Buying grain in bulk can be a great way to maximize the savings of all grain brewing! To give an example, our local home brew store (LHBS) sells Briess American 2-Row for $1.80 per pound. If you purchase a 50lb bag you pay .85 cents a pound. This is quite a savings over the course of a few brews!

We established a few "house" beer recipes that take 2-row, maris otter, munich, and pilsen malt and buy all these grains in bulk. The rest of the specialty grains are purchased in small quantities.

So then what is the best way to store and weigh bulk grain?
Well, there are many ways to do this. Some people use a vittle vault or something similar, while we prefer gamma seal lids on standard 12" buckets. Just be sure it's stored in an air-tight container and somewhere that is cool and dry. [Read More]

Our visitors email us lots of great DIY projects and every one has something special that we hope can be incorporated into your setup. This brewstand created by 2nobledogs takes it to a whole other level!

He details every aspect of construction and runs through how to use it at the end. If you have any questions at all, visit 2 Noble Dogs Brewing and contact Clay.

Kudos bud, you out-did yourself on this one!

What is the Doghouse you ask? Well…it’s a single tier brew stand based loosely on the Brutus 10 and like the Brutus it is a fully automated system. I do want to acknowledge and thank everybody that helped throughout this whole process. Plenty of ideas and help came from the folks at www.homebrewtalk.com.

I had several design goals in mind when I started. First, it needed to be fully automated (duh…). Second, it needs to be fully self contained when stored away. Third, it needs to be maneuvered easily. Fourth, it needs to fit in my truck. And lastly, it needed to have adjustable burners.

So, what do you need to know about automated brewing before you start building a brew rig? Nothing. I didn’t know a thing about it when I started. Everything you need to know is on the internet. You just have to look for it.

All automated brew rigs have four basic components/systems. 1) Frame, 2) Gas, 3) Plumbing, and 4) Electronics  [Read More]

Have you tried adding fruit to secondary? This can be a great way to add something special a weizen or pale ale. Most fruits can be pan-heated for 15-20 minutes at around 160F to pasturize and break them down, then tossed in secondary or even that sweet DIY randall you made!
MMmmm good.

How can we be sure to get the freshness and quality for maximum flavor? Easy, consult this handy guide from the folks over at chasingdelicious.com to be sure the fruit is in season.   Cheers!

While I'm not much of a betting man these days, I'd bet a large sum of money that cleaning kegs is not on anyone's list of fun things to do. 

Hopefully this guide will make it less painful!

Our process breaks down to the following steps: Cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing. Cleaning and rinsing can be done manually or by using keg washer and I'll review both in this guide. I'll also illustrate how to fully break down a keg (a process that is done less frequently) versus the cleaning that you'll want to do every time. [Read More]

Thanks to Nick for sending over a link to this great stir plate build! We've actually been looking for a nice stir plate project for a while to add to BrewGeeks and never found a guide that shows everything you need to know. This one is perfect--and gets bonus points for a video!

Well done Fo and great job on the vid quality and build instructions!

Some interesting reading here but I think my favorite has to be Kentucky's measurment of sobriety.  Too drunk to hold on to your girlfriend?  no.  Too drunk to hold on to your car keys?  no.  Too drunk to hold on to the ground!??  That's DRUNK!

Homebrewing is a hobby filled with tricks and shortcuts to make things a little bit easier. Here is a list of brewing tips that we hope you'll enjoy reading, some of which you may have heard before, others maybe not.

If you have tips of your own and would like to share them with us and everyone else, please send them over using the contact us link at the left or bottom of the page.  
Happy Brewing!

I've been looking to invest in a vacuum sealer for a while now but didn't want to shell out the $150 or more for one. That is, until my buddy scoundrel bought a hand-held version at walmart for $20.  Now we're talking!

At first we were a little worried about it working well, but after reading a few reviews, it seemed worth a try for the price. I ran over to grab it at lunch and of course, they were sold out.  Bah!

Being impatient as usual, I looked online and found a nice deal at Amazon on a similar model for $32 that uses the same kind of storage bags. Most traditional vacuum sealers I've seen have a roll of plastic and each end is sealed along the edge. These bags are a little different because they close like a zip lock and have small hole where the air is removed. The brand is called food saver and it's perfect for keeping hops and specialty grains fresh. The bags are reuseable and come in a few different sizes. This unit came with gallon and quart sized bags and I also bought an extra pack of each, 12 for $8. [Read More]

Because not every post can be a nugget of homebrew wisdom or somebody's cool DIY project, I give you this...

( Now if I can just get my friends to use it 
instead of the taps, homebrew shortage solved!! )