Recent content by jwarren

I've been brewing lots of ginger beer lately. I broke down my tap faucets for cleaning the other day and noticed the brass shank and plunger in my chrome/brass facets were looking a little tarnished. I hadn't put much thought into it before, but then I started doing some research. Between the...

I live two blocks from RRBC, and let me tell you that Santa Rosa water is bad news bears. There's nothing left to add. It has ruined many a batches. Sore subject, if you know what I mean.

I decided to start homebrewing in August in Northern California. I didn't know temperatures mattered. My pale ale ended up fermenting out at 85-90 degrees, maybe higher at points. I bottled it, tried to drink it a month later. Don't get me wrong, I like sour beers, but this tasted like an...

I've been reading non-stop about spontaneous fermentation lately. I'm interested! It sounds pretty wild... pun intended! Anyway, I've got a huge yellow grapefruit tree in my backyard and a pretty decent sized orange tree. Along with some weird nut trees and whatnot (plus a resident gang of 2...

So, I made a dumb dumb. I did my second partial grain brew the other day, a nice imperial stout. I did everything the proper way, mostly. Did my mash with a grain bag. Pulled it out, sparged, boiled, etc. Well, when I was straining the wort into my primary I made a few booboos. First--My...

During both of those batches it was warm and I have no AC. I'm guessing temp varried from 70 to as high as 80 in my house. The porter probably a bit cooler.

I'm still pretty new to the whole brew thing, but I'm doing plenty of research, and constantly learning. And most importantly, making and drinking lots of brews. On to the question... so far in my only couple batches that are really bottle conditioned, I'm noticing that there's a very...