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I don't know if this should go here, or in the newbie section. But I need some definition. I generally do a starter with a pint of water and 1/2 cup of DME. Currently I'm doing a wee heavy, so I started early, popped the smack pack the night before, did the starter, let it go a few days...

I'm making some smoked Polish sausage this weekend. Last time, I tried hot-smoking it in the Weber, and it was ok. But I really want to have it smoky, but not cooked this time, and I can't do cold-smoking. If I try using a little liquid smoke in the meat and just air-dry it - what's a...

I got an electric meat grinder/sausage maker for Christmas and I'm playing around with it. Made chopped liver and pepperoni, both within the limits of what I expected. Then I tried a recipe for Louisiana Boudin Blanc. The taste is fine, but the texture, inside the casings, is that of a soft...

The Christmas beer for 2011 is a chocolate oatmeal stout. I don't really need to give all the recipe specifics, but it's important to note that I put in 8oz of unsweetened cocoa late in the boil, so it factors into the OG. 3 weeks in primary, then transferred to secondary for a week, leaving...

So, the fall basic beer I was working on is a Honey Blonde ale. I wanted only a tiny sweetness and a good grapefruit tang from Cascade hops (Centennial at 60 & 30, 1oz Cascade at 2). At 2 weeks, I tested SG & drank the sample to assess the flavor and found it nicely dry, but alarmingly...

I'm starting my holiday brew, trying for a moderately intense and not too sweet chocolate stout. The base recipe is a partial mash oatmeal stout, and I'm racking onto a small package of cacao nibs (maybe 2 oz? Not the big package). Lactose would be 4 oz. I want to include some cocoa powder...

I don't have any equipment to control temperatures, don't even have air conditioning. I've always just waited til the weather seemed all right & fermented in the dining room. I thought I waited long enough. I started my yeast starter last week and shortly thereafter was informed that this...

I'm trying a new recipe for a honey blond this weekend and put my figures through Brew Your Own recipe calculator. Got 1.061 OG, 5.4% ABV. Put (approx) the same figures through Hopville Beer Calculus and got >1.074 OG, >7% ABV. WTH? Both are using 65% mash efficiency. The (1st) recipe...

Ok, so now that Northern Brewer has rye liquid malt extract, how would you use it? (I'm assuming a partial mash recipe with other grains to be mashed). LME component to be 100% rye? Too much? Mix with barley or wheat? What proportions? And what would it be like if you added a little...

I'm trying to work up a summer honey pale ale recipe with a pronounced, but balanced, grapefruit flavor. It's a 5 gal partial mash. I'm probably using Centennial hops for bittering; 1/2oz at 60 min and 1/2 oz at 30 minutes. I'm using Cascade for flavoring at 2 minutes, but I'm torn...

I'm looking for a recipe to drink this summer. I like partial mash, but can only handle about 4# grain, max. It has to be an ale, as I'm not set up for lagers. Probably around 5% abv. And I'd like it to be fairly gold, I've only done brown/red ales and stouts so far. Another issue is 'The...

I brewed as planned on the weekend. This is my third batch ever, a breakfast stout. I do partial mash and only have a kitchen to brew in. I added some new techniques. Did a yeast starter, went well. Cleaned and sanitized everything, had everything I needed, was in really good shape to get...

Apropos of - well, not much. Just a first-time event. Sent home a bottle of brew with my stepson a couple weeks ago - first one of mine he's tried. He (and SWMBO & kid) came over for a visit yesterday. Suddenly he remembered he'd left the empty bottle at home. "Damn! I was going to ask...

In the beginners' area, responding to a post on Scottish Ale, Storunner13 mentioned that more water in the boil would result in more bitterness. Just wondering - why? How does that work? I'd assumed that the amount of time in the boil would be most important (assuming identical ingredients...

I'm very satisfied with the taste of my Irish Red Ale now. However, the color is a bit dark - basically like Coca Cola. Clear, very dark red, just short of a stout. The recipe uses 0.5# roasted barley. (Other grains, of course, but that's the dark one). I'm using Light DME. If I wanted...

Ok, I'm finally happy with my Irish red ale. Time to move on. I want to make a milk stout with coffee and oatmeal and am mashing together some likely recipes. It's going to be partial extract. However, the coffee component has me a bit worried. Some recipes have you steep ground coffee...

I'm a relatively new brewer - currently I have my 2nd run at a Irish Red Ale style in secondary. So far, I'm playing with partial extract, rather than kits or all-grain. I do work in a medical lab, so I'm pretty familiar with lab techniques in general, and I feel comfortable about...