Brewcommune

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going surfing in the morning (waves should be really good too!) then I'm coming home and brewing. I've got everything positioned outside, the grain milled, mash and sparge water measured and separated, hops placed into marked bags, etc etc. I AM READY! I'l...

I was curious so I checked Jamil's book for it's Tripel recipe. It's extract based, but it uses 19% cane sugar. If you convert it to the all grain version, it's 15% cane sugar by weight. 14 lbs Pilsner malt, 0.25 lbs Aromatic and 2.5 lbs cane sugar. The golden strong recipe uses 26% cane sugar, aga...

Just a quick note when it comes to mead. Using table sugar will definitely add a cidery taste which seems to be enhanced by the honey character in mead. Also note that if you are making a cysers (apple juice and honey instead of water and honey for traditional mead) it's kind of a standard practice...

Have you read Brew Like a Monk? I highly recommend it if you're going to brew any Belgian style beers. It's a pretty quick read and well worth the time. I'd be happy to lend you my copy in exchange for a pint of the results. :) The book says that the biggest problem that homebrewers have with makin...

I've been on a Tripel kick lately and plan on doing one once it starts to warm up. I was doing a little research tonight and I'm still a bit confused. I made a Golden Strong a while back that used 6% table sugar and 3% honey and don't recall any cidery flavors. I've read lots of reports of 'sour' 'c...

aww shucks guys, thanks for the kind words - but I think he was asking which category to place his beer into :) I'd say 23 would be the best fit depending on how hoppy it is. It might be a little aggressive for 6D but then again, everyone's always told me to 'brew to the high end of the scale' when ...

haha yeah I know. :( Well I'm happy to report that most of the crud came off but it seemed to have 'stained' whatever it touched. After a soak in PBW, BLC, and Starsan, I hooked everything back up. It's nice having clean beer lines! Looks like rain is in the forecast for the next several days so hop...

I'll give the water bath in the garage option a shot. Funny, water bath IN the garage never crossed my mind. I hope it doesn't rain too much this weekend!

I have no problems controlling ferment temps in the summer with my extra fridge but the winter poses a different challenge. I'm admittedly somewhat of a temperature nazi when I brew (in the summer mostly). So here is my dilemma. I'm trying to decide if it would be better to ferment in the garage (te...

It's been over a year or longer (maybe 2? :oops: ) since I've cleaned out and changed the liquid tubing and hardware in my kegerator. I took everything apart and have it all soaking in a PBW bath but I noticed this brown buildup in each of the tail pieces that attach to the shanks... inside the barb...

I don't see why not but I think most just pitch new yeast since it's so cheap...

Mike - American or Belgian Blonde? I got some T-56 that I am going to try out on a Tripel this Tuesday... American Blonde - I had a pint of some tasty brew when I last visited Brian and he was kind enough to share the recipe. It's been a while since I've brewed so I figured a nice light, tasty, eas...

Hey Brian - are you gonna be available Sunday afternoon / evening? I was planning on calling you tonight but the wife is going to Disney on Ice with her half sister tonight so I'm on baby sitter duty. I need to pick up some ingredients and some beverage line tubing.

Taken from the Fermentis website: An alternative method is to sprinkle dry yeast direct into the wort and allow to stand for 30 minutes before mixing to distribute and aerate the wort. I've never heard of anyone actually doing this (30 min wait) but I guess this would be the correct way to add the d...

I do the same thing pretty much. I use tap to cool down to <110 then move the hoses over to a sub pump sitting a 5g bucket of ice and water. I can easily get the wort temps down to <65 even when its 100d outside. Not quite the best pictorial example but this is what I do: http://i188.photobucket.com...