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I have some hops (mostly leftovers) that have been wrapped up in the freezer for a while and it's probably time to use them... What would you do with the following: 3oz Amarillo (unopened, but not nitro-flushed and about a year old) 1oz Simcoe (unopened, but not nitro-flushed and about a...

Just moved beer to the bottling bucket and primed. The bottles are all sanitized and I just noticed that I will be about about 10 caps short. I buy crowns in bulk and haven't given it a though in ages. It's 9PM and I have to decide... Should I bottle all of them and cover what I can't cap...

So I took a few months off for a couple reasons. Every one of my AG batches were worse than my previous extract batches (various off-flavors along the way) and because time was against me for a while. During my hiatus, I mostly killed my stash (about 6 more medicinal, yeasty Oatmeal Stouts...

So this morning I was in the process of making a starter for Sunday's brewday. I got a vial of WLP001 yesterday afternoon and kept it in the fridge until about an hour or so before I pitched it into my starter. I warmed it in my hands, shook it up, etc. Same thing I've done the previous 5-6...

So I have a batch of "My Amber" gurgling away in a spare bathroom shower. I'm used to every fermenting batch of beer smelling quite different (rotting meat, beer, farts, next to nothing, etc.) but this one is really odd. I just walked into that bathroom to check on it and was greeted by an...

So I already have my ingredients and the grains are milled - ready for a brew day on Tuesday. The recipe is an extract recipe that I've made several times, converted for AG. I just looked at the brew sheet from beersmith and there in big bold letters is a warning that my mash tun (5 gal) is...

I just finished my second AG brew and the mash went like the first. According to this calculator, I hit about 58% efficiency. That's maybe just a couple points higher than my first attempt. This recipe was for an American Wheat (Oberon clone). And the grains were: 5# 2-row 5# white wheat...

My last couple batches have hit significantly lower FG than the recipe (and yeast strain) predicted. I know there are lots of variables, but I wonder if I'm just missing something obvious. I made a ESB with WLP023 and it hit about 83% for a FG of 1.009, compared to the 1.015 estimate. I also...

So I've done quite a few extract batches and they've all been pretty good after 3-4 weeks of fermentation, then to bottle and then good to drink after a couple weeks of conditioning, then chill. So 4-6 weeks from brew to glass (and the last bottle is always the best, of course - but it's simply...

So according to mrmatly pitching rate calculator, I need to pitch 79ml of slurry. Right now, my slurry (washed and started) is in a 1L flask in my fridge and I have, maybe, 1/4" of yeast at the bottom of my starter wort - it doesn't even reach the top of the curve on the bottom of the flask...

I took my Wyeast 1056 yeast cake when I racked my IPA to secondary. To get the cake out, I added some sanitized water, sloshed it around and dumped it all into a growler. Then I placed the growler in a fridge. A couple day's later, this is what it looks like. The top is just water...

So I just wrapped up my first AG batch (2.5 Gal). A few things went well and a few things went way wrong. + Prep was all very easy - in general, I felt more or less organized. I think the common theme of the day was that the things that were familiar from the extract batches went very...

Just bought carboy caps for my carboys and I'm about to rack my IPA to secondary (carboy) for some dry-hopping goodness. Maybe I am just being too gentle with it, but I can't fit my airlock into my carboy cap. Is it supposed to be that tight? Both bits are even slick with sanitizer, but...

So I bottled my "Simple Amber" over the last hour or so, and made a pretty interesting discovery... So far, the toughest piece of equipment to clean and sanitize has to be my bottling wand. I usually fill and drain and fill and drain, etc. to make sure I get it as clean as possible and...

WARNING: This is a rant. So I'm a pretty handy guy. I am good with my hands. Do some woodworking. Was a pretty good machinist in a previous life. Was also a mechanic for a while. When it comes to homebrewing, I am gung-ho about making the things I need to save some dough. I figure I...

This is the current water quality report for my town. Most of the text appears to be boilerplate. There are a few tables (for contaminates), but I'm not seeing any information about the additives (chorine/chlorides, fluoride, etc. although fluoride is listed as a contaminate). I guess I...

I have some birthday dough to spend on upgrading my brewing equipment and need to be smart about it. I currently have the basics: + 5 gallon pot + Fermenting and Bottling buckets + 5 gallon glass carboy + The other essentials that came with my kit Like many, I would like to move in an...

(I am trying to wash yeast for the first time) In anticipation of brewing today, I racked an amber into a secondary (to dry hop) and kept the yeast. I poured the yeast into a sanitized growler and stopped pouring when it looked like I was down to the trub (green and nasty in this batch -...

Any thoughts about this? I'd like to begin dialing in a nice, simple Amber recipe so I made this in BeerSmith based on some recipe I found and a few turns of my own. My goal is to make a very easy-drinking amber with low bitterness, good hop aroma and clean finish. I drink a lot of...

I just racked into my carboy and the bung/airlock combo keep popping up. I shove it in there nice and tight and within a few minutes, it's always pushed back up, just sitting there cockeyed. I suspect the problem is that the neck of the carboy and the bung are both slick with starsan...