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I only have a 5 gal brew pot, and only have four extract brews under my belt, but would like to venture into all grain brewing just for an experiment. My lack of supplies in a problem, but can I brew up a 3 gallon AG batch with my brewpot? Other than a brain bag, better thermometer, and a...

My AHS Dunkelweizen (OG 1.052) has been in primary for 1 day happily plugging along at 68-70F and I was wondering how easy it is to go overboard on high temps? I used WB-06, and have read a lot of places that it tends to be more clove than banana flavored. Problem is, I'm aiming for banana...

I just bottled my first IPA this evening, and now that my Ale Pail is freed up I'd like to brew up a wheat beer, but I'm not sure where to begin. I've enjoyed hefeweizen for years (Pyramid or Widmer), but I thought that it was a generic term for wheat beer rather than a specific style. Now I'm...

I've been using distilled water for my first two batches and was wondering if I should use any sort of additive to increase the amounts of minerals in the water. Local tap water is GROSS, smells of chlorine and other chemicals, often sulfur, so I stay away from it. Albertson's "drinking water"...

My IPA (brewed Oct. 15th) fermented vigorously for about 5 days, then krausen died down and fell out, leaving a smooth surface. At day 10 in the primary, I popped it open to take a hydrometer reading, and there was this thin film covering the entire surface. No hairy things, no discolorations...

Hello all, I threw together some apfelwein today for the first time, and would love some feedback on my recipe. I was going to follow EdWort's, but forgot to get dextrose at AHS so I bought a bunch of cane sugar. From what I gathered from the recipe section, most people add about 1 to 1-1/4 lb...

So my 2nd batch is an IPA of my own design (or rather a compilation of several recipes), and a few things may have gone wrong. First off, the recipe: Boil: ~4 gal (3.5?) 3 lbs amber DME (boiled for 20 min) 5 lbs light DME (half added in beginning of boil, half boiled for only 20 min) 2...

I was wondering if anybody has dabbled in brewing with heather as a replacement for hops? I've had some heather beers in Scotland and would like to give it a try and appease the ancestors! What sort of amounts would I need compared to hops, and should I do all heather or use some hops too...

I'm brewing my 2nd batch (hoppy IPA, 8lbs DME and 6 oz hops total) right now and am planning on using an ice bath to cool to 110-140 then pour onto a few gallons of 40 degree water in my fermentor... my question is has anyone put salt in the ice bath? I believe it'd keep it colder for...

So I just got a 20 qt stainless pot for my 2nd brew... I was wondering how big of a boil I can do with an electric stove? Will it not be enough heat if I do a 4 gallon boil?

Is there anything wrong with just having very cold water (~2.5 gal) in the fermentor then adding the hot wort (~2.5 gal boiled down from 3 or so) to cool it down quickly? Or do I need to chill the boil pot quickly, THEN add to the fermentor? The former seems much easier, but will it cause any...

I received 6 oz of hops today, and I intend on brewing in the next week... is it necessary for me to freeze them? They are in the air-tight packaging from AHS.

So I poured the first brew of my first batch tonight... it's only been in bottles for 5 days but is fairly carbonated and tastes great in my opinion! I gave my friends a few sips of my Amber Ale got the compliment, "This tastes like expensive beer!" Haha nothing too specific but I'm ecstatic...

I'm using 5 lbs light DME and 3 lbs amber DME for fermentables... maybe adding in a little dextrose to "dry out" the beer to allow the hoppyness to come out (anyone done this?). I was wondering how you all would recommend using the hops I got: 2 oz Chinook 2 oz Cascade 1 oz Amarillo 1 oz...

So when I racked to the bottling bucket, I used tap water to fill the siphon and create the suction. I let it drain into a pot until beer started coming out before moving the tubing over to the bottling bucket, but is there any chance that the tap water would infect my beer? I microwaved the...

How long does it take bottles to dry? I used a 1 oz 6% bleach per 5 gallon water, then added 1 oz white vinegar per 5 gallon water as well to lower pH to make it an effective killer. The founder of 5 Star Chemicals (StarSan) says that's a rinse-free concentration. But how long until I can...

What is sparkling extract? The only dry amber extract on BeerAlchemy is "sparkling" and I have no idea what that means.

I'm doing my first IPA in a week and I'm trying to put together a recipe that's going to drive me to HOP HEAVEN. I used BeerAlchemy and threw this together... and suggestions? I only have a small-ish pot that can't take more than 1.5 gal without having overflow problems... Fermentables...

dry, smack packs, or vials?

can I do a 5 gal primary ferment in a 6 gal better bottle? can I take it all the way thru fermentation just with the BB and not transfer at all for 2ndary?