Recent content by mChavez

Thanks maffew, I might use them to help start my experimental bucket then.

If you overbrew it will become unpleasantly vinegary as far as I remember. Not sure if you can get rid of much sugar in it without getting undrinkable vinegar though. I got my scoby a week ago and brewed it in a 4L bucket for 7 days, then I bottled 3 litres and loaded a new batch of tea. The...

I'd give water kefir a try for this one. I'm infusing a batch with ginger at the moment but I recon you can stuff almost anything into it...

Any update on this one? Did it work? From what I've read, a 50/50 mix or using dry malt instead of sugar should work, but I never tried it.

If you decide to buy one, Scobys usually come in something like 4 inch circles that are about 1/2 inch thick - that should be enough to brew you a 2l batch in a week. 2 of these for a gallon.

1) Read this forum. 2) Take one step at a time. Brew 2-3 kits. Then buy a few more kits but experiment with adding some hop tea. You can find more advanced kits too. If you still think you want to do more advanced stuff, get a boiler and a wort cooler. Now you're ready to brew a lot of fancy...

I agree with the others that "high abv and fast" is not the best approach to beginner beer brewing. It's more likely to turn you into an alcoholic than make you a good brewer. I only know one guy who brews high & fast and I must tell you that I've drank perfume that tasted better than his brew...

Using the standard cleaning & sanitising procedures might also help. For cleaning, while the scoby is out, soak the brewing bucket & bottles in oxyclean for at least 15 minutes. Give it a good rinse. For sanitising, I'd use starsan as I doubt that it is going to do any harm to the scoby...

Thanks. So you just keep a small amount in your fridge? I was thinking of stocking up the attic for those hot sunny summer days.

Hi All, I would be grateful for some advice from experienced kombucha brewers. I had a scoby quite a few years ago (long before I got into beer brewing) and really enjoyed kombucha for about 6 months before the scoby got contaminated. I now decided to try brewing kombucha again and I've...

Hi All, I am thinking of brewing a 5g batch of braggot, however, I don't want to boil the whole 5g for an hour to hop it. I assume a half-boil will do just fine, however that would still involve setting up & cleaning my boiler, coller, etc. I'm wondering if I can do a 3-4 litre boil of honey...

Ok, here's what I did: I took a marking awl (long tapered), sprayed it with starsan, covered with vaseline and carefully wedged it between the middle plastic bit and the outer rubber bit of a 2-piece bung, trying not to damage the rubber. As soon as I hit the bottom of the plastic bit, gas...

I wish I had easy kegs (the ones with a tap) but mine only have 1 hole to be used with a tapping system =( Any other suggestions?

Hi All, I have recently bottled a duvel clone, with 2 gal going into minikegs and 3 gal into glass bottles. The beer has been in primary for 3.5 weeks and due to my laziness and stupidity I only took one FG reading. O/g was 1068 and FG was 1011 so I decided that the reading was reasonable...

Hmm... If you want controlled temp, then "Son of fermentation chiller" is a good way to control temp. Cheap and reasonably easy to make. Search for it on this forum. However, depending on the styles you want to brew, I don't think you'll have any problems with ambient temp up to 23C. This...