It seems like most of what I've read about using a refractometer to easily check specific gravity of your brew has been encouraging, yet I don't know anyone actually using one. I'm interested in anyone's input on the subject. I'm all for ease if accuracy is at least equivalent. They don't seem to cost all that much. - Craig

I'd like to kick things off with a comment about the most recent addition to the Brass Hat Brewing catalogue, our "Smokey The Beer", a smoked amber ale based on a Northern Brewers extract kit. Out of all the beers we've made to date, this is the first to come up limp. The rest have been nicely carbonated and produced bountiful heads and lacing, but this one is very tame to say the least. It tastes so good that I still enjoy it a lot, but I'm wondering what went wrong here considering we think we followed the same procedure for every beer. Having tried a few, Ron & I don't think the caps were poorly applied on all of them. Any ideas on why this would happen? Suggestions? Craig