Recent content by mrjeffrey

Thanks. I think this is a good lesson. I probably should use straight a or pbx or one of the other cleaners more often. I do use a bottle washer, and visually inspect every bottle. And my dishwasher does have a sanitize function, for what it's worth. Along the same lines, I made my first wine...

You guys reply faster than I can respond--thanks. The bottles get sanitized in a dishwasher usually before sanitizing with starsan. I do wash everything else, but never in bleach. I use a cleaner like straight A from time to time, but not after every batch.

To last poster-- I wash the bucket before and after as I said (with regular dishwashing soap usually--straight A from time to time). I use star san before bottling. The bottles usually soak in it, and the bucket, wand, caps, etc. get a healthy dose. Like I said, I've never had this problem...

Thanks. I'm actually pretty fastidious about cleaning, including taking the spigot and rubber bits apart every time--usually even after each bottling session and before the next. Which doesn't mean an infection didn't happen in this case. I had the same experience as you. I didn't notice a...

Yeah, it started 1.046 and finished 1.011. The funny thing is this was a second run (with extract added). The first was 1.040 to 1.009 with about an extra week of secondary with watermelon. I'm actually drinking the last of that today and it's fine. These had separate yeast, etc., of course...

I know this has been addressed several times, but I was looking for possible reasons why this has happened. This was a wit beer made last summer. All of the bottles recently have just gushed completely out on opening. I opened the last few today and noticed some rather large nasty particles...

I made some grain burgers (with flour, egg, water, etc.). I didn't get sick, and it probably cleaned my insides up good. I got the idea from some vegan websites, I think, when I searched the same thing.

Hi, I know everybody will shake their head at this, but could this same set-up as Revvy's above be used for all grain (with a larger cooler of course)? This seems like the original spigot. What exactly is the reason not to use the original spigot unmodified? (cleanliness, strength, tradition?)...

OK, thanks. Guess I better start with baby steps. I'll try a less big beer with this method first and see how it goes. Interesting tip about adding extract, too. I hadn't heard about that. Thanks again!

Great stuff. I'm also psyching myself up for my first ag. Sorry if this has been covered, but I was wondering if it would be possible to use an unmodified cooler as a mash tun and otherwise follow this method. Is there any reason you couldn't (or shouldn't) put the grains in a bag into the...

+33 this year= 3756

+5 (4 weeks in) = 11492.5

Thanks, everybody. I did get the Coopers drops and will use them with the first batch (the lager that comes with the kit), but I only got the dark ale concentrate and was asking for alternatives. I have never been to Australia, and have unfortunately never had the pleasure of drinking Coopers...

Thanks. Follow up (dumb) question. The primary (only) fermenter that came with the kit has a tap on the bottom. So it's bottled from there. In that case, is it OK to stir the priming sugar into the mix before bottling? Or is it an option to put small amounts of the priming sugar in each bottle...

Hi, Brand new here. I bought the full Coopers home kit for my first time just to make it as straightforward as possible. I followed the instructions to the letter and everything seems to be going fine. The first day I worried because I didn't see much action in the airlock, but I tightened...