Recent content by 124Spider

Thanks; will do! Mark

Hi, In a fit of poor planning, I started a batch of Rye Ale without properly checking the recipe for schedule. I'm used to about three weeks between brewing and bottling, but this recipe called for racking to secondary after one week, adding some leaf hops, then bottling a week later. I...

Hi, I've brewed several batches from Brewer's Best extract kits, and one from a Brewer's Best all-grain kit. All have been excellent. Now I would like to make a beer from a recipe, but I'm a bit intimidated. What if my local home-brewing stores don't have all the right grains? Where...

Hi, My freezer (converted into a fermentation fridge) will only hold one fermenting bucket. I'm not real happy about waiting some months before I can brew another batch (I have a strong porter in primary now; probably won't drink it for at least three months, to let it mellow a bit). I'm...

Hi, I bought a Blichmann BoilerMaker for my last batch. I really like it for its convenience, but it does end up transferring a lot of hops to the fermenting bucket. Blichmann markets a "HopBlocker," an expensive (of course) attachment that purports to keep the hops in the BoilerMaker...

Hi, I have brewed three batches of beer, using Brewer's Best kits. All came out fine. I moved the first to secondary, but not the other two. Two of those were red ales; one a brown ale. Five days ago, I brewed up a batch of Pumpkin Spice Porter (Brewer's Best). All went well, AFAIK, and...

Probably no more than a quart; maybe less. Excellent observation! I was wondering about the design; you've nailed it, I think. And that may well dictate in favor of the HopBlocker. Thanks!

Hi, I seem to be acquiring Blichmann accessories; I now have a TopTier brew stand, and a 10-gallon BoilerMaker. I really like them. But I'm wondering about some things. First and foremost, the spigot for the BoilerMaker leaves a lot of wort in the pot; I can pour it out at the end, but...

Hi, So, after a year off, I'm brewing again. Easing back in, I thought another Brewers Best package would be easier than trying my first full-grain brew; my wife thought the Pumpkin Spice Porter would be fun, so we got that (also got a Brewers Best kit for full-grain brew, but that'll have...

3-1/2 weeks fermenting in the barrel; 22 days in bottles, then 5 days in the fridge.

Ok; thanks!

I had 4.3 gallons of beer that I bottled (they say it's 5 gallons, but the gravity doesn't come out right if you fill it to five gallons when done boiling and adding the sugar). I used the whole pack of priming sugar that came with the kit (as I had in the previous two batches). To clarify...

I just opened the first bottle from my third batch of beer. This is a red ale from a Brewer's Best kit. This is the first batch for which I've had excellent temperature control from brewing to putting in the fridge. The beer was excellent, but it was very, very carbonated. Not so much...

Thanks! I particularly liked the suggestion for a spray bottle with sanitizer; very useful! Mark

Am I correct that things that will be boiled for at least five minutes don't need to be sanitized? For instance, my copper coils used to lower the temperature after the boil: If I put that in at least five minutes before the end of the boil, is there any reason to sanitize it? Likewise, the...