Looking at trying to clone the Shock Top Pretzel Wheat beer. Please look over my tentative recipe and chime in with any suggested changes. Thanks in advance. 5# Briess Brewers 2 Row 2# American White Wheat 2# Maris Otter 2# Caramel/Crystal 40L 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfrau at 60 and 15 minutes each...

Can you use iodophor in place of Starsan as your "everyday" sanitizer or is it best to use Starsan on brew day? Will the scent or taste of iodine transfer to the final product if used at recommended levels? Due to a recent infected batch I have switched to the stronger iodophor for sanitizing...

After brewing for over 5 years and probably 60+ brews under my belt I believe I have my first infection. This was to be my Oktoberfest this year and was brewed about 3 weeks ago. We just got back from a 5 day vacation and this is what it looked like. Looked fine when we left. Do infections...

Took my first stab at a NEIPA recently and it tasted great but had a muddy off-putting appearance. I still bottle my beer and if I did a slow pour it would be a nice golden orange hue and slightly hazy but not as hazy as I'd like. If it did a swish and pour it would be as hazy as I'd like but...

Has anyone added peppers to their secondary using plastic fermenters such as Big Mouth Bubbler or Fermonster? I have only done one pepper beer but did only a single gallon in a glass carboy but would like to scale up and all of my larger carboys are PET. My fear is the pepper flavor, smell, or...

To my Midwest brewing friends, if you haven't already, be sure to check out Rite Brew in WI. Their selection isn't that of the online giants but the quality and pricing is as good as any! Fast shipping too. I usually get my delivery in central MN in two days. Check them out!

I am looking to brew my first sour soon and am going to use Philly Sour yeast for the simplicity of a one step sour/fermentation but I have a few questions and am hoping to find answers from people that have used this strain before. Bear with me if some of these are dumb questions. 1) Does...

Last year I brewed an all grain pumpkin beer recipe using 3 lbs of pumpkin pie filling in the mash and while the sparge was a nightmare the end product was amazing. Needless to say, sparging took well over and hour and much stirring and multiple stops and starts to vorlauf and get it flowing...

First time using my recently acquired Depth Charge infuser to go with my BMB carboy. Last night I added coconut and cinnamon to a recently brewed brown ale and my question is should there be air lock activity after 12 hours? There is a small krausen-like ring formed on top of the beer but not a...

why is it that my homebrews continue to evolve (some for the better, some worse) over time in the bottle while professionals and taprooms get it to taste just the way they want it to right away? I am assuming that since I am bottle fermenting with live yeast, that is the cause of the changes in...

I'm sure this has been covered in the past but I am having problems with bottle carbonation on a couple of recent batched. For reference, I have about 25 successful brews under my belt and nothing in the process has changed except for one, my location. We recently moved from the country where we...

My wife loves Sam Adams Cherry Wheat so I am looking to make a similar style light ale. Was thinking of using a cream ale recipe as a base and adding 1 lb lactose for added creaminess and sweetness. Will likely flavor with brewer's best cherry extract at bottling. Any thought on how this could...

So I'm not exactly new to home brewing as the batch in question is #15 and #5 all grain. The recipe is question is a cream stout AG kit from Midwest Supplies. Brew day seemed to go well and hit OG spot on at 1.044. Fermentation started as expected and within 24 hours and a beautiful krausen had...