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No, because it was pretty cold when I made that batch I just fermented it in the house. I'm just set up for hot weather brewing so when the ambient temperature is cold I don't have an easy way to heat the stuff up. Maybe I need to use a heating pad in a situation like that. Still though, why wouldn'...

I'm pretty sure I didn't pull the beer off the yeast cake too soon as I have made that mistake before with WLP02 and I know I am dealing with a dodgy yeast strain here. Besides that I should have picked up the issue when doing my taste tests when transfering the beer if it was a situation where the ...

Well I've brewed a few batches in my time but I have never had this happen to me before. Made a English Summer Ale and used the notorious Ringwood strain for fermentation. Now, I know I am taking a chance using this stuff but I like the results generally. I know that it likes O2 and I also know it w...

Yeah, that's what I thought. What I need to do is see if the Unibomber's old cabin out in the woods is still for sale and if so just completely drop off the grid (not that I want to blow anything up mind you). No doubt the NSA will be secretly taking photos of us all while attending the event and at...

Just a couple of things; First, I got off my dead ass and brewed an English Summer Bitter which I'll bring to the "room crawl" in leiu of the Oatmeal Stout I originally indicated that I would bring. Secondly, I did the required paperwork to be allowed to bring said Bitter to the event. I d...

I have never entered this competition before however because I brewed alot of English beer for the Bluebonnet this year I was talked into giving it a go this year. I assume that like the Limbo they combine several style categories when it comes to awarding metals. After lurking on the website, I can...

Right now it looks like I'll likely bring a keg of Oatmeal Stout. Of course, I reserve the right to be fickle as that beer strikes me as a little heavy for a gathering like this ('cause the stuff is like a meal in a glass). I may brew something lighter (like a bitter) but if I don't do it this weeke...

Well I made it over there pretty late and sadly all that IPA we made got scarfed down by somebody so I didn't get a taste. Did get to taste a couple of Jimmy's offerings; we will be going at it in at least a couple of categories this year. Hopefully I will hold my own this time but he makes some dam...

Walter, you might try running the roasted barley through a blender and getting it almost to dust before adding it. That should increase the color extraction and hopefully avoid the astringent stuff you are trying to avoid.

Let's see here, I've been doing this hobby for over 25 years and I just recently had an ephiphany. I was reading that book by Gordon Strong and he was talking about adding dark grains during the sparge to reduce the astringent notes you sometimes get when making dark beers. I had always just mashed ...

I'll try to swing by after riding Saturday morning. Also for Jimmy; bring a sample of your Export and I'll fill my growler up with some of mine so we can compare and contrast.

I'll take this one boys: I suspect the 165F you read about is the temperature the water needs to be BEFORE you put it and the grains in the mash tun. Once everything is doughed in you should be roughly 150F. Knowing nothing about exactly what you are brewing I suspect the O.G. is planned to be rough...

Jimmy is absolutely correct, for a change. Also, as long as a beer has no flavor flaws, just because you don't think it will win anything means squat. A couple of years ago I wanted to build a starter for a Belgian Tripple I wanted to make. I like to make a small beer then harvest the yeast for the ...

Well yesterday I brewed my last beer for the Bluebonnet, an oatmeal stout. Since I have never brewed one of these (really I'm sort of screwing around here) I made a hybrid of the Great Jamil's recipe and one by Gordon Strong (which has 50% more oats than Jamil's). Hopefully this stuff will need to b...

I just save the receipes and write down the tasting notes plus if the beers wins anything I'll usually write that down also (that way I won't go screwing around with something that works). So I have the grain bill, hops used (and bittering %) along time in the boil and yeast strain and original grav...