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This might be a silly question, but I'm curious if anyone has any opinion on whether it's a bad idea to brew when the air quality index (AQI) is over a certain level. I'm in New York, and yesterday was stunning! I've never seen anything like it. A friend and I planned to brew a 10g batch on...

A friend received his Ward Labs water report. We've been having problems with fermentations that stop very early and have been wondering if perhaps it's his water. Can people share their impressions about this report? pH: 7.9 Total dissolved solids: 195 Electrical conductivity: 0.32...

Was wondering if experienced kegerator users can help me figure out what I need to get set up with my first kegerator. I'm looking at an Edgestar BR2001BL unit *without* the tower. I'm upgrading the tower to a Perlick 650 SS style tower (Kegco 2FT650 SS). Edgestar...

Last night (Wednesday) I got a starter going for Saturday Brew Day. I created a 1.6 liter starter at 1.043 gravity and pitched White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast. Everything went smoothly, and I put it on the spin plate at about 7:45 pm last evening. I woke this morning to see a beautiful...

Found this totally fascinating Blog post and had to share it with the forum. This fellow visited a farm outside Voss, Norway to share in a family beer brewing session. This brew uses equipment and methods the family has used for hundreds of years. Some aspects of this brew completely violate...

Hi Folks... We seem to have a stuck fermentation here. I'm hoping someone can give us some advice. So we're brewing a gruit, which is basically a Scotch ale grain bill with various herbs added, no hops. I developed this recipe and made it at my home a while ago, and it came out great! Now my...

I'm sure this has been discussed before... I've been perusing various threads. This is my first lager. I made a SMASH beer--a Stella clone. Simple recipe... very sessionable and low-SRM beer (1.045). 9-1/2 lbs. of Pilsner malt, 2 oz of Chech SAAZ, and .75 oz. of Challenger. (Decided to add...

Hey everyone, I went pear picking with my wife and son today, and the man who ran it GAVE me five gallons of pear cider for free. We talked about making pear wine, so he said, "Here... Take some and give it a try!" Cider tastes great! I took the five gallons home, added 6 oz of...

Hey folks! I've been intending to make a holiday brew for my family for the holidaze (sic). I meant to get it in the fermenter in August, but another batch is waiting to be bottled and life responsibilities got in the way. Now it's almost October, and I still don't have it in the fermenter...

Wow... I've never seen anything quite like this. Anyone out there use Giga Yeast's GY0044 Scotch Ale One yeast? I brewed a standard 6 gallon batch in my 7-and-change gallon SS Brewtech fermenter. There's not a ton of headspace, but enough that I don't usually get blowoffs. Came home tonight...

Can anyone recommend a good brewer's scale that can accurately measure in grams? I've been through two scales. One died. The replacement is really inaccurate. Both I couldn't measure, like, 1.5 grams. The "good" scale would start reading at 2 grams, then I'd have to visually cut the...

For those who reuse bottles, I'm curious to read how you clean and sanitize them? I'll start... I put 5 gallons of hot water in my sink and put 1 oz. of Star San in the water. I fill and soak about 12 bottles for 2 to 4 minutes in the water/Star San mixture, transfer them to the...

Okay... Maybe somebody can explain Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale yeast to me. Here's my experience with this yeast, and I've been trying to figure this particular strain out. By outward appearance, it functions very strangely compared to every other yeast I've used. I'm making a gruit. It's 6...

Hi folks! I'm gonna be doing an all-grain brew on a guit recipe with yarrow, sweet gale, one other to-be-defined floral addition, and probably wormwood for bitterness. My question has to do with water. I know how I'd deal with my water in context to an ale, for example (calcium chloride and...

Three weeks ago I racked my stout from primary to secondary. I'm very fussy about cleanliness and sanitation and spend more time cleaning than actually working on transferring the beer. Used PBW and StarSan on everything. Anyway... Moved the stout over, which didn't fill the 5 gallon...

This post relates to a previous thread that discussed whether it was necessary and/or beneficial to adjust strike water pH prior to dough-in. Some feel that adjusting pH is not necessary while others believe it can benefit the mash pH. I wanted to learn what would happen if I adjusted the...

Hi All! I've put together a recipe for an American Ale, and before committing it to the mash tun, I thought I'd pass it by all of you for opinions on the recipe and water adjustments. This is my first all-grain brew, so I thought it might be wise to get suggestions before I dive in and make...

I have a recipe for an American ale that I've crafted using BeeerSmith for the recipe and Bru'n Water for the water adjustments. The two are in sync. When I'm in BeerSmith I set everything to have a final mash pH of 5.4. I made all the adjustments in Bru'n Water and everything clocks in at...

I'm toying with purchasing a freezer that I can use with a temperature controller to get more refined fermentation temps and also use for aging, lagering, and cold crashing. I have a cheap freezer now, but the cooling coils are built into the shelves, which means they can't be removed...

I'm gonna order a lip-smacking chocolate, coffee stout from Jasper's. :ban: It's an extract kit. In the kit, I can select between two liquid yeasts. Which one is better for this style of beer? 1) Wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast 2) Wyeast 1028 London ale yeast Recipe is here.