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Cool thanks. I have made a starter from an Activator package of Belgian Ardens once before, and it was near-bursting when I pitched it. Is there any reason for why some packages will swell more than others? Also, how long will the activated packages keep in a refrigerator? I kept my last...

This is the second smack pack that I have bought from my LHBS that hasn't fully swollen. I am trying to do Northern Home Brewing's Hourblonmonstre extract kit, and each time, my Activator package of Belgian Ardens is still only half swollen after 12+ hours. The first package was about a month...

Doesn't RO water remove pretty much everything? I thought it was good to have a trace amount of minerals in your water.

Is there a liquid yeast that I can use in place of dry for an APA? Perhaps a Wyeast strain smack pack I can have ready in about 3 hours?

If store-bought, should I still boil and cool the preliminary 3 gallons?

Just to clarify, it was the second batch (the most recent one) that used tap water. The first batch, which turned out well, used spring water. I was pretty intent about having a good first batch, and I didn't really know about Kansas City tap water. Between batches, I read that it had won...

My second batch of John Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale didn't go so hot. After two weeks in the bottle, there is a distinct Listerine smell and a similar taste, leaving a dry feeling on the roof of my mouth. Closest I can figure, by reading taste trouble-shooting posts, is that this sounds like...

Three weeks ago I bucketed my second batch of Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe. Since I was never able to find a place in the house that stay below 70 degrees. I decided to place the fermentation bucket in a large tub and let it sit in a water bath to keep the temperature low. I swapped...

As a follow-up, I bottled this beer about two weeks ago, and cracked open my first homebrew this past Monday. Well, actually, that's a lie. I cracked open my first homebrew 2 days after bottling, and it tasted like bananas! The girlfriend and I were discouraged, but we left for vacation...

So you mean like a camping cooler, large enough for the fermentation bucket to sit in, cooler top opened with water and ice bottles?

Wow. Low 60's. Not gonna happen. I'm in Missouri, which is ridiculous hot this time of year. The lowest temperature I can hope for in air conditioning, anywhere in my house, is 72. Even in the basement.

My girlfriend and I decided to brew our first batch using the Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe from the "Crash Course" from John Palmer's "How to Brew" site. After comparing this recipe with the detailed instructions on the SAME SITE, as well as the actual 3rd Edition book, she and I have some...