"RE: your scotch ale, I've done that sort of thing (I call it a "pseudo decoction"), for many beers, it worked most excellent for a weizenbock, made some awesome flavors. You just have to be careful not to scorch/burn it once it gets really syrupy." Yeah you ain't kidding about t...

I got ya. The only time I ever found the sugar thing to be an issue was with a beer that was over 10%. That's just my experience, I'm not arguing the point or anything. I have a barleywine that's 12%+ where I started with Wyeast London Ale, which took me from 1.105 to 1.032 before it crapped out, th...

Need to say welcome here. Recognized your avatar from your comment on my article. Thanks for reading it and welcome to the community! Ah, you wrote "Mr. Beer to Mr. Ribbon". I did enjoy that article. Not only do I not look down on Mr. Beer, I wish it had been around when I started brewing...

Thanks everybody! Beer lord, I go to Brewstock pretty often but I haven't been to any meetings. My girlfriend is from Metairie and her family lives there, so I'm up that way frequently. I talked to a guy named Joey (iirc) in the homebrew section at Barnes and Noble yesterday, maybe y'all know each o...

Hey Zorak! I thought your skull looked familiar... I think that yeast is OK with 9.5%, but you might want to pitch 2 packs if you weren't already. Or go with a liquid yeast with a good-sized starter, if you're so inclined. Question: What's the advantage of adding the sugar later? I've heard of doing...

Thanks Gman! A few people have called me by the name Gman over the years. I like your avatar. I've been to Wisconsin a few times and that pic definitely sums up the place. The artist just needs to draw a bunch of snow and frozen people on it and it would be perfect. (Btw I actually like Earl Grey te...

Gerry here. Some of you may know me from the Mr. Beer forum, or my small number of posts on Homebrewtalk. I like the fact that you can have foes here, who I assume would include people like Commander Data and Capt. Picard with his stupid Earl Grey tea...