Not sure if they're at every Target, but great deal if you're in the market for some nice flip top storage.

My buddy and I did a lighter extract recipe for a honey/ orange saison this past weekend. The starting boil had a really light color, but as we got closer to the end it got darker. I noticed a bit of hops and other flavor bits in the bottom of the brew pot wart. Should we be straining this out?

We used hop pellets in mesh hop socks, and also had dried orange peel, coriander, and Irish moss all in separate hop socks. Like i said the bottom of the wart pot got pretty dark/ green which I can only assume it was bits of hops. Thinking we should have or should strain that stuff out? Or should we just catch that stuff when we rack it to secondary?

I cold-crash and use whirl-floc, but was thinking of using a micron-filter. Thoughts?

Did my first brew in a primary pail from NB. After washing the pail is discolored and still smells a little like beer. Is it ok to use again?

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/hsh/5048425242.html

Have people done this before?

Quick question on sanitizing. When using the 1 step sanitizer the instructions are to have contact for 2 minutes. Does this mean i have to fill my 6.5 gallon fermenter to the top and let it sit? Or is splashing it around or spraying it sufficient?

I think I'm ready for some all-grain brewing! Get excite! I had some questions regarding the construction of the mash/lauter tun:

1. I'm building a copper manifold, why is it so hard to find a 1/2 in copper cross connector? No one seems to stock them...
2. Is it a problem that the drain hole is about an inch above the bottom of the tun? The manifold doesn't sit flat: http://imgur.com/kt0L6NB
3. What's the best way to plug the spout? The 1/2 inch tube doesn't nearly fill the hole.

Thanks for the advice!

First time home brewer here. Last night I made my first batch of IPA from a Mr. Brew home kit. I used a 2 gallon IGLOO water cooler for the fermenter (that was suggested to me by a random guy i golfed with last week because the built in spigot will make bottling a breeze).

Anyways, my question is this... Should the whole thing stay air tight for the full 21 days? I imagine the CO2 will buildup and i dont want a messy explosion of any kind. There is an air vent on top of the lid and I taped it down, sealing it closed, thinking i didnt want anything to escape or spill out of the top, but now im wondering if that was a bad idea. Should i take the tape off to let gas escape?

Any suggestions welcome because i loved the project and will definitely be brewing a second batch in the next few weeks. Thanks in advance.

-mike

So I'm going to be brewing my first batch that is not a kit and wanted to see if this seems like a good recipe to start. I'm looking for suggestions on a few things I'm not sure will work.

5 gal batch 3gal boil volume 60 min boil

6lbs liquid wheat malt extract

3lbs of wheat some or 3lbs of light dme

2oz nugget 60min

1.5oz citra 30min

.5oz Amarillo 15min

1.5 oz citra dry hop 7 days before bottling

.5oz Amarillo 7 days before bottling

2lbs chocolate wheat malt steeped for 10 min for color while bringing the water up to temp

Add 6lbs lme at 60min Add 3lbs some at 30min

Wyeast 3944?

Primary 2-3 weeks secondary 1 week and bottle using 5oz by weight corn sugar as a primer.

Idk if this will work or if I should tweak the grain Bill. The chocolate wheat is because I want the beer to taste like a white ipa but look like a stout to mess with people. Please help with any suggestions on what I can improve.

To carbonate bottles, you have to prime them with sugar and then let the bottles sit for a few weeks while the beer carbonates. But what about when people force carb their beer using CO2 and kegs? Does that mean you can cut out the extra time needed to bottle condition? Or does the conditioning modify the beer and by cutting out that time you could screw something up?

I'm trying to figure out what size cooler to buy. I've been trying to mash on the stovetop, but holding the temp has been an issue, largely because my thermometer gives me wildly different readings in different parts of the kettle. At least a 20 degree range. I think I'm doing OK on the temp, but it's hard to say. I'm doing BIAB btw. Thinking it would be simpler to use a cooler. My real question is what size? Right now I'm pretty new at this and still doing small batches while I get the hang of making something decent. 1-3 gallons, because my wife, my friends and I just don't drink that much. I'd prefer to buy one cooler that does everything, but if I mash a two gallon batch in a cooler big enough mash a five gallon batch will all the empty space effect the heat retention? Am I over-thinking this? Any suggestions on measure temp during the mash? Thanks!

I have my very first homebrew going right now, a very basic still mead. There are a few things I am worried about regarding presure.

Prior to starting the fermentation, I bought some empty bottles and a corker. This is the kind without the wires, that you would see in a regular bottle of wine.

