Recent content by Hunter

Hey, gang. I'm on batch number three, a honey cream ale that started out with a tremendous amount of promise. I had high hopes after the brown ale and hefeweizen turned out so beautifully! I had it in the primary for about five days...bubbling away...then nothing. No bubbles coming from...

I don't recall the brand, but it came in a small bottle containing about 2-3 oz. of root beer extract. I mixed it with about 4lbs sugar and some honey (on the advice of the guy at my homebrew store), pitched the yeast and put it to the keg instead of the bottles per the instructions. I let it...

I thought that while I wait for my beer to brew I'd get the kegerator set up with some root beer for the kids for fun. I made the root beer per the recipe that came with the extract, but the stuff's just not carbonating. I have it hooked up now to my co2 and gave it a couple of days, but...

Thanks for the advice! The regulator has two gauges on it. One shows the pressure coming from the cannister, the other shows how much co2 is left (which is always wrong, apparently). As long as I can force-carbonate with what I have I won't be too worried. Thanks again, Hunter

I purchased a TON of homebrewing stuff from a local guy recently. Part of my equipment now consists of a refrigerator converted to a 2-tap kegerator, a mess o' cornies and a co2 bottle with regulator. One of the kegs he gave me was filled with beer he said he brewed about a year ago...so as...

My first batches of brew are happily bubbling away in their fermentors, but, as any new brewer would feel...I'm a bit paranoid about contamination. Is there a way to see if I've messed things up by not beeing sanitary enough prior to putting the beer into the carboy?

Thanks for that advice! The root beer extract did fill the house! Looks like I'll be labeling my "root beer" equipment tonight!

I bow to your brilliance! Yep...bubbles in the lock. My hefeweizen is going so hard I had to get a blow off bucket. Seems like it boils ever 5-10 seconds pretty well.

I imagine if you could get a coat hanger in there to snag the stopper you might be ableto pull it out, but boy would that be a trick! I'm new to brewing, but I would suppose that it wouldn't hurt anything being in there as long as it was sanitized. You may just want to get a new stopper. Or...

The fermentor with the hefe is a normal-sized fermenting bucket with plenty of head space for the suds. The fermentor with the brown ale is a 6 gal. carboy. I didn't think it would be too much of a problem, but I suppose like a dad with a new baby I'll be overly paranoid until I get a few...

My secondary primary fermenter is happily bubbling, but I think it's bubbling too well. The airlock I had on it was developing some sludge in it, so I replaced the lock with a blow off hose. When I did, I noticed that there were bubbles forming around the lip where the hose was insterted...

I'm feeling a lot better now! So...let's say the wors happens and in three days there's still nothing going on. How do I "correct" things?

Thanks! I read the label on the yeast, which said that fermentation should begin in 5-15 hours and the temp should be at least 70 degrees constantly until fermentation begins. Hopefully something will kick in soon.

Gang, I just made my very first batch of beer, but I think I pitched my yeast at too cool a temp. I pitched liquid yeast when the wort was at about 65 degrees. It's been around six hours now and not even a bubble....just brown stuff in a carboy. Should I warm the carboy to kick it into...

Glad I found this place! I'm feeling a lot more comfortable about getting this whole thing now. My main anxiety was the carboy. I found it behind the house I bought. It had about 10 years of green grime in it. I cleaned it out well and let an industrial strength cleaning agent soak in...