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How long have they been carbing? Try giving a couple bottles a week in the fridge, see if that calms it down. I had a batch recently that was overcarbed and would have a ton of head unless I poured very carefully, and a longer chill period helped as well. If that works for you, just give...

That would also be my guess, as the roasted grains can be pretty acrid and give you a burnt coffee taste. You also aren't using a lot of base grain, so the roasted barley could easily overpower everything else. Maybe switch in some chocolate malt for part of the roasted barley next time?

I had a couple S-05 brews get too warm, around 75-76, this winter. One batch was horrible and was my first dumper. The second had a ton of esters but is at least drinkable, especially with some aging. The second batch convinced me to buy a fridge to ferment in, so I can stop worrying about...

Looks like that beer uses a twist-off cap, if the beer advocate picture is correct. So that wouldn't hold a seal if you're bottle conditioning. Or, at least, I wouldn't trust it.

Brewer, ME? I hope there's a homebrew group, if just because thinking of a name would be fun. Brewer Brewers, maybe.

Holy cow. I agree with hogwash, I don't think it's rotten fruit unless something went awry elsewhere, but there's a lot going on in your beer. I assume this is a 5 gallon batch? Gonna be a while until all the flavors mellow and it becomes palatable. But maybe you'll come out with something...

While you can technically do (a), you shouldn't. It's too tricky to control in a home environment, and you won't know just how much fermentable stuff is left when you bottle, and that's asking for trouble. Trouble as in bottle bombs.

This beer is going to be just fine. Definitely get a wort chiller, though, makes a huge difference in cooling.

I'd cut the crystal way down 1) since Amber LME already has crystal in it, and 2) 1.5 total lbs of crystal is a lot even with pale extract. You also won't get much hop flavor with a 2 minute addition, especially with all the sweetness you have going on. Also, maple syrup is fermentable, so if...

When I share my latest batch of the best beer ever brewed and a person doesn't like it, I feel bad for their inferior and frankly incorrect taste.

Absolutely don't dump it. In fact, I bet it's just fine. The only way to tell what's happening with fermentation is checking the gravity, not bubbles, or a krausen, or anything else. My guess is the FG will be right where you want it, and you can go ahead as planned. There are very limited...

I'm not familiar with those kits, but are they partial boils, i.e. you add water after the boil? It's common for the OG to be off due to the top up water not mixing completely.

I brewed this RIS earlier last month and all went well for a few weeks. I noticed something funky last week while taking a sample, but I thought it was yeast rafts (kinda looked like dried yeast floating on top). When I opened it up to rack to secondary yesterday, I was greeted with this sad...

Yowza, glad it was in the tub, and now it seems like you were thinking ahead. I always use a blowoff tube to relieve pressure for big beers, but I don't worry about the Krausen much since I got fermcap-s: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermcap-s-1-oz.html I highly recommend it, it'll keep...

You'll be fine with the unboiled wort, especially if your fermentation starts off healthy. RDWHAHB! As for the filtered non-boiled water, I, and many other people, top off with that with no issues.

It'll work, but be really careful. I added carb tabs to some beers that I thought weren't going to carb, but either they were slow carbers or weren't warm enough, because I got a couple bottle bombs. So before you add more sugar, make damn sure you're not overdoing it.

Just called it a cascade dark hefeweizen and drink away! Last year I brewed a kolsch that came out waaay too dark, called it a golden kolsch, and went on with my day. As long as it takes good, no big deal.

Yeah, smack packs don't have enough yeast for most 5 gallon batches even when they're very fresh, so a starter is par for the course. But you should still get fermentation, plenty of folks just pitch right in without a starter, so it's hard to say what's going on. In any event, use a starter...

No problem. I learned a ton from these boards and am just passing on the favor. Good luck!

I'm in the middle of drinking a batch of black IPA - I dry hopped 2 oz of cascade in a bag the week before bottling, and kept it in primary. Fantastic nose on it. Definitely no reason to dry hop after 3 days since the aromas will fade, so the week before bottling is best. The methods in that...