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In the middle of my normal Memorial day brew when a bunch of crazy storms forced me to stop. All grain BIAB, strong Scottish Ale. I'd just pulled the grains out at 168F after mashing for an hour at 155F-149F. Too much rain & too much crud in the garage right now to brew there, so I've been...

Normally here in Texas, it's the heat we need to worry about, but not recently with all these polar fronts. To keep my fermentation going, I need to use a brew belt occasionally to keep the temperature up. I have an analogue Johnson temperature controller with the large metal probe that I...

I've hit my first badly stuck batch - "robust porter" with a mash temp of ~156F. Starting gravity was 1.07. 10 days later, it's at 1.04. After 14 days, same gravity. I think my big problem was Austin Tx getting a cold snap that I've never had to deal with before with while fermenting - I...

So my work has decided to run a homebrewing competition as there's a fair number of brewers among us & an even bigger number of beer drinkers. They've still to post /all/ the rules & competition details but we do now that judging will be in five to six weeks in all likelihood. That doesn't give...

I've been kegging for about 18 months now, with a two tap system in a converted upright fridge, perlick taps on the front. Up until now, near zero problems bar the usual teething troubles. I kegged up a Newcastle Brown Ale clone beer this week and in test pours before it's fully carbed, my...

I did my first all-grain BIAB a few weeks ago (Anonymous IPA from HBT!). It was a bit of a brutal brew day - ran out of gas mid-boil so it was longer than normal. I'm getting ready to rack it to secondary so I can dryhop, open up the fermenter & see this...

Been brewing for almost a year, still consider myself a noob. I've been keeping things clean/sanitised as much as possible, but this looks like I might need to give this bucket a right good soak & scrub... :-/ Opened up my Belgian Golden Ale (with syrup addition) that's been fermenting for...

My wife gave me a great gift of a pair of tap handles for my kegerator to replace the basic plastic ones I've been using for the past few months. The Sierra Nevada one fits fine, but the other, a "Shortie" Dogfish head one, has a totally different attachment size that's a good bit narrower than...

My wife's looking to get some beer for a friend as a gift. He's a /big/ Newcastle Brown Ale fan, rather than a craft beer fan per se, and she wants to open up his taste buds a little. Any suggestions on a good US craft brew for a Nookie Broon fan? I'm in TX, so keep that in mind for...

I've got a side-by-side refrigerator that I'm trying to convert into a two-tap kegerator. I'm trying to drill the holes for the taps on the front door of the fridge side & it's been *very* frustrating. I'm using my trusty Craftsman electric drill (*not* cordless), handed down to me by my...

Warning - kegging + CO2 noob here :) I got a 5lb CO2 tank from a friend & did a tank swap at the local Airgas. I'm trying to hook up my regulator to it so I can set up my new AHS-sourced kegging setup for the first time. How 'tightly screwed' should the regulator be onto the CO2 tank...

I was going to brew up a ESB & started a yeast starter for my White Labs San Diego Super Yeast. The starter's bubbling nicely in a conical flask. Unfortunately, circumstances are stopping me from brewing tonight. Is there anything I can do with this yeast starter so I can use it in a week or...

So I've done some extract brews + some partial mash brews and I notice my hop-bag is getting harder to clean - it's definitely less white than it was when I bought it, instead it's a nice dull green... And recommendations on how to best clean nylon hopbags & get them back to white?

I'm doing my second partial mash kit from AHS after doing a couple of (very straightforward + successful extract kits). My first partial mash was a *mess* with poor temperature control all over the place on a brand new propane burner. This time, everything was going great with my mash - got to...

So I've been "kicked out" the kitchen, and I'm using a bayou burner SQ14 for the first time to make a brew today... I'm a total noob to burners bar my Weber BBQ. What's the 'correct' way of controlling the heat to get the water boiling? Do I want the burner knob 'full on', what about the air...