Recent content by TechFanMD

While I can't argue anyone's personal tastes and aversions.....I think I see a list of people's least favorite beers and styles as opposed to something they really wouldn't drink if that is all there was forevermore. I dislike a lot of beers but eventually I'd get thirsty and learn to love them :)

I do fully expect a company like this to have someone visually inspect every order before it gets shipped to a customer. For the price paid, this is a minimal expectation. Otherwise you might as well just buy it from somewhere cheap.

Except this isn't like buying something from eBay or Alibaba....this is a near-premium priced product purchased from a US vendor regardless of where it is made. They should unpack and inspect every one of them. Just because the factory is '10,000 miles away' doesn't mean the product isn't ever...

where in Maryland. Interested in the Hydra (I'm in Md as well)

I am willing to bet that by the time you buy hops at the local homebrew store they have been unrefrigerated in warehouse or transport for several weeks total. If you buy online, unless it's winter and you're in the north, same thing. Refrigerated transport is expensive and it is doubtful they...

I'm not doubting @VikeMan but this has not been my experience. I've purposely left hops at room temp for a year to see if I could tell and I have a pretty good nose and palate. The differences in sealed, purged hops seemed very subtle to me. That said.....just keep them as cool as you can for...

Available for pre-order. I can't wait to try one out. Thanks for sharing this!

How long were your ciders sitting before adding? What temp is the cider? I let it clear a few weeks after fermentation is complete then move to another vessel (keg/carboy), chill, and add gelatin. Cold and time are your friends here (in fact a lot will clear just from chilling.

I brewed a bourbon barrel porter in December 2019 to be kegged and aged until December 2020 to share at parties and gatherings. Now I have a lot of BBP to drink myself and nobody to know how awesome it is. I feel lucky I'm not in your position.....not only don't I want COVID but it would be...

That will depend a lot on where you live and what the source is. Is it pulled from the river(s)? Is it from wells? Are you living in Pittsburgh or some place like Munhall or McKeesport etc.....different water authorities and systems.

I have made this recipe 4 times in the last two years. I definitely taste the bourbon and have used Maker's twice. For me, there is a quite strong bourbon flavor that mellows nicely over time....still bourbon-like but less harsh I add some extra LME to bring the alcohol up even more as...

There are a lot of things we use for brewing and around the house that would be cheaper if just made of plastic, or plastic versions are perfectly functional yet we still buy more expensive versions of things.

Indeed I do think that overall, less than 20% of keggers....I'll even go as far as to say 5 gallon keggers, have mounted faucets. In my experience, I know a lot of homebrewers who keg and who have dedicated refrigerators/keezers but do not have anything other than picnic taps. I've never...

This is more of a cheaper version of a mounted faucet rather than an upgraded party faucet. Nobody would just connect this to a hose and lay it on top of the keg

I greatly disagree. First, why would a better picnic tap be inconvenient compared to a plastic one? Second, I think you underestimate the number of people that just have a fridge or keezer and open the door to use a picnic tap for every pour. Yeah, lots of people do real faucets....but I'll...