Recent content by cerberus9

I've got some hard lemonade in the secondary right now. I used 11 cans of Minute Made lemonade concentrate, 500 g dry malt extract, 1 kg of dextrose, and two packages of champagne yeast (5 gallon batch). I created a yeast started with some nutrient, dry malt extract, and 1/4 can lemonade...

I don't think the problem is that it's a joke. In my experience, homebrewers have great senses of humour. The problem is that it's the oldest, lamest joke in beerdom. Everyone on here has probably heard it about a million times. The ironic thing (to me) is that cloning a macro-brew like...

What's the risk of creating a batch of beer that is contaminated to the degree that is dangerous to drink? (I'm thinking botulism, or something similar). I'm always hesitant to give out my homebrew, as I don't want to poison anyone.

Excuse the dumb question, but how does a deep fryer help with making beer?

After one week, I've never had anything *but* what you've described. Two weeks is kind of early too (although my latest IPA was decent at 1 1/2 weeks). I wouldn't worry. Try it again at 2, 3, and 4 weeks (by 4, it will be a different beer than at 1). Try to save some for tasting longer than 4...

Be very careful with respect to your bottle selection, especially if using a butterfly capper. I've actually pulled the necks off more than a few of the cheaper glass bottles when capping. (Nothing shattered, the bottle just came apart in two pieces!) I've shattered a number of bottles...

Yes, they're from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript. You can see the other pictures here.

First in a series of beers names after Norse legends.

I want to make a blackcurrent stout. I've got a recipe for an extract/grain stout, but I'm not sure to do about the blackcurrent. I don't think I can get fresh blackcurrents. Would a syrup do? If so, how much (roughly) should I add? Should it be boiled? Thanks in advance!

I have a cold but I need to make some home-brew. I'm usually meticulous with respect to sanitation. Is it safe for me to make beer, or is there a high risk of contamination due to the fact that I have a cold?

My wife got mad at me because I have two full picture albums filled with homebrew photographs (boiling wort, unopened packages of yeast, etc.), but I still haven't found the time to print off and organize our wedding pictures or baby pictures.

I've brewed a few batches, and the fermentation seems to fall in one of two categories: 1. Slow, steady fermentation: It takes about 24 hours to get obvious signs of fermentation, then fermentation proceeds at a steady rate (bubbles in the blowoff or airlock every 5-10 seconds) for about 4-5...

I recently brewed a batch of IPA that used a fair amount of whole-flower hops. I didn't filter out the hops when I poured the wort from the boil kettle to the primary (most of them are still in the primary). Was this good, bad, or does it make any difference? I realize that addition junk in...

Most "how to brew" instructions have suggested that your beer will be "ready" 2 weeks after bottling. I've found that while 2 weeks will produce a decent, drinkable beer, it's actually takes about 2 months until the beer is really good. (At about two months the beer magically transforms from "I...

I think the biggest problem with using ice is that it tends to pick up flavours from its environment (most scotch gurus will shudder at the thought of adding ice from the freezer to a fine single-malt). If you use commercial, bagged ice, you should be OK, although sanitiation may be an issue.