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Help. I just realized that I always fill my brew pot to the target boil volume, and then add the extracts on top of that. But now I realize that adding several pounds of extract raises the volume. So when I compute hop utilization, should I use the volume before the LME, or the volume after the...

Quick question about hop substitution: I was preparing to make a pale ale today, Palmer's Lady Liberty, and as I was getting set up, realized that I don't have any Northern Brewer, which the recipe calls for as a bittering hop: 0.5 NB 11% - 60 min 0.5 Cascade 6% - 30 min 1.0 Cascade 6% - 15...

Palmer's book seems to recommend 1.5 to 2 quarts of water per lb of grain for mashing. In the partial mash discussions on this board and elsewhere, I've seen ratios as low as 1.25 or even 1 quart per lb of grain. Are there any significant drawbacks to going as low as this ratio when partial...

I'm getting ready to try an all-grainer one of these days, but I have been having some trouble creating an MLT with a water-tight seal: All those instructions for converting a cooler to an MLT seem to use an O-ring. After many attempts, with different configurations and O-ring sizes, I just...

Just bottled a batch today, and am in the midst of brewing another. If I want to reuse the yeast cake in my primary fermenter, do I just leave it there, with the gunk around the top from the last batch, and pour the new wort/water on top of it? Or do I need to move the yeast cake into a newly...

I am going to try to brew an extract recipe that calls for steeping with specialty grains - the first time I've tried it. I have all the ingredients, but am uncertain about how to crush the grains. I began trying to crush the grains by putting them in a ziplock bag, and running a rolling pin...

Low on bottles... that reminds me of a simple question I had (probably a dumb one). Can bottle caps be reused? It seems a shame to throw them away after one use if they can be reused.

Hello Everyone, I posted a few weeks ago with some concerns about my first brew experience. I was encouraged to see the batch through, which I did. I followed John Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe. The end result was a beer that tastes quite good going down, but that leaves a bitter (ok...

Hi All, I just began enthusiastically reading about homebrewing a week and a half ago and jumped right in to make a batch (probably too soon, but with real enthusiasm). My main question is whether I should hold onto this batch or not, since I know I made a couple of errors: * When I...

Hello to everyone. Looks like a really great site with great members. Just started reading about home brewing and started my first batch a week ago. Look like a great hobby. Happy Brewing Bill (aka Bitter Al)