Recent content by Brewsef

Bottled my batch after ten days of dry hopping w/ the vanilla beans and it was a holiday success. Gave 2-3 bottles each to friends, family and co-workers. Everyone LOVED the brew. Turned out a little bit more transparent than the pics you guys have posted, and a slightly bubblier head (not as...

I just soaked mine for about 3-4 hours in a shot of warm, sanitized H20 & a shot of vodka. looked about the same. :ban: toss it in and let er ride~

Dropped my vodka soaked vanilla beans in the 2ndary last night, going to bottle on the 13th and enjoy a few on Christmas day. So ready for this porter to be done!

I Also subbed Simpsons Black for the Black Patent, since that was not available at my LHBS. Also used 6 oz of Chocolate rye in there. If it turns out well, I'll post the final recipe. This is only my 4t5h batch of AG, but all have gone well except my 1st. I did toast half of my oats in the...

Yeah, my sample from the hyrdo was off the charts sweet/coffee/portery goodness. Can't wait to Get this in a bottle. How many Vanilla beans in the 2ndary? and did you split them open to expose the vanilla? I was just going to split open 1 and try that for the 1st batch.

Making this tomorrow! Pretty stoked. Going to modify a few small things, but looks like a great recipe. Sticking to about 95% of the ingredients and grabbed some fresh vanilla beans today. Hoping to hand it out on Christmas to my friends & family. Growlers for all!

I have some of the ESB sitting right in front of me & wondering what to make with it. I have 2 lbs I bought on a whim when I was @ Norther Brewer last week. I'm going to add it in w/ a few other for my 1st attempt at a AG batch next week, I guess. Wish me luck.

Yup, def saw that one at NB in West Allis when I was there. headed up there tmrw for more supplies and ingredients. Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to grab two or three of those books and get reading b-4 my attempt at AG brewing. I'll stick to partials and extracts for now. I think I'm going to need to watch the AG process in action b-4 my first go round. Plus I need a bit more equipment.

Wow, after reading some excerpts from the HowToBrew book posted above, I can find at least two mistakes I made with my 1st 5 gallon batch. Hopefully they are not big enough boo boos to stink up the whole batch. Guess I didn't really understand that the grains in my first ever brew kit were...

Thanks for the info. have you used the basic wing version? I used to help a friend bottle and I used the stand up bench type, which made capping a breeze. Just wondering if the cheaper on is a pain and if I should spend the extra $20, since I will probably be doing this for quite some time.

Love all of the information, threads and recipes on this site. I am a new member from Kenosha, WI, and will definitely be joining as a full timer in the very new future. I've always wanted to brew, since I love to cook, bake, can, garden, and do everything else. I was a bartender for 9 years...