Cracked the first bottle today, one month after bottling. As expected, the hazelnut extract is just way too dominant to make it "drinkable" at this point. I'll try another tester at two months to see where it's at, but right now drinking any more of it would just be wasteful. Still, pretty...

I think it will be more of a sweet crude, actually... The hazelnut extract was pretty strong at bottling, but I've read that it will mellow out after conditioning. Krimbos, my hydrometer is just a generic .99—1.117 SG/BRIX/Potential ABV model that came with the kit I got at Austin Homebrew...

Finally bottled on Sunday... Man, that hazelnut extract is some strong stuff. I hope it settles down after a couple of months. Oh yeah, did I mention how much I hate bottling?

Hell, nothing wrong with brewing in a real cave, either. Especially if you're making a lager!

Nah, that's our fireplace... What I would give for a good old Midwest basement with a floor drain and laundry sink, though.

Three weeks in, and I've put it in secondary at 1.022. :mrgreen:

Strangely enough, my hydrometer is supposedly calibrated to 60º... Ehh, it's all relative. It's beer!

Yeah, I wasn't expecting the addition of lactose to change anything. I've read some people referring to it as unfermentable while others have referred to it as "partially-fermentable", but either way, I added it for body and mouthfeel only. My daughter seems to have a refined sense of smell...

Ask and ye shall receive... I'm calling it 1.026. That puts me in the neighborhood of 6.45% ABV, so I'm a bit more happy with that. The sample tastes and smells great, BTW. Still, I'm waiting until next weekend to put it in secondary. If it drops anymore before then, it'll be a bonus. And...

I was going to wait a couple more days to take a reading, but the regular bubbling you saw from earlier had me curious... 1.034 at one week? My target is 1.017... Am I gonna get there, I wonder?

Still pooting after nearly a week. http://youtu.be/1GtZsM_ZzVE

So it's Friday morning, and this monster is STILL burping CO2 at a rate of a belch every 4 seconds... :twisted:

The venturi is simply two pieces of 3/8" ID siphon hose and a piece of 3/8" OD poly tubing about 6" long inserted between with three paper clip-sized holes to draw air in. I tried it on a whim after reading the thread about the trick on HBT (linked on the YouTube page), and I'm sold. Beats the...

Saturday brew day: I thought I would use this styrofoam box as a fermentation chamber since the 6.5 gallon carboy in a milk crate fits perfectly leaving room for the lid... When I came out to check on it in the morning, it was holding at about 63º F, and showed no signs of activity, so I moved...

Saturday brewday: Target OG: 1.073 ... Not bad, I'd say!

Saturday brewday: Yeast monster meets its match...

Saturday brewday: The whirring of the Venturi tube... http://youtu.be/Ef0Ls4H4ufU

Saturday brewday: The boil begins! http://youtu.be/BicONGMappc

I work for an online sign printer, and a couple of years ago we printed JB and Lady Caca—er, I mean Lady Gaga lifesize standups for a company party... I had them print an extra one to bring home to my (then) 5-year-old daughter who, to this day, claims she hates JB but "likes his songs..." Yeah...

Saturday brew day: First wort hops...