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I recently discovered the convenience of bottling in 1 and 2L soda bottles. It's great to be able to put some kegged beer into a soda bottle and bring it to a party (or wherever it is that I am going and want homebrew). You would need to buy a carbonator cap like this...

Good point, but not always true. Actually, you'd be amazed how fast your heart rate gets when you lift correctly. A lot of people either take breaks between sets that are too long or don't lift heavy enough to keep the heart rate up. I used to do only running but totally changed my routine a...

I usually have a few beers every night and have managed to stay right around 140lbs, 12% body fat. I think that the two things that keep my gut in check are 1) living in a city where I DON'T have a car and 2) weight training 4 days a week (no cardio). Any time you increase lean muscle mass your...

I've been brewing forever using gas stoves because that's always been available to me. It looks like I might have to more to a place that only has an electric stove. I'm an extract brewer, and usually do 3 gallon boils. I want to hear from anybody who has used both gas and electric for a similar...

I can't believe I never thought about adding some carb drops. That sounds like a fun experiment

Wondering if anybody has tried this: I have a batch of already bottled homebrew that never got the level of carbonation I was looking for. Would it ruin the beer to pour all the bottles into a keg and then dial in the co2?

This was an interesting observation to have made in the first place. Without really thinking about it I would have only thought that a hop sack would result in less hop sludge in the wort and probably a clearer beer. But less utilization does make sense... so there are a few things you can do to...

A lot of the recipes I've been looking at only call for steeping small quantities of grain... I'm talking about something in the range of 5 to 20oz total. I usually adjust recipes from books before brewing... like this stout I made last winter, I ended up using probably 3 times as much steeping...

The book I'm getting my clone recipes from doesn't adjust for late extract additions. So I guess that would be +1 for adjusting it with beersmith. Not sure that I've seen the option for telling beersmith that grains are being steeped. Any idea where that is?

I've started putting my favorite Clonebrew recipes into Beersmith to see how the stats differ between the book and the program. Gravity estimates seem to be about the same, but I find that SRM and IBU differ a lot. SRM usually comes out really low in beersmith... is the BS version of this...

I don't like to take chances with pitching into wort that is too hot. If you don't have one already, get a lab grade thermometer that you can quickly sanitize and dip into the wort to periodically check the temp (I usually set the thermometer in a jar of iodophor while the wort cools... can...

I've read a few posts saying that a hop bag can be tied onto the end of the racking cane when transferring from secondary to bottling to filter out the particles left over from dry hopping. I'm curious though... to hear from those who have actually done this... does it also filter out a lot of...

Just started poking around promash... I can't seem to find maltodextrin in the ingredient lists... is it hidden somewhere or do I need to add it as a custom ingredient? If so, anybody have the specs?

Definitely take some serial hydrometer readings and if still in doubt, just prime on the low side to account for any extra fermentation activity. You're probably ok though given the amount of time it has been so far.

thanks for the help guys! i ended up putting 1/2 gallon of water in my fermenter and whisking in the DME... good arm workout, but it worked great. much easier than my previous experience.

How do you guys usually handle the bottling bucket once the beer gets down to the level of the spigot? I usually tilt the bucket towards the spigot to get every last bit of beer to flow through it (about half a cup always stays behind for some reason... but I drink that after I'm done). I...

+1 for oxiclean. I just let it soak overnight usually with the rest of my tubing and stuff like that. Seems to do the job very well... but it doesn't get rid of the beer smell. I think that just gets into the plastic after a few times. It's also great for removing bottle labels.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but it's all about personal preference. Do you like the way that the water tastes from your kitchen sink? Then use that. If not, just try a few types of bottled water. I personally don't mess around with brewing salts or anything like that. Just...

I'd really appreciate some suggestions here: Ok, so I've read all about extracts, partial boils, hop utilization, etc... but I'm just having trouble finding a good way to do these recipes calling for 6 plus pounds of DME. Basically, I do a 3 gallon or so boil, first steeping specialty...