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I had the pleasure of visiting Jester King over the weekend and rounded up a couple cases of bottles to take home. These bottles are great because they can handle high carbonation levels and can be capped (29mm), corked, or both. They are also used by the bruery, and several others I'm sure...

How difficult is it to clean these things? The 20 gallon is supposed to weigh 60lbs empty(!), so I wouldn't want to have to pick it up and move it to get it clean. Once you've scooped out the majority of the grain and removed the FB, are the remaining bits of grain easily washed out without...

I recently got my junk organized. . Maybe I'm just lucky that my wife gives me the whole closet (plus the kegerator and the fermentation cheat freezer in the next room, jars of yeast in the fridge, and hops in the freezer) 8-P

Has anyone ever used commercial beer as a starter medium? I've got a bottle of Russian River Consecration that I'd like to build up. Making a tiny quantity of starter wort isn't exactly difficult, but still takes some time and I'm lazy. For the first step, could you not just mix the dregs of...

Can you let me know the dimensions of the floor of the interior not including the hump for the 10.2 cuft insignia? (depth and width - don't really care about height). Also, a review online says it's loud - would you agree? Thanks!

The water I used was about 95 F - came out the end of my immersion chiller towards the end. So warm but not hot. I had no idea PBW and plastic didn't get along.. I'll leave it for no more than over-night in the future. Does glass have any similar issue? I assume not but I almost always leave...

A little late, but thanks to everyone for the suggestions! We had a fantastic time. And I gotta say, if anyone ever gets a chance to join that 'Dinner with the Brett Pack' thing in the future (if they do it again) DO IT. The beers were INCREDIBLE! And we got to talk to the owners of those...

I think I just lost a plastic big-mouth bubbler to this issue.. I left PBW mixed at the rate suggested for fermenters sitting in it for 5 days (Sunday night until today). About an hour ago I walked down stairs to pour a beer and found the fermenter quickly leaking out through a crack near the...

I'm flying to Denver tomorrow for some hiking and GABF! It'll be my first time to attend. Any suggestions to maximize the experience? I live in Houston, an under-served market, so I probably can't get the majority of breweries at home - I'm stoked. That said, I'm really looking for suggestions...

This is still on my "to brew list", so I can't speak from experience. but I would bet dry hoping with a little liberty would yield tasty results. Other options would be to age it on woods typically used for smoking like hickory or mesquite. All of these are on my list. That list is so damn...

I have not done a side-by-side oaked vs non-oaked. However I HAVE made 10 gallons at once with half being left on the oak for 4 months (traveled a lot and the first keg lasted way longer than planned). That batch was thrown out because the oak was too much. If added for ~2 weeks, the flavor...

Another Update: I pulled my 3rd sample today 7.5 months into this sucker. The gravity is down to 1.008, so that's great. However, I'm pretty bummed about the lack of acidity - the pH is sitting at 4.1. It has no sour taste or smell, and the lovely cherry flavor it once had is long gone. At this...

Thanks. I suppose I'll just throw them in. I once used some "fresh" oak on an IPA and then didn't get around to kegging it for several months (had other IPAs on tap that lasted way longer than normal). The result was an oak bomb so bad I had to dump it. Since I plan on leaving this one alone...

I've got a Flanders red aging and it's about time to add some oak. I've got an ounce of cubes that I've had sitting in Merlot for a long while now (I did a good job of forgetting all about this beer). The problem I've got is that yesterday I opened up the jar with the oak/wine to swap out the...

I brewed a cream ale with Galaxy and Citra hops at flame out fermented with 100% Trois. Not sure how the increased bitterness of an IPA would change the results, but I really enjoyed the cream ale (WAY better than the "clean" version fermented with Wyeast 1056). The "brett" contributed an earthy...

I brewed this about a month ago with the suggested WLP400 Wit yeast. It's been on tap for about a week now and it's got a soft but noticeable sent/taste of sulfur that is just strong enough to be obnoxious and make the beer unenjoyable. I understand hydrogen sulfide is a yeast byproduct and...

I have read it can take up to 15 minutes for mash pH to stabilize (though my 5, 10, and 15 minute readings tend to all be essentially the same), and have also read the majority of conversion occurs within the first 10-15 minutes (or less) of a mash (though I still do 45-90 minute mashes and...

if using this method for beer where there will be oxygen in the wort from vorlauffing and sparging, do you recommend bringing the wort to a short boil to remove said oxygen prior to adding the grain, or is that overkill?

My worst was with what was at the time the best beer I had ever made, along with the most expensive. I went downstairs to pour a pint and nothing came out. Through my diagnosis I determined the fridge had gotten too cold and there was an ice plug in the line. No problem.. I'll just leave the...

Well I went to keg up my Windsor batch and that "mild" infection I had a month ago is... Not so mild anymore. Still no idea how this happened. I love the idea of souring this recipe, but I doubt my local microbes are the right ones for the job. Anyone know if there is any risk in trying this...