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Excellent - thanks guys Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

I think most shops these days, and particularly homebrew stores, know full well that they've got to compete with online prices. I love having a good LHBS nearby so I can get quality, fresh ingredients and ask questions, but if I'm buying something like a boil kettle, burner or other equipment I...

Additional comment - regarding the report I linked, the Mil. Water Works guy said, "Just keep in mind that we report Calcium and Magnesium as both the cation, and as the mineralized form, so you will see calcium carbonate hardness, total carbonate harness (plus magnesium) and the cations then...

Yeah, those numbers definitely seem off to me. I love Daisy Cutter and Half Acre, so hope no one gets me wrong here, but I do think its a bit funny (and telling in today's craft beer market) that they label it an APA. The quote from the OP is, "Daisy Cutter Pale Ale is a West Coast Strong Pale...

I am just getting into water chemistry issues and working my way through the Bru'n Water information. I'm not a scientist, so it has been slow going, but I am looking forward to finally addressing this part of my home brewing process. Currently, all I do is add a campden tab to address the...

Perhaps its semantics, but the OP said it is "still not very carbed" and has "almost no carb" - not necessarily that it is "flat". That suggests to me that patience may be the best remedy, based on my experience with big beers (and in particular, big dark strong Belgians). I've definitely had...

Yeah, this is something that I also noted (I think my problem is the same as yours anyway) -- I brew a pale ale every year, but sometimes tweak it a bit, and like to save my notes, numbers, etc. for each brewday. On Hopville, I could just open that recipe (say, Pale Ale 2012) and re-save it...

I'm not much of an expert, but for what its worth I do agree that 14 days at 40 degrees plus a fining agent is an extreme cold crash, and may be removing so much yeast that is a factor affecting your bottle conditioning. Most homebrewers I know cold crash for a day or two.

Apologies if this has been asked / answered in this long thread, but I wonder why all the yeast washing articles, videos, etc. always use boiling in hot water as the preferred method of sanitizing. Is there any reason I can't use my Erlenmeyer flask and a few plastic jars (these...

Another Hopville import who agrees with the prior comments - I really like this brewing software, but miss the feature that allowed me to compare calculated gravities to actual, measured OG and FG. Also kind of miss a print format option, as I would print my recipes to take to the homebrew...

My LHBS does not carry Pacman, so I'm curious if there is a consensus recommendation as to an alternate yeast for this beer (I know, it is highly unlikely there is a "consensus" anything when it comes to such topics.) I am brewing Sunday -- probably going to play it safe with 1056 or S-05...

I think probably the most common practice is to go to batch sparging in a converted cooler. That's what I did. There are tons of guides here and elsewhere. Here's a pretty good summary of what you need to buy, with links to online sources for the pieces of equipment you'll need...

I appreciate all the advice in this thread. One of my favorite brewing blogs (Mad Fermentationist) recommends a countertop carbon filter system, as he's noticed fermentation issues when using camden tabs. My problem is that I am really focused on trying to simplify things, while still making...

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. It is sometimes funny how I've seemingly put so much into this hobby (time and $$), and still am making what seems like very basic mistakes. I will try the camden tabs with my next brew and take a harder look at water treatment generally.

I've noticed a chemically, astringent kind of off flavor in most of my beers, especially noticeable in my pale ale and other lighter beers (but it is present in the darker beers as well). At first I thought it was the dreaded "extract twang", but I went all grain last year and its still there...

Bell's Third Coast for me. I love it young and love it aged.

Some people like Bigfoot young and fresh, but I think most like to give it a year or 2 to mellow out a bit. I am definitely not an expert on barleywine, but I buy some Bigfoot every year and like to give it at least 2-3 years in the cellar.

I did this recently with a barleywine that started at 1.122 and finished at 1.032. It had been sitting in secondary for about 18 months. I brewed a similar beer but with OG of about 1.080 and pitched it onto a huge 1056 yeast cake, which took it down below 1.010. About a month ago, I bottled...

Thanks for the helpful advice, as always ... I'll play it by ear tomorrow, but now have a much better understanding of my options.

One of our local bottle shops has a tasting room where they do mostly wine events, but about once a month they bring in a brewer. I've done tastings with master brewers from Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Goose Island, Central Waters and even Larry Bell himself one night, among others. Its a...