Recent content by machowsk

This is from a kit. Thanks for your response, I'll wait the full 10 days. Cheers ;)

I've been brewing beer for about 1.5 years now and am trying my first batch of wine. I began brewing (is that the right word?) and everything was going fine. After about seven days I was supposed to transfer from the primary fermenter to a glass carboy, but unfortunately I had to go out of town...

I thought at first that it might have been the shaking of driving that contributed to the foamyness. They had been sitting still for almost a full 24 hours, so I would hope that wouldn't be it, but maybe....

So I've been homebrewing for about a year now, and have lived at sea-level. I'm moving across country and along the way I've stopped at my parents' home in Colorado, at about 6000 feet above sea level. I brought some homebrews with me to share with my folks, and last night we opened a few. Upon...

The wires are from my cell phone recharger sitting on the desk behind the minikeg ;)

For my birthday last month my folks bought me a mini-keg. So far I've always bottled my homebrew, but I'd like to try using this mini-keg. http://img319.imageshack.us/my.php?image=minikegsmallcr3.jpg Has anyone used something like this before? I'm assuming to use it I would still add...

Thanks for the advice guys. I rigged up a blow off tube, and things seem to be under control now. I hope I haven't contaminated this batch, but time will tell. I suspect the temperature is among the reasons why fermentation is going so wild this time. Where I live it was about 85 degrees out...

Yesterday, I began my fifth batch, a stout. (Yeah, I know it's summer here in the northern hemisphere and stout isn't exactly a typical summer beer, but I love it :cross: ). I'm getting a lot of froth because of fermentation, and it's blowing the airlock out. I keep removing, cleaning and...

Alrighty, I'll give that a try when the beer's done in a few weeks. Thanks for the help

On Sunday I was transferring some beer from my primary bucket to my secondary carboy. Everything was going fine until I attached the airlock to the stopper and then insterted the stopper into the carboy. I guess I pushed too hard, and the stopper went all the way into the carboy, and though I...

It's time to bottle my first batch tomorrow. I'm curious, doesn anyone have any thoughts as to why I should prefer bottling in 12oz bottles vs 20oz bottles? Is it just a matter of personal preference or is there a good reason to use one over the other? Thanks in adavance and wish me luck ;)

OK, thanks for the advice, you've convinced me to rack back to the bucket before bottling. There's not a lot of visible sediment in secondary fermenter, but still I guess eliminating every little bit will help. Plus, evenly mixing in the sugar is important, I gather. My bucket doesn't have a...

I'm brewing my first batch right now, a brown ale. Last weekend I transferred it to the secondary fermenter (a glass carboy) from the first fermenter (a plastic bucket). I've mostly been using this website as a guide http://www.brewsupply.com/HowTo/firstbatch.html The website recommends...