Hi Andy & Carl:

Just came across your blog – a great find! I am contacting you from a company called The FastRack. We have made a product that has taken over the homebrew market in the past 12 months. It is used for drying and racking empty bottles (similar in function to the Bottle Tree).

www.thefastrack.ca

We were wondering if you have heard of / used a FastRack? We’re always looking for reviews and feedback in order to improve our product design.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Happy brewing…

Cheers!

AUTHOR: Mitchell Lesbirel
AUTHOR EMAIL: fastracking1@gmail.com
AUTHOR URL: http://www.thefastrack.ca
SUBJECT: [Real Homebrew] Contact Us
IP: 99.231.174.142
Array
(
[Name] => Mitchell Lesbirel
[Email] => fastracking1@gmail.com
[Website] => www.thefastrack.ca
[Comment] => Hi Andy & Carl:

Just came across your blog – a great find! I am contacting you from a company called The FastRack. We have made a product that has taken over the homebrew market in the past 12 months. It is used for drying and racking empty bottles (similar in function to the Bottle Tree).

www.thefastrack.ca

We were wondering if you have heard of / used a FastRack? We’re always looking for reviews and feedback in order to improve our product design.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Happy brewing…

Cheers!
)

Andy and I set out to find some things we think most, healing if not all, brewers could benefit from having. Here is our list of the top ten things we think you should have to make brewing more enjoyable.

1. Refractometer

A refractometer allows you to read the specific gravity of a liquid without needing to take a large sample from your fermenter, as you would if you were using a hydrometer. This device requires just a drop of solution and a light source so you can read the gradations. In addition, the automatic temperature compensation (ATC) means that you do not have to do any computation to offset the temperature.

The Brew Hauler is a carboy carrier that makes a glass or plastic carboy easy and safe to carry. The webbing is tough and strong and the buckle makes the carrier easy to load and unload. I do not (yet) have one of these but my friend Jason does. It is much easier to move carboys around with these, rather than using one hand to steady the neck and the other to cradle the bottom. That is an accident waiting to happen. This device can save you some time and energy and possibly help you avoid a trip to the hospital.

This bottle and carboy cleaner is ideal for getting that stuck-on schmutz knocked off the inside of the glass and get all the junk removed before you need the container again. I used to discard bottles that had not been rinsed well enough and had some remaining junk dried to the side. Of course, now I keg my brew, but the fact remains that without using some sort of device like this, quality cleaning is tough to ensure.

To go along with the cleaner above, you can hook up this sprayer to a faucet or spigot and spray water all up in your carboys and bottles to wash away all the schmutz you removed from the glass. Schmutz – I guess I like that word. This device will screw on most hose spigots and utility sink faucets but if you want to use it at the kitchen sink, chances are you will very likely need an adaptor.

more about
on Flickr”>I have mentioned before that I run a homebrewing club at Kena Shriners in Fairfax, eczema
Va. One of the things we do is make beer for the other clubs. Essentially the other clubs there pay for the ingredients and we make the beer for them. What we get out of it is another brew day and the fun and fellowship of brewing, ampoule as well as a way to make a few dollars for the club, since often we get a small gratuity for our time. We aren't lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills here but it gives us enough money to support the temple and give some money to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Plus, we are saving the other clubs some money on beer and promoting our own club at the same time. Everyone wins.

Last year I made the Classic American Pilsner for one of our clubs and they liked it so much they asked for another keg of it for this year. I think I will change it up a bit though and make them the Pants-Optional Pilsner if they will agree to it. The latter was a little more crisp and clean, with a definite but light maltiness and just a little bitterness. To me it was the perfect springtime beer.

Last time I made this brew I had a three-week window in which to complete it. It was good, but the leftover beer was even better a couple weeks later. This time I am allotting about six weeks for it to fully ferment and age. There is no reason to rush a good pilsner and I expect that should make it just about perfect.

What brews do you have in your spring lineup?

Larvik Bødker Pilsner by Bernt Rostad, on Flickr.

malady
on Flickr”>I have mentioned before that I run a homebrewing club at Kena Shriners in Fairfax, more about
Va. One of the things we do is make beer for the other clubs. Essentially the other clubs there pay for the ingredients and we make the beer for them. What we get out of it is another brew day and the fun and fellowship of brewing, visit web
as well as a way to make a few dollars for the club, since often we get a small gratuity for our time. We aren't lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills here but it gives us enough money to support the temple and give some money to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Plus, we are saving the other clubs some money on beer and promoting our own club at the same time. Everyone wins.

