I haven't brewed in a couple of years and am getting back up to speed. I'm starting off with a small 10L fermentation using extract. Azacca (11.9% AA), citra (12.8% AA) and lemondrop (5% AA) hops + Belle Saison yeast - you can probably guess the style I'm aiming for - hoppy, fruity, citrussy saison. Target IBU of 100. 0.25kg extra light DME at the start of the boil, hot break. 1.75kg extra light DME late addition 15m before flame …
I order extracts from NB and most of them come with a disposable mesh bag with specialty grains, the instructions specifying to take the grains out after the temperature reaches 170*F. After pulling the mesh bag out, I have always squeezed it relentlessly to get every drip out of the mesh bag (often hurting myself from the heat in the process -- but I figured it was worth it). Just 2 minutes ago, however, I was squeezing the mesh bag …
I'm planning on brewing an American Wheat Ale with extract soon and looking for advice on specialty grains. I'm reading suggestions to not use any specialty grains, but I thought I'd see if anyone had luck adding any. My recipe with look something like this: 4lbs Wheat DME 2lbs Light LME 1oz Cascade 1oz Centennial Wyeast 1056 Probably ferment it around 64F in the hope of a fruity addition from the yeast.
I made a recipe for a Scotch Ale and was hoping for some feedback on the grain bill. The base malt is at 80.8% of the bill, so my specialty grains are under 20% but accumulate to 4lbs total. Is this too much to reasonably steep? Maris Otter Extract: 9.75lbs : 80.8% Crystal Light : 1lbs: 5.4% Crystal 60L : 1lbs: 5.4% Victory : 1lbs : 5.5% Roasted Barley : 1lbs: 2.9% Lots of online suppliers only offer 1lb min …
I have a cousin from a state where recreational use of marijuana is legal. So I've been told that he and his gnarly friends have brewed up some sort of marijuana hybrid beer somehow. My questions: Is this possible that beer could be brewed up somehow with weed? If this is possible, would you get the effects of both beer and pot both? I see the stoners on this as... Going to drink some weed dude! Getting drunk and high …
So I followed a recipe called "hoppy red ale" and I just took a sample after 14 days in the fermenter. I'm a little disappointed that it's not as red as I thought it would be. It's more of a brown / golden yellow. My second confusion is the fact that it tastes very similar to my first recipe, although slightly darker / roasted. So looking at these recipes, why didn't the second one turn out as red and why …
This is my first brew, so I kinda look at it as a rite of passage, but I had 5 gallons of brown ale fermenting in a 6.5g carboy. The airlock was super active for the first 16-18 hours. Soon after that I came into the closet I was fermenting in to an explosion. Needless to say the carpets ruined in there with a gallon or so of wort and hops spread on my carpet, clothes, and walls. I moved …
I used tap water for my first batch and it came out with a little off taste and flavor that I referred to as a bandaid. I looked it up and found it could be the water I am using, are there any good suggestions as to what water is best for brewing? The quickest and easiest solutions will be the best.
My first batch, I followed a recipe using malt extract to create a West Cost IPA. The wording of the recipe made me invert the Hop additions... [Edit] Instead of: 2oz of Centinennial at 0mins left in boil 1oz of chinook at 10mins left in boil 1oz of columbus at 60mins left in boil I did : 2oz of Centinennial at 60mins left in boil 1oz of chinook at 50mins left in boil 1oz of columbus at 0mins left in …
I am new to the home brewing community and have a question regarding some malts I am using on my next batch. After using a few beer kits from Brewers Best, I am taking a spin at trying to gather my own ingredients to brew. I have: 1 pound of Briess Pilsen DME 1 pound of Briess Bavarian Wheat DME 1 pound of Briess Carapils crushed malt 1 ounce of German Hallertau hop pellets Safale US-05 Ale Yeast Additional items: …
I am planning on trying this recipe - http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/04/red-ale-for-beginning-homebrewers-hoppy-red-ale-recipe.html, and calls for the following: 1 Liter starter of either White Labs WLP001 or Wyeast 1056. After that is says: You can substitute one 11.5 gram package of Safale US-05 for the starter of liquid yeast. My question is, instead of making a yeast starter, can I just buy 2 packets of Safale US-05 (https://www.homebrewwest.co.nz/safale-us05.html) and add them? Another options I was considering was using 1 packet of liquid CALIFORNIA ALE …
Where I live we only get some of Coopers international extracts, but none of the brew enhancers or dry malt extracts that I've seen in most of the recipies. Will I get good results if I don't add any of these extras or should I replace them with something else?
I plan on brewing my beer and letting it ferment for 2 or so weeks in my garage. Unfortunately there are a lot of fumes (eg. From the car and motorbike) and I'm worried that the fumes may affect the fermenting beer. Note that there isn't really any ventilation. But I do have a bubbler air-stopper in place. Does anybody know if this will affect the quality of the beer, or could it be dangerous to ingest? If so, would …
I have returned to home brewing after a long leave of absence and would be very grateful for some advice just to make sure my wort is still going in the right direction as I am getting a bit concerned. I replaced the time expired yeast packets with new ones and have made two kits, a Brewmaker Strong Export Bitter and a John Thompsons Strong XXX Bitter. Everything was properly sterilised. It's now day 6 and the wort of the …
I'm looking for some input as to whether my planned recipe looks right. I have only just finished my first ever brew and wanted to try my hand at pulling together my own recipe (but I am not skilled enough, nor do I have all necessary equipment to do all grain or start partial mashes, so would be looking at extract with some steeped speciality grains). At the same time, I have been drinking a lot of Brooklyn Brewer's Sorachi …
I was advised by my LHBS that if I steep 500g of Carapils in 2L of water (for a 23-25L batch) at around 68°C, then use this as part of my boil, then I will have more body and head retention in my beer. Is this method correct? Do I use this 2L of water as part of the 11L to be boiled or do I add it to 9L of boiled water to reach the 11L boil size and …
I'm conscious this is the third question I've asked before I even get started on my first brew, but hey-ho; better to learn from the experience of others and get as close to "right" first time. I am about to start an ale brew and understand the ideal temperature for fermentation to be effective is in the range of 18 degrees centigrade (c. 64F) to 22 degrees centigrade (c. 72F) - maybe even 20-22C. My problem is that where I …
I have 2 10 litre cookpots; one of which I've been using for brewing. I've been working with an 8 litre boil and a 12.5 litre batch size. I want to purchase a 23 litre extract kit. The kit includes 2 x 1.5 litre liquid malt extract cans, along with steeping grains and hops. If I do an 8 litre boil I know I will have darkening of the work and lower hop utilisation. I don't really care too much …
I am a beginner and as a beginner almost everything tells you to use malt extracts to brew your beer. So after a few batches I think I am ready to move up but I am wondering if it's worth the extra work. Is the beer really better? Does it require a lot more work? One big question I have is do most people progress onto all grain brews or do they stay with the extract brews for simplicity? I …