Recent content by drewski

I'm getting ready to brew a traditional Berliner Weisse, and am trying to decide between a) pitching Lactobacillus bacteria to the green wort with the yeast, or b) simply adding lactic acid to the fermented beer. Can anyone advise of pros/cons to either method, and recommend what quantity...

I don't think the agave really affected the taste. Although under carbed, the cider tastes a bit like a sweet, flat champagne.

I brewed a strong cider and bottled it a week ago, but after opening the first bottle, there's virtually no carbonation at all. Here are the specs... OG: 1.074 FG: 1.014 ABV: ~8.1% In addition to 5 gal of cider I added 1lb Dextrose, 1/2lb light brown sugar, and 3/4lb Agave nectar. I...

My sincere apologies for opening the "Is selling homebrew legal?" can of worms... I'm sure HBT has servers full of threads covering that. Excellent point, and one I'll do a bit more research on before putting ink to label. I live in Uptown Minneapolis, and as far as I can tell, the Uptown...

I'm trying to come up with a name for labeling my homebrews. Is there any risk in calling my homebrew operation something like "Uptown Brewing Company" even though I don't have a registered business or sell my beer? Just curious to see if this issue has ever come up for anyone?

Thanks ilikethetrees! I live in Uptown Mpls, just two blocks from that Penzey's location. I picked up the berries I have from Midwest Supplies in St. Louis Park, but I may check over at Penzey's - they'd probably be better quality. What amount did you use in your recipe, and when did you...

Update for anyone interested, I tried a bottle of the problem Fat Tire clone last night, ten days after bottling. The taste isn't distinctly metallic, but it's still pretty bad - barely drinkable. I think whatever came off of the new copper into the beer may be slowly conditioning out. I'm...

Nice vid. That does look like something fun to try, although since I'll be using an extract kit I'd have to just add the branches to my boil. After giving it some thought, I think I'll make two batches and try two different methods. If I really wanted a strong juniper flavor, I think the...

I'm getting ready to brew a batch of Midwest's Winter Ale some night this week. I picked up some Juniper berries and want to use them in this brew but was hoping for some advice on how is best to add them. I've read a few of the other posts about using juniper and I still have a few...

I've now racked the second batch I used the new chiller on. I used the same enamelware pot, and there was no noticeable metallic taste. It was a cider, so it's possible that the sweetness somewhat hid the taste, but this confirms the theory that it was the "new" chiller that caused the...

I've been using the same water for all my batches, so unless something changed recently with the Minneapolis city water I doubt that's it. Primevci, I did indeed use an old enamelware pot, a 33 gal that I've used for at least 3-4 other batches. It has a couple spots where the coating is...

Upon racking a belgian amber ale I found it had an awful metallic taste. I'm sure there are several explanations for this, but I'd like to narrow it down and hopefully avoid this problem in the future. Here are the possibilities I've come up with: 1. I used 5.2 for the first time and...