Last year I made the Classic American Pilsner for one of our clubs and they liked it so much they asked for another keg of it for this year. I think I will change it up a bit though and make them the Pants-Optional Pilsner if they will agree to it. The latter was a little more crisp and clean, with a definite but light maltiness and just a little bitterness. To me it was the perfect springtime beer.

Last time I made this brew I had a three-week window in which to complete it. It was good, but the leftover beer was even better a couple weeks later. This time I am allotting about six weeks for it to fully ferment and age. There is no reason to rush a good pilsner and I expect that should make it just about perfect.

What brews do you have in your spring lineup?

Larvik Bødker Pilsner by Bernt Rostad, on Flickr.

sovaldi sale on Flickr”>I have mentioned before that I run a homebrewing club at Kena Shriners in Fairfax, Va. One of the things we do is make beer for the other clubs. Essentially the other clubs there pay for the ingredients and we make the beer for them. What we get out of it is another brew day and the fun and fellowship of brewing, as well as a way to make a few dollars for the club, since often we get a small gratuity for our time. We aren't lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills here but it gives us enough money to support the temple and give some money to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Plus, we are saving the other clubs some money on beer and promoting our own club at the same time. Everyone wins.

Last year I made the Classic American Pilsner for one of our clubs and they liked it so much they asked for another keg of it for this year. I think I will change it up a bit though and make them the Pants-Optional Pilsner if they will agree to it. The latter was a little more crisp and clean, with a definite but light maltiness and just a little bitterness. To me it was the perfect springtime beer.

Last time I made this brew I had a three-week window in which to complete it. It was good, but the leftover beer was even better a couple weeks later. This time I am allotting about six weeks for it to fully ferment and age. There is no reason to rush a good pilsner and I expect that should make it just about perfect.

What brews do you have in your spring lineup?

Larvik Bødker Pilsner by Bernt Rostad, on Flickr.

prostate
on Flickr”>I have mentioned before that I run a homebrewing club at Kena Shriners in Fairfax, about it
Va. One of the things we do is make beer for the other clubs. Essentially the other clubs there pay for the ingredients and we make the beer for them. What we get out of it is another brew day and the fun and fellowship of brewing, as well as a way to make a few dollars for the club, since often we get a small gratuity for our time. We aren't lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills here but it gives us enough money to support the temple and give some money to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Plus, we are saving the other clubs some money on beer and promoting our own club at the same time. Everyone wins.

Last year I made the Classic American Pilsner for one of our clubs and they liked it so much they asked for another keg of it for this year. I think I will change it up a bit though and make them the Pants-Optional Pilsner if they will agree to it. The latter was a little more crisp and clean, with a definite but light maltiness and just a little bitterness. To me it was the perfect springtime beer.

Last time I made this brew I had a three-week window in which to complete it. It was good, but the leftover beer was even better a couple weeks later. This time I am allotting about six weeks for it to fully ferment and age. There is no reason to rush a good pilsner and I expect that should make it just about perfect.

What brews do you have in your spring lineup?

Larvik Bødker Pilsner by Bernt Rostad, on Flickr.

internist
on Flickr”>The first beer I made, pharm more than 20 years ago, was a porter and I have not made one since. It is high time I rectify that. My first homebrew recipe came from the American Brewmaster and it was something the owner just pulled out of the air, it seemed. it was like magic. I do not still have that recipe so I decided to try something new. By style this is actually a robust porter, or at least that is how I hope it will turn out.

 

Ingredients:

• 9.5 Maris Otter pale malt
• 1 pound wheat malt
• 1 pound chocolate malt
• 1/2 pound flaked oats
• 1/2 pound caramel or crystal malt (80 L)
• 1/2 pound black patent malt (500 L)
• 1 ounce Chinook hops (60 min)
• 1/2 ounce Canadian Goldings hops (15 min)
• 1/2 ounce Canadian Goldings hops (5 min)
• Nottingham Ale Yeast or Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

Ferment in the primary for three weeks at 60-70 degrees.

For the secondary fermenter (three weeks):

• 1 pint of bourbon (I bought Jim Beam.)
• 2 ounces oak cubes

I suspect the bourbon will have to mellow out a bit. Probably aging this beer a couple months will improve its flavor.

Dark beer by nicholasjon, on Flickr.