Recent content by BJCP Education Director

A lot of people fail to realize that to 'clone' a beer, one need not use the exact ingredients the brewery uses. Its how the beer turns out. When I taste them side-by-side, its spot on. As for honey malt, I dont know anything thats close to it. Its very unique and has a huge honey character...

For any of you that have had JW Lees Harvest ale know that it is spectacular. Ive spent about 5 tries to clone it and this is nearly right on. You can substitute some extract for the grain b/c there is SOOOOO much of it. Just be sure to have all the specialty grains in the mash. 19b-UK...

My best chocolate porter Ive made had no chocolate in it at all. My Robust porter has a ton of chocolate character in it anyway. I wanted to do some experimenting and added some Capt Morgan Rum to it. Damned if there was NO rum flavor...it was pure milk chocolate. Everyone Ive given this...

Funny you should mention Mickeys. When I was in college I drank it all the time. They usually just come in 40oz and are very popular in the urban areas around here. eg Ghetto Their individual bottles are called Grenades b/c they are shaped and look exactly like them. My advice, stay away...

Here is the calculation that I teach with explaination below: Wa = ((Tf-Ti)(.2G+Wm))/ (Tw-Tf) Wa = qts boiling water needed Tf = rest temperature you want to reach (Final Temp) Ti = temp you are at right now (Initial temp) G = pounds of grain Wm = qts water in mash (you know from how much...

Here is a site I found on a quick google search: http://www.ferret.com.au/search.asp?qu=tem...re%20controller They are also called PID controllers.

The only reason I put it is b/c it wasnt listed in his fermentation schedule and most people that havent brewed a certain beer before follow the recipe and processes to the letter and the beer wouldnt have came out as good as it could have.

Great post. Im find with my own beer that I have plenty of healthy yeast and it takes about 2-3 days. However, I forgot about it once and it was diacetly resting for about 12 days :) Still came out great!

If anyone ever wonders what the butter/ butterscotch aroma/flavor is in some homebrewed lagers then thats diacetyl. Funny thing with is is that a lot of the population cant taste it an any level. If you cant taste it you can also get it by a slick feeling on your tongue. How to avoid it...

Apologize for the confusion. Yes here we interchange names of corn sugar and dextrose. Dextrose is what I am talking about. Thanks for letting me know :)

That is a good link. Here is an easy way to calculate: 4g/L of Corn Sugar = 1 vol CO2 I always assume that I have 1 vol of CO2 left in the wort after fermentation. Which is about right from all the CO2 bubbling through. Outback, for your example you will want about 2.5 vol of CO2. 1 vol is...

The problem with starting with an ale yeast and then pitching the lambic culture is that a lot of the bugs in the lambic culture have a very low alcohol tolerance. I did this the first time I made an Oud Bruin. I left it to age 9 months and when it was done it wasnt that sour at all. I made the...

You are absolutely correct. An alt is an ale fermented at the cooler end of ale temperatures and then cold conditioned (e.g. lager). What my post meant was that I get the best results just using a lager yeast and treating it as a lager. My method is not the original way but seems to make my...

I just started my first lambic last weekend. All my advice came from a buddy of mine, Steve Piatz. His lambics are the closest home brews I have ever seen to the originals. The recipes are extremely simple. He is an all grain brewer but does all his lambics with extract b/c he says he cant...

Steve, for whatever Ive done to you and yours I apologize. Your disappointment and misgivings of me have started from day one, of which you will hopefully help me change. As for the guidelines, what I mean is that they are just that...guidelines. One cannot truely represent a style by just...