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First year growing hops. I transplanted some cascade from my brother-in-law. I also have some Chinook. However, about 1/3 of the leaves are wilting and so too seem to be the corresponding hop cones. They're in full sun and get watered regularly. Any idea what might be causing this or what I can...

My old grain only got down to 1.022 with an OG of 1.082. It very well could because of mash temp or other factors, but I used 2 packets of rehydrated 05 so I thought I'd get my bipa to 1.015 or less (that was my goal). Not sure if that's due to old grain or not, but anyway - it's pretty sweet...

I'll take my first gravity reading today from a NB Ace of Spades all-grain kit I brewed up a couple weeks ago. The grain from the kit was crushed in mid-November. I added another couple of pounds of pale ale malt which was fresh in hopes it might lessen the "staleness" (if any). We'll see how it...

Yeah - your sample is not properly mixed or maybe the temperature of your sample is throwing off your reading. I think it's safe to say that about 85% of the extract kits I see on websites have 1.075 OG or less. So, unless you're making some IIIPA's or crazy ass Belgian Quads or Barley Wines...

I've got a kit that'll be at least 4 more months old with crushed grain. Maybe I'll just add in another pound or two of fresh grain from the LHBS in hopes it masks any stale flavor that might be there. Nothing to lose at this point...

6 days? I brewed it on 11/7/18 and bottled on 12/2/18. I have checked the hydrometer. It reads 1.000 when in water.

Yeah, I figured 2 packs of 04 would be plenty, but maybe next time I'll mash closer to 150 and use 05 instead.

I know - that's why I swirled my fermenter and moved it upstairs after 5 days in the basement of my house. It was in the mid/upper 60's for about 18 days and had been swirled. The gravity read 1.030 from like 6 days after brew day until bottling day. The change in temperature and swirling of the...

I made NB's all-grain chocolate stout in the fall. I added some additional pale ale malt, some baker's chocolate at the end of the boil and racked over the cocoa nibs sitting in vanilla vodka. I also added 7 oz. of organic cold pressed mocha coffee to secondary as well. I mashed around 155...

Entered - would be nice to start the year with a win :)

Congrats on the debut brew - you'll always remember your debut batch. Even if the beer turns out to be fair, you'll be proud that YOU MADE IT and most importantly - you learned and had fun. That's what a hobby is for. Cheers!

I've never had any success adding more yeast on beers that finished high. In my experience, a beer's gravity after 2 weeks is as low as it will go assuming you've tried raising the temp some and tried a gentle swirl of the fermenter. I've tried adding Notty (as well as other yeasts in other...

You have the ingredients so all you really have to lose is time if the beer sucks. Odds are, it will turn out to be at least decent. NB says crushed grains are good for 6 months as long as they're stored cool n' dry, so I'm not sure what 1.5 years would be like (especially if the grains are...

I brewed up an all-grain batch of Apple Cinnamon wheat from Adventures in Homebrewing. I used Wyeast 1010. The recipe called for the addition of 1 cinnamon stick added with (5 or 10 - can't remember which now) minutes remaining in the boil. When I strained my wort, the stick stayed in the...

Yeah, I know the beer probably won't be that good until at least Valentine's Day, but I planned on bottling some up so I can sip on some during bowl season. I'll probably sip on some during March Madness and then try to stash the rest (not easy for me) until Christmas 2k19. Thanks for the...

I took another gravity reading about 5 days after having racked the 1.030 beer onto the bourbon soaked woodchips. I used about 1/2 a pint of Maker's Mark. When I took the reading it was 1.022. Is that because of the booze? Or did the fermentation somehow take off again? I'm going to let this...

Resurrecting this ancient thread as I made NB's all-grain chocolate stout on Wednesday. I added 1/4 cup of dissolved Hershey's baker's cocoa in the last 5 minutes as well as 2 additional pounds of pale ale malt and a pound of oats to the mash. My O.G. was 1.072 and smelled and tasted great. I...

I always boil my sugar solution for 8 minutes and then cool it to room temp with a quick ice bath before adding to the bottling bucket. I know many add the priming solution hot, but I've read (and had good experience) with cooling it to the same temp as your beer before racking your beer into...

Well, the Notty did NOTHING. It's still at 1.030 - 5 days after adding the Notty. So, I just went ahead and racked it over the bourbon soaked chips and there it will sit for a month. Still tasted good. It will just be a "session" bourbon barrel aged porter.

I find that passage a little odd - that using S-04 with lactose could be problematic. Northern Brewer defaults to using S-04 with their chocolate stout which comes with lactose. I'm brewing that recipe with that yeast today.