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Hi everyone - I started keeping frozen yeast bank about a year ago. I started with The Yeast Bay's "Vermont IPA" yeast. Every time I thaw out a vial of yeast and build a starter it can take as long as 72 hours to see any activity. I had been creating 1 liter starters and I thought that this...

I have not brewed a Hefe in sometime but the last time I did I used WLP300 (equivalent to Wyeast 3068) and I ended up with a very bland beer just as you have described. The only recommendation that I can give is next time try using Wyeast 3333 German Wheat. I brewed a Hefe with this yeast...

Last February I brewed a Westveletern 12 clone. I only yielded about 3.8 gallons due to a massive overflow during fermentation. In mid-March I bottled the beer in Belgian bomber bottles which I corked but didn't cage. I tasted some test bottles along the way and at about 5 months the beer...

Hi everyone - I am currently brewing my first Belgian Tripel. This is one of JZ's recipes. My brew day went pretty smooth, I was aiming for an OG of 1.081 and I achieved a 1.079. I made a 1L yeast starter (WLP530) and it took about a day for the yeast to take off. What was strange was that 2...

Hi Everyone - I just bought a used mini-fridge to control fermentation temperature. My normal 12" diameter 5 gallon fermentation bucket will only fit in the fridge if I rest 1/2 of the bucket on the "compressor" shelf while supporting the other half by placing a brick on the floor of the fridge...

Hi Everyone - Recently I was given a couple of cans of extract (Light & Wheat) from a friend who never got around to brewing. Being winter time I really didn't want to brew a Hefeweizen. I decided to brew a winter wheat which I was shooting to be a Wheat meets Porter. I came up with the...

SWild Brew Take 1: This past spring I took my first shot at brewing a wild ale. I took some left over 2nd runnings from a Hefewiezen put it in a jar and left it out on my deck for a couple of days. It fermented so I built up (2) consecutive 1 liter starters. When I tasted the starters they...

You can say that again!!! It's a real hop slap in the face but that is the way I like it. I have used 2 oz of Chinook in a lot of my IPA's, I was initially going for a Stone Ruination type of bitterness. It never turned out quite like Ruination but I liked it anyway so that has been my bittering...

Thanks for the response. I think the question that I am trying to ask is not if the overall bitterness will change but by changing the hop schedule can I achieve a more 3-dimensional hop characteristic? That is can I achieve a hop profile that seems to change and have different hop flavors that...

Hi Everyone - I have question about hop schedules. When I brew IPA's I generally put in a generous amount of hops at distinct points in the boil, usually at 60, 30 & 15 minutes. I have noticed that alot of commercial brewers tend to hop at a more regular interval with smaller additions. I...

Hi Henry - I think this recipe looks good. I just finished brewing an IPA that is really close your recipe, except in my recipe I had corn sugar where you have Vienna malt. My brew really dried out and I think its way too bitter. Your use of Vienna should result in a little more malty flavor...

I have found that primary fermentation wraps up in 7 - 10 days if brewing an ale. I usually wait 3 weeks when fermenting lagers in the low 50's. I think that 30 days is excessive, it's not necessarily a problem just a long time to wait. Ultimately you can take a gravity readings over time to...

So here in the Boston area we have been getting a ridculous amount of rain this year. Yesterday my hop trellis finally gave up, between the soft ground and wind load it fell over. This trellis had been supporting 5 different 2nd year hop plants. The hops were well over 12 feet high with plenty...

Hi everyone - I'm getting ready to brew an Imperial IPA. I would like this beer to have a dry finish. I have set up my recipe to have an OG of 1.085. When I put the recipe into the Brewers Friend calculator it comes back with an FG of 1.020. I would like to get this beer down to the 1.012 -...

My hops are getting some good growth this year. We have been getting plenty of rain here in Massachusetts. Trellis 1 (3rd Year): Centennial, EKG, Magnum, Wild Cluster Trellis 2 (2nd Year): Columbus, Nugget, Chinook, Mt. Hood, Fuggle Trellis 3 (1st Year): Tettnang, Willamette, Cascade, Wild...

I have almost finished harvesting my hops for the year. The big winner was my first year Columbus which produced 1 lb (wet) --> 4.75oz (dry) 2nd year Magnum: .25oz dry 2nd year Centennial: 1.3 oz dry 2nd year EKG: nothing...nada...zip There is a patch of wild hop vines growing by my...

Hey Guys - I'm a 2nd year hop grower and by no means an expert. I have been dealing with the same issue. I pick the hops when I squeeze them and they are dry and sound like crepe paper. I have noticed that if I wait much longer then the tips of the cones start to turn brown. What I find...

Thanks for the advice, I will cut the Magnums and EKG on my next harvest. Alane1 - I am guessing that the wild hops are Clusters. I am actually south of the city (Walpole). I have read that you can find wild hops growing along the Minuteman bike path up in Middlesex County. See the link...

Hi Everyone - I am in the middle of a hop harvest dilemma. My hop trellis is a maypole where I have 4 different hop varieties growing into one another. On this trellis are 2nd year Centennials, EKG and Magnums and a 1st year wild hop transplant. I am having trouble figuring out which hop cones...

Last year I ended up making a Pumpkin/Coffee stout. I added 30oz of canned pumpkin to the boil without any spices addded. I transferred the pumpkin & trub into primary which I had a hell of a time filtering out when it was time to keg the beer. At the end of the day the beer had absolutely no...