brewing techniques
Double the Beer, Double the Problems
The good news: I now have ten gallons of Kölsch fermenting in my chest freezer (which just BARELY fits two 6.5G plastic buckets inside).
The bad news: In brewing my first 10G batch, I completely botched my water measurements and had a generally sloppy brewday.
OK, so the good news outweighs the bad news – assuming the [...]
Big Brew 2009 – A Smashing Success!
Well, thanks to our gracious hosts J-Dawg & Mike , my brewing drought is over and the first batch of 2009 is bubbling away! The group brew was a great time – eleven people turned out, four batches of beer were brought into the world, and numerous microbrews and homemade Buffalo wings were devoured by [...]
Winter Brewing Redux (or, How I Learned to Love Partial Boils)
Welcome to 2009! It’s been almost a full month since I posted last, and in that time, I’ve been struggling with the Winter weather here in the Northeast. My last post on winter brewing had a few of you chime in, and it seems like many of you do head indoors and fire up the [...]
Do You Brew During the Winter?
I wound up postponing my brew session planned for this past Sunday when I woke up to a frigid morning and a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. I could’ve dealt with the snow, and I might’ve been OK with the cold, but the real brew killer was the fact that my garden hose [...]
Private Tastings 2: Denny Conn
I am extremely happy to announce the second in the Private Tastings interview series: Denny Conn! Denny is an extremely well-respected homebrewer, well-known for both his award winning recipes and his enthusiastic promotion of the batch sparging technique. Both have had a dramatic impact on my own brewing, and I am honored to have Denny [...]
Brewing Up a Wheat Beer
Click here for this brew session’s recipe…
Sunday, the first of June, was a beautiful and sunny day in Fairfield County – perfect for brewing. I had been planning to make a batch of a Leinenkugle’s Sunset Wheat clone for some time, so I seized the opportunity and fired up the ol’ burners. Since this is [...]
Five Things Which Made Me a Better Brewer
As I’ve progressed as a homebrewer, I’ve spent a lot of time trying new techniques and tweaking my process. Here are the five changes I’ve made which have had the greatest impact on the quality of the beer I brew.
1. Controlling fermentation temperatures
This is the single most important thing I can recommend to new homebrewers, [...]
Mash Recirculation on the Cheap?
I’ve been toying with the idea of a mash recirculation setup for my system recently. Using some sort of mash recirculation system gives you much finer control over mash temperatures. In an infusion mash, the kind I do now, the temperature of the grain and the ratio of water to grain are plugged into brewing [...]
