The health food store near me has a sale on dark Agave nectar such that 1 kg costs less than their average 1 kg of honey (usually it costs slightly more than honey). I noticed on the nutritional info on the label that it's got roughly the same sugar content as honey, so in theory, I could use agave nectar to make mead, using the same proportions! Before I attempt this though, I was wondering if anyone out there has …

I'm following this stout recipe for the second time (it's a good one). I had planned to double the recipe to make ~ 40ltrs instead of 20ltrs. The recipe calls for: (2.7KG) 6 lb. Dark Liquid Malt Extract My supplies just arrived and my homebrew store substituted 3 x 1.5 Kg Cans of Dark LME with Amber LME. So I needed 5.5Kg of Dark LME in the first place, I now have 1 x 1.5Kg Dark LME and 3 x …

I found a recipe for a blonde ale that calls for dried rose hips and dried rose buds. I'm having trouble finding these ingredients and am wondering if there are any good substitutes. The recipe specifically calls for 1 tsp of rose hips and 1 tbsp of rose buds to be added at 20 min into the boil and at the end of the boil, respectively.

I have a recipe for an English I.P.A. which has 0.500 gr of Carapils but i have run out.Only grains that i have right now for substitute is Cara-Blonde and Crystal EBC 145-155. Will either of those two do or just skip Carapils and start the brew?

I was wondering if there's a way to make American 2-row resemble the graininess of pilsner. I've taken 2-row and added some biscuit malt or pale ale malt to nudge my 2-row a bit closer to Marris Otter. Is there a similar trick to approximate pilsner?

I'm trying a simple recipe for ginger beer (Method 1 here). Would using ReaLemon be ok instead of an actual lemon? I understand that preservatives in an apple juice can harm the yeast when making cider, but will this small amount (2-3 tablespoons) of lemon juice make a difference?

I am working from an ESB recipe that says to put 1 oz of whole leaf tettnanger hops in to dry hop during the secondary fermentation. I accidentally got pellet hops instead. Can I get away with dry hopping with the pellet hops? And if so, should I scale back how much of it I use?

I have the white coopers australian stout 23L kit which recommends the additional 1kg sugar you can add but I know its not recommended. I know most people add 1kg spraymalt but I do not have it right now, or any brewing sugar (and won't be able to get more for a while). I was wondering how 500g or 1kg of 'caramel sugar' or brown sugar would taste. Is another alternative to just reduce the amount of wort I make? …

I'm brewing a saison from a recipe (extract+grains) that calls for Carabelge, which my LHBS doesn't stock. The bill is 50/50 wheat & light extract (2kg each) plus 500g of Vienna and Carabelge. What can I substitute? I've got some Munich I here but it seems a bit of a stretch. My LHBS stocks mainly Weyermann and some Bairds products as well as a big range of local (Australian) malts.

I would like to brew Jamil's Dry Stout from Brewing Classic Styles, which calls for "British pale ale malt," but I happen to have about 75 lbs of 2-row malt already, and I would like to use it. Can I add some percentage of specialty malt (Munich, perhaps?) that would give my 2-row substitution a more English character?

I recently brewed a recipe that called for Carastan malt. My LHBS didn't carry it, so I just used 40 L Crystal. In the finished beer, I'm missing the toffee and toastiness found in the original. Does anyone know of a better substitute? If there aren't really any good substitutes, where is a good place that I can find it online?