavor and aroma from my hop additions, but never super fresh/ripe. For that reason, I'd suggest staying away from the newer candy/fruit hops and going...

OK, my turn. 1. There are too many people saying there are too many IPAs. You don't like em, stop buying em. 2. The assumption that craft beer is or ought be higher abv (> 5%) is garbage. If you can't make a good full-flavor 4% beer, you can't brew very well. 3. If your beer is over 3% abv...

Sorry. What I meant was - getting your efficiency is t that important and doesn't save you a ton, but if you're like me you try to do it anyhow just to prove that you can! Trying to get it up is how I learned how frustrating inconsistent efficiency is for hitting a specific recipe.

Two things: 1. I do BIAB and regularly get 80-85% efficiency without much trouble. My two tricks: I do a mash rest and a "batch sparge" (dunk the bag in second pot, combine runnings from both for the boil). Also, I squeeze the bag after every rest. Well, my wife does, I hold it up. :) I'm...

There have been fruit flies in my apartment in the past. None at the moment. They're much more of a summer/fall thing in NYC.

My infections, so far at least, have all been post-fermentation. The beers finish out normally, no pellicles, etc. the flat samples taste fine. Whatever I'm getting (sounds to me like it's probably acetobacter) is coming in during bottling. At least I'm confident about that part!

I both agree and disagree. Agree: "aged" makes me think lambic hops or the like, which have been stored in a particular way to reduce their overall alpha acid % and bring out certain other flavors. Vacuum sealed last year's hops are not aged in this sense. Disagree: Over time -- even...

The drama continues! My co-brewer/wife and I have split three bottles from the recent batch that inspired starting this post this evening and all of them were fine! That is to say: 1. They were very different from the first few I opened. They don't foam constantly, the head dissipates over...

I brewed a saison about 8 months ago. Used wyeast 3724. Doubt that's an issue though, since I've changed all the plastic/rubber since then and have had plenty of fine batches in the meantime as well.

Well that one's easy for me to solve. My kettle doesn't have a valve!

Not sure that I follow that description. Maybe we have different spigot designs (are there more than one?) or I just don't know what you're talking about. BUT, I talk literally every piece of my spigots apart when I clean them, which I do with a PBW soak, rinse, then star san. As for timing...

I don't think it's an overcarbing issue. The beer has a noticeable spiciness that it shouldn't, which increases over time while the malt character of the given beer decreases. The spiciness reminds me a bit of the zing you get from saison yeast. It's a character I've noticed across all the beers...

Some quick replies: 1. Bottling buckets got a replacement recently (I use my fermentation buckets) and spigots get disassembled and cleaned every time they get used. 2. The bottles, like everything else in my system, get put away clean. 3. These infections seem to be batch-wide. They're gushers...

By "dry" I mean that I put them on the bottling tree and then when I'm done sanitizing them all I start bottling. They're probably not dry per se, but the bottling tree does aim the necks down, so I doubt anything falls in there.

Ok. So I'm a moderately experienced home brewer (~50 batches in). These days I tend to get results I'm very happy with with one exception -- recently I've had a string of bottle infections. I was hoping to give some details about where I am in my troubleshooting process because I'm not sure what...

The ruler is a good idea. A little bit more specific than marking a spoon too. I think I'll try that. It is if you live in a studio apartment! Additionally, this new brewpot was got for 3 $1 raffle tickets. It's a fine pot (Brewer's Best I think?), but I'm trying to avoid dumping a bunch...