Recent content by dadshomebrewing

also... youtube and podcasts

oh yeah... never "dump out" beer. let it ferment the full time... what have you got to lose at this point.

the go to books for starting out are 1. The Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian 2. How to Brew by John J. Palmer. either, or both, is fine. i started with "How to Brew". you can get them online or ibooks, read the first couple chapters to get started, and then off you go.

welcome to our nightmare.

hey unionrdr... good to see you... been a while. also... i think that "officially" starsan is a no-rinse cleaner

if it tastes better after waiting, then wait. :)

i use a bucket simply because it's easier to clean than a carboy. for bottling the container doesn't actually matter and, your technique is fine... anything that fills the tube with fluid, so that the siphon works, is fine.

blowoff tube is your best friend in the first week of fermentation. :)

using half the hops will be perfectly drinkable. if you want you can use something like beersmith, or ibrewmaster, and figure out the EXACT amount for the IBU's you want to achieve. i brew only 1 gallon batches, so i'm always "down-sizing" recipes... the only thing that doesn't easily scale...

then there is no such thing as "sparging" for extract brews. where did you get those instructions from? do you, perhaps, have some steeping grains, or something?

just get a kettle. the thermometer won't matter after the first couple uses... all water boils at the same temp. learn how to use a siphon tube, and "bag it" with the spigot, too. will save you a bunch of money

yep... this what do you have to lose but the price of a packet of yeast

i do ALL my brewing on an electric stovetop, in the kitchen. of course it's hot enough to boil water... it's just going to take a while... but once it's there it will stay there. and don't bother with the Fizz drops. prime your beer all at once, not one drop at a time in the bottles...

i wasn't trying to be harsh... i get it, honest. i guarantee you that the hardest thing for any person posting here to do is to just "leave it the heck alone". if we weren't the "tinkering" type, we wouldn't be here. i'm just telling you (from painful experience) that the more you mess with...

i buy a lot less bad beer... :) i like to go to the local craft beer store (it's less than a mile away), and try new things once in a while and, i drink my own. since i brew small batches (1 gallon), I don't have lots of brew hanging around, so i don't feel bad. sort of the best of both...