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i am on my sixth batch of beer. i'm not quite a novice, but i'm certainly still learning. i have had a recurring problem in my last two batches. both times the beers failed to carbonate. i usually buy ready made kits from the local brewery supply store. brewer's best, etc. and the first...

is there any benefit to lagering an ale? i've got an ale that i decided to put into a chiller after a one week fermentation in the primary and a second week of very slow fermentation in the secondary. now it's in the secondary in my fermentation chiller at about 38 F. i was planning on...

i'm deep into my second case of a batch that started out very nicely but is now presenting some off flavors. the most prevelent of these flavors, beyond a little yeastiness, is a distinct smell of apple juice. the recipe was a brewer's best extract kit, "continental pilsner", saaz hops...

when i was in prague last year, many of the local brew houses offered up two types of house beers, a light and a dark lager. i have seen plenty of places that offer up clone recipes for the light lager, but how do i replicate the dark? the light was very much like budvar or urquell. do you...

my next brew will be my first lager -- a budvar clone. i have a few questions about lagering however. when pitching lager yeast, do i need to cool the wort to the temperature where i will be fermenting, somewhere in the 40-50 F range? also, would a budvar clone benefit from brewing with...

when making a starter from a yeast cake, i understand that you need to "wash" the yeast to remove trub and dead cells. but how do you know how much of the cake to rescue? how much is too much? should you "wash" the entire cake from a previous 5 gallon batch? or will that be too much yeast...

Does anyone have a recipe for a clone of Asahi Super Dry, or a similar Japanese-style beer?

I am currently fermenting a German Altbier in my lagering freezer. The recipe calls for regular ale yeast, but as I understand it, altbiers are traditionally fermented at lager temps even if they are ales. I've got my freezer set for about 65 F. should i drop down into a lagering range...

ok, this is going to be bad... i was proofing my yeast in a bowl, waiting for my wort to cool when my wife came into the kitchen. she saw the slimey brown gook in the bowl and thought it was leftovers from a bowl of shredded wheat. she poured it down the sink. so there i was, with wort...

What are your recommendations for the best stores online to buy beer ingredient kits? I've seen some that vary pretty wildly in price, have high shipping charges, etc. What are the best, and where should I look?

Just a question -- what happens if you don't chill your wort down to 70 F before you add your yeast? How much yeast will be killed at, say, 85 F? how will this affect the taste of the beer and the length of the fermentation process?

I was hoping someone could give me some peace of mind regarding my first home brew. I am using a basic ale kit that I bought at the brewery outlet along with the plastic tub that came with the kit. Everything went well until the third day of fermenting, when the CO2 stopped coming through...