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I've just picked up two torpedo kegs, CO2 tank, regulator, fittings, etc. My plan is to transfer from carboy to keg, use my fermentation chamber to keep the kegs chilled, and serve from a picnic tap. When I want to use the fermentation chamber again, I plan to bottle what's left with a Beergun...

I've been homebrewing for a couple of years now and have 25-30 batches under my belt. I've been bottling my batches this whole time, and one thing I've noticed consistently is rapid flavor loss, presumably due to oxygen. I make sure to practice all the usual recommended techniques - minimize...

I'm going to brew a hefe over the weekend, so I got my 3068 out of the fridge and into a flask with some DME. I'm wondering if a stir plate is necessary with a top cropping yeast. It's so active on its own that putting it on the stir plate inevitably causes too much foam and I end up losing...

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of pilsner on June 30. It was split into two carboys, and they were placed in the same fermentation chamber. A starter of WLP029 was split between them. After fermentation, both carboys were cold crashed and fined with gelatin. Come bottling time, I had a new siphon...

I'm still bottling, and for a lot of styles, I like a nice clear beer. I typically fine with gelatin in the fermenter, cold crash for a few days, then bottle. Sometimes this produces a crystal clear beer when poured carefully off the yeast. Sometimes it doesn't. The beer can be nice and clear...

I've been picking up what I think is pretty strong diacetyl in my last two batches of bottled beer. The first time it happened was also the first time I had used carravienne in a recipe, so I attributed to that. But it eventually faded, and now I'm picking it up in a a pilsner that is 98.5%...

I bought a new sterile siphon starter with the idea of reducing oxidation and getting less sediment in my beer. Getting the autosiphon started to rack to the bottling bucket involves a lot of moving parts - holding the tubing in the bucket as the siphon is raised, keeping the siphon from...

Just curious if anyone knows when New Zealand hops typically show up in the US market? I've noticed Yakima Valley Hops has some 2017 Australian hops available. I would think availability for NZ hops would be similar, but when I inquired with YVH, I was told NZ hops have a different harvest...

I've been bottle conditioning for about a year, and I've decided I want to switch to bottling from a keg with a BeerGun. I'm going to build a kegerator when I eventually have space for it anyway, so I may as well buy a couple kegs and a BeerGun now. It should reduce oxygen exposure during...

I'm going to start playing with some locally malted grain from these guys: http://www.mainstemmalt.com/ I typically use Great Western organic 2-row and organic white wheat as my base malts. I find they taste better, with more complexity, than their non-organic counterparts from Great Western...

I picked up some interesting grain from a local company today. It's a red wheat, but has more melanoidins than a typical red wheat, and is darker, at 9 degrees SRM. I'd like to determine the ppg value for this grain so I can use it in crafting some recipes. The analysis is listed here...

I took a shot at brewing a pale ale with WLP 029 last Monday, and it's happily fermenting away now. Here's what I came up with for a 10 gallon batch: Sasquatch Pale Ale (brewed the weekend of Sasquatch Music Festival here in Washington) 5lb 2-Row 5lb White Wheat 3.5lb Belgian Pilsner 2lb...

Despite my best efforts, I have a very hard time preserving hops flavors and aromas in my bottled beers. I don't have room for a kegerator, or I'd likely have one already. I do have room for a 5 gallon keg and a CO2 tank. Does it make sense to use a keg as a bottling bucket? It seems like I...

Over the colder months, and even in warmer weather, I find one of the most challenging aspects of BIAB is maintaining a good mash temp. I wrap my kettle in a sleeping bag, but even then it's not uncommon for the mash temperature to drop by 6 degrees or more over 60 minutes. I've had good success...

I'm admittedly poorly educated on the subject of water chemistry, but I've been getting along pretty well with my RO filter and the Brewer's Friend water calculator. My municipality has fairly low alkalinity to begin with - about 20-25ppm HCO3. After that passes through my RO filter, I...

I started brewing beer last summer and knew I wanted a propane burner without a paint coating. I brewed a couple of times with my friend, and the toxic smell of whatever paint they use burning off was enough to convince me I wanted none of that. Enter the SS10 - stainless simple propane...

I have a Spike kettle with four 1.5" TC ports located 2" from the bottom. I believe I purchased the EPDM gaskets for them, as that material had the highest temperature rating of those carried by my LHBS. My problem is that the gaskets like to get stuck, and if all I have is a cap on the TC port...

I have a chest freezer I use as a fermentation chamber. I have two carboys I can fit in there. One carboy holds 6 gallons, the other holds just over 5. The result is that the smaller carboy gets a little bit colder when the compressor kicks on. So far I've been taping my temperature sensor to...

I have a pound of NZ Waimea hops I'd like to use in a recipe, but there is very little information in the homebrewing community about this variety. I'm looking for recipe suggestions or any input from brewers who have brewed with this hop. I think this hop would be best suited to a PA or IPA...

I've been trying to determine the wort correction factor of my refractometer, which has resulted in my purchasing several hydrometers. Having worked in a wine lab, I'm finding that the typical homebrew hydrometer is woefully inaccurate. For example, I recently purchased a 0-12 brix hydrometer...