After letting the mead sit and do its thing for somewhere around 1 1/2 month, do I need to do anything else other than bottle if I do not have plans of doing a secondary fermentation? Are degassing or chemical treatments something that I should look into? How about capping wine bottles or wiring them down?

Also, if something were to go horribly wrong, how much could the bottle/cork take before one of them goes?

I know that when you bottle to 22 oz. bombers, you are looking at a longer time for your beer to carb up, but if you can wait all is well.

I have multiple 32 oz. bottles (Lagunitas Sucks, great stuff) that I cleaned and sterilized after drinking their contents. My question is - would it be a good idea to use these for bottling (cutting down on total number of containers), or would the size increase make it too unstable for a beginner to work with?

I would think that the amount of priming sugar would be the same (I am under the impression that is calculated based on volume of beer, rather than container size) but would feel much better if someone could confirm :) Thanks in advance.

Looking to get into homebrewing, but I have some questions regarding the DIY starter kit. These kits come out to 4 gallons total, but most pre-mixes come in 5 gallon batches. How can I scale them down easily? Much as I'd hate to throw away a gallon of wort, I really cant figure out how to make the measurements exact again for 4 gallons. Here is the recipe I am looking at for those interested, though I only see 4 gallons of liquid going in, so it might be OK as is? http://www.baderbrewing.com/products/american-ale-kits/fat-tire-amber-clone

So I got one of these things for christmas this year. I'm relatively new to home brewing but was wondering if these things were reusable since it seems like it would be a nice size for the amount that I currently make and it meshes well with the storage space I currently have.

I've done a bit of googling and it seemed mixed as to if they were reusable or not but I did find this forum entry from over a year ago.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21461

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this set-up, how it works, if its worth it, and maybe a bit more info on how exactly to do it. It seems like the tutorial on how to make it assumed some level of keg experience which I don't really have. So any helpful information would be great.

Thanks!

What does everyone do between batches? Think about your next brew? Read about concepts, and or styles? Or, is everyone constantly brewing?

Just out of curiosity, how many batches of beer can be put in a barrel before the wood stops giving the whisky/bourbon/etc. flavor to the beer?

While fermenting a batch of graf recently I got lazy and left the blowoff tube on for about 3 weeks. When I bottled it this past weekend, and pulled the blowoff tube out of the bucket of Starsan solution, the inside of the tube was cloudy and kind of slimy. I'm assuming this is just residue from the sanitizer, but is there anyway to salvage the tubing? I ran hot water through it, but the slime is going to need more than that to get it off. Is this why I was told to switch out for an airlock after primary is over? Thanks for any help.

So I have been looking at starting to brew my own beer and decided to take the plunge. I have decided on this kit to start http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/beer-equipment-starter-kits/big-mouth-bubbler-deluxe-brewing-starter-kit.html Is this kit good to start with it comes with everything but a kettle want to know if there is anything else I should add in that would help me start. I already have 2 cases of empties saved for this.

Also what is the best way to clean once used bottles to remove old labels and clean the inside out?

So we brewed some cider the other week and do not want to wait months to bottle it, as we heard that it is better to do that. We want to make a sparkling sweet cider, something similar to woodchuck. To do that, I was told that we would need to sweeten it then force carbonate it in a keg. We don't have a keg.

My partner read that we could add apple extract for flavor, xylitol to sweeten it, then normal dextrose as a bottle primer like bottling beer. How would this turn out and does anyone have any tips? Thanks!

Hello,

Started my first homebrew on Friday, all went well and I didn't think there were any problems. Fast forward 4 days, and I've still got no bubles coming through my S-lock.

I used Safale US-05 Dry Ale yeast. Pitched directly into the fermentor when te wort was bout 70F, and then put it into my closet which tends to fluctuate between 65F - 70F. Prior to pitching, i aerated the wort by sloshing it around with the lid on for a good 2-3 minutes.

The fermentor is homemade from a 6gal wine juice bucket, and my batch is 3.25 gal, so there's lots of headroom.

I opened up today to check if it's fermenting, and this is what it looks like: http://imgur.com/0gOJuve It looks like there's a fair amount of kreusen there, do you guys think this is fermenting? It also smelled very sweet the moment I lifted the lid.

What should my next step be? Would it be smart to take a hydromter reading now to check if it's gone down at all? Or should I wait another few days rather than risk infection?

Also, if this is fermenting, how can I know when to stop? Is it simply amatter of getting consistent hydrometer readings 2/3 days in a row?

Thanks!

I was told recently that I should add some store-bought hard cider to my 5 gallons of fermenting cider that is currently in a 6.5 gallon carboy because too much head space facilitates oxygenation. Is the same true with beer? I secondary fermented a 5 gallon batch of beer in there for one week (have since bottled it) so was that oxygenated as well?

