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For my next batch I was going to experiment with racking a porter or stout onto boubon and bourbon-soaked oak chips in secondary. I've never left beer in secondary for more than a few weeks before, nor have I ever put alcohol into my beer. Could I prime and bottle as normal without...

I'm a pretty new AG brewer and haven't attempted any decoctions yet, but it's my understanding that (and I know I'm oversimplifying) a portion of the mash is taken out, boiled, and then returned to the main mash as an infusion. When you take some of the mash for the decoction, do you scoop a...

Hey all, I recently bought a 9 gallon stainless steel kettle to use for AG brewing on my outdoor burner. I rinsed it out with warm water before using it and then brewed an IPA which is happily bubbling away right now. I've since seen posts on here suggesting that water should be boiled...

Hey all, I brewed my second ever AG batch on Sunday night, an IPA (OG 1.068) and everything went great right up until it was time to pitch the yeast. Earlier in the day I had activated the Wyeast slap pack but after about 6 hours it had only swelled a little bit. I'd used Wyeast packs...

Hi Everyone, I'm trying to figure out the dead space in my mash tun but not sure how to calculate it. I have a converted 15 gallon igloo cooler with a stainless braid in the bottom. I figured the easiest way to find this would be to add water to the empty cooler in 1 quart increments...

Hi all, As the unit comes assembled except for hose attachment I recognize this is possibly the dumbest question in the history of the forum, but here goes: What the hell do you do with the spring?! I get that you place the shutter over the base of the burner assembly and then screw the...

Hey folks, I was just wondering if some of you more experienced brewers could explain what determines whether or not a beer is a regular IPA or stout vs a "double" IPA or stout, and what the inherant differences are in the brewing process. How does a "double" differ from an "imperial?!" I...

Hey folks, Saturday I'm planning on taking my first steps into the world of AG and I'm sort of in a porter mood. I was wondering if any of you could recommend a good, easy beginner recipe. I was thinking about trying the https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/black-pearl-porter-ag-24243/ from the...

As we all know, the last 1/4 inch or so of our bottles have a layer of sediment that we don't want to pour out, and in the bottom of the kegs a layer of "crud" typically accumulates too. My question is, how do the commercial breweries produce such clean beer? You never have to worry about...

Hi folks, I'm looking to get away from extract brewing and move to AG, and I've found this MLT/HLT kit on ebay for what looks like a reasonable price. I was hoping some of you with more experience could weigh in on the following: 1: Does this look like a good product? I've seen more...

Sorry this is long but I have to rant. A few weeks ago I brewed my first batch, a partial extract Nut Brown ale. The brewing and fermentation went great. I left it in primary for a week before racking to the secondary (I wanted my bucket so I could brew another batch!), this is where the...

Hi all, I've seen several posts on this forum mentioning the % efficiency during brewing and I was just wondering what this refers to/how you would go about determining this. Sorry for the total noob question, I tried searching and found a million threads with people sharing their...

My first batch of brew is currently bubbling away happily on the stove, but I've got a quick question about pitching the yeast and I'm hoping someone here gets this in time to help! I'm brewing an extract kit for a nut brown ale and the instructions for the kit say to pitch the yeast into...

Hi all. Despite a long-time love affair with beer drinking, I've only just decided to try diving in and making my own. I spent the last few days reading The Complete Joy of Homebrewing cover-to-cover and am looking forward to starting my first batch this weekend!