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Hey John,

are these chunks made from charred barrels?

Were the barrels used to produce bourbon? Or are they just oak barrels. If they're brand new, you'll need to distill some alcohol, char the barrels and age the alcohol in the barrels for at least 5 years. This, of course, is illegal in the US without a license. A used bourbon barrel is what you need...

I cold age and carbonate right in the keg. Once the beer is stable, rack to the keg, pressurize and stick it in the fridge. The first few pints will be hazy, but the rest will clear up in time.

By no means am I an expert in this area, but I'm fairly sure this is something you don't want to mess with, unless you stove is a higher end commercial grade gas range. More gas means more BTUs which means more heat. Good for boiling wort, but not good for a stove not meant to handle that additional...

Do you use a pump to transfer your wort/beer? Something could be hiding in there.

Gobblin, I noticed no one posted a recipe. Here's a barleywine recipe that I forgot I had that I've brewed in the past. It's been a while since I brewed it, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. 12 lb Brewers two row 2 lbs Munich 2 lbs 20 crystal 3 oz roasted barley 3 lbs light DME 2 lbs brown sugar 70 I...

I've brewed many high-gravity beers over the years, and have always found it some what difficult to hit the final gravity that my spread sheet says I should. I don't have any sort of calculation written into it that will compensate for very high original gravities. The higher the gravity, the lower ...

15 oz Cascade in the freezer.

Better than I thought I was going to get, but short of last year. Good looking crop though.

Same with my hops. The Cascade has reached the top of the trellis, around 12 feet, but have stopped growing and are starting to form a few flowers.

Maybe the hot, dry spring had something to do with it?

Thanks, John.
Just trying to eliminate all possible reasons for the drop.
I did forget to add calcium chloride to the mash water, which I normally do. That wouldn't cause such a drop, would it?

John, my mash efficiency dropped to 50% today, it's usually 70 - 75%. Everything was the same - temp, time, volume - as previous brew days with this beer (double pilsner). My question is with your grain mill. Does the setting change from day to day or from person to person? I know there are many fac...

I'll bet you a Bud Lite one of the reasons in the price jump is demand. I started using US-05 and S-23 a while ago because I liked the end result (good beer), not to mention the price (didn't it used to be around $1.50?) and convenience. I think Fermentis saw an opportunity and adjusted their pricing.

Make sure beer is cold, stable, clear and done fermenting. Rack to keg and eliminate all oxygen in the head space. Pressurize the keg to seal the lid. Pressurize to desired carbonation level and either shake the keg (quick method) or let sit in fridge (slow method - you'll need to re-pressurize a fe...

I agree. A good dry hop is like the icing on the cake. Nothing beats a Cascade burp.

I do, but tie the string to the neck of the carboy or the the carboy carrier handle if you have one. And don't worry about a loose seal from the rubber stopper, it seals nice and air tight - no worries about oxygen pickup. Pellets are much easier to remove (and add to the carboy) than flowers when c...