Can I ask for tips on my first brew? I've found that recipes are either too simple or too complex; I have limited experience but I still want a challenge and a learning opportunity.

Anyway, here's a basic recipe, it would be good to know what I can do to make brew day a bit more interesting.

Best Bitter

1. 1.8kg Light liquid malt extract

2. 1 kg Brewing Sugar

3. 110 g Goldings Hops

4. 250g Crystal Malt

5. Yeast

Add the extract, crystal and hops to water and boil for 30 mins. Then add the sugar, cool and add the yeast.

What about a schedule for adding the hops (i.e. not all at the beginning)? And what other type of hops might I add at different points for this type of beer?

Should the crystal steep in the water as it warms up, rather than being added for the whole boil?

Should I boil for 60 mins rather than 30? 60 seems to be standard.

How much yeast? And what type of yeast would be best for this type of beer?

Any help much appreciated!

Edit: recipe calls for 5 gallons of water: does that sound about right? Don't ask why it skips between gallons and kilograms: I got the recipe from a UK website which typically can't decide which one to use!

So our first ever batch had a hydrometer reading of 1.015 seven days after the brew. Today (12 days after the brew) it had a reading of 1.012. The target specific gravity from the recipe sheet is 1.014.

Is this difference significant? And does this indicate anything in particular that we may have screwed up during the boil/fermentation?

We just transferred our first batch (a week old at this point) from the fermentor into a carboy. The carboy had some bubbles in it from the sanitizer, maybe 1/5th was filled with bubbles, before we siphoned the wort in. We used San Star sanitizer, if that's relevant.

Would that sanitizer presence kill the remaining yeast in the wort? I mean, it is sanitizer's job to kill things, but we're supposed to sanitize everything beforehand anyway. So did we screw up?

So I have a few unrelated questions. Figured I'd ask them all here instead of seperate posts, so any insight on any of them would be greatly appreciated!

-What's the difference, if any, between putting a lid on the kettle during the boil and not having a lid on?

-What is hot/cold break? How do I get it out/when do I get it out? We have a kettle with a spigot on the bottom, which leaves about half a gallon/maybe an inch of wort. If we let it sit for 10 minutes after we take the chiller out, then use the spigot, will the trub all be settled at the bottom and not make it into our fermentor?

-Is making a liquid yeast starter crucial? We just pop the nutrient pack in our yeast packet about an hour before we begin, then add it when it comes time. But I've read that you should do that days before, then boil water and add the yeast to that water with some malt extract. Is that crucial?

-We bought a second fermentation bucket to do another batch while our first one is fermenting, but we don't have a rubber stopper for the underside of our airlock. Is that crucial or is the airlock okay in the lid of our second fermentor without the rubber stopper?

-Last but not least, the directions told us to add our mixed grain bags, then heat the water to about 150, then remove the bags after 30 minutes. So are we supposed to start that 30 minutes when it hits 150? Because it took us 30 minutes to get the water from 64 to 150 with the bags in there.

I know that's a lot, but like I said, any info would be great. This sub has already helped me out a bunch, and I really appreciate it. Cheers!

Picked up some used tools for brewing recently, and before I put in my order for a first kit and a few things I'm missing, I'd like to double check that I've got everything I need. I plan on starting out with some 3-gallon batches since I want to brew more and don't think I can go through a 5-gallon batch fast enough to enjoy the hobby.

What I have:

• Lab Thermometer
• Long handled spoon
• Hydrometer
• Testing Jar
• Heat Belt
• Air Lock & Bung
• 2x 6-gallon bucket
• Auto-siphon w/ bottling wand
• Capper and caps, but I also have 24x 500mL swing tops

What I'm getting:

• 4oz Star San
• 5 gal kettle
• 3.25gal West Coast IPA Kit
• 3x Muslin Steeping bags

Anything suggestions, or anything obvious that I'm forgetting about?

Thanks!

So when it comes time to take my hydrometer readings for an ale (which I should do a couple days short of two weeks fermenting, correct?), how do I get a cup of the beer out of the fermentor? Do I open the lid and scoop it out with a sterilized measuring cup?

Me and my buddy just finished our first brew last night, put the lid on the fermenting bucket and stored it (around 10pm). We realized this morning that the valve was not in the airlock, and it was not filled with sanitizer or water. We fixed that today (around noon) and could see signs of fermentation, so we think all is good now. My question is, does the valve in the airlock function just to show us, visually, signs of fermentation or was the brew adversely affected by us forgetting that valve for half